Time-bending, granular-powered HyperWarp: hands-on, free pack

The granular engine in Baby Audio’s HyperWarp can bend time along graphical paths you create with curved and stepped drawing tools. The result: glitches, timbres, and grooves, rhythmic chops, sweeping pitch shifts, rich coloration, and stasis-leak madness when you want it. I’ve got a hands-on, plus a big CDM-exclusive bank of free patches.

1010music Bluebox 1.5 mixer module and desktop is your do-everything tool

There are all these extra things you need in hardware rigs or Eurorack modular. You need to mix stuff together — and then add effects, and it’d be great to record, and you do still need to connect to your computer. Bluebox 1.5 fills out that wishlist with details that could make this an absolute must-have module or device.

Peter Kirn - August 20, 2026

VST is 30 years old, and Steinberg is giving away some of its earliest plugins

It’s the format that changed software music making forever: the VST plug-in format turns 30 this year. Steinberg is giving away updated versions of Neon, CS-40, Karlette, VB1, and LM7 — some of its earliest plug-ins — to celebrate. And that means you can run these vintage instruments (plus one tape delay) on your modern Mac or PC.

Peter Kirn - August 4, 2026

Remembering Kieran Foster; legendary Glitch2 effect now free

Peter Kirn - August 2, 2026

Free BEAST Repeat for Ableton Live is so good, you’ll switch genres to IDM

Peter Kirn - July 22, 2026

Logic has new granular, Beat Breaker features; here’s how to use them

Peter Kirn - July 13, 2026

iZotope is now joining founder-owned AV software house Boris FX

Peter Kirn - July 2, 2026

Sinevibes Quarta: 10 FX, 4 zones on the pocket-sized NTS-3 kaoss pad

Peter Kirn - July 2, 2026

Unfiltered Audio Battalion drum synth, FX in VCV Rack are a revelation

Peter Kirn - June 9, 2026