Casio‘s musical instrument division — comprising its miniature and full-size keyboards and digital pianos — is losing significant money. According to its latest year-end figures, its sound (electronic musical instrument) division had a negative profit to the tune of -3.4bn yen. Clearly the company is well aware of the apparent […]
cyma forma has put its latest synth onto pre-order. The RND synth is a box with a single large button — every time you press it, every onboard parameter is randomised and then output as audio. A collaboration between cyma forma and the French artist Bambounou, it entirely removes the […]
dadamachines has announced the premiere of its tbd-16 compact, open source, hackable groovebox, which will be shown off at this year’s Superbooth event. Featuring sixteen track, with multiple engines per track, plus a deep step sequencer, mixer, effects, and built-in browser editor, crammed into a 110x110x25mm box for ultra portability. […]
Acid Rain Technologies has announced the launch of its Ziggurat “melodic playground” four-channel quantiser for Eurorack. It’s designed to turn any combination of control voltage and gate signals into inspiring and unexpected melodies, providing a fresh way to explore harmonic relationships. Explore different combinations of note masks, input signals, ranges […]
Yamaha has launched three models in a new B Series upright acoustic piano family, namely the B10, B20 and B30, which as well as the base model are also available as SILENT and TransAcoustic pianos. The B Series builds on the b series, highly recognised in Europe, and offering it […]
Native Instruments has announced version 26 of its Komplete music production software is now available. New Sounds New sound additions include the semi-modular synth Absynth 6, grand piano samples Claire and Claire: Avant, and Moments: Vocal Clouds. Other notable additions include Marco Polo Drums, LCO Producer Strings, the Definitive Electric […]
Buchla has announced preorder status for its new West Coast synthesiser: Ziggy. Formed around the Buchla ‘complex oscillator’ and featuring a new ‘unpatched’ instrument experience, it offers quick, gestural means of assigning modulation and composing music. Many familiar technologies onboard include digital control over analog audio, additive synthesis, unique and […]
Recently we were asked a question about keyboards/digital pianos with fewer than 88 keys, and which notes are missing. It’s a really interesting question and one I honestly hadn’t considered before, even though I grew up playing an 88-key acoustic upright piano, bought 61-key and 49-key keyboards and synths, and […]
In the late 1980s, Roland launched its D Series of synthesisers, including both keyboard and module-based instruments, using its Linear Arithmetic Synthesis model. Contents Roland D-50 The D-50, launched in 1987, was the first (more) affordable synth to combine sample-based playback with subtractive synthesis. Roland’s sound engineers developed Linear Arithmetic […]
Something a little different here — for those who grew up in the early days of PCs and remember with some affection the mechanical noises associated with them, even if they were rather temperamental at the time — the HDD Synth prototype. In particular, the HDD Synth recreates the sound […]
Drift DJ Industries has announced its Zero palm-sized, battery-powered audio mixing, performance and recording system, aimed at DJs but also of use to other electronic musicians. Features Playback Mix Sync Record Flexibility for Modern Music-Makers Specifications Audio I/O USB I/O Audio File Formats Storage Battery Display Processor + OS Dimensions […]
XLN Audio has announced the launch of its DB-30 Drum Butter plugin tool, built around the premise that “drums should be fun”. Drum Butter combines six high-quality effects modules for applying attack, tone shaping, texture, space and more to drum tracks — or in fact any audio track. Modules Boom […]
Introduction The Yamaha PSR-E483 and PSR-E583 are two home music keyboards launched in 2026. They are part of the PSR family of keyboards whose first models launched over forty years ago. Both models can be considered entry- to mid-level keyboards whose target audience is beginner musicians, children, and those who […]
We might all aspire to owning an acoustic grand piano, but the main issue (after expense) is finding the space to accommodate one. I used to have lessons with a lady who dedicated her entire front room to a baby grand piano, and there was barely the room for anything […]
Baby Audio has launched its Grainferno instrument, offering granular synthesis and allowing you chop up and manipulate any sample to create new sounds and textures. Granular synthesis isn’t new, and many DAWs and other plugins already exist to allow you to manipulate samples in this way — Baby Audio suggests […]
One of the most popular new instruments on Kickstarter is the Tembo, a magnetic step sequencer and sampler which lets you build rhythms and sequences simply by placing magnetic discs onto the grid and then jamming with it. First off, the Tembo looks gorgeous, with a natural wooden look just […]
Not that dissimilar from one of the keyboards we featured in our Temu trawl, this little keyboard instrument from China has left us wondering exactly what’s going on. I’m very interested in alternative musical instruments and not everything needs to look or behave like a piano keyboard, but when something […]
Apple released Logic Pro 12 at the end of January this year, with a number of additions and developments including more AI session musicians, enhanced sound library, step sequencer enhancements, and (finally) a chord recognition tool. Chord ID Chord ID is what a lot of people have been asking for […]
Yamaha has announced its “Yamaha Creator Pass” platform, giving music and podcast creators access to a curated collection of industry-leading audio tools in one place, connected under one login and subscription. Subscription Model There are seven different tier levels (which feels a bit excessive as many subscription-based services offer from […]
A decade ago came the Obscura 8-bit Chiptune Synth mark 2, offering retro video game sound by emulating Nintendo NES / Famicom and C64 sounds. This monophonic MIDI synth enables that gorgeous eightbitness to be created without the need for programming or software installation. It works simply by attaching a […]