Guides
Guides for the curious.
Plain-English guides to music theory, beatmaking and songwriting, pocket gear and cyberdecks, the hardware inside them, and rooms that glow. Most end with something you can play right in your browser.
The original Cardputer and the Cardputer ADV look the same, but the ADV adds a headphone jack, an audio codec, a motion sensor and a header for LoRa...
Meshtastic floods, MeshCore routes through fixed repeaters, Reticulum builds a whole network over any link. Here is how each one works, which devices run them, whether they can...
Four ways to get synth sounds from a guitar, from a $200 pedal that works with normal pickups to hex pickups and MIDI guitars, with tracking and latency...
There is no magic instrument for ADHD, and music is not a treatment. But some instruments fit a restless brain far better than others. What the research says,...
The Omnichord, the Suzuki Q-Chord and the minichord all play a chord with one button and strum it on a touch strip. Here is how they differ, which...
Two charming, hard-to-play-in-tune pocket instruments compared: how you pick a note on each, what every model costs in the US, whether the Otamatone is worth it, where the...
Pocket Operators are brilliant little loop machines, and easy to outgrow. Here is every PO model and price, where the line runs out, and the best alternatives for...
Some instruments let an adult make real music on the first night. Here is an honest ranking with prices, what the first week feels like, where each one...
Want a synth you can play on the couch, on a trip or on the porch with nothing plugged in? These mini and portable synths have built-in speakers...
Some instruments leave out the notes that clash, so almost anything you play sounds good. Here is how that works, why it is real music and not a...
The Artiphon Orba is a palm-sized synth you tap, tilt and shake. Here is what each Orba does, where to find one in 2026, and the best alternatives...
The OP-1 field is a synth, sampler and tape studio in one slim box, for $1,999. Here is what Teenage Engineering sells for less, the best cheaper alternatives...
The Orchid made chord synths cool again. Here is what it does, what it costs now, what reviewers liked and didn't, and the best alternatives at every price,...
The HiChord made one-button chords go viral. Here is what it does (looper, drums, MIDI), how it compares to the Omnichord, and the best alternatives at every price,...
A current, honest guide to pocket synths: what counts as one, how to choose (speaker, battery, keys or stylus, chords, drums, MIDI), and the best picks in 2026...
The right gift depends on what they play on: an acoustic piano, a digital piano or a keyboard. Here are gifts pianists will actually use, sorted by price,...
Not sure what software or gear they use? Find out without asking, skip the gifts that clash with a home studio, and pick from safe gifts for music...
Synth people own gear you can't see, so synth gifts go wrong easily. These are gift ideas sorted by budget with current US prices, a quick picker for...
Musicians use up and lose the same small things over and over. These are stocking stuffers they will actually use, sorted by instrument, most under $25, plus one...
Music lovers already have every song on their phone. These gifts make listening better, make a memory, look great on the wall, or finally let them make music...
Guitar players already own picks and a strap. These are gifts they will actually use, sorted by price, plus ideas for the guitarist who has everything and a...
Every realistic screen for a Raspberry Pi 5 cyberdeck, side by side: DSI vs HDMI vs SPI, sizes drawn to scale, resolution, power draw, brightness and the Pi...
Our own Raspberry Pi 5 desk cyberdeck: an armoured 3D printed case for a 4.3 inch DSI touchscreen and an NVMe SSD, on a 25 degree stand. The...
The Stylophone is a charming pocket synth, but it plays one note at a time with a single sound. Here is what it does well, how the Stylophone...