Synthesist and composer Anthony Marinelli shared this video, a collaboration with Joe Patitucci of PlantWave, that explores modular improvisation along with sounds triggered through sonification of plants’ electrical conductivity.
PlantWave is a device that connects to a plant’s leaves and measures changes in electrical conductivity. Those fluctuations are translated into MIDI data, which are translated into musical notes, rhythms, and patterns. It’s more sonification of signals you would not normally be aware of, than the plant ‘playing’ music.
Here’s what Marinelli has to say about it:
“In this special session, I’m improvising on the legendary 1969 Moog IIIc “Plantasia” Modular Synthesizer—the same model used on Mort Garson’s Mother Earth’s Plantasia—along with my Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave, while the plants themselves generate melodies through PlantWave.
As PlantWave transforms real-time electrical signals from the plants into beautiful, evolving musical patterns, I’m tuning in, responding, and improvising on the Moog IIIc and 3rd Wave—matching their phrases with my own melodies and rhythms. Every moment emerges organically, completely unique, and impossible to recreate the same way twice.
This is a rare combination of vintage analog synthesis, modern wavetable power, plant-generated musical data, and real-time human improvisation. I hope you enjoy this unique collaboration between nature and machines.”
The video, via Kosmokatze, offers a modern take on the Novation Nova Desktop, a virtual analog synthesizer, introduced in 1999.
This video looks at the Nova Desktop’s sound engine, workflow, modulation depth, strengths, limitations, and how it compares to other late-90s virtual analog classics.
Topics covered:
00:00 Intro
01:00 History & Context
02:00 Soundengine
03:13 Core Sound Demos
04:50 Effects
05:20 Arpeggiator
06:35 Musical Context & Sound Demos
07:30 Key Era Sound // Doublesaw
08:39 Nova – The better JP8000?
10:00 Performance Mode Trance
11:15 Verdict
11:50 Buy or leave?
If you’ve used the Novation Nova Desktop, share your thoughts on it in the comments!
Image-Line has announced the public beta launch of FL Studio Web, a browser-based version of its flagship DAW FL Studio that the company is describing as a “frictionless music experience”.
Image-Line has confirmed that the browser-based DAW will be compatible with FL Studio, so projects can be started off in the browser and finished off on the desktop app, and it’ll also offer access to FL Cloud content and native FL Studio plugins.
Image-Line says that the launch of FL Studio Web is intended to make the DAW more accessible for new users starting their journey into music production, and beginners will be able to take advantage of an interactive step-by-step guide to help them begin “making music in minutes”.
Here’s an example of FL Studio Web in action, via Busy Works Beats:
Here’s what Image-Line has shared for answers to common questions:
FL Studio Web Frequently Asked Questions:
Who is FL Studio Web for?– FL Studio Web is designed for people getting started in music production. It’s for those curious to try making something without installing complex software. Consequently, FL Studio Web and its plugin library focuses on the essentials – so new users can learn quickly and start producing with minimum downtime. When they are ready to step, there’s FL Studio for macOS and Windows. On that note …
Are projects compatible with FL Studio? – Yes. We see FL Studio desktop as the next step for those who want to move to a fully featured music production environment. To facilitate that transfer, FL Studio Web projects show in the FL Studio 2025.2 (and later) Browser under the ‘My FL Studio Web Projects’ folder. They are .flp files and you can open them just as you would any locally made project.
Are FL Studio Desktop projects compatible with FL Studio Web? – No. Moving projects from FL Studio Desktop to Web is not currently supported, because FL Studio Desktop supports a range of features and plugins that don’t exist on FL Studio Web. We will see what can be done here in future.
What about FL Studio and FL Studio Mobile? – FL Studio Web is built for the browser – designed to complement, not replace, our Desktop and Mobile apps. Each platform plays a distinct role in our music production ecosystem. Our promise remains: FL Studio Desktop will continue to receive Lifetime Free Updates. FL Studio Mobile remains our flagship for Android and iOS phones. FL Studio Web, by contrast, is optimized for larger screens – desktop computers or large tablets – not smaller mobile devices.
What browser can I use? – FL Studio Web works best in Google Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers (such as Edge or Brave). Non-Chromium browsers may experience issues.
Will we be able to save FL Studio Desktop projects to the cloud? – We plan to include this feature with FL Studio 2026. Allowing users to save desktop projects (and their content) to the cloud so you can more easily transfer them between installations.
Is FL Studio Web taking attention away from FL Studio (Desktop & Mobile) development? – Each product is developed by an independent team. Some coordination is needed for cross-application features, but this doesn’t slow down Desktop or Mobile development in any significant way. There are also spin-off benefits – FL Studio Slicer 2 (FL Studio 20205.2) was made for FL Studio Web and ported to Desktop. Similarly, in FL Studio, the work done to load FL Studio Web projects from the cloud, is also necessary work for FL Studio desktop online project archive and sharing. We expect a stream of plugins, tools and features developed for FL Studio Web to make their way into FL Studio Mobile and FL Studio Desktop. In short, expect more of everything, not less.
Image-Line says that they plan to open it up to FL Studio customers after the beta testing period is complete.
