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XLR MAG

Signal of the week

Electric guitars & amps · 120 stories, +61 vs last week

Electric guitars & amps: 120 stories in seven days, +61 on the week before.

GuitarsSteve Vai Explains Why He Didn't Try To Copy Eddie Van Halen's Guitar Parts While Playing With David Lee Roth: 'I Wouldn't Take His Solos' [News] Ultimate Guitar

GuitarsFender’s new Pokémon Stratocaster and Telecaster feature built-in effects that make your guitar sound like an 8-bit videogame Guitar.com

Latest

Ultimate GuitarGuitarsSteve Vai Explains Why He Didn't Try To Copy Eddie Van Halen's Guitar Parts While Playing With David Lee Roth: 'I Wouldn't Take His Solos' [News] Music News : Facing inevitable comparisons, the guitarist kept certain recognizable parts intact and performed them his own way, calling the idea of competing with the man who wrote them "an insane…

RekkerdDAW & pluginsDarkpalace Studio updates Butterfly stereo mixing plugin to v1.2.0 Darkpalace Studio has announced an update to its stereo mixing utility. Version 1.2.0 of Butterfly comes with mirrored-log spacing for the Spread EQ and drag and drop presets/themes, along with some…

PitchforkIndustryNew Music Releases and Upcoming Albums in 2026 and 2027 A regularly updated guide to the new albums, EPs, mixtapes, and projects getting released in the coming weeks and months

MusicRadarGearNo practice required: This new Casiotone keyboard makes it impossible to hit a wrong note Released in 2022, the Casiotone CT-S1 has long been one of our favourite beginner keyboards , and it’s also a great option for the more proficient player who wants a lightweight and portable digital…

Guitar.comGuitarsFender’s new Pokémon Stratocaster and Telecaster feature built-in effects that make your guitar sound like an 8-bit videogame Fender and The Pokémon Company have announced two limited made in Japan electric guitars to mark the 30th anniversary of Pokémon: a “Red Version” Stratocaster and a “Green Version” Telecaster, each…

PolyendMakersTracker. The biggest update yet. Today we’re publishing the firmware source code for the original Tracker, Tracker+ and Tracker Mini on GitHub.

MusicRadarGearBill Nelson tells us about the struggle of making the Gary Numan album he ultimately removed his name from Recently, we caught up with Be-Bop Deluxe guitar hero - and storied creative journeyman - Bill Nelson.

IQIndustryKanye West sets US rap show attendance record, organisers say Kanye West (Ye) drew over 80,000 fans to Houston’s Reliant Stadium over the weekend, which organisers say sets a new attendance record for rap concerts in the US.

Guitar PlayerGuitarsSteven Tyler pushes back on claims Aerosmith is finished: “You can't get rid of Aerosmith” Steven Tyler isn't ready to call time on Aerosmith's touring career — despite comments from the stage at the band's recent Hollywood Bowl concerts that suggested otherwise.

Guitar WorldGuitars“A great way to build textural ambience into astandard guitar chain”: Walrus Audio Lüm Texture Engine review What is it? Walrus Audio is well versed in the creation of textural ambient soundscapes. We’ve previously looked at its Slö Reverb, Lore Reverse Reverb and Fable Granular Generator pedals , and the…

Bass Musician MagazineGuitarsBass Lines: The Complete Guide to Bass Guitar Tone Understanding Punch, Fat, Beefy, Gritty, Dirty, Growl, Tight, Aggressive, and the Differences Between Vintage, Classic, Modern, and New Introduction: Learning to Hear Beyond the Notes When we talk…

Allen & HeathLive & DJAllen & Heath Powers MU:IN Bangkok’s Multi-Room Club Experience Allen & Heath Powers MU:IN Bangkok’s Multi-Room Club Experience Located on the fifth floor of DONKI Mall Thonglor, MU:IN Bangkok brings the energy and atmosphere of a Korean superclub to the heart of…

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 six 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.