VDMX 6.3 adds expressions, plugin templates to beloved Mac visual tool

Here’s another live visual icon with some welcome updates. Vidvox promised lots of quality-of-life refinements with VDMX6 as a platform, and VDMX6.3 adds just that. So it’s a good excuse to mention VDMX again, in case you’d tuned out for a bit.

HyperSplash is glitchy hyperactive fun – $3 Max for Live from MIRA新伝統

If you don’t know the hyperfuturist post-anthropocene duo* MIRA新伝統 aka Honami Higuchi and Raphael Leray, you need to. But now for three bucks – $3!! – you can drop their absolutely addictive Max for Live mayhem into your Ableton Live set. Should you? You should.

Peter Kirn - April 23, 2025

Emergence 1.0 granular plug-in arrives, with host sync, audio modulation, ADSR, presets, more

Emergence, Daniel Gergeley’s gorgeous granular plug-in, has reached a 1.0 milestone with tons of new features. The additions appear well worth the $20, but the 0.3 release is still available free/pay-what-you-want. Here’s a look at what this does, with demos.

Peter Kirn - February 13, 2023

Goldbaby’s Layered Drum Machine Claps are a machine-y sound design wonderland

Peter Kirn - April 5, 2022

Brunswick is a grimy patchable synth kit with BEEF, for under £99

Peter Kirn - October 24, 2018

Fake a $30k pro video controller with an APC40 or Beatstep and Davinci Resolve

Peter Kirn - October 15, 2018

Turn a terrible toy turntable from a supermarket into a scratch deck

Peter Kirn - February 8, 2017

Meet Teenage Engineerings’ new trio of Pocket Operators

Peter Kirn - January 26, 2016

A free app makes a TI graphing calculator make music

Peter Kirn - October 7, 2015