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.

VDMX 6.3 adds expressions, plugin templates to beloved Mac visual tool

Here’s another live visual icon with some welcome updates. Vidvox promised lots of quality-of-life refinements with VDMX6 as a platform, and VDMX6.3 adds just that. So it’s a good excuse to mention VDMX again, in case you’d tuned out for a bit.

Peter Kirn - July 21, 2026

Zebra 3 is here, a sprawling semi-modular plug-in that runs deep

What if an integrated plug-in instrument could rival even full-blown modulars? That’s the question posed by u-he’s Zebra 3, out now at long last for macOS, Windows, and Linux. It’s unlikely any other soft synth takes on just this much synthesis territory, or with this much depth. From spline-based morphing oscillators to physical modeling and […]

Peter Kirn - April 21, 2026

Generative analog: Cyma Forma’s Alt soundscape synth takes shape

Peter Kirn - November 17, 2025

KORG’s 1995 Trinity, 1977 PS-3300, SGX-2 piano now in software

Peter Kirn - October 28, 2025

GForce just made a West Coast, MPE-playable synth playground

Peter Kirn - October 28, 2025

Bastl Instruments’ budget, handheld boxes are pure magic; new videos

Peter Kirn - May 12, 2025

Nitecaller has made a gorgeous analog reimagining of ARP 2600, Odyssey

Peter Kirn - March 11, 2025

Solderbox, a semi-modular dream app from Jakob Haq and Bram Bos

Peter Kirn - December 10, 2024