Three speculative designs on white pedestals with a white background. A quipu-powered drum machine with knotted pieces of rope, a viola da gamba with a hollow body and amplification, and a skull-and-bone horn.

Imagining an alternate history of music instruments, quipu to skulls

What if Neanderthal music had evolved alongside human sounds, or if Andean quipus shaped computer music, or if Les Paul had played the viola da gamba? Polish design house panGenerator gives us a look.

Tour Superbooth with Afrorack – featuring the show’s best instruments

In the deluge of videos from Berlin’s Superbooth synth show, don’t miss the walkthrough by Brian Bamanya (Afrorack). The Ugandan artist finds some of the most unique instruments and gives them the time they deserve.

Peter Kirn - May 22, 2024

Landscape’s Ferrous, an electro-mechanical resonator for strings

In collaboration with SF builder and experimental sound artist Victoria Shen, Ferrous from Landscape is a “Spinning Magnetic String Resonator.” It works by making a disc with magnets whirl around, activating strings on various instruments.

Peter Kirn - May 16, 2024

D16’s Drumazon 2 review: a must-have 909-inspired drum machine plug-in

Peter Kirn - November 2, 2023

Khabat Abas of Kurdistan-Iraq talking about cellos, bombshells, silenced stories of women

Peter Kirn - March 8, 2023

Meng Qi’s new Wingie2 firmware is inspired by the late Rob Hordijk’s Blippoo Box

Peter Kirn - February 27, 2023

Turn your iPhone into a realistic shaker instrument for free, with Klevgränd Rassel

Peter Kirn - December 17, 2021

At Instruments series by Morphine Records, physicality and improvisation meet invention

Peter Kirn - November 1, 2021

In Instruments series, encounters between inventors and musicians, watchable online

Peter Kirn - October 8, 2021

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