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XLR MAG

Signal of the week

Synths · 71 stories, +41 vs last week

Synths: 71 stories in seven days, +41 on the week before.

EuropeMehr Synthese oder mehr Fokus? Studiosofa diskutiert vielseitige Klangerzeuger KEYBOARDS / Sound & Recording

EuropeNeuzeit Instruments Drop Test: Kontrolle für komplexe Hardware-Performances KEYBOARDS / Sound & Recording

Latest

DJ MagLive & DJUniversal Audio announces next generation of Volt USB Audio Interfaces "Every artist has a sound they’re chasing. We want Volt Gen 2 to give people the confidence to explore that sound, experiment, and keep creating"

Guitar WorldGuitarsDon’t be intimidated by acoustic bluegrass – this lesson is the perfect primer (just watch out for the F6/9!) Whether as a solo instrument or the centrepiece of a band, the acoustic guitar continues to be one of the world’s most popular instruments, in just about any style you could name.

Bedroom Producers BlogDAW & pluginsPolarity releases MEQ, a FREE match EQ with dynamic processing Polarity has released Polarity-MEQ, a free spectral matching equalizer for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Bedroom Producers BlogDAW & pluginsSoundins offers PhaXer stereo phase optimizer for FREE Soundins offers PhaXer, a free stereo phase correction plugin for macOS and Windows. PhaXer is designed to improve the phase correlation between the left and right channels of a single stereo signal…

Premier GuitarGuitarsD’Addario Partners with Jacob Collier to Launch Specialty XS Strings and Vegan Strap D’Addario, in collaboration with Taylor Guitars, announces the launch of the Jacob Collier Specialty XS Phosphor Bronze String Set , engineered specifically to support Collier’s custom 5-string…

Ultimate GuitarGuitarsDean Guitars' Parent Company Ordered To Pay Over $4 Million Of Gibson's Legal Fees After Losing Legal Battle [News] Gear : The new ruling comes after Dean declared bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.

Production ExpertStudios & prosFree Metering and Loudness Plugins For Broadcast And Streaming 2026 Loudness is now becoming the common measurement, not only for broadcast content but also for many streaming services.

Ultimate GuitarGuitarsDumble Launches Special-Order Reissues Of Its Megaplx, Tweedle Dee, And Overdrive Special [News] Gear : Dumble has returned with three amps representing the very best of the late amp maker's legacy.

GearnewsGearImpressive Deals From 3 Big Brands: Arturia, KORG and Akai! We hunt down the deals of the week so you don’t have to, and we’ve found some pretty awesome savings for you from 3 big-name brands!

MMRIndustryD'Addario releases Collier XS strings and Vegan Strap with Taylor D'Addario and Taylor Guitars have released a new string set and strap for Jacob Collier, while Reverend and Yamaha simultaneously introduced new electric guitar models.

Guitar PlayerGuitarsJohn Lennon hated it. Behind the Rubber Soul track he wished he'd never written The Beatles drew inspiration from all over the musical map — Motown, acoustic folk, rockabilly and beyond.

KVR Audio NewsDAW & pluginsFRCTL Audio Releases GRNi Lite - Free Granular Sampler (VST3, AU & CLAP) FRCTL Audio has released GRNi Lite , a free version of its GRNi granular sampler. Drop a sample on the waveform, set the note it's in, and play it on the keys.

On the calendar

· Trade shows and launch events, this week's stories from each corner of the industry, and what its press is covering.

On view

This week, from that corner the newest stories from the corner of the industry you picked

The wire their own posts, translated

How records get made in 2026 from the industry's own reports

Sources

Fetched every three hours, linked to the original

About

Three pins, and nearly every signal in this business passes through them.

The magazine is named after the cable: the microphone in the booth, the line to the desk, the DMX run that fires the lights. Studio, stage and rig share the same cable. Most magazines pick one of the three. This one covers all of it, because the people we read do too — the engineer mixing a record on Tuesday is on front of house by Saturday.

Around a hundred and sixty sources, in English, Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Chinese and Italian: makers and their release notes, reviewers who put a hand on the thing, studios and touring crews, the producers and collectives surfacing this month and the scenes they came out of. Synths and modular, plugins and DAWs, guitars and drums, microphones, monitors, PA and lighting. What the trade is talking about is counted and plotted. The editor's letter has just started; it will find its rhythm.

For each story: a headline, a short excerpt, one picture and the link out. We never reprint the article, and the picture belongs to the maker or the photographer. A German review appears in German and a Japanese one in Japanese, as the writer published it; the link goes to the original.

Nothing is sold on this site. When a link leads to a shop, it is the maker's shop, not ours.