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XLR MAG

Signal of the week

Japan-made · 57 stories, +38 vs last week

Japan-made: 57 stories in seven days, +38 on the week before.

SynthsRoland TR-1000 Firmware 1.5 Adds Keyboard Mode, FM Instruments & New Effects Synthtopia

GearAKAI MPC 3.10 Update: Download This Before You Buy a New MPK Mini Plus II! Gearnews

Latest

DJ MagLive & DJArca shares video for ‘XXXXX’ album track, ‘Fxck’: Watch The 16-track ‘XXXXX’ album came out in July via XL Recordings

DJ MagLive & DJTechnics unveils new SL-1210MKX direct-drive turntable Designed for DJs, the SL-1210MKX will be available from January 2027 at an RRP of £1,299

Rolling Stone IndiaAsiaFleetwood Mac Set Authorized Documentary Tied to ‘Rumours’ 50th Anniversary Nearly two years after being announced , Frank Marshall’s Fleetwood Mac documentary has an official title and release date. Fleetwood Mac: The Chain arrives on Jan. 29, 2027, via Apple TV .

RekkerdDAW & pluginsFREE: Echolite delay effect plugin by D16 Group D16 Group has announced the release of a simple, versatile delay designed to get you from silence to useful echoes in seconds.

Rolling Stone IndiaAsiaJohn Mayer Launches New Label Sob Rock Records John Mayer has launched his own label entitled Sob Rock Records. Named after his latest album, the musician has teamed up with Mercury Records for the endeavor.

Rolling Stone IndiaAsiaCharli XCX to Cameo in Martin Scorsese’s New Horror Film With Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence Charli XCX and Martin Scorsese ‘s worlds are once again colliding, this time for a horror film helmed by the illustrious director.

Guitar.comGuitarsCrazy Tube Circuits Triptychon review – this might be the most ambitious dirt pedal ever made €299/£269/$359, crazytubecircuits.com A triptych is a painting with three panels, so you might assume the Crazy Tube Circuits Triptychon is some kind of three-in-one pedal .

Production ExpertStudios & prosHow To Work With A Mix Engineer: The Art Of The Hand-Off The journey from a completed multitrack session to a commercial release is one of the most critical phases of music production.

GearnewsGearD16 Group Echolite: A Flexible Free Delay Plugin! With D16 Group Echolite, you get a free delay plugin for your DAW, capable of producing modern and classic echo sounds for any style of music.

UK Jazz NewsEuropeElf Traps – ‘Elf Traps’ Following drummer Rob Turner ‘s departure from GoGo Penguin, the news emerged that he was working on a groundbreaking new project exploring his electronic side.

Guitar Pedal XGuitarsWith the addition of 2 New Keeley Tube Drive Variants - we've now had a total of 6 different Editions - each with a different 12A7 Tube onboard I did say - hold your horses! for numerous forthcoming Tube Drive variants. I kind of knew that Robert had a stash of rare 12A7 Tubes that he had been gathering for the last few years, and the last…

UK Jazz NewsEuropeSharp Little Bones at Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham House bands can be the unseen heroes of many a jazz venue. There to support any artist that needs them – part of the show, but not the show – until they decide to step forward and have the light…

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.