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

MusicTechGear

Serum 2 vs Vital: Do you need to pay for pro-grade synthesis?

September 18

Xfer Records released Steve Duda’s Serum plugin 12 years ago. It was an instant classic that went on to become the synth of choice for many producers due to its ease of use, flexibility and complex…

Synths Plugins & DAWs

Read at MusicTech ↗

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

Serum 2 vs Vital: Do you need to pay for pro-grade synthesis?

Related

VoicesSerum 2 Wavetable Editor: Build, Import, and Refine Your Own Sounds EDMProd

VoicesAbleton Wavetable: The Complete Guide to Sound Design EDMProd

EuropeThe 12 best free Synthesizers That Rival Paid Plug-ins Audiofanzine

Gear“It’s so important”: Nick Hakim explains why every producer should learn their DAW’s key commands MusicTech

DAW & pluginsGet a free cinematic synth pad for Splice INSTRUMENT Splice Blog

DAW & pluginsShane Audio updates 44 plugins to v1.6 KVR Audio News