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XLR MAG

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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.

Library / Room 02

DRUMMACHINES

Illustration of a vintage drum machine on a red surface

1980TR-808Roland · Analog1

LinnDrumLinn Electronics · Sampled2

TR-909Roland · Analog + sampled3

DrumulatorE-mu · Sampled4

TR-707Roland · Sampled5

SP-1200E-mu · Sampler4

MPC60Akai · Sampler2

MachinedrumElektron · Drum synthesis6

Artwork on unillustrated cards is type only until the Library script generates it. The TR-808 picture is an illustration, not a photo.

Sources

The TR-808 Story, Roland Corporation1980; analog synthesis; a row of 16 step buttons · checked 2026-10-07
Museum, Roger Linn DesignLinnDrum released 1982, sampled sounds; Akai MPC60, a sampling drum machine and MIDI sequencer released in 1988 · checked 2026-10-07
TR-909 (Roland Cloud), Roland Corporation1983; analog kick, snare, clap and toms with digital samples for the cymbals · checked 2026-10-07
30 Years Of Emu, Sound On SoundDrumulator launched early 1983 (sample replay); SP1200, a sampling drum machine launched at Summer NAMM 1987 · checked 2026-10-07
TR-707 (Roland Cloud), Roland Corporationreleased 1985; uses the original TR-707 sample ROM · checked 2026-10-07
Legacy Products, ElektronMachinedrum (2001), a drum machine based on drum synthesis methods; Digitakt (2017) · checked 2026-10-07