Ableton Live 13 hands-on: ARA 2, Drum Synth, new effects, more

Ableton Live 13 is now in limited public beta. That includes a lot of what you’ve asked for, like multi-band Racks, overhauled preset navigation, and ARA 2 support for tools like Melodyne. And it’s packed with new goodies: a very Ableton step sequencer, a multi-engine Drum Synth with some nice twists, new effects, a new ambient looper, and more. Also, I know some of you will like this: no mention of AI. It’s like we just get to talk about music-making tools again.

Inside NI Absynth 6.2 and its updated workflows for exploring sound

This month, Absynth got two updates that refine its UI and editing navigation, freeing you up to shape your sound. Product designer Hannah Lockwood and Absynth creator Brian Clevinger join us to talk about the work they did on that. I already knew Hannah and Brian were really passionate about their craft, so let’s get our tour from the source — and dive into more Absynth sonic frontiers.

Peter Kirn - October 27, 2026

Roland TR-1000 1.5: keyboard mode, seamless kit switching, more

Roland has one more announcement — a 1.5 update for its flagship TR-1000 drum machine. That includes note sequencing, a must-requested keyboard mode for playing bass and melodic parts on the gear, the ability to swap patterns and kits with effects on without a hitch, and a lot of tweaks and UI improvements.

Peter Kirn - October 22, 2026

Elgato’s Stream Deck as a DAW companion; new Reaper controller

Peter Kirn - September 15, 2026

Expressive E Osmose meets Elastic OSC; playing with MPE

Peter Kirn - May 22, 2026

Akai update makes the MPC Sample a satellite to the rest of the MPC line

Peter Kirn - April 30, 2026

Play together with Ableton Live, pt. 2: playing in time

Peter Kirn - April 28, 2026

Spring cleaning: free up space by deleting duplicate plug-ins

Peter Kirn - April 27, 2026

Every kind of sonic mayhem: Soundtoys Decapitator, Radiator, Devil-Loc

Peter Kirn - April 27, 2026