Link Audio, now in Max, Pd, VCV Rack, TouchDesigner, oF, and plug-ins, free

Ableton Live 12.4 is inbound, with Link Audio support coming to Live, Move, Note, and Push. But Live Audio can also be about routing audio over a network to other hosts, too. Julien Bayle (VOID) has an early, open-source implementation. If you’re ready to start experimenting even while this API is still in alpha, you’ve got a wide variety of sound and visual tools to try, all for free.

NAP, free visual and media framework, now dazzles anywhere

With deeper support for Linux and high-DPI rendering, NAP, the expressive, low-latency, efficient framework for control and visuals, can now awe audiences anywhere. Visualization, sound, running electronics, whatever it is you want to throw at NAP, now you can do it better on Windows and Linux, including embedded platforms. And did we mention it’s free and open source?

Peter Kirn - October 23, 2025

Livecoding meets Max meets OpenGL: free GLRepl for Max

Take a Max patch and add easy livecoding for it. Work with anything you want, commanding Max from the keyboard – including powerful OpenGL, Jitter, JSON, and JavaScript functions and customization. It’s a live visual tool; it’s a powerful Max customization tool, so it’s whatever you imagine. GLRepl is here, it’s free, and it’s even right in the Max package manager.

Peter Kirn - January 4, 2024

Cologne, on the outskirts of Tehran: Timcheh Music Festival this week

Peter Kirn - November 29, 2023

Bespoke visual noise is the next domain for Robert Henke – so let’s revisit Perlin, anyway

Peter Kirn - January 10, 2022

NAP, a free, high-performance data-driven visual and audio platform, is now slicker than ever

Peter Kirn - October 15, 2021

OSC to MIDI conversion and MIDI over network, with a free, open source tool

Peter Kirn - March 15, 2021