Ins & outs

MIDI ‘KEYBOARD’ With the help of “a lot of wires” and an Arduino microprocessor, William Sun Petrus managed to turn a 20s Remington Portable typewriter into a Launchpad-style MIDI controller. And then he performed a track on it. Why? Why not! buff.ly/2Snedcn

NOISY LIBRARY The US Library of Congress might not be the first place you think of when looking for free samples, but thanks to the new Citizen DJ project, you can now download a library of its audio and video samples for nothing. Plus, they’re royalty-free! buff.ly/35jnhEf

MP PROMISE... We’ve seen plenty of attempts to give plugins a more ‘hardware-like’ feel, but the MP MIDI Controller – with its 21-inch screen showing your current instrument or effect and 32 rotaries – looks more convincing than most. Consider us interested.

BILL WITHERS RIP Sampled by everyone from Blackstreet to Dr Dre and Fatboy Slim, Bill Withers was a genuine soul music great. He’ll be remembered for both his smoothas-silk vocal delivery and impeccable songwriting.

PONG VS SONG We hoped that our time in lockdown would enable us to do some serious music making, but then along came Lunatic Audio with their free Retro Pong plugin – yes, it’s Pong for your DAW – to provide yet another distraction. Curse you…

MIKE HUCKABY RIP Music suffered another loss last month: influential Detroit DJ and producer Mike Huckaby died at just 54, following complications related to a stroke and Covid-19. As well as his own music, he’ll be remembered for his great support for other artists.