Producer & instrument designer Tim Exile has announced Modular, a new modular system, based on Reaktor 6, for Mac and Windows.
Here’s what he has to say about it:
“ Modular is one of the most creatively alive ways to make sound. The dialogue you get into with a patch — hearing what it wants, responding, shaping it back — is part of what makes it so good.
But there’s always been a gap between building a patch and performing with it. Once you’ve got dozens of interacting parameters, mapping them into something you can actually play in real time is a whole separate project. Flow breaks. You stop patching and start wiring up control schemes.
This system is designed to collapse that gap. Every instrument you build is playable the moment it exists. A controller module is the bridge: drop one in, and your instrument is instantly mapped to a keyboard, a hardware controller, or an automatic process that plays it for you. Swap controllers and the same sounds become a totally different instrument.
The goal is flow — one continuous creative state that runs from the first patch cable all the way to the live show.”
The intro video, embedded above, offers an in-depth overview of Modular.
Modular is available now, as a working prototype, for £49 (normally £69).
The Teenage Engineering OP-1 Field finally gets undo.
Without undo, recordings made in Tape Mode can’t be undone without scrubbing the whole thing.
The lack of undo wasn’t an accidental oversight on Teenage Engineering’s part, but an intentional design choice made to mirror the experience of recording at home with a four-track tape machine.
This week, Teenage Engineering hit an undo button of their own by undoing their decision not to add undo to the OP-1 Field. The instrument’s 1.7.0 firmware update finally brings the feature to OP-1 Field’s Tape Mode, giving users the ability to make (almost) as many mistakes as they please with seven stages of undo, and even throwing in redo for good measure. (To access undo and redo once you’ve updated, just hold the Tape button and hit the left and right arrows.)
“15 years ago, we didn’t add undo to the OP–1 tape. we wanted to stay true to the feeling of recording at home with your 4-track,” Teenage Engineering says on its website. “But to be honest, sometimes it’s nice to get a do-over. that’s why we are undoing what we did, we’re adding undo.”
The firmware 1.7.0 update also brings a number of additional features to the OP-1 Field, including expanded MIDI control, improved external sync, and a MIDI monitor that helpfully displays incoming MIDI and sync in real time.
The OP-1 Field owners will be rejoicing at their newfound ability to make mistakes.
Auxy unveils Svensson, a minimalist keyboard built for instant music-making.
Today, Auxy has announced the release of the Svensson 49. It’s a 49-key home digital keyboard designed with a focus on accessibility, simplicity and ease-of-use, equipped with a built-in speaker and a semi-weighted, velocity-sensitive Fatar TP/9S keybed.
Auxy partnered with Cuckoo on the development of Svensson, a well-known YouTuber in the world of music technology. Cuckoo was the lead sound designer responsible for creating Svensson’s bank of around 100 presets, which are divided into four categories: Drums, Bass, Bread and Butter.
The first two are self-explanatory, and the other two cover everything else that falls outside of those categories: keys, leads, pads, plucks, organs and more, spanning both acoustic and electronic sources. Svensson’s sounds have a distinctly organic and expressive quality, with a touch more personality and character than the presets you’ll find in the average home keyboard; it’s clear that a lot of love went into designing these.
Developed in-house by Auxy, Svensson’s polyphonic sound engine uses a combination of samples and wavetables. Each sound has three macro controls – Tone, Mood and Shape – and each macro has been customized to offer a tailored variation on each sound, dialling in effects on an independent per-preset effects chain covering reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, compression, EQ, and various styles of distortion and saturation.
Svensson is equipped with a multi-track MIDI looper that can play four different sounds at the same time, and each of those sounds can be looped in multiple layers, with no limit on length. There’s a metronome onboard, a tempo control, and the looper has smart quantization that can be turned off.
Loops can be stored on Svensson to revisit later, and you can trigger loops from its memory via the keyboard.
Cuckoo Demonstrates Svenson 49 Walkthrough Video Below:
Svensson’s looper is triggered when you start playing, and can be used to go back and retrieve ideas you just played without hitting record.
On the hardware side, Svensson 49 is a sturdy instrument, with a metal chassis and solid oak sides, and the interface is clean, stylish and uncluttered, in keeping with the theme of accessibility. Auxy says that particular attention was paid to the design of the speaker, crafted by Swedish speaker guru Ingvar Öhman, which is “surprisingly loud” and benefits from a bass port on the instrument’s rear.
Connectivity includes two ¼” line outputs, a 3.5mm headphone output, and a sustain pedal jack, along with USB-A and USB-C for power.
Svensson is currently in pre-production, and preorders for a first limited batch will start soon, with shipping set for early fall 2026. While a final price hasn’t yet been determined, it’s expected to be around €899/$999.
“We struggled to find products that combine ease of use, inspiring features, and a quality build,” said Auxy’s Henrik Lenberg. “There are some great digital pianos out there, but we wanted something with more playful features, a broader range of sounds, a smaller form factor, and a design that feels at home in your living room.
“We wanted to make a great instrument for playing at home. Something that invites you to play and create in the moment. No need to read the manual or connect other gear. No menus to dive through. No modes to get stuck in. Just play, loop, and explore your musical ideas.
“A lot of music technology has been shaped around the idea that everyone can be a producer and make tracks for an audience. That’s great, but I think we’re moving in a direction where more people want to take part in music again, not only as listeners. People want to play to have fun, to be present, to learn, or to connect with others. Svensson was made for that.”
