Casio’s SXC-1 handheld sampler is packed with fun, coming to Japan

Memory may be vanishing, phones and laptops may be getting downgraded specs. But we’re enjoying an unexpected renaissance of mobile samplers. And of all of these, Casio might pack the most fun into a single package. The SXC-1’s Japanese preorder was announced and sold out this week, and with good reason: this looks like the most fun we’ve had with Casio since the 80s and 90s.

Akai’s pint-sized MPC Sample has already gotten a couple of updates

It seems like just yesterday we were ogling the launch of Akai’s inexpensive, ultra-portable standalone MPC …okay, three weeks. But Akai delivered some important updates in the 1.3 firmware, available today, on top of V1.2.1 (in case you blinked). Here’s what’s new.

Peter Kirn - April 13, 2026

Elastic OSC, Plaits as an instrument app, now supports Android, MPE

Oliver Greschke’s Elastic OSC continues to blossom as a mobile instrument. Packed with open-source algorithms from Mutable Instruments’ Plaits as oscillators, Elastic OSC has added powerful modulation and now supports Android and MIDI Polyphonic Expression.

Peter Kirn - March 26, 2026

Akai’s MPC Sample is compact, $399 — let’s compare it to an original MPC60!

Peter Kirn - March 24, 2026

1010music shares live setup ideas for Bento

Peter Kirn - March 19, 2026

Video guide to accessibility in Ableton Move, Move Everything – Andre Louis

Peter Kirn - March 8, 2026

Ableton Move hardware, compact grid-based standalone groovebox, running Move Everything, showing overlay of (streamed) display wit OB-Xd open source Oberheim model and cutoff parameter

Move Everything hacks Ableton Move for custom devices — and accessibility

Peter Kirn - February 19, 2026

Jam, color, and geometry — discover Perplex On’s AV synesthesia bliss

Peter Kirn - February 13, 2026

Move 2.0 adds Audio Tracks with clip warping, live processing; more

Peter Kirn - February 10, 2026