News archive
December 2023
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36 articles
- December 5
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- "He was an outstanding vocalist and guitar player" – Paul McCartney leads tributes to Denny Laine as the Wings and Moody Blues founder passes away aged 89
- Love Floyd Rose vibratos, hate Allen keys? The Graph Tech Un-Lock Nut could be the electric guitar mod for you
- Japanese ambient musician Michiru Aoyama has woken at 5am to record a new album every day since 2021 – he's now earning $3,000 a month from his music on Spotify and Bandcamp
- “If you want authentic Soldano tube tone with the modern flexibility of digital control, the Soldano Astro-20 is the amp for you”: Mike Soldano’s latest tube amp is a versatile 20-watter with IRs and MIDI
- Max Richter unveils new piano plugin based on the renowned composer's Steinway D SPIRIO | r: "If you want to evoke the intimate stories we all carry inside us, then you will be well served by this instrument"
- Meet XLN Audio's AI-powered "happy accident machine": Life is a potentially highly addictive field recorder and plugin that makes instant beats from found sounds
- Fender marks 70 years of the Stratocaster with new colour options, and limited edition American Professional II and Player Series Anniversary editions
- Moog takes a deep dive into the world of bass sounds with the new Mariana soft synth, and the good news is that it runs on iOS, Mac and Windows
- “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called soundcheck”: Watch Prince shred on his Yellow Cloud guitar as the NPG warm up for their Special Olympics 1991 set
- 7 free plugins you need to know about this month
- "I don't think it ever really goes away" – Brian May admits he still suffers with imposter syndrome
- “I don’t want to generalise and say that he made everything sound good, but he did”: Joe Satriani reveals his strategy for replicating Eddie Van Halen’s tone on upcoming Sammy Hagar tour
- Modalics releases MINDst Drums, a new sampled drum kit plugin that promises realism and authenticity
- RØDE acquires rival Mackie to create audio powerhouse: "Their origin story is uncannily similar to ours"
- 7 of the best new hardware synths in 2023
- December 4
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- "This video is what happens when you spend your time practicing instead of arguing about gear online" – Julia Przybysz proves groove is in the hands with a stunning bass workout of Michael Jackson's Get On The Floor on a $350 StingRay
- Vince Clarke: "Martin Gore brought along his synthesizer, we looked at the thing and thought, this is a lot easier than learning chords on a guitar and you only need one finger to play it"
- The 7 ways I learned to improve my guitar tone – that won't cost you money
- Believe it or not, the Behringer UB-Xa synth is now on sale - and it’s even cheaper than we thought it was going to be
- 10 Christmas gift ideas for the music-maker in your life under $100
- Cherry Audio kicks off the festive celebrations with a free plugin emulation of Oberheim’s classic SEM synth module
- "It's just a good-looking toy": Is it worth buying a Teenage Engineering EP-133 KO II when you can do everything that it does (and more) on a free app?
- Expressive E's software instruments push the boundaries of physical modelling and MPE. Get up to 65% off in their Black Friday sale
- December 1
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- Watch Dave Grohl unleash a 36-minute live version of his Play instrumental
- “I am always able to come up with brand-new chords that no one has been stupid enough to sing over”: Page Hamilton on harmonic curiosity and the aggressive expansion of Helmet’s musical vocabulary
- Gretsch Drums launches new beginner-friendly Renegade Series drum kits
- DW unveils limited edition 14”x5” DW MFG True-Cast Snare
- Why does the Epiphone Greeny Les Paul cost $1,500?
- Buy a Taylor guitar and get a second one absolutely free
- Chroma chameleon: Arturia’s limited-edition KeyStep Pro controller comes with blue LEDs and lets you customise the colours of your tracks
- Arturia’s KeyLab Essential mk3 MIDI keyboards live up to their name, giving you all the control you need
- How to create drumless jam tracks or isolated drum tracks of your favourite songs for free
- “It covers my utilities bill”: German electronic musician Hainbach reveals how much his 1 million Spotify streams earned him in 2023
- Manson Guitar Works announces its most affordable UK-made guitars to date with the "very high-spec" one-pickup MA and Verona Junior models
- We tested 4 of the most popular online e-mastering services and compared them to a real mastering engineer. Here’s what happened
- How Gear Acquisition Syndrome almost ruined my life: "I love synths so much that I've lost my grip on reality. Why did I let myself spend 20k on sh*t I don’t even use?"