The Verge Weekend Questionnaire – The Verge

Synth historian Oli Freke will spend big on a good bicycle

2026-07-25T10:51:21-04:00

Oli Freke is a musician and journalist whose works have appeared in Sound on Sound, The Quietus, and Mixmag. This has included using math to explore the melodic potential of the Western 12-tone scale and deep dives on effects plug-ins. He's even written a book tracing the evolution of the synthesizer from 1963 through 1995, charting the change from analog to digital and back.

His new project is Beat Gems, a coffee-table visual history of drum machines from publisher Bjooks. Like other Bjooks titles, Beat Gems is loaded with gorgeous photos, fascinating historical tidbits, and practical advice for making the most of your gear, whether it's …

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The Guardian’s Carter Sherman fondly remembers being terrified by Ocarina of Time

2026-07-18T10:26:16-04:00

Carter, there’s a couch RIGHT THERE. | Image:

Carter Sherman has been covering sex, gender, and the complex personal and national politics that accompany them for years. She was a senior reporter for Vice and has written for Elle, Ms. magazine, and Los Angeles magazine as well. Along the way, she's garnered a Scripps Howard Award, a National Press Club Journalism Award, and four Emmy nominations.

She's also the author of The Second Coming: Sex and the Next Generation's Fight Over Its Future. That book looks at how the internet and our polarized political landscape have changed sex and relationships, from school board battles over sex ed to abortion access. These days she finds herself …

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FL Studio head Constantin Koehncke turns to Reddit for feedback and fun

2026-07-10T09:56:16-04:00

If you're a music maker of a certain age, then you probably once dabbled with a pirated copy of a little app called Fruity Loops. These days it's called FL Studio, and Constantin Koehncke, is the man responsible for shepherding the pioneering digital audio workstation (DAW) through the modern age. As CEO of Image Line, the company behind FL Studio, Constantin has overseen the introduction of a number of AI-powered features like stem separation and its Gopher chatbot.

Before taking the reins of Image Line in 2022, Constantin was the head of Native Instruments, where he spearheaded the shift towards digital services, did a stint in marketing, …

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Flatbush Zombies’ Erick the Architect misses his BlackBerry keyboard

2026-07-09T15:04:29-04:00

That is the face of a man who enjoys what he does. | Image: Reato Morris

Erick the Architect is a founding member of, and the primary producer for, the legendary Flatbush Zombies and his solo debut was released in 2024. He's toured the world, performed on Kimmel and Fallon, played Coachella, and collaborated with everyone from Joey Bada$$ and the Rza to James Blake and hardcore punk band Trash Talk. But perhaps the most unexpected collab was with Apple, when Erick popped up following Tim Cook's final WWDC presentation to rap about apps. That was just a precursor to him dropping his new disco and reggae-tinged single, "No Doubt (I'm In Love)."

The new track, produced by Yeti Beats and Federico Vindver, is definit …

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The Guardian’s Kai Wright refuses to buy a new phone

2026-06-29T08:11:33-04:00

That is an objectively dope couch. | Image: Kai Wright

Kai Wright is the cohost of Stateside with Kai and Carter over at The Guardian. But Wright has been bringing his unique insights to listeners for years. He's also hosted Notes From America, The United States of Anxiety, and Indivisible. He's a Peabody Award-winning journalist who has profiled powerful men, explored what it means to be American, and chronicled the AIDS epidemic.

When he's not diving deep on sex, race, and politics, he's gardening, listening to John Coltrane, and steadfastly refusing to buy a new phone. Wright was kind enough to give us a glimpse into his daily routine, how he unwinds, and offer some simple but powerful advic …

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Musician and YouTuber Hainbach on ‘Breath of the Wild’ and Swiss Army Knives

2026-06-20T12:32:37-04:00

Indulging in the “Dark Souls of synthesis.” | Image: Aleksander Stojanov / Hainbach

Stefan Paul Goetsch, better known as Hainbach, is a German experimental composer, artist, and YouTuber who is perhaps most famous for making music with laboratory equipment and scientific instruments. He describes it as being like the "Dark Souls of synthesis." Despite using "hard mode" production techniques that often rely on telephone line testing equipment and gear salvaged from nuclear testing facilities, Hainbach is also incredibly prolific, releasing six albums in 2025 alone, along with a handful of singles and EPs. His latest, Gentle Hum, is a collaboration with Ah! Kosmos (Turkish composer, Başak Günak). The album is a melancholic co …

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Never Post’s Mike Rugnetta on the creative process and the value of reliable power

2026-06-12T15:43:02-04:00

Mike Rugnetta is a writer, podcast host, producer, audio engineer, educator, musician, sound designer, and father. In short, the man wears a lot of hats. He's the cocreator and host of the award-winning Never Post, an absolutely must-listen podcast about the internet, as well as Fun City, a TTRPG podcast where he's the GM. He's also hosted two different Crash Course series and PBS's Idea Channel.

If you're thinking that sounds like a lot, you're not wrong. It made us want to know how Mike stays focused with so much on his plate, and what tools are most indispensable to him with his hectic schedule. But, what we got was so much more than th …

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Benn Jordan longs for the days of tech that didn’t spy on you

2026-06-04T14:16:28-04:00

Benn refuses to be pigeon holed. | Image: Benn Jordan

Benn Jordan may have initially gained notoriety for his music as Flashbulb and later, reviewing synths and effects pedals on YouTube under Benn and Gear. But about five years ago, Benn decided to take his YouTube channel in a different direction. He didn't stop covering music gear overnight, but as time progressed, his channel became more focused on science and technology investigations. He even turned the entire enterprise into a nonprofit.

While there will still be the occasional video focused on music or audio - say, poisoning AI music systems or storing data in bird song - lately Benn has been largely focused on the surveillance state. …

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Welcome to Night Vale host Cecil Baldwin shares his tech pet peeves

2026-05-29T11:47:20-04:00

Cecil Baldwin is a busy man with some dope boots. | Image: Cecil Baldwin

Cecil Baldwin's résumé includes appearances on Gravity Falls, narrating the documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street, and performing as part of the New York Neo-Futurists theater company. But he is best known as the host of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, a long-running fiction show that blends macabre Lovecraftian horror with absurdist comedy. As Cecil Palmer, the voice of Night Vale Community Radio, Baldwin keeps the people of the titular town abreast of all the goings ons with the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home and offers tips on how to best maintain their Bloodstone circles.

He also cohosts Random Nu …

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The man behind the legendary MPC, Roger Linn, stays focused with a single browser tab

2026-05-22T16:06:15-04:00

Roger Linn lets his accomplishments do the talking. | Image: Roger Linn

Roger Linn is a legend in the world of musical instruments. He's been at the cutting edge of music technology for decades. He created the LM-1, the first drum machine to use samples, and its successor, the LinnDrum, is one of the most iconic drum machines of all time. They were used on countless records in the 1980s, including hits by Tom Petty, Queen, and Tears for Fears. But the most notable fan was probably Prince, who used them extensively on Purple Rain and 1999.

Somehow, those are not his greatest contributions to the music world. That would, undoubtedly, be the MPC. Linn partnered with Akai to create one of the most popular and impor …

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