D16 PunchBox 2 is a surprisingly deep sequel to the brutal kick plug-in classic

D16’s kick plug-in PunchBox was already a legendary drum weapons development laboratory, full of layers of crunchy, cruel, wonderful sounds. The Polish developer isn’t messing with that formula, but they’ve packed more than just a few extras into the long-awaited V2 update. It’s just in time for us to work out any aggression with kicks.

Noiseferatu: open-source, 45 algorithms, like a KAOSS Pad from Hell

Sleepwalking? Unexplained seizures? Neighbors have a rodent and plague problem? Don’t worry, and don’t be spooked by what some nuns told you! You just need the handheld, open-source Scaepe – Noiseferatu DIY kit!

Peter Kirn - June 23, 2026

Incline, “toposonic corpus explorer,” transforms granular synthesis

Imagine granular synthesis, taken in entirely different dimensions. That’s Incline — Cristian Vogel’s cross-bred mixture of microsound and machine learning segmentation. It explodes sounds into a highly configurable topography, then applies precise envelopes, with unique rhythmic and textural results. Here’s how to explore those strange new worlds.

Peter Kirn - March 30, 2026

Squiggy’s WaveTracker: open-source tracker – and other free tools

Peter Kirn - September 5, 2024

Liquid Sky d-vices V4CO & GLITHc: deep, glitchy, bendable wavetables

Peter Kirn - March 25, 2024

New in Arturia Pigments 4 soft synth: UI, tuning, modulation, effects, filters, engines, sounds

Peter Kirn - December 13, 2022

Review: nanobox adds palm-sized synthesis to 1010music’s cute gear line

Andreas Roman - January 28, 2022

Afrorack is back with cheap DIY modules, from African percussion to MS-20 filters

Peter Kirn - September 21, 2021

Sequential’s Pro 3 gets new wavetables from some wild sources, and patch morphing

Peter Kirn - July 9, 2021