Oldest recorded voices, haunted dolls, and more from Tempest Instruments

New sound technologies? Sure, okay, I guess. But haunted dolls of the 1890s as made by Thomas Edison? Oh, now you’ve got my attention. So in case you haven’t discovered this before, Tempest Instruments, a “small team” led by TV/film and video game composer Alex Davis, has been collected strange sound ephemera of the 19th […]

Native Instruments issues a statement; likely closer to acquisition

Native Instruments this morning issued a statement that its restructuring is moving along, including advancing insolvency proceedings and “an active M&A [mergers and acquisitions] process that is progressing well.” Translation for humans: there’s a good chance we’ll see NI acquired soon, and by some company or companies in the audio tech space.

Peter Kirn - March 19, 2026

Free deals: UA PolyMAX synth, iZotope Ozone Imager, Tonal Balance Control

Arriving with this weekend’s giveaways are some big freebies from Universal Audio and Native Instruments (now parent of iZotope). If you act fast, that includes iZotope’s Tonal Balance Control for free, through the US holiday weekend ending late Monday. Let’s break down the offers and tools.

Peter Kirn - May 25, 2025

Free utility converts between multisample formats: ConvertWithMoss

Peter Kirn - November 20, 2023

Free now: Voculon 3000 is a wonderful retro-futuristic vocal instrument

Peter Kirn - September 26, 2023

Komplete 14 adds Kontakt 7, expands bundle, but M1/M2 support is spotty — at a glance

Peter Kirn - September 8, 2022

Finally, there’s a plastic fruit shaker instrument for KONTAKT – free today

Peter Kirn - November 24, 2020

Here’s the biggest guitar in the southern hemisphere, in a free sample library

Peter Kirn - August 8, 2019

Free Snare Designer for Ableton Live, Logic, and Kontakt

Peter Kirn - November 2, 2018