Ever wanted to dive into audio programming but didn’t know where to start?
Enter the newest NSScreencast series featuring our favorite audio framework: AudioKit!

Ben Scheirman has kicked off a new series that takes you from the very basics of audio all the way to building your own synths, ambient soundscapes, and even a multi-track audio engine. And the best part? You don’t need a PhD in coding, just a little curiosity and a working copy of Xcode (Free Download).

Here’s what’s covered so far:

Audio Fundamentals
Understand how sound works and what it means in code. No jargon, just the basics to get your brain in sync with your ears.

Getting Started with AudioKit
Learn how to install AudioKit and use it in your first project. A quick and painless start.

Build a Monophonic Synth
Create a simple synth using oscillators, mixers, faders, and reverb. A hands-on project you’ll actually want to show off.

Ambient Noise Designer
Blend pink, white, and brown noise. Add panning, reverb, and auto-sweep to create a chill audio space.

Multi Track Audio Engine
Build a basic engine with sync, mix, and mute features. It’s a great step toward more complex audio apps.

Each episode is short, clear, and packed with real code you can use.
Start watching at nsscreencast.com and bring your audio ideas to life.

See more AudioKit Tutorials here

Learn more about AudioKit code here: AudioKit.io

Xcode 26 introduces Coding Assistant, a new tool that helps you write code with the help of AI. It comes with built-in support for ChatGPT. But what's really nice is that Apple lets us add our own model providers, including Anthropic's Claude.

This means you can use Claude Sonnet 4 in Xcode, just like you would with the built-in ChatGPT, as shown in the video below.

Coding Assistant in Xcode 26 requires an M1 Mac running macOS 26 Tahoe.

Let's walk through how to add Claude as a model provider.

Step 1: Generate an Anthropic API Key

First, go to console.anthropic.com/settings/keys and generate an API key. Xcode will use this key to send requests to Claude. You can name the key anything. I chose "Xcode 26".

Copy the API key to your clipboard and store it somewhere if needed. You will need it in a couple of seconds.

Step 2: Add Anthropic as a Model Provider

Now we're ready to set things up in Xcode by following the steps below.

1. Open Xcode's Settings.
2. Go to Intelligence → Add a Model Provider.
3. Select Internet Hosted and enter the following:

URL: https://api.anthropic.com/
API key: Paste in the key you just generated in Anthropic's console.
API key header: x-api-key

It should look something like this:

You can now select Anthropic's models for use with Coding Assistant. You may need to restart Xcode before the model provider shows up.

That's it. Now you're ready to start using Claude to write Swift code directly inside Xcode.

Nowadays, Xcode Playgrounds seems to have deviated from its original purpose, and configuring VSCode can be overly complex for beginners. Against this backdrop, how can we easily set up an environment suitable for learning and testing Swift? Perhaps Notepad.exe, as introduced in this article, will provide a satisfying solution.

Those who have enjoyed Sculpture’s remarkable zoetrope records should immediately pre-order the second printing of this new 8″ square lathe cut from the one and only DJ Food recording as Locked Loop Group.  Not only will one be primed to dance, one will also – by means of a stroboscope app with frames set to 24 frames per second – have a wonder to behold. And of course the vinyl, designed by Openmind, is a work of art even without the strobe.

The genesis of these tracks – two club cuts each presented in mono and stereo versions – is just as fascinating.  DJ Food created a monster turntable called the Quadraphon, featuring four tonearms so that one can play four parts of a record at the same time, creating a mix from a single source.  “Acid Endless 1 & 2” reflect the wealth of the artist’s selection of locked grooves (thus the moniker).

As expected, this is a pair of acid bangers, a treat for those who lose the genre’s energized sound. “Acid Endless 1” gets right into it with deep electronic bass, joined by squelches and squiggle.  The music sounds like a spacecraft landing, with hi-hats adding to the adventure.  Every couple bars, the music morphs, a new theme emerging as late as 5:44, while the plot remains the same.  “Acid Endless 2” also starts strong out of the gate, and never loses steam.  A bit more distorted than the first track, the piece demonstrates “the grit and crunch you get after a needle had been ploughing the same groove for fifteen minutes plus.”  The most effective section arrives deep in the track as the piece seems to warp and unlock before snagging the groove again.  When played out, the piece is likely to exude a live feeling, even if the record isn’t mixed into another.  This aural illusion is a match for the physical illusion created by the zoetrope.  

It’s an honor to hear new music from this all-time sonic innovator, even more to have such music presented in a keepsake edition, worthy of display.  (Richard Allen)

Summer is near, bringing the roar of lawnmowers, drowning the dawn chorus.  From push mowers to ride-a-mowers to massive multi-blade vehicles, the sounds are inescapable.  While many wear headsets (tacitly admitting that they are contributing to noise pollution), others prefer the ambient drone.  Sage Martens (Matthew Sage & Lieven Martens) have found a way to corral this sound into music.

The amusing liner notes are a reminder that fresh-cut lawns are an unnatural thing inherited from the Brits, who were inspired by gazing at Italian paintings.  The Americans “supercharged” the activity with fertilizers and weedkillers that often polluted the water supply.  (As an aside, my neighbor, who has an abnormally bright, chemically-treated lawn, has been watering and mowing since March while my own grass has remained depressingly brown.)

So perhaps we need a new symphony.  The title track begins with preparations for lawn mowing, the rustle and clutter, soft enough to discern birdsong; and then the motor fires up.  Remarkably, Sage Martens finds harmonies, softening the intrusive nature of the rumble.  Hints of brass enter, implying an orchestra; then repeatedly, the mower sputters out.  These moments highlight the contrast between the bucolic and the disruptive; but at the same time, one begins to hear the mower as an instrument in its own right, the stops and starts only part of the performance.

Two brief pieces highlight the appeal (or lack thereof) of different mowers: the Snapper Riding Mower and the Fiskars StaySharp Reel Mower.  The first dominates the sonic field, although the volume dips in and out as the motor struggles to maintain an even keel.  The second represents an ecological alternative that requires more human power while using less punishing sorts of energy. There’s also a difference in price: $2000 or more.  In the album’s centerpiece, “The Scent of freshly mown Grass, historical lament,” Sage Martens offers a modern mechanical ode, allowing notes to be shaved and abraded like cut grass while mowers move around them.  In this piece the music is more prominent than the mowing, underlining the emotional connection.  Yankee Candle once offered a scent called Fresh Grass: nostalgia in a jar; the duo does the same in sound.

“Song between the Blades” blends these experiences like mulch.  The volume is balanced, the motor sounding at first like bicycle wheels.  Electronic clusters dance around the lawn, daring the blades to cut them down.  The integration mirrors that of the mind, which after so many years may become able to tune out the sounds, in the same way as city dwellers become acclimated to horns and construction.  In this piece, the lawn mower becomes an instrument of beauty rather than an unwanted guest.  Highlighting the insidious appeal of the unnatural practice, “Song between the Blades” even makes one want to mow one’s own yard, just to hear the sound.  (Richard Allen)

Mac users of a certain age may remember Ambrosia Software, maker of iconic shareware hits like Maelstrom and Escape Velocity. For over a decade, the Ambrosia website included this quotation on its homepage:

“Virtue does not come from money, but rather from virtue comes money, and all other things good to man.” ―Socrates

In other words, don’t try to make money. Try to make great things, and the money will surely follow. It’s a strategy that’s simple to explain, but almost impossible for any company to follow.

Folks in the C-suite will try to tell you that these two goals are perfectly aligned—that making great products is part of being a profitable company. But they mean it in the same way that Frosted Flakes is part of a complete breakfast. It’s on the table, sure…along with a glass of milk, a poached egg, toast with jam, and a piece of fruit. It turns out that, as far as big corporations are concerned, one part of this spread is actually kind of optional.

From virtue comes money, and all other good things. This idea rings in my head whenever I think about Apple. It’s the most succinct explanation of what pulled Apple from the brink of bankruptcy in the 1990s to its astronomical success today. Don’t try to make money. Try to make a dent in the universe. Do that, and the money will take care of itself.

Turn, Turn, Turn

Dissatisfaction with Apple among its most ardent fans has, at various times, reached a crescendo that has included public demands for a change in leadership. The precipitating events could be as serious as Apple bowing to pressure from an authoritarian regime, or as trivial as releasing an unsatisfying new version of an application or operating system.

Despite making my living by criticizing Apple, I tend not to get caught up in the controversy of the moment. When Apple ruined its laptop keyboards, I wasn’t calling for Tim Cook’s head. I just wanted them to fix the keyboards. And they did (eventually).

But success hides problems, and even the best company can lose its way. To everything, there is a season.

As far as I’m concerned, the only truly mortal sin for Apple’s leadership is losing sight of the proper relationship between product virtue and financial success—and not just momentarily, but constitutionally, intransigently, for years. Sadly, I believe this has happened.

The preponderance of the evidence is undeniable. Too many times, in too many ways, over too many years, Apple has made decisions that do not make its products better, all in service of control, leverage, protection, profits—all in service of money.

To be clear, I don’t mean things like charging exorbitant prices for RAM and SSD upgrades on Macs or taking too high a percentage of in-app purchases in the App Store. Those are venial sins. It’s the apparently unshakable core beliefs that motivate these and other poor decisions that run counter to the virtuous cycle that led Apple out of the darkness all those years ago.

Apple, as embodied by its leadership’s decisions over the past decade or more, no longer seems primarily motivated by the creation of great products. Time and time again, its policies have made its products worse for customers in exchange for more power, control, and, yes, money for Apple.

The iPhone is a better product when people can buy ebooks within the Kindle app. And yet Apple has fought this feature for the past fourteen years, to the tune of millions of dollars in legal fees, and has only relented due to a recent court order (which they continue to appeal).

In the (Apple-mandated) absence of competition in the realms of app sales, payment processing, customer service, and software business models, Apple’s exclusive offerings in these areas have stagnated for years. What should be motivating Apple to make improvements—the desire to make great products—seems absent. What should not be motivating Apple—the desire for power, control, and profits—seems omnipresent.

And I don’t mean that in a small way; I mean that in a big way. Every new thing we learn about Apple’s internal deliberations surrounding these decisions only lends more weight to the conclusion that Apple has lost its north star. Or, rather, it has replaced it with a new, dark star. And time and again, we’ve learned that these decisions go all the way to the top.

The best leaders can change their minds in response to new information. The best leaders can be persuaded. But we’ve had decades of strife, lawsuits, and regulations, and Apple has stubbornly dug in its heels even further at every turn. It seems clear that there’s only one way to get a different result.

In every healthy entity, whether it’s an organization, an institution, or an organism, the old is replaced by the new: CEOs, sovereigns, or cells. It’s time for new leadership at Apple. The road we’re on now does not lead anywhere good for Apple or its customers. It’s springtime, and I’m choosing to believe in new life. I swear it’s not too late.