CDM Create Digital Music

Ableton quietly launched Learn, powered by the engine from Note, Move

Peter Kirn — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 13:57:05 +0000

School's out for summer. But Ableton's getting ready for back-to-school, soft-launching Ableton Learn with lessons for starting from the beginning with music and production. And there's a twist: its interactive features are powered by the same engine that Ableton Move and Note use.

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Audio Damage ShinRonin, now free, is a throwback to 2003 plug-in design

Peter Kirn — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:14:36 +0000

You wake up. It’s the year 2003. Some upstart software developer called Audio Damage wants to let you patch a combo filter-delay however you like, including ways that will break your ears. Ronin is reborn as ShinRonin, from a time when software developers let you run with scissors and do strange things. This is one […]

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It’s a terrible time to buy memory, but a great time to buy synths

Peter Kirn — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 17:51:03 +0000

Yeah, it's time for July-full moon in Capricorn-GAS shopping guide round-up. Ramageddon may have come for your game consoles and computers, but for now, your synths and drum machines and software have some discounts! Phew.

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Download a book on Dutch electronic music history, Philips and beyond, free

Peter Kirn — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 17:51:00 +0000

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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iZotope is now joining founder-owned AV software house Boris FX

Peter Kirn — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:48:01 +0000

iZotope is now coming to rest post-Native Instruments as the music software maker is acquired by Boris FX. And when they say founder-owned, they mean it: the guy's name is actually Boris (Yamnitsky). The pairing frankly makes more sense than either NI/Soundwide or inMusic. It makes Boris FX the most interesting software house to watch right now. Here's why.

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Sinevibes Quarta: 10 FX, 4 zones on the pocket-sized NTS-3 kaoss pad

Peter Kirn — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 09:37:26 +0000

Korg's NTS-3 is an absolute joy -- a cute, pocket-sized, inexpensive kit that you can load up with custom effects. But that gets even more interesting once you add Sinevibes' library of effects. And now you get one especially created for the X/Y pad. I've been testing a prerelease build, and this is a return to everything that I love about kaoss. And oops -- here's the perfect pocket live/DJ effect.

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Blackmagic and Final Cut camera apps for iOS quietly added HDMI out, more

Peter Kirn — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 15:36:52 +0000

Using your iPhone (or iPad) as a camera continues to get easier and more flexible. Blackmagic Camera and Apple's own Final Cut Camera each got significant updates recently. Apple wins here either way, but the Blackmagic app in particular opens up a lot of options, including with an optional dock. Full-quality codecs and live HDMI output are suddenly the norm. Let's have a look.

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Jordan GCZ, Mei Honeycomb, magic synths, and the jazz/techno divide

David Abravanel — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 15:53:15 +0000

Timed with the release of Clairvoyant Dimensions, his new album with saxophonist Jeff Hollie, the JuJu & Jordash and Magic Mountain High mainstay talked at length about pressing record and jamming, the lesser-known synths behind the album’s shimmer, and the hilarious origin of the group’s name.

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Amiga Lagoon and the enduring power of marine aquarium screen savers

Peter Kirn — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:57:37 +0000

Long before anyone was teetotaling screen time like it was some kind of vice, we once stared into our displays for no reason at all, as long as possible. Friends, I'm here to tell you that that dream is alive, and everything from your latest smartphone to computer to flat panel TV can again come to life as a virtual undersea world. And for aquarium love, no one compares to computer artist Jim Sachs.

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

Peter Kirn — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 12:51:55 +0000

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.

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