Skip to content

XLR MAG

Signal of the week

Plugins & DAWs · 121 stories, +52 vs last week

Plugins & DAWs: 121 stories in seven days, +52 on the week before.

SynthsM-VAVE FM-1 with KARMA firmware: four tracks, stems and MIDI into Ableton MatrixSynth

EuropeDeux cycles de formation au GRIM Sono Mag

Latest

Guitar PlayerGuitarsAl Di Meola says an acid trip landed him the gig of a lifetime: “He said, ‘Don’t worry — the Beatles take this stuff’” On New Year’s Eve 1971, a 17-year-old Al Di Meola walked offstage after playing the gig of his young life with jazz pianist Barry Miles.

Guitar PlayerGuitarsMark Knopfler on why he’s ditched the pick in favor of fingerpicking Mark Knopfler has long been regarded as one of the premier electric guitar fingerstylists in the game .

Guitar PlayerGuitarsWe review the LiquiSlide Jules Leyhe Signature glass slide Form and function come together on a finger. That’s the story of the intriguing LiquiSlide line, which offers an array of double-walled glass slides filled with different liquids in a variety of…

MatrixSynthSynthsCraig Padilla - SURFACE ASCENT (Live) - MST/Division6, Mattson Mini Modular, MPC ONE, MODX M video upload by Craig Padilla "Trick or treat once again with another live performance in the studio! it's also inspired by the spirit of Halloween!

MatrixSynthSynths70 Years Of FATAR Keybeds - Music China 2026 video upload by sonicstate "A pleasure to talk to Marco Ragni - CEO of Fatar - his grandfather founded the company in 1956 - He took us through the various Fatar keyboard actions.

MatrixSynthSynthsClarii Pro: Robkoo - Music China 2026 video upload by sonicstate "Oscar from Robkoo showed us Clarii Pro C20, the company's pro wind controller at the large Robkoo booth - electronic wind instruments are very popular here in China.

Magnetic MagazineLive & DJDiego Miranda (CH) Debuts on Magnetic Magazine Recordings With “Love Odyssey” Chilean producer Diego Miranda (CH) is back with “Love Odyssey,” his latest progressive house single, released October 30 through Magnetic Magazine Recordings.

Music ConnectionIndustryTrueblood Signs With Mercury Records Date Signed: January 2026 Label: Mercury Records Band Members: Cameron Trueblood, drums; Dylan Trueblood, guitar; Mason Trueblood, vocals, guitars; Ethan Trueblood, bass Genre: Alternative Rock…

Magnetic MagazineLive & DJStarry Venus Makes Feeling An Act Of Motion Some spiritual language can flatten a record before anyone gets to the song. It gets too abstract, too soft around the edges, and suddenly the music starts sounding like it exists to explain an idea…

Synth AnatomySynthsAudioThing Materia resynthesizes any sample into an additive synth patch – now for iOS AudioThing Materia is a new additive resynthesizer plugin for macOS, Linux, Windows, and iOS that turns any sample into a playable instrument.

Digital Music NewsIndustrySuno Is Keeping the Pressure on the Mechanical Licensing Collective; Court Orders MLC Subpoena Response by Monday The Fred D. Thompson U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building. Photo Credit: Antony-22 Suno is charging ahead with its Mechanical Licensing Collective subpoena, and the MLC now has until Monday to…

Magnetic MagazineLive & DJNau Leone On Keeping EGO DEATH Personal I think one of the more difficult parts of producing music is knowing when to ask somebody for help and when you need to figure something out yourself.

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.