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Peter Kirn

@pkirn.bsky.social

Music and music technology journalist, composer and electronic artist/dj. I make cdm.link, work on the meeblip.com synth, and cover creative technologies. Activist. Lebanese-American background, came from Kentucky, now in Berlin.

3,234 Followers  |  469 Following  |  1,999 Posts  |  Joined: 27.07.2023
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Posts by Peter Kirn (@pkirn.bsky.social)

Absolutely -- though there's overlap. I think the ethics require a better common understanding of exactly how LLMs generate their outputs -- and indeed, the big tech is capitalizing on even some fairly tech-savvy people not understanding that at all.

It's not the only issue, but it matters.

28.02.2026 19:40 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I'm curious then -- since I was just scanning some of the latest data science research on this. Have you looked at that research?

none of it remotely says "we don't need programmers anymore"; I haven't heard that from even total AI advocates, *provided* they have engineering experience ;) but...

28.02.2026 13:19 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

There's another possibility, too, which is that the code will work just fine, but we need to ask ourselves whether every single tool needs to be a product. That sort of has always been the case, just now ... amplified.

28.02.2026 12:10 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

oh yeah, and this! Different issue.

It's weird, this all makes me want to get back into coding ... minus AI.

But yeah back to the original issue -- we really need to arm people, including those solo devs, with an understanding of what these tools mean and how you make the code work.

28.02.2026 12:09 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Well there's a better term for that, anyway -- "broken"

And it isn't necessarily "vibe coding" so much as "firing engineers" or failing to hire them in the first place.

Sorry, now I'm talking about our world in general more than music per se :D

28.02.2026 12:01 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Yeah, and I worry that people will pour marketing money into that. (actually here's a weird precedent for that: 1980s vinyl releases. When you have the capacity for vanity releases, terrible things happen.)

Very different from Max or Pd, where you can open the patch, and people don't do that.

28.02.2026 11:54 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Theoretically, what I just said should appeal to people who are really into using AI, too. Plus AI is just such a huge category, going back to the beginnings of computer music. It feels like we need to have a more robust conversation than we're having now, which will take some work.

28.02.2026 11:52 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Yeah, this is where we actually need a *lot* more proactive action. So that means talking more about how tools like Claude Code actually work, finding ways of measuring the outputs, and identifying software that crosses the line into plagiarism or threatens quality.

28.02.2026 11:50 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Yeah my spidey-sense is also set off by plug-ins. But while some devs are very loudly *not* using AI (which I'll share), effectively what we're really evaluating is who is reviewing their own code, etc., carefully. So everything changes but also nothing changes. Just a *lot more* of the same.

28.02.2026 11:36 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

No, I think you have a point -- meaning we have to be really careful with the stuff we test.

It'll really mean building a relationship with the tools and not trying to cover everything, because most devs I've talked to are using some AI assistance in their coding now.

28.02.2026 11:35 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

I don't want to suggest there is a technological solution all the time; there really isn't. But Iranians deal with an unprecedented level of internet shutdowns. So this is one small thing you can do.

The bigger thing is just to actually acknowledge this is the reality for so many right now.

28.02.2026 10:16 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Conduit - Join the internet freedom movement. By running a Conduit Station, you immediately help people in censored countries access the free and open internet around the world.

Internet has again plunged to near-zero in Iran. First and foremost, that means our friends and colleagues are out of touch with loved ones.

Because of the outage, it may not look like it's working, but you should try running Conduit on a spare phone or computer; it helps.

28.02.2026 10:16 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Now meshes, video, and more can go 3D inside Ableton Live: SenSei update - CDM Create Digital Music EboSuite and SenSei, live visual add-ons for Ableton Live, got some nice updates this week. SenSei, the tool that puts the power of Unreal Engine inside Ableton Live, gets a particularly major expansi...

Updates to @ebosuite.bsky.social and the Unreal Engine-powered SenSei.

This already compelling tool gets better with type and video features on the EboSuite side and 27 3D plug-ins for SenSei.

27.02.2026 19:07 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Essential mix: let an hour of tilde's music energize you (then nerd out!) - CDM Create Digital Music Glitchy but driving broken beats are what's for dinner. Hannover's tilde (~) is a font of knowledge on topics from Pd/plugdata to Bitwig Studio Grid FX to mixing and mastering. And those skills transl...

So much goodness here -- and plenty of skills sharing, too, from courses to @bitwig.bsky.social and #plugdata grid freebies.

Enter the world of @tildesounds.bsky.social -- had this mix on repeat all week.

27.02.2026 17:20 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

and it is even a W3C recommendation! (though stalled at that status!)

27.02.2026 15:55 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

looks cool but very, very proprietary! guess the question is whether you can get the spare parts there...

27.02.2026 14:43 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

we could just change the name :D
I mean, think about it -- you'd never want to have a home without them!

27.02.2026 14:42 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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In her own words: watch a free documentary on Γ‰liane Radigue - CDM Create Digital Music Γ‰liane Radigue in full, uninterrupted motion, is breathtaking in her thoughts. So it's wonderful that the filmmakers behind the documentary short Γ‰chos have put that film up for free to honor her memo...

Must-watch from end to end... really poetic. Thanks @scannerdot.com !

27.02.2026 13:27 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I'm like a hair-trigger away from leading a little weekend hackathon to work on this!

This will be followed by phrases like "bring back blogrolls" which will instantly date me... but yeah.

27.02.2026 11:58 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Substack’s moderation battle: all the latest news Hundreds of writers protested Substack’s handling of Nazi newsletters.

And yeah there is a *huge* reason to worry about dependence on Substack. The Verge has done a great job reporting on this:

www.theverge.com/24040685/sub...

I'm not going to judge anyone there -- more like it then makes it even clearer to me that people don't feel there's an alternative.

27.02.2026 11:57 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Recommendations - Ghost Developer Docs

The ongoing dependence on Substack and Patreon is obviously partly because of reliance on recommendations for growth.

Ghost has a terrific alternative, based on the open Webmention:
docs.ghost.org/recommendati...

But we need more easy implementations that use that openness.

27.02.2026 11:57 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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enjoy, @isotonikstudios.bsky.social ... really oddball KORG phase8 + MGenBend mashup:

26.02.2026 22:47 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Curve time with Tomavatars' MGenBend for Ableton Live Suite: hands-on - CDM Create Digital Music Escaping the rigid, repetitive grid helps to make gestures the way we would on instruments. I've been talking to Tomavatars as he developed this one, and the MGenBend Max for Live Device lets you crea...

Let’s get wonky and bend space-time / pitch-time / make splines. There's some @drewdaniel.bsky.social Hit 'Em in here, too.

@tomavatars.bsky.social beautiful, polyrhythmic and polymetric MGenBend -- another cure for overly-linear, repetitive sequences.

26.02.2026 22:47 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1
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And then there's whatever this is, but yeah even with those 1024 steps, you can create short patterns, mix them with long patterns, etc. Building on my phase distortion + LPF + OBJEQ modeled filter recipe from yesterday...

26.02.2026 16:00 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Polyfold from Manifest Audio lets you paint with polymetric patterns - CDM Create Digital Music A 1024-step, multilane polyphonic sequencer sounds overwhelming. But the latest Manifest Audio polymetric sequencer, Polyfold, offers a palette of various patterns and shapes that you can deploy acros...

I normally stay away from complex sequencing tools, but @manifestaudio.bsky.social has really hooked me with this one. It's such a beautiful way to escape overly repetitive grids. The key is understanding how much Noah has built in there so you can do that while staying in the flow. Review:

26.02.2026 16:00 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I'm tempted to make a Curie AI. "Curie: It'll probably kill you"

26.02.2026 09:35 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Way to name your product "Einstein" so it makes people look dumb when they try to argue with you, too: "Einstein is symptomatic. I doubt we’ll be talking about Einstein, as such, in a year."

Okay Dr. Hawking.

Anyway let's use AI to replace (checks notes) Advait Paliwal

25.02.2026 20:24 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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And some more good times with phase distortion fed into physical modeling ...

25.02.2026 16:08 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Good times with FM...

25.02.2026 16:08 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Inside the new modules in the free AAS Multiphonics CV-3 v3.1 update - CDM Create Digital Music Applied Acoustics Systems' flagship modular, Multiphonics CV-3, gets four powerful modules in "the FM+ update" out this month. Here's a dive into what those modules can do -- and if you're pondering p...

80s-style digital FM with a ton of modulation, CZ-style phase distortion, and more (free for current users).
Let's look inside:

25.02.2026 16:00 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0