Turn up Jaymie Silk’s 2-volume Reclaim the Music and Transform Ur Mind

Jaymie Silk just dropped volume 2 of Reclaim the Music, his spontaneous summer all-hardware bangers. It’s hard-hitting oldschool techno, it’s got that 90s sound (especially thanks to a vintage compressor), and it also has explosions of percussion that are true to African roots. “909, 808, percussions, groove.” You should check his calls to activism, too.

Free: 4ms VCV Rack ROMplers put gobs of drums under voltage control

The library for the free and open source VCV Rack has been on fire lately. But this one is a standout: 4ms has a sprawling library of ROMpler modules based on classic drum-machine samples. And don’t let the “ROMpler” part fool you: those samples are ready for full voltage control.

Peter Kirn - May 19, 2026

Play together with Ableton Live: how Circle of Live sets up for improvisation

“It’s okay to not have a plan — it’s okay to just jump and see what happens”: Circle of Live is an event that brings together artists for spontaneous improvised performance. Ableton filmed Clark, Rival Consoles, Sebastian Mullaert, and the organizers at a recent event. Here’s what we can learn from how they work (plus some more Circle of Live selections).

Peter Kirn - May 4, 2026

SP-404MKII side chain compression; #404day videos

Peter Kirn - April 4, 2026

Michigan Synth Works has an open-source 303 processor and a new kit

Peter Kirn - March 3, 2026

On 303 Day, acid bassline love abounds, and some freebies, too

Peter Kirn - March 3, 2026

Best of show: walk NAMM with us in a gear-mas gallery

Peter Kirn - February 3, 2026

CR-78, more BOSS pedals: Roland adds more software for this Mad World

Peter Kirn - January 21, 2026

Autodafe has an explainer on getting JE-8086 up and running

Peter Kirn - December 31, 2025