The RIPPLES Journal

Notes from the studio.

Writing on the craft, the mind, and the art of sound - from the people who make the records.

The Best Chiptune VST Plugins in 2026 (Free and Paid)

Nine plugins that get the 8-bit sound honestly, from free downloads to full console emulations, and how to pick between them.

The old consoles built a whole kit from one noise channel and a falling triangle wave. Here is the recipe for each drum.

People say 8-bit as if it were one sound. It was at least five, and the differences are why a track reads as Nintendo rather than Commodore.

A phone cannot move enough air to play a 40 Hz note. The fix is not more low end, it is giving the ear something to infer it from.

Six seconds of a 1969 B-side became the backbone of jungle and hip hop. Chopping it well comes down to what you leave out.

Every compressor you have used pulls the peaks down. This one pushes the quiet parts up, and for sustain and room tone nothing else does the job.

How XY morphing works, where it came from, and the pads worth putting under your fingers in 2026.

How a restless imagination turned a bedroom studio and a parents’ basement into a stage - and the seed of RIPPLES.

Are you telling your story, or following someone else’s script? On choosing, dictating, and the moment a tower melts.

What the studio reveals about a creator - humility versus masks, expression versus deficit, and the heart’s true formula.