Articles by: Ben Rogerson

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.

Articles by: Ben Rogerson

Donner throws a curve ball with Medo, a handheld synth, sampler and music-making device

By Ben Rogerson published 5 October 23

“Multi-function musical instrument” lands on Kickstarter at a tempting early-bird price

Jorja Smith becomes the latest artist to cover Harry Styles’ As It Was, following Lewis Capaldi, John Mayer, Arcade Fire and - of course - Rick Astley

By Ben Rogerson published 5 October 23

Singer performs in BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge

“Nah. It doesn’t work”: How Harold Faltermeyer’s iconic Axel F nearly didn’t make it into Beverly Hills Cop at all

By Ben Rogerson published 5 October 23

Faltermeyer needed to convince both Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, and neither of them liked it…

Could you create and release a track a day for an entire year? That’s what one EDM producer is going to do, and he’s got the tattoo to prove it

By Ben Rogerson published 4 October 23

We’d settle for finishing one track a year, to be honest

Synplant is back, and version 2 uses AI to grow sounds based on any audio file you feed it

By Ben Rogerson published 4 October 23

The horticultural soft synth has blossomed into something even more impressive

“You create your sounds simply by plugging into the right holes”: here’s how the BBC explained the Moog synthesizer to TV viewers back in 1969

By Ben Rogerson published 3 October 23

Just a few months after the moon landings, Britons were ready for a futuristic musical instrument…

“All of a sudden, he’s down to a T-shirt, and he’s ripped, and he’s 80, and he’s giving you full-blown Mick Jagger”: Andrew Watt on producing new Rolling Stones album Hackney Diamonds

By Ben Rogerson published 2 October 23

“It’s the greatest honour as a kid with a guitar who grew up idolising every single thing Keith Richards ever did,” he admits

Behringer says that “many media outlets and ‘influencers’” no longer support it because it won't advertise with them or provide "free products", or “they simply don’t like us for whatever reason”

By Ben Rogerson published 2 October 23

Company declines to name who it's talking about or provide evidence to support its claims

Stevie Wonder plays Rhodes, piano and Moog as he and Lady Gaga cut loose with The Rolling Stones on new single Sweet Sounds Of Heaven

By Ben Rogerson published 29 September 23

Mick, Keith and co hit the heights on the second track from forthcoming album Hackney Diamonds

Peter Gabriel reveals that he spent time in his “home studio” with Skrillex: “He was trying to encourage me to write a song about staying up all night in a night club and that sort of thing”

By Ben Rogerson published 29 September 23

New song This Is Home was also inspired by the great Motown rhythm sections

If you’ve been holding out for a drumless version of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, you’re about to get lucky

By Ben Rogerson published 29 September 23

It’s a revolution nein-09

Bandcamp is under new ownership once again, as Epic Games offloads it to music licensing company Songtradr

By Ben Rogerson published 29 September 23

Artist-friendly online music marketplace changes hands for the second time in little over 18 months

“For pianists, it's a magical feature”: StaffPad can now generate sheet music just by ‘listening’ to your acoustic piano playing, which sounds like an AI-powered tool we could get on board with

By Ben Rogerson published 28 September 23

Piano Capture tool also brings MIDI input to the app, and you now import video, too

Moog Music breaks its silence on rumours of layoffs at its US headquarters: “We are looking forward to getting past this painful phase with renewed energy and enthusiasm”

By Ben Rogerson published 28 September 23

Company says it’s supporting affected staff and “easing their journey to new opportunities”, and that it will launch a new product early next year

IK Multimedia puts a piano on Mars (sort of), as it announces that its new Pianoverse plugin was created with the help of a “sampling robot” that has an almost human finger

By Ben Rogerson published 28 September 23

To call it a comprehensive piano instrument is possibly an understatement

Gaia 2: Roland revives its 2010 synth with a new hybrid wavetable and virtual analogue sound engine

By Ben Rogerson published 28 September 23

Tweak-friendly instrument also offers Model Expansion support and has a built-in SH-101 emulation

The Vaporizer 2 wavetable synth plugin is now free and open-source: a commercial-quality instrument you can download for nothing?

By Ben Rogerson published 27 September 23

Vast Dynamics takes Jessie J’s advice and forgets about the price tag

Yamaha, Korg, Roland and Casio face legal action from customers seeking compensation after all four companies were found to have engaged in price fixing in the UK

By Ben Rogerson published 27 September 23

Law firm sets up dedicated website for anyone wishing to make a claim

Roland’s Juno-60 synth plugin hits version 2: a new GUI, a better browser and control over the ‘analogue’ circuits

By Ben Rogerson published 27 September 23

Free update brings it into line with Roland’s Jupiter-4, Jupiter-8 and Juno-106 emulations

Bitwig and PreSonus’s new open file format enables you to save projects in one DAW and open them in another, but will other developers support it?

By Ben Rogerson published 26 September 23

Could we be entering a new era of inter-platform compatibility, or will DAWproject turn out to be a false dawn?

Keith Richards calls pop music “rubbish”, dismisses “synthesized muzak” and doesn’t get rap: “I don’t really like to hear people yelling at me”

By Ben Rogerson published 26 September 23

Plus, The Rolling Stones preview new track featuring Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder

IK Multimedia is teasing something new, and our guess is that it’s a MODO Piano plugin

By Ben Rogerson published 26 September 23

Either that or the preview video is a massive piece of misdirection

Could Socalabs’ free Wavetable synth plugin be the open-source alternative to Serum?

By Ben Rogerson published 25 September 23

New MPE instrument might be a good option for cash-strapped producers seeking cutting-edge sounds

The Loog Piano looks like a gorgeous beginner keyboard, but is it too simple for its own good?

By Ben Rogerson published 25 September 23

The 3-string guitar maker appears to have created a stunning entry-level instrument, but how long until you outgrow it?

Moog Music is rumoured to be laying off staff at its US headquarters and moving the majority of its synth manufacturing to Taiwan

By Ben Rogerson published 25 September 23

The company was acquired by InMusic earlier this year

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