Other than the big news from Ableton that Live 9 and Push finally have a release date, it appears we may be in the midst of a post-NAMM slowdown in the world of music-production gear. Now that all the company’s new products have been announced, it’s time for them to figure out how exactly to get their various toys into the hands of users in the months to come. Still, we’ve managed to round up a few useful bits, such as updates to Propellerhead’s Figure app, a guide to the fundamentals and history of synthesis from the Bob Moog Foundation, and the Point Blank Institute offers up a tutorial breaking down the key elements of Todd Terje’s phenomenal “Inspector Norse” tune.

Live 9 and Push finally have an official release date:

– As we reported yesterday, Ableton unexpectedly announced a joint release date for Live 9 and the company’s first ever hardware controller, Push, sharing plans to release both products in just a few weeks time on March 5. The full details of the release can be found over on Ableton’s website, here.

Updates for Propellerhead’s Figure app:

– Propellerhead‘s simple but addictively fun iOS app Figure has released an update with some great new features. Now, Figure users can utilize Audiobus—a means for allowing audio apps to route signal to and from each other—as well as keep Figure playing while using other applications on their iOS device and upload their creations directly to a SoundCloud account. To celebrate the updates, Propellerhead is running a competition for Figure users who send their beats in, with some decent prizes up for grabs. Full details on the new updates and contest can be found here.

The Bob Moog Foundation’s video guide to synthesis and breaking down “Inspector Norse”:

– The Bob Moog Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in memory of the late synth pioneer, has made an in-depth series of informative videos on synthesis available online. From the history and foundations of synthesis, to all of the components which make synths do what they do (oscillators, filters, timbers, control voltages, etc.), the video series expertly explains in understandable terms how each element came together to make synths work. The first of 15 videos can be viewed above, and the entire playlist can be found here.

– As they’ve occasionally been known to do, London’s Point Blank Institute has taken a few minutes to dissect the ryhthyms, melodies, chords, and nuances which made Todd Terje‘s 2012 anthem “Inspector Norse” such a powerful tune (it came in as number two on our Best Tracks of 2012 list, for those keeping score). Fortunately, analyzing the floaty disco-house track is likely to make you love it just that much more—and you’ll probably even learn something, too.