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9 stories

Arturia MiniFreak v5.0 Update – User Samples and Wavetables!

GearnewsGearArturia MiniFreak v5.0 Update – User Samples and Wavetables! Four years on, the remarkable Arturia MiniFreak get a new update with the long-awaited addition of user sample and wavetable uploads. plus a bunch of new presets to show them off! [ UPDATE: 15th September, 2026 ] If ever

Guitar Journal: Gibson Miami, Pink Floyd Gold Pick & More

GearnewsGearGuitar Journal: Gibson Miami, Pink Floyd Gold Pick & More This week, we’re checking out the latest guitar news, starting with the Gibson Garage Miami opening last weekend. Next up, we look at the insanely expensive £4.75k gold Pink Floyd plectrum! Finally, we check out the Offs

Steinberg, Universal Audio, Native Instruments: 3 Strong Software Deals — DAW, Tape Machines, and Guitar Amps

GearnewsGearSteinberg, Universal Audio, Native Instruments: 3 Strong Software Deals — DAW, Tape Machines, and Guitar Amps Steinberg opens this week with Cubase Elements 15, the budget-friendly entry point into the Cubase family, now €59. Next up is Universal Audio with the Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape, the legendary two-track tape machine f

Fender Lee Sklar Precision Bass: Aged To Perfection

GearnewsGearFender Lee Sklar Precision Bass: Aged To Perfection The Fender Lee Sklar Precision Bass faithfully replicates t he highly individualized P Bass heard on countless albums. James Taylor and Carole King, Phil Collins, Toto, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Joe Cocker, and Rod

RND Plugins Launch: Rupert Neve Designs’ First-Ever Software Goes Live

GearnewsGearRND Plugins Launch: Rupert Neve Designs’ First-Ever Software Goes Live Rupert Neve Designs just did something it’s never done before: released plugins under its own name. These new RND Plugins bring software versions of three of the company’s most beloved hardware units, the Portico II Mast

EHX Adrian Belew Echoflanger: The Legendary King Crimson effect is back – but limited!

GearnewsGearEHX Adrian Belew Echoflanger: The Legendary King Crimson effect is back – but limited! This one is a surprise: Electro Harmonix is bringing back a limited edition of the legendary Adrian Belew Echoflanger! The reissue features the four original modes, plus two new ones. And all the self-oscillating goodnes

Mayer EMI Vibes Aurora 5.0: The Biggest Firmware Update to Date – Available Now!

GearnewsGearMayer EMI Vibes Aurora 5.0: The Biggest Firmware Update to Date – Available Now! The Mayer EMI Vibes gets its biggest firmware update to date. Aurora 5.0 adds a slew of new features and sounds to the desktop synth. The update is available now! All about the Mayer EMI MD850 Vibes Mayer EMI Vibes: Auro

Martin 16 Series 2026: The Stage-Acoustics Get a Colorful Update

GearnewsGearMartin 16 Series 2026: The Stage-Acoustics Get a Colorful Update With the 2026 update to the Martin 16 Series, the US guitar heavyweight shows how to stay on the cutting edge. Vibrant colors, a new preamp, and Martin’s first short-scale Slope-Shoulder Dreadnought! This is 16 Series 20

Apple macOS 27 Golden Gate: Is This Really the End of the Intel Mac Era? Update Now or Wait?

GearnewsGearApple macOS 27 Golden Gate: Is This Really the End of the Intel Mac Era? Update Now or Wait? Apple officially released macOS 27 Golden Gate last night. You can install the update right now through Software Update in System Settings. For us on the studio side of things, that raises the actually interesting questi

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About

XLR is a magazine, a radar and a diary about music gear and the making of music — for the people who make records and put on shows, wherever they do it.

The name is the three-pin connector that every signal in the business passes through: the microphone on stage and in the booth, the line to the desk, the DMX cable that runs the lights. Studio, stage and lighting rig share it, and so does this magazine. Every few hours XLR collects what the makers shipped, what the reviewers heard, what the studios and the touring crews are doing, which producers and collectives are surfacing and what they are saying — synths and modular, plugins and DAWs, guitars and drums, microphones, monitors, PA and lights, the rooms and the people — from a few hundred sources in English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and more, then plots what is moving. The editor writes a letter every few days. Nothing is sold here; when a link leads to a shop, that is the maker's shop, not ours.