Casio’s SXC-1 handheld sampler is packed with fun, coming to Japan

Memory may be vanishing, phones and laptops may be getting downgraded specs. But we’re enjoying an unexpected renaissance of mobile samplers. And of all of these, Casio might pack the most fun into a single package. The SXC-1’s Japanese preorder was announced and sold out this week, and with good reason: this looks like the most fun we’ve had with Casio since the 80s and 90s.

Making music on the TI graphing calculator — and a TI-inspired plug-in synth

Time to dust off that TI-82, TI-83, or TI-84. The graphic calculators that a lot of us used in school can become ingenious chip synths and even run trackers. And that translates to a surprisingly powerful graphing calculator-inspired synth — one that instantly became one of my favorite plug-ins.

Peter Kirn - March 6, 2026

The best way to learn Bitwig Grid, Serum 2 is in Japanese from LOBOTIX

LOBOTIX is another reason to have hope in musical imagination. Even without speaking a word of Japanese, these are instantly some of my favorite tutorials. Here, these cover the spectral synthesis modes in Serum 2 and the modular capabilities of Bitwig Grid (and Vital and PhasePlant and more). And thanks to 2020s tech, we get her in the form of an anime character.

Peter Kirn - March 5, 2026

Essential mix: let an hour of tilde’s music energize you (then nerd out!)

Peter Kirn - February 27, 2026

plugdata, cyclone get major updates — free stuff for patchers and end users

Peter Kirn - February 24, 2026

Basil stereo delay completes Bastl’s PIZZA trio on VCV Rack — all for free

Peter Kirn - February 22, 2026

Ableton Move hardware, compact grid-based standalone groovebox, running Move Everything, showing overlay of (streamed) display wit OB-Xd open source Oberheim model and cutoff parameter

Move Everything hacks Ableton Move for custom devices — and accessibility

Peter Kirn - February 19, 2026

Laurie Spiegel’s Music Mouse is available now from Eventide

Peter Kirn - February 17, 2026

Jam, color, and geometry — discover Perplex On’s AV synesthesia bliss

Peter Kirn - February 13, 2026