Link Audio, now in Max, Pd, VCV Rack, TouchDesigner, oF, and plug-ins, free

Ableton Live 12.4 is inbound, with Link Audio support coming to Live, Move, Note, and Push. But Live Audio can also be about routing audio over a network to other hosts, too. Julien Bayle (VOID) has an early, open-source implementation. If you’re ready to start experimenting even while this API is still in alpha, you’ve got a wide variety of sound and visual tools to try, all for free.

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

Glitchy but driving broken beats are what’s for dinner. Hannover’s tilde (~) is a font of knowledge on topics from Pd/plugdata to Bitwig Studio Grid FX to mixing and mastering. And those skills translate to some genius grooves. Listen up to this full-power montage of all original music.

Peter Kirn - February 27, 2026

plugdata, cyclone get major updates — free stuff for patchers and end users

Recent updates for the visual programming environment plugdata (a wrapped for Pure Data) and the powerful object library cyclone are keeping the goodness going. Whether you’re looking to do patching and development in a graphical tool or just enjoy the free stuff people are making with Pd, that’s great news.

Peter Kirn - February 24, 2026

Cosmolab, open DSP development kit, in final hours of crowdfunding

Peter Kirn - January 29, 2026

Free Envion Deepscan turns your hard drive’s lost files into a soundscape

Peter Kirn - October 29, 2025

Envion: a free, open, algorithmic drum composition environment in Pd

Peter Kirn - October 24, 2025

plugdata 0.9.2 is huge update for this free sound exploration powerhouse

Peter Kirn - September 24, 2025

Nasko’s completely free N-IRIS is a spectrum disperser – why that’s cool

Peter Kirn - April 21, 2025

Three free spectral synths to try after the new Serum spectral oscillator

Peter Kirn - March 19, 2025