Tim Exile built an experimental modular system, all about playability

“Music production feels pointless now,” says Tim — but years after walking away from DAWs, he’s embraced instrument building. New Modular System is a patchable environment, constructed in Reaktor, that’s truly Exile-ish in philosophy. It’s not about a bunch of wire connections. You drop in colored modules and get straight to tweaking, generating, and playing — with wild, massively diverse results.

Native Instruments issues a statement; likely closer to acquisition

Native Instruments this morning issued a statement that its restructuring is moving along, including advancing insolvency proceedings and “an active M&A [mergers and acquisitions] process that is progressing well.” Translation for humans: there’s a good chance we’ll see NI acquired soon, and by some company or companies in the audio tech space.

Peter Kirn - March 19, 2026

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

What if you could drop in a bunch of stems and let a plug-in mix and master for you, subtly or to extremes, with no “AI” involved? That’s the latest idea from Tim Exile, and it’s produces such quick, varied results that it can serve as a one-click way to hear your mix creatively from a different angle. Just when everyone had forgotten about Instagram filters, we finally see their equivalent in music. And it’s a delight.

Peter Kirn - October 14, 2025

Tim Exile’s cancer recovery project is a generative, morphing groovebox

Peter Kirn - November 26, 2024

This free Reaktor granular instrument was born in a vintage synth studio

Peter Kirn - December 28, 2023

NYC: Explore modular free with Reaktor Blocks in this free workshop (and dinner after?)

Peter Kirn - June 1, 2022

Free modular patching how-to with Reaktor Blocks, live coding, TidalCycles, more

Peter Kirn - March 23, 2022

COLLIDZ° generates detailed ambient music, on its own or with a candy store worth of features

Peter Kirn - March 18, 2022

The best free tools for working with modular synthesis and music

Peter Kirn - December 7, 2021