Ardour 9.2, free and open DAW, grants user wishes — Region FX, anyone?

If you haven’t tried Ardour in a while — or if you’re new to the idea that a DAW could be free and open source — you might be surprised. Major updates and a lot of listening to users means you don’t have to sacrifice features like clip recording and editing (including looping), piano roll windows, and more. Plus you get things a lot of tools can’t do, like region effects. Ardour is worth downloading on macOS, Windows, or Linux — any of them.

Yep, Akai has a honkin’ huge new flagship MPC XL — gallery

It leaked, you saw it — it’s real, it’s huge. In addition to its recent MPC Live III, Akai has a big mama standalone called the MPC XL with more dedicated controls and a big 10.1” display — but mostly the same innards. Let’s explain.

Peter Kirn - January 20, 2026

LANDR acquires Reason Studios; takeaways from that announcement

LANDR, the AI-powered music platform, has acquired Reason Studios. That pairs Reason with the Montreal-based platform for mastering and distribution, and LANDR subsidiary SynchroArts (makers of VocAlign and Revoice Pro).

Peter Kirn - January 6, 2026