Mods for everyone: inMusic is opening up MPC, more new gear to coders

You may have seen Akai tease an “open-source” MPC keyboard running vibe-coded mods. But there’s more coming—a lot more. inMusic, parent of Moog, Akai, Numark, Alesis, Denon, and others, promises that many of its 22 product launches coming in January will be open to modders and developer. That suggests a sweeping change in approach for […]

Mixxx could unlock free and open standalone DJing — but, like, stable

Daniel Schürmann of the long-running libre/free DJ software project Mixxx has a compelling proposal for uniting efforts to develop their DJ software on embedded hardware, from emerging cheap “open” hardware to DIY projects. It could mean a chance for openness to have a moment — while avoiding the chaotic slop of countless separate forks and hacks.

Peter Kirn - November 3, 2026

Elektron is halting sharing of mods and hacks on its forums; official comments

Music gearmaker Elektron last week announced it would not allow sharing hacks and modifications for its devices on its official Elektronauts forum or social media channels. In a statement, the company says a sudden surge in firmware hacking, apparently driven at least in part by AI, helped motivate the decision. Here are the details.

Peter Kirn - September 23, 2026

The TR-808 is getting an MSW open-source firmware and a Tubbutec mod

Peter Kirn - August 11, 2026

The PlayStation Vita just got a new sampling groovebox and synth

Peter Kirn - August 6, 2026

Push Hack, very unauthorized access to Push 3’s display, files, MIDI, and more

Peter Kirn - August 3, 2026

DeafMan transforms Ableton Live with custom colors, interactive editor

Peter Kirn - July 29, 2026

Ableton Live and Push can now run on Linux, unofficially

Peter Kirn - July 15, 2026

Making music on the TI graphing calculator — and a TI-inspired plug-in synth

Peter Kirn - March 6, 2026