Play together with Ableton Live: how Circle of Live sets up for improvisation

“It’s okay to not have a plan — it’s okay to just jump and see what happens”: Circle of Live is an event that brings together artists for spontaneous improvised performance. Ableton filmed Clark, Rival Consoles, Sebastian Mullaert, and the organizers at a recent event. Here’s what we can learn from how they work (plus some more Circle of Live selections).

West Coast dreaming: improvising with GForce MAP

GForce’s MAP was up against some tough competition in October, but don’t sleep on this one. Or, alternatively, do let its dulcet West Coast sounds lull you to sleep.

Peter Kirn - October 31, 2025

Data Knot for Max is machine learning as musicians want it: human-focused

Data Knot is the best of AI and machine learning: low-latency, optimized, performance-friendly, responsive — a set of building blocks for gestures and sounds that you customize. Built on the Fluid Corpus Manipulation project (FluCoMa) by composer/artist and self-described “crazy person” Rodrigo Constanzo, it’s something else musicians and artists love, too: it’s free.

Peter Kirn - October 23, 2025

Lyra Pramuk on Hymnal, invention, and the spontaneity of slime mold

Peter Kirn - August 18, 2025

25 years of improvisation and experimentation at Lebanon’s Irtijal

Peter Kirn - May 19, 2025

Worlds of sound from hacked hard drives, piano-triggered modular

Peter Kirn - February 7, 2025

Arash Azadi’s music returns to primordial states of human existence

Peter Kirn - November 6, 2024

At last, the meeting of a snooker champion, Eurorack, and a cathedral

Peter Kirn - October 7, 2024

Sublime, modular sonic worlds from Beirut, with Munma (Jawad Nawfal)

Peter Kirn - March 17, 2024