CDM Create Digital Music

Scales among updates to the free Ardour DAW — with tuning on the way

Peter Kirn — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 11:39:51 +0000

Ardour 9.8 continues the rapid, detailed development of this free and open-source DAW, with improved session recovery and clip recording, expanded support for controllers and hardware, and an arpeggiator MIDI tool. The 9.8 update also adds scales and keys, but with a twist: unlike competing software, scales/modes will soon be tuning-aware.

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Throng, a 3D BlueSky interface, imagines social media as a mob

Peter Kirn — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 22:09:27 +0000

You're just relaxing by a peaceful campfire. You hear voices in the distance. Then, like a really chatty zombie invasion... they come. And keep coming. It's a 3D user interface for BlueSky, but it says something poetic -- and hilarious -- about the absurdity of social media.

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Loraine James has a new LP, it’s a free download, and it’s raw brilliance

Peter Kirn — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 17:47:29 +0000

"U Get Me"? Yes. Out today, Friday, Loraine James' newest LP It’s Nothing Personal. is the kind of massive, glitchy percussive syncopation I would want to use to break in an excellent, brand new pair of trainers. Then comes deep bass, explosive rhythm, and heart-skipping vocals. ("Oi!")

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In masses of live electronic sound, Jad Atoui built an opus

Peter Kirn — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 16:02:55 +0000

It Will Take Forever moves through emotions in swells, as if pulling us through feelings. Composed and played live on modular synths from 2023 to 2025 in Beirut, Jad Atoui's work almost sings grief through those electronics, in a world being ripped apart. Behind it, club-sized sub-bass impact rumbles like our own bodies. There's now a video by Ralf Moussa, as well.

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Audacity 4, free and open-source audio editor, arrives with a revamped UI

Peter Kirn — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:44:40 +0000

It's been a long time coming. Audacity, the ubiquitous open-source audio editor now owned by Muse Group, reaches version 4 with a reworked UI and enhanced usability. Here's a look at what's new and a first run. And there is one fork to consider, too.

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Septabee, an insane-looking free Linux/Windows DAW with pomegranates

Peter Kirn — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:16:33 +0000

Suddenly, a bunch of the producers I follow are buzzing about the music-mangling possibilities of Septabee, a free DAW for Linux and Windows developed "in secret" over "20,000 hours." And it looks like insane fun: a bonkers dataflow interface and "violently unfinished" early-access software available through an intentionally broken website that autoplays music and makes you hunt for the click zone like it's 1994.

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Nuclear test equipment inspired this new Eurorack module

Peter Kirn — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 19:03:01 +0000

Boxcar averagers, used in vintage nuclear test equipment, inspired the latest creation from AI Synthesis. What you get is the AI250 BXR: it's an oscillator, a voltage generator, and an audio mangler all in one. And it's a pathway into DIY modules, even on tight budgets.

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A patchable solar-powered synth with a speaker; birds, hot dogs, and more

Peter Kirn — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 13:26:40 +0000

What a strange and wonderful bird this is: the Forever Grouse from MONAD comes with its own loudspeaker, banana plugs for patching, and solar panels for power. But maybe you'd rather watch a film about a heron. Or music with some hot dogs. Or set fire to electronics under an interstate overpass. Come along.

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Elastic Melody now does bass and DFAM-style percussion, too (Mac, iOS)

Peter Kirn — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:50:09 +0000

Elastic Melody was already a go-to melody generator for Mac, iPad, and iPhone, with an internal synth engine inspired by the brilliant Dave Smith Evolver and the ability to output to other apps or hardware gear. Now it gains new Pitch and Filter Drive modes, so it can also be your bassline maker and percussion source.

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Patience, module from Olivia Artz, scales modulation from seconds to decades

Peter Kirn — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 21:52:15 +0000

Following the success of Time Machine, Olivia Artz has a new idea for playing with temporality in Eurorack modular. Patience is a "lowest" frequency oscillator, setting duration in seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years ... or decades. It's just launched on Kickstarter.

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