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XLR MAG

Signal of the week

Electric guitars & amps · 103 stories, +48 vs last week

Electric guitars & amps: 103 stories in seven days, +48 on the week before.

GuitarsEric Clapton Says Selling His Iconic 'Blackie' Strat Was 'A Big, Big Mistake,' But He Still Did It: 'These Things, As Sacred As They Are, They Have To Be Given Away – Sacrificed' [News] Ultimate Guitar

GuitarsThe story of Gary Moore’s ’55 Les Paul Junior – a bargain buy from a Sex Pistol Guitar World

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Ultimate GuitarGuitarsEric Clapton Says Selling His Iconic 'Blackie' Strat Was 'A Big, Big Mistake,' But He Still Did It: 'These Things, As Sacred As They Are, They Have To Be Given Away – Sacrificed' [News] Music News : "When the auction was going on, I had to constantly keep [reminding] myself: 'This is your purpose."

Rolling Stone IndiaAsiaCan Outkast Make Ovrkast Change His Name? A Trademark Expert Explains Outkast ’s lawsuit against Ovrkast asks how much difference a few letters make. The duo’s trademark company argues that the younger rapper’s name is confusingly similar to theirs.

DJ MagLive & DJSix emerging artists you need to hear: September 2026 The latest and greatest DJs, producers and MCs rising to the top this month. From acid-tinted techno and trance to spellbinding ambient dub, feel-good house and incisive UK rap, here’s September…

DJ MagLive & DJNative Instruments announces Maschine 3.7 with new creative sequencing tools The music tech giant is also marking its 30th birthday by launching three more of its Expansions sound packs

RekkerdDAW & pluginsGazillion Industries releases WINNETKA polysynth instrument (VST3/AU) Gazillion Industries has announced the release of a new software polysynth with a vocoder and 350 preloaded presets, covering bass, lead, pads, FX, percussion, arp and vocoder.

Mixmag AsiaAsiaNews Fred again.. on AI-generated music: “I’m not worried about the threat of AI” He slammed artificially-made music, saying he’s felt “no pull whatsoever” to try using AI tech

FifineChinafifine Kicks Off Autumn Prime Big Deal Days: Update Your Ultimate Gear With Big Savings September 29, 2026 — fifine, a leading audio brand for creators, streamers, gamers, and podcasters, is bringing exclusive savings to customers during Amazon Prime Big Deal Days this Autumn.

StrymonGuitarsIntroducing La Brea Analog Tape Drive Sometimes Inspiration Comes From Within. It’s not often that your own gear inspires something different and new, but that’s exactly what happened with our newest Series A pedal, La Brea.

MixdownGearEmpire Music Studios announce CAPTURED LIVE — a celebration and fundraiser Australian Musician magazine and Empire Music Studios present CAPTURED LIVE, an evening of celebration of the photographic work of JASON ROSEWARNE and three decades of Australian Musician magazine.

Bandwagon AsiaAsiaMrs. GREEN APPLE usher in "Phase 3" with 6th studio album 'POPS' – listen Mrs. GREEN APPLE have released their sixth full-length studio album, POPS . Out on 30 September via EMI Records / Universal Music Japan , the 16-track record marks a defining release in the Japanese…

MusicTechGearWhich software is best for recording and creating DJ mixes? For decades, recording a DJ mix was hooking up the output of your mixer , hitting the record button and hoping you didn’t make a galloping mistake 30 minutes in.

MixdownGearRØDE introduces the LPA1, a new professional low-profile studio arm RØDE has today announced the new LPA1, a professional low-profile studio arm designed to mount microphones and other studio equipment discreetly into any recording, broadcasting or video podcast…

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.