CDM Create Digital Music

Free emulations of 80s Alesis MIDIVERB II, MicroVerb, in plug-in form

Peter Kirn — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:40 +0000

Beloved by digital reverb buffs and shoegaze aficionados, not one but two classic reverbs are now in unofficial plug-in emulations -- the MicroVerb and the MIDIVERB II. That includes the full range of MIDIVERB multi-effects, from gated reverbs to chorus and triggered flange, plus the grit and reverse of the Micro. Let's travel back to the hottest gear of the late 1980s, for free.

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

Peter Kirn — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 11:02:02 +0000

Soundtoys' Decapitator, Radiator, and Little Radiator (they're different!) each is capable of nuanced saturation, compression, drive, and tone for mix tasks. Or you can unleash bloody murder. So if you're in the need of a way to direct rage into sound for some reason -- we've got you.

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MSteppySnap for Ableton Live makes modulation playable, maleable

Peter Kirn — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 15:24:54 +0000

In a way, it's funny how complicated we make modulation. We wind up creating layers of envelopes and free-running oscillations just to get what we want. Tomavatars' MSteppySnap, once you grok its approach, is nothing like that. This is steppy snappy whooshy glorgy modulation you can play, capture, and trigger intuitively.

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Ableton has a rare flash sale with 25% off for a week, including upgrades

Peter Kirn — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 19:03:34 +0000

Ableton tends to discount its products only a couple of times a year, so this flash sale is worth noting. They're offering 25% off Live 12 Suite and Standard, upgrades, and all Packs, now through Wednesday, April 29. So if you've fallen behind on Live versions, or been eyeing those Max for Live Devices I'm constantly writing up, here's your chance. Let's refresh our brains on what's in the upgrades.

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Casio’s SXC-1 handheld sampler is packed with fun, coming to Japan

Peter Kirn — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:14:27 +0000

Memory may be vanishing, phones and laptops may be getting downgraded specs. But we're enjoying an unexpected renaissance of mobile samplers. And of all of these, Casio might pack the most fun into a single package. The SXC-1's Japanese preorder was announced and sold out this week, and with good reason: this looks like the most fun we've had with Casio since the 80s and 90s.

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Y’all want the new Boards of Canada so bad you crashed Warp’s server

Peter Kirn — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:47:05 +0000

May 29: that's the date Boards of Canada is back with Inferno. And you must be excited about it, because Bleep is down. But we have a dreamy faux-VHS tape to watch and hear, anyway.

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Rafael Anton Irisarri on the architecture of loneliness and the physics of sound

David Abravanel — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:58:53 +0000

For over two decades, Rafael Anton Irisarri has been carving out a space that exists somewhere between the tectonic weight of modern classical and the vaporous drift of ambient music. Whether recording under his own name or as The Sight Below, Irisarri’s work is characterized by a physical sense of scale – soundscapes that feel like they have weather systems and geological history.

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Zebra 3 is here, a sprawling semi-modular plug-in that runs deep

Peter Kirn — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:47:06 +0000

What if an integrated plug-in instrument could rival even full-blown modulars? That’s the question posed by u-he’s Zebra 3, out now at long last for macOS, Windows, and Linux. It’s unlikely any other soft synth takes on just this much synthesis territory, or with this much depth. From spline-based morphing oscillators to physical modeling and […]

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ImagePlot, “vintage” 2010s tool for image visualization, is back, free

Peter Kirn — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:20:12 +0000

"Gramps, tell us the story again!" Well, young'n, before LLMs and generative AI, we were really excited about making big clouds of dots using statistical techniques for visualization. And actually, it's still cool -- and runs free, locally, in your browser. Lev Manovich and team have brought back ImagePlot, and in a moment, it transforms any folder of images into a visualization.

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Absynth 6.1: Audio modulator, LFO retrigger, sound content, more

Peter Kirn — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 22:41:44 +0000

If you need an excuse to suit up for an extravehicular activity in the cosmos of sound, Absynth is back again. Native Instruments quietly dropped Absynth 6.1, with oft-requested LFO retrigger and undo/redo, plus a surprise: a new audio modulator.

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