The best lesser-sung sounds of 2026 so far

It’s time for a sonic refill. David Abravanel is here with a full supply of lush arps, washes of sound, rapid-fire grooves — everything Appleblim to Posthuman to Vladislav Delay Quintet, Suzanne Ciani and a bunch more. Your mission: buy some downloads if you can spare the change, and load up some full-album listens in a player of your choice. And maybe turn off the world for a while. -Ed.

Lucid slices, stretches, and scrubs sound like no other granular FX

Talking granular effects is like talking ice cream — it’s all about the different flavors. So look at what Minimal Audio has given us: Lucid is a pulsing purple granular multi-effect. And it’s capable of everything from bleeding-edge and ambient drones to animated, tempo-synced rhythmic sliced mayhem. It’s in control when you want it — rhythmically, and in key — and totally extreme when you want that, too.

Peter Kirn - August 19, 2026

Organismi OR—1, free for iPad: breathing, stochastic pattern generator

OR—1 is an artful, generative MIDI sequencer maker. It’s free for iPad as an AUv3, with a desktop macOS version available for €19.99. And it’s an exquisite experience feeding these into synths.

Peter Kirn - August 18, 2026