It’s simply stunning some of the terrific instrument and effect plug-ins available that are now free and open source – yes, free as in freedom, not just freeware. I had commented in the past something along the lines of, “boy, wouldn’t it be great if this now meant, say, a Linux port?” and then went on the business of my daily life, which tends not to include re-compiling plug-ins. But now, the folks of JUCETICE have been busy doing just that, serving up delicious instrument and effect goodness, running native on Linux.

Translation: fire up that netbook and make some music.

Following up on our tutorial on Ardour and netbook-optimized music competition with Renoise and Indamixx, here’s what you need to get rolling.

Very often, computers and music gear greedily consume whole corners of the room. Here’s a tidy alternative, modest in space consumption as well as in cost.

So, what’s so wonderful about DIY creations by our friend Sasa Djuric (aka fibra)? It isn’t just that his stands are recycled from monitor stand parts. It’s not just because the free ReBirth for Windows and an Asus netbook make for a wonderfully affordable computer music station. It’s not even that his cases for the x0xb0x 303 clone and a MIDIbox project are beautifully executed, or that magnets on the stands more effectively support those gadgets and place them in an ergonomic position.

What’s wonderful to me is that these designs relate the scale of those music-making objects to human hands. You just want to put your fingers on these devices and make some music.

The NAMM show brought a cluster of new soft synths from some beloved synth makers. The interfaces are noticeably conventional, but there are some tasty sonic features in store. Most of these are promised as “coming soon,” not available now, but here’s a quick look at what to expect.

By the way, if you’re one the people complaining that you’re sick of everyone talking about Ableton and want something else to be excited about, I have one word for you:

D.CAM.

Let me sum it up in one line first:

minimoog V 2.0: Rewired circuitry, automation recording vocal filtering, and weird 3D preset browsing mean if you like minimoog, you’ll like it more.

Brass 2.0: physically-modeled brass stuff you can play more easily with controllers, now with a sax model and fully spatialized and harmonized.

Trilian: Even more of the synth that gives you more bass than you need – and now your Intel Mac can run it in place of Trilogy, for free.

Largo: It’s a Waldorf synthesizer, but it’s software. You can’t afford a Blofeld, but you can afford this, and then use it in a coffee shop.

D.CAM: Synth wishes granted: thick parallel-waveform performance synth plus vintage-style string synth plus big, modern FM plus and environment to put them all together.

(added!) impOSCar 2: Features aren’t confirmed yet, but an early look at the OSCar emulation suggest a very big sequel indeed.

We got a couple of good notes on how to source your own x0xb0x synth kit. In general, I wouldn’t recommend the x0xb0x as a first synth project, but that said, there are some good resources out there if you decide you want to give this synth a try. Likewise, the resources on Lady Ada’s site are worth a look even if you don’t intend to build a x0xb0x — there’s a treasure trove of parts info there that could be useful for other projects, too.

Video: “wyllytesla Live Acid – a 303, 909 and x0xb0x pounding out hard techno”

The x0xb0x, the open-source Roland TB-303 clone by Limor “Lady Ada” Fried, has been officially discontinued edit: unofficially end-of-lifed? Made less than widely available? It’s actually unclear. That makes this already hard-to-find kit tougher still to get. Because it’s open-source hardware, you can source the components yourself and build it, but some of the parts are very hard to find — which may be why it was discontinued in the first place. has been difficult to get a hold of in full kit form.

Our friends over at the awesome trash_audio (music blog with home studio voyeurism added in) pick up the story:

x0xb0x: Kits Discontinued

So, what’s next? It seems to me that, should the open source hardware argument really hold for music gear, the x0xb0x needs some successors — the more, the merrier. First off, perhaps it’s time to re-conceive the x0xb0x in a version that uses more easily-sourced parts. (Call it the Socks Box, dropping the l33t spelling as a metaphor for more accessibility?) And I’m eager to see the Next Great Open Instrument. Nominees?

Update: Okay, as my corrections above concede, it seems that the x0xb0x is not fully discontinued, just hard to get and between production runs. (I thought about applying a question mark to the original story, and now regret not doing that.) But maybe it’s time to declare what’s been obvious to many for a long time: the backlog for the x0xb0x is so huge, and there are so few signs of any increase in production rate, that they’ve effectively become impossible to get.

And that raises another question to me: is it possible for open-source music hardware to reach bigger quantities? Could they keep their cool factor even if everyone had one? (The answer, I suspect, is a huge yes, because greater availability almost encourages users to make their gear their own. Witness the hugely-successful Arduino, arguably music hardware itself.)

If you do get one shipped to you, though, do let us know.

Official word from Lady Ada in comments:

peter, the x0xb0x is not discontinued. the waiting list is long enough that i suggest ’self sourcing’. i am still making kits but it is slow going.