What’s new in the DIY world of Music Thing’s Workshop System

It’s a Very Workshop System Jamuary. Music Thing’s patchable music lab-in-a-lunchbox has proved that small-batch personal hardware can attract a select, dedicated community sharing great stuff with one another. Let’s catch up with what’s been happening in that magical village of synth wonder in the past year. Don’t forget, the ideas and code here are all open — meaning this could inspire more.

JW-Modules free Grains, Buffer are must-downloads for VCV Rack

We’ve had a deluge of superb VCV Rack modules, carrying straight over into the first days of the new year. But let’s skip to this one: Jeremy Wentworth’s free Grains is the granular sampler you’ve been waiting for, now available for VCV Rack and 4ms MetaModule. Bonus: my guide to other granular modules in Rack… and a surprise teaser.

Peter Kirn - January 6, 2026

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

Alien resurrection: Absynth 6 delivers a powerful update to a futuristic classic

Peter Kirn - December 9, 2025

Vara Osiria Belich is taking Phase Plant to gestural, mangled frontiers

Peter Kirn - November 20, 2025

How to get started with SoundThread and CDP: wild free sound tools

Peter Kirn - August 27, 2025

Torso S-4’s 2.0 OS makes it the performance sampler it wanted to be

Peter Kirn - June 18, 2025

Live round-up: 12.2 is out, vids, a free Grain Slicer Rack, tuner, and more

Peter Kirn - June 12, 2025

Imaginando GRFX puts granular effects in sweet harmony: review

Peter Kirn - April 28, 2025

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