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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.

Tweakbench plug-ins return after 20 years, from NES to ambient

Chiptune, granular, ambient pads, experimental, percussion — once upon a time, Tweakbench plug-ins were everything. And now they’re back, with full support for AU and VST3 on macOS (including Apple Silicon), Windows, and Linux.

Peter Kirn - December 18, 2025

Music tech Software Tech

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Guide: Creating instruments with Max for Live and Ableton DSP (pt. 3)

For the final episode in this trilogy on learning Max for Live and Ableton DSP Objects, we’re going to keep the focus on working fast. We’ll learn how to use Ableton DSP to prototype instruments quickly, play expressively, and hack them with some tricks and mods beyond what the stock Live Instruments provide.