Digital Arabic Maqām Archive and open-source MIDI plug-in now available

Khyam Allami presented his long-term research project in Beirut yesterday, and it’s an exciting one. Hundreds of tuning systems, ajnās, and maqāmāt are now in a free, open archive, and there’s a free MIDI plug-in that lets you apply tunings (and tweak them by ear) across all major software tuning formats.

Microtonality is the big trend of the 16th century — ask Nicolà Vicentino

Kids today, with their 31 equal divisions of the octave. Yes, it’s the music of Nicolà Vicentino, a Renaissance theorist and composer who built his own microtonal harpsichord to accommodate his experimental tunings. But it’s not just a theoretical experiment: there is some connection to musical practice (even if Vicentino was basically making this up). Food for thought as we mess with digital tuning systems and microonality.”

Peter Kirn - May 28, 2026

Dorico is quietly working through your Western notation wishlist

Steinberg’s Dorico is slowly realizing a dream of notation that has spanned decades of scoring software. How could you combine engraving precision (think Leland Smith’s SCORE) with graphical ease-of-use? That might sound easy, but it’s been one of the toughest challenges in music software. Dorico 6.2 is a free update that shows how much progress they’re making — before we look to the horizon and Dorico 7.

Peter Kirn - March 10, 2026