DIY + Unusual Gear Music tech Tech
Watch as a telephone is transformed into a DIY analog drum machine
Push-button telephone. Analog drum machine. Arduino Nano. DIY amplifier. Shashwath Sundar, aka simple_but_nerdy, makes the telephone-drum machine fusion seem like it was meant to be.
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A free emulator of Roland JP-8000 and the love of supersaws and trance
Digital preservation is the new challenge for synths, just as it is in areas like games. And the Roland JP-8000 got a big leg up with a free and open source release from The Usual Suspects available this month, the JE8086. It’s one of several recent emulations, so let’s talk about why the 1998 synth […]
Peter Kirn - December 30, 2025
Gear Music tech Software Tech
Mexico City’s N.A.A.F.I has all your club bangers in one, convenient place
My hips are sad. These promos are not moving them; they’re squashed to hell, grooveless, and it’s about as fun to dance to as an Airbus engine drone.* I know how to solve this: N.A.A.F.I, the Mexico-based international label with its unique voice and rhythms patterned on the likes of tribal guarachero, spun by its family of producers into deeply personal bangers.
Lethelium, a 24-string instrument fashioned from a bicycle wheel
Peter Kirn - December 2, 2025
DIY + Unusual Gear Music Music tech Tech
Super Massive 5 adds Sirius echo/reverb to the best free plugin in the galaxy
Peter Kirn - November 28, 2025
Music tech Reviews Software Tech
3D visuals arrive in Ableton Live, easy as synths, with Unreal-powered SenSei
Peter Kirn - November 26, 2025
Motion Music tech Software Tech
Vara Osiria Belich is taking Phase Plant to gestural, mangled frontiers
Peter Kirn - November 20, 2025
Music Music tech Software Tech
The Blaster Beam, a massive instrument invented by Captain Kirk’s nephew
Peter Kirn - September 17, 2025
DIY + Unusual Music Tech
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