DeafMan transforms Ableton Live with custom colors, interactive editor

DeafMan’s creations for Ableton Live have evolved from a selection of cool retro themes to a vast library of complete color makeovers — a “visual system.” And there’s an insanely powerful new editor for managing themes, tweaking colors, creating customizations, and assigning color to tracks. It’s more than just customization: it’s a way of thinking about your workspace and music in hues and shades.*

In Expressive E’s Noisy 2.6 synth, expression everywhere, MIDI to MPE

Expression control is integral design feature of each component of Noisy, in each building block of the sound. And now Noisy 2.6 vastly expands the software’s sound palette — just in time to make this a worthy companion to Expressive E’s own Osmose and Osmose CE.

Peter Kirn - July 23, 2026

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

Korg’s NTS-3 is an absolute joy — a cute, pocket-sized, inexpensive kit that you can load up with custom effects. But that gets even more interesting once you add Sinevibes’ library of effects. And now you get one especially created for the X/Y pad. I’ve been testing a prerelease build, and this is a return to everything that I love about kaoss. And oops — here’s the perfect pocket live/DJ effect.

Peter Kirn - July 2, 2026

D16 PunchBox 2 is a surprisingly deep sequel to the brutal kick plug-in classic

Peter Kirn - June 29, 2026

Ekssperimental Sounds Studios analog-style wonders for Reason: hands-on

Peter Kirn - June 26, 2026

Sequential Prophet-5 gets an official software remake by GForce — tested

Peter Kirn - June 16, 2026

Synplant’s new PhenoType tech uses neural nets for more alien patches

Peter Kirn - June 10, 2026

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

Peter Kirn - June 9, 2026

Chaotic vocals, polyrhythmic grooves — meet the every something plugins

Peter Kirn - June 3, 2026