No, we do not all want to be reduced to brains in a jar. Music has always been about gesture, whether embodied in the breath or touch. So now is the perfect time for the LinnStrument, the human-scaled expressive grid from Roger Linn. Roger writes to point us to some of the latest musical examples and to let us know he’s got a 10% off sale on now.

(Above, some of what Roger has done recently.) I always appreciated the relationship between instrument builders and players, whether historically or now. So it’s great what Roger does with his newsletter, highlighting players from the community and commenting on how he hears their work. This is not a traditional artist relations thing, either, where you try to pick out stars for their following. It’s really a dialogue between a digital luthier and their players.

I especially love these two examples, just for my own aesthetic. Jeff Hopkins’ work is achingly lovely, resulting in a kind of string-keyboard hybrid (even if you just close your eyes and listen).…