Virtual rendering of the Sting UI with knobs, piano roll view, and smiley face, angled next to a Novation Launchpad controller with light-up grid.

Eminently controllable, accessible by design, Sting is now a plug-in

Now this is how to do generative melodies. Add expression. Get control with your hands. Make melodies accessible — including if you’re blind and visually impaired. Sting, the beloved maker of acid melodies and other patterns, is confined to Max for Live no more: now, it’s available as VST3, AU, CLAP / macOS, Windows, Linux.

bop: free, fast, friendly, fun music stuff for Pd, old CPUs and RasPi

It’s free, it’s fast, it’s fun, it’s bop for the free Pure Data Vanilla. It runs on old computers. It runs on Raspberry Pi. “You probably don’t have any use for bop,” its developer says humbly – but wait, with everything from text sequencing to reverbs to esoteric musical notation, this looks great!

Peter Kirn - February 5, 2025

Hey DJ, hey sampler – Circuit Rhythm 2.0 beat matches, samples in time, and more

Novation’s Circuit Rhythm is back, and it suddenly makes a lot more sense. The effects are editable, you can make scenes, you can sample in time (with fixed length recording), and in a first for samplers, there’s an explicit feature intended to let you beat match.

Peter Kirn - November 11, 2022

Novation’s Launchpad 2.0 adds widgets that adapt to your DAW shortcuts, expands customization

Peter Kirn - July 4, 2022

Here’s some lovely music in the woods, on monome norns arcologies and more

Peter Kirn - June 14, 2021

Novation’s Launchpad Pro is grid and sequencer, for software or standalone for gear

Peter Kirn - January 14, 2020

Novation Launchpad X, mini are the latest take on the hit music grid controller

Peter Kirn - October 15, 2019

Learn how to arrange your modular tracks with VCV Rack, Ableton Live

Peter Kirn - July 16, 2019

Hack a Launchpad Pro into a 16-channel step sequencer, free

Peter Kirn - September 11, 2018