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.

← XLR MAG Archive

Synth AnatomySynths

ACME Synthworks XP60: Oberheim Xpander analog polysynth revived in compact: available for pre-order

10.18

The ACME Synthworks XP60 revives the Oberheim Xpander Synthesizer in a compact design, staying true to its original architecture. It’s now available for pre-order.

Synths

Read at Synth Anatomy ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

ACME Synthworks XP60: Oberheim Xpander analog polysynth revived in compact: available for pre-order

Related

SynthsCanunda Synthesis Mx1K: a free Oberheim Matrix 1000 synth emulation and editor Synth Anatomy

SynthsCentral Processing Unit CPU Micron: Roland MC-202 Synthesizer emulation for mac, win and iPadOS Synth Anatomy

SynthsFred’s Lab Töörö mkII: the hybrid MPE polyphonic Synthesizer gets a second generation Synth Anatomy

Synthszvenson Obervave: your M-VAVE FM-1 and SMK-37 Pro/Elite are now Oberheim-like polysynths Synth Anatomy

SynthsWaldorf Protein: hardware wavetable synth gets free Chutney librarian software Synth Anatomy

SynthsTeenage Engineering OP-XY: firmware 1.2 brings drum synth engine and multi-channel USB audio Synth Anatomy