Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves have the cutest dinosaur music video

Owen Lake is back — the alias of Jeff Snyder, who in these parts is best known for Snyderphonics, MPE innovator and Manta creator (of Princeton University). Here, we get twee-and-western, electro-country tunes with Anica Mrose Rissi that charmingly stick in your head, played partly on instruments Jeff invented, Electrosteel and Electrobass. And there’s a music video with dinos!

Casio’s expressive guitar strap controller was inspired by a chopstick case

Surprise! Casio has something unexpected — Dimension Shifter, a spring-powered expressive wireless controller that attaches to your guitar strap. And it was the invention of one employee, inspired by his kid’s school-lunch retracting chopstick and cutlery case.

Peter Kirn - January 23, 2026

ADPTR Utopia: what makes this spectral reverb one of the best effects of 2025

Move over, recycled ideas and emulations: it’s been a year of reimagining entire effects categories. And ADPTR Audio’s Utopia stands out in a 2025 class of reverbs that are more than just reverbs. Here’s a look at why it’s an effect I can’t put down, why it’s so much fun to tweak, and how the developers thought about it.

Peter Kirn - December 3, 2025

A new Bucket Brigade Delay chip just dropped, the first in decades

Peter Kirn - October 10, 2025

The making of Sequential’s all-analog, polyphonic, expressive Fourm

Peter Kirn - September 23, 2025

Roland’s Tadeo Kikumoto on 808, part by part: the ukiyo-e drum machine

Peter Kirn - August 8, 2025

The all-new Moog Messenger: a tour with synth legend Erik Norlander of Moog

Peter Kirn - June 4, 2025

Paul Schreiber (Tandy, Moog MG-1, Synthesis Technology) remembered

Peter Kirn - March 24, 2025

Analog Waveguide module uses 1971 theory to make a killer resonator

Peter Kirn - May 15, 2024