CDM Create Digital Music

Kaximia on channeling aggression, soldering into survival; VCF giveaway

Kaximia — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 21:08:13 +0000

Behind the headlines, there is the reality of living through war. Our friend in Kyiv, Kaximia, (part of Tembra Modular, “Let’s explore modular synthesis”) is back to talk about how music can be an outlet. The past days and hours have been horrifying, from Tyre to Odesa, so I’m grateful to Kaximia for her reflections […]

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Unreal Engine 5.8 is a major audio release, despite Epic staffing cuts

Peter Kirn — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:04:27 +0000

Epic layoffs in March cut deep into the audio and music teams. But there's hope that their work will live on in Unreal Engine and MetaSounds, via what is arguably the most innovative sound work built into any game engine. Unreal Engine 5.8, now in preview, features a bunch of powerful tools for working with sound, one of the biggest sound releases yet. Here's a look at what's in that roadmap.

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Niseko is a gorgeous, instant must-have additive synth for Ableton Live

Peter Kirn — Fri, 29 May 2026 21:12:05 +0000

Forget any associations you may have with additive synthesis. Monomono's Niseko takes that harmonic content and makes it accessible and expressive, via the UI or an input (including Push and MPE).

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Microtonality is the big trend of the 16th century — ask Nicolà Vicentino

Peter Kirn — Thu, 28 May 2026 17:29:03 +0000

Kids today, with their 31 equal divisions of the octave. Yes, it's the music of Nicolà Vicentino, a Renaissance theorist and composer who built his own microtonal harpsichord to accommodate his experimental tunings. But it's not just a theoretical experiment: there is some connection to musical practice (even if Vicentino was basically making this up). Food for thought as we mess with digital tuning systems and microonality."

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monome at 20: memories of the grid, in pictures

Peter Kirn — Wed, 27 May 2026 22:48:07 +0000

Kelli Cain and Brian Crabtree are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their monome company and project this week. For anyone moved by their creations over the years, there will be no escape from the feels in this gallery -- and, of course, I couldn't resist adding some extra memories from that era.

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The joy of Splines, a module that can make anything from curves

Peter Kirn — Tue, 26 May 2026 17:13:25 +0000

It's an oscillator, a step sequencer, a modulation and envelope source, a quantizer (with custom tunings) -- even a scope, thanks to its interactive, animated visual interface. Thorn Audio's new Eurorack module can make anything from elegant, precise curves. It's more than just another do-everything module. Now you're playing with Splines.

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Let’s all watch Piaman cover songs with a joystick and voice synthesis

Peter Kirn — Mon, 25 May 2026 17:58:07 +0000

Piaman, aka half of RYOKO2000, formerly Pianoid (bio: "doesn't play piano at all") is turning himself into a human Vocaloid, with joysticks and fast reflexes. And this is what you need right now. Linkhole trail begins now:

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The best long weekend music gear deals you can get right now

Peter Kirn — Mon, 25 May 2026 16:43:41 +0000

It's Memorial Day in the USA, Whit Monday in Germany and other parts of the West, and since what's truly sacred is shopping, that means some deals running through the end of the day.

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Expressive E Osmose meets Elastic OSC; playing with MPE

Peter Kirn — Fri, 22 May 2026 12:19:32 +0000

There's something magical about playing sounds with polyphonic expression. It means translating sound ideas directly to your hands and improvising live, rather than having to go back and edit those ideas in later or take your hands off the keyboard to turn a knob. Here's a look at playing the presets I made for Elastic OSC using Expressive E's excellent Osmose keyboard.

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Korg woodland adventure: phase8 add-ons, Sinevibes DSP, and NTS mixer

Peter Kirn — Thu, 21 May 2026 15:19:21 +0000

Deep in the forest of Superbooth earlier this month, Korg showed off some up-and-coming gems, if you knew where to look. That included a compact NTS mixer, updated Sinevibes effects for Korg gear, and add-ons for the phase 8 "acoustic synthesizer," including effects you can 3D-print. I've done some digging on what it's about.

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