Stemwire offers Zero Sweep Filter and Subkeeper Saturator for FREE
Stemwire has released Zero Sweep Filter and Subkeeper Saturator, two freeware effects for macOS and Windows. I love the minimal design of these plugins. White on black looks clean, and I think it fits the general idea behind these plugins because they both address a specific production problem without adding a bunch of controls you [...]
View post: Stemwire offers Zero Sweep Filter and Subkeeper Saturator for FREE

dBdone releases Feuer, a FREE drum loop mangler that surprised me
dBdone has released Feuer, a free creative drum-processing plugin for macOS and Windows that’s a lot more fun than I anticipated. We recently covered dBdone Glas, a free spectral chaos plugin for turning pads, synths, and vocals into glassy textures. Feuer is somewhat similar, but aimed at drums, percussion, breaks, and rhythmic loops. Anyway, based [...]
View post: dBdone releases Feuer, a FREE drum loop mangler that surprised me

Minimal Audio release Lucid Described as “your dream granular effect”, Minimal Audio’s latest creation is capable of turning any sound into a musical texture or rhythmic effect, with the results always staying locked to the user’s chosen key and tempo. 

StemDeck is a FREE open-source local stem splitter
Solo developer Thales Pereira has released StemDeck, a free and open-source stem separation tool for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Thales says he built StemDeck to help his kid practice drums, after wanting a way to pull stems without paying a subscription or uploading music to someone else’s server. We’ve covered a few stem tools over [...]
View post: StemDeck is a FREE open-source local stem splitter

CarbonDSP TextureTexture turns any sample into a playable instrument: finds a seamless loop in your source, then plays a drifting granular cloud key tracked across the whole key range. Three layers, a reorderable FX rack, 36 modulation sources into 198 destinations, and an offline render that bounces the result to a loop-ready WAV. SPOTLIGHT Texture is built on one idea: a sample should not stay a sample. Give it a field recording, a guitar take, a synth pad or thirty seconds of someone talking, and it finds a seamless loop inside that audio automatically, then plays it back as a cloud of overlapping grains that drifts, spreads and evolves while you hold a chord. The source stops being a fixed recording and becomes an instrument you can play across the full keyrange. The sound is the point. The granular engine is not a simple loop-slicer -- grain size, density, position, spray, drift rate and depth, stereo spread and keytrack are all continuous and all modulatable, and every grain is spawned with its own jitter in pitch, gain, onset timing and playback direction. Onset jitter in particular breaks up the periodic spawn grid that gives cheap granular engines their characteristic buzz. Each grain runs through its own filter -- a morphing low-pass/band-pass/high-pass, a diode ladder, or a Moog-style ladder -- with anti-derivative antialiased drive, so pushing it hard adds harmonics instead of aliasing. Behind the cloud sits a full effects section. A reorderable rack runs Filter, Gate, Delay and Reverb in whatever order you drag them into, followed by a fixed post-rack pair -- a Karplus-style string resonator and a tempo-synced slice sequencer -- and an 8-band parametric EQ. The reverb offers six algorithms including a shimmer with real pitch-shifted feedback, and an "Air" mode for very long tails. The filter block is three independent bands with thirteen types each, from ordinary 12/24 dB slopes through ladder, comb and formant, running in parallel or in series. Modulation is where it scales. Thirty-six sources -- four LFOs, four ADSR envelopes, eight macros, the rhythmic gate, MIDI performance controls, five generative sources (chaos, Euclidean, locked random, ratchet, probability) and four audio-reactive sources that analyse Texture's own output - route into 198 destinations across sixteen slots, with per-slot depth, response curve and layer targeting. The matrix can modulate itself: an envelope can open a macro that sweeps an LFO's rate. Any control can be assigned by right-clicking it, from either end of the routing. The rhythmic gate is a proper sixteen-step sequencer rather than a tremolo: per-step level, plus per-step accent and tie, so a pattern can phrase rather than simply chop. And when you have built something you want to keep, the RENDER page bounces the entire live patch offline to a tempo-synced, loop-ready WAV or AIFF with loop points and ACID metadata embedded -- one note, or a batch across the keyboard -- so your texture can leave as a sample and go straight into anything else. Key Features: Automatic seamless looping - point Texture at any audio and it finds the best loop internally, with an editable crossfade, so a sustained cloud never clicks or reveals its loop point. Three independent sample layers - up to 30 seconds each, with per-layer key zones, gain, monoand reverse -- stack three sources into one instrument, or split them across the keyboard. Live sampling - capture straight from the input bus in the plugin or the standalone app, with noround trip through a file. Granular engine with per-grain character - size, density, position, spray, drift, spread and keytrack, plus per-grain pitch jitter, gain jitter, onset jitter and reverse probability, and four selectable grain window shapes. Per-grain filter - Three characters (morphing, diode ladder, Moog ladder) and a live response graph you can drag, and anti-aliased drive. Reorderable FX rack - Filter, Gate, Delay and Reverb, dragged into whatever order the sound needs followed by a string resonator, a slice sequencer and an 8-band parametric EQ. Six reverb algorithms - Room, Hall, Plate, Shimmer, Air and TextureVerb -- an 8-line feedback delay network with real pitch-shifted shimmer feedback, not a chorused approximation. Three-band multimode filter - 13 types per band (12/24 dB low/high pass, band, notch, peak, shelves, allpass, ladder, comb, formant), parallel or series, with draggable response nodes. Sixteen-step rhythmic gate - Per-step level, accent and tie, swing, per-step decay, and 1/4 to 1/32 rates locked to host tempo. Modulation matrix - 36 sources into 198 destinations across 16 slots, with response curves, bipolar depth, per-layer targeting and self-modulation. Right-click any control to assign it. Generative and audio-reactive modulation - chaos, Euclidean gates, locked random, ratchets and probability gates, plus threshold, transient, sidechain and pitch-follower sources driven by Texture's own signal. Offline patch render - bounce the whole live patch to a tempo-synced, loop-ready WAV or AIFF with embedded loop points and ACID metadata -- single note or multi-note batch, with bit depth, sample rate and mono options. Five-page interface - Source, Grain, FX, Mod, Output -- with a per-page user guide built into the plugin, and a resizable window. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Format: VST3, Standalone. Platform: Windows, 64-bit. Host: Any VST3-compatible DAW, or the included standalone application. Validation: Verified against pluginval at strictness level 10. MacOS: In progress. PRICE: $79 when released. VST is a registered trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. Read More

Focusrite extend Control 2 support Focusrite have just launched an update that extends Control 2 software support their Scarlett 3rd Gen, Clarett+, Clarett USB and select Scarlett 2nd Gen USB audio interfaces

FrozenPlain updates Floe, its FREE sample library player
FrozenPlain has released Floe 2.0, a major update to its free and open-source sample library player for Windows, macOS, and Linux. We covered Floe in beta last year, when it was already looking like a more modern successor to FrozenPlain’s older Mirage engine. Version 2.0 feels like a big update, and it’s worth checking out [...]
View post: FrozenPlain updates Floe, its FREE sample library player

Panoramic from Panorama Labs Created after years of creating custom processing chains, experimenting with different routing options and creating a number of experimental processors, Panoramic provide users with detailed control over a track's stereo image, but without relying on any delay or phase-based processes that harm mono compatibility.

ProWave Audio GainStageAll You Need Is Just a Volume An all-in-one gain-staging plugin for your channel strip. One module combining: -Gain control: precise level adjustment -Phase rotation: align phase cleanly -High-pass filter: clean up unwanted low end An essential tool to prep your signal before it hits the rest of the chain. Also perfect for post-automation tweaks! Already wrote your volume automation but just need to nudge it a few dB up or down? Drop this on top instead of touching the automation itself. Looks as good as it sounds: a clean analog-style interface that's a pleasure to look at while you work. Format: VST3, AU Great for: mix engineers, producers, anyone who wants fast, clean gain-staging. Read More

1010music update the Bluebox Available for both the standard desktop version and the Eurorack Edition of the device, the latest Bluebox firmware includes an array of user-requested functionality.

Melbourne Instruments introduce 10-year motor warranty Melbourne Instruments have just revealed that the motorised pot system used in their synths and MIDI controller is now covered by an extended 10-year warranty.

Sweet Audio Scintillate is the FREE KVR Developer Challenge 2026 winner
Sweet Audio has recently released Scintillate, a free spectral reverb plugin for macOS and Windows. Scintillate is also the winner of the KVR Developer Challenge 2026, which is a pretty strong recommendation on its own. We covered the KVR Developer Challenge 26 when it launched, and James also looked at some of the free synths [...]
View post: Sweet Audio Scintillate is the FREE KVR Developer Challenge 2026 winner

Pro2Max releases Unirock HumStrat, a FREE 1.7 GB electric guitar plugin
Pro2Max has released Unirock HumStrat, a free HSS electric guitar virtual instrument for Windows. HumStrat is available as a VST3 plugin and a standalone application. The important detail is that this is not a lite edition or teaser version of a larger instrument. The complete instrument is free, with no paid upgrade or feature-restricted tier [...]
View post: Pro2Max releases Unirock HumStrat, a FREE 1.7 GB electric guitar plugin

Foundations Music Academy offers private music lessons in Ohio
Foundations Music Academy offers private music lessons and group classes for students of all ages at four Central Ohio locations: Powell, Lewis Center, Hilliard, and Dublin. We have covered online learning tools before, and apps can be useful for a convenient way to start learning piano or music theory at home. But there is still [...]
View post: Foundations Music Academy offers private music lessons in Ohio

Audio Assault offers Carntens Greys amp sim FREE for a limited time
Audio Assault is offering Carntens Greys, a premium guitar amp module for Amp Locker, as a free download for a limited time. Please note that this is not a standalone amp plugin. Carntens Greys requires Amp Locker, Audio Assault’s amp-sim platform, which lets you load the company’s guitar amp models, cabinets, pedals, and rack effects. [...]
View post: Audio Assault offers Carntens Greys amp sim FREE for a limited time