Music
Download a book on Dutch electronic music history, Philips and beyond, free
Kees Tazelaar’s On the Threshold of Beauty is a wonderful plunge into the history of electronic music in the Netherlands, 1925-1965, including the Philips Pavilion and the World’s Fair, but a whole lot more. It’s free to download now — the perfect beach book if you’re a total nerd. (Welcome home.)
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Live out your Xenakis fantasies, free in your browser, with SonicSketch
JeongHo Park, a self-described “algorithmic composer” and artist, is building a delightful instrument that turns images into scores with full drawing capability for making paths. Inspired by the likes of Xenakis’ UPIC, the tool gives you instantly mind-bending results, living in that netherworld between synthesizer and score.
Peter Kirn - February 9, 2026
DIY + Unusual Music Music tech Software Tech Web
Envion: a free, open, algorithmic drum composition environment in Pd
It all starts with the envelope, so that even a few milliseconds of sound can generate “thousands of sonic trajectories.” Built entirely in the free, open-source Pure Data, Envion is a deep compositional playground. You can think of it like an algorithmic drum machine. Emiliano Pennisi shares his creation with us.
Peter Kirn - October 24, 2025
DIY + Unusual Music tech Software Tech
Fluss: Hainbach and Bram Bos teamed up on an iOS granular app, and it’s an instant gem
Peter Kirn - December 5, 2022
Apps iOS Music tech Reviews Tech
Free plug-ins: Finding beauty in the Emergence granular effect for Mac and Windows
Peter Kirn - February 7, 2022
Music tech Reviews Software Tech
Free book traces the revolutionary link of graphic to sound, in Xenakis, UPIC, and legacy
Peter Kirn - April 17, 2020
DIY + Unusual Motion Music Stories Tech
Sloo is the maddest, most swarming soft synth you’ve ever heard
Peter Kirn - March 10, 2017
Stories
