iZotope is now joining founder-owned AV software house Boris FX

iZotope is now coming to rest post-Native Instruments as the music software maker is acquired by Boris FX. And when they say founder-owned, they mean it: the guy’s name is actually Boris (Yamnitsky). The pairing frankly makes more sense than either NI/Soundwide or inMusic. It makes Boris FX the most interesting software house to watch right now. Here’s why.

Juneteenth lineup round-up and Black Techno Matters scorchers

Juneteenth is about emancipation, and it’s expressed in musical joy across the USA today. Here are our friends from Black Techno Matters with their community calendar of events today — one might be near you — plus two recent releases you should hear wherever you are.

Peter Kirn - June 19, 2026

Unreal Engine 5.8 is a major audio release, despite Epic staffing cuts

Epic layoffs in March cut deep into the audio and music teams. But there’s hope that their work will live on in Unreal Engine and MetaSounds, via what is arguably the most innovative sound work built into any game engine. Unreal Engine 5.8, now in preview, features a bunch of powerful tools for working with sound, one of the biggest sound releases yet. Here’s a look at what’s in that roadmap.

Peter Kirn - June 1, 2026

Apple AirPods Max Spatial Audio mixing, “pro” uses, demystified

Peter Kirn - April 30, 2026

Bastl’s new Déjà vu is the 4HP module for when you need to fader stuff

Peter Kirn - April 10, 2026

Little Labs Voice Of God Bass Resonance is now a native UA plug-in

Peter Kirn - April 2, 2026

1010music shares live setup ideas for Bento

Peter Kirn - March 19, 2026

Essential mix: let an hour of tilde’s music energize you (then nerd out!)

Peter Kirn - February 27, 2026

Tim Exile’s Finalist mixes and masters creatively, colorfully — with no AI

Peter Kirn - October 14, 2025