After 20+ years in professional audio: live sound engineering, studio technical direction (Deep Forest, Pierre Jacquot), head of digital marketing at Playback.fr. A first-hand witness to the analog-to-digital shift, I track the whole audio landscape and break it down here — no fluff.
Black Rooster Audio has launched the PS-VC1, a dedicated vocal chain that puts six modules — Low End, High End, Compress, Reverb, Echo and Width — on a single panel, in a fixed order that mirrors how a vocal actually gets mixed. It’s the first release of the company’s new Professional Series, priced at $79.
Cherry Audio has released Memorymode 2, the second generation of its Memorymoog emulation. A dual-layer engine, rebuilt analog modeling, a polyphonic sequencer and a fuller effects section bring one of the biggest analog polysynths of the 1980s squarely into 2026 workflows, for $69.
From the PPG Wave to Serum, wavetable synthesis powers a huge share of today’s productions. Here’s how it actually works, how it differs from FM and subtractive, and how to tame it.
United Plugins and JMG Sound launch Continuum, a delay built from two independent engines that cross-feed and diffuse until the echoes turn into reverb-like washes. Three vintage characters, twelve spatial modes, and an aggressive launch price.
Groove Synthesis ships OS 2.0a, a free update that meaningfully expands its high-end 3rd Wave wavetable synth: a fully modulatable shimmer reverb, a Make Waves tool with a new Spectral mode, and MIDI additions aimed squarely at the studio.
Pittsburgh Modular is shrinking the Lifeforms SV-1, the semi-modular that built its East Coast reputation, into a compact desktop box. At $599, the SV-1 Mini keeps the original’s full architecture intact and undercuts it by $200 – with a limited first run due in January 2027.
Yamaha refreshes the entry point of its PSR-SX arranger line. The PSR-SX620 replaces the long-running PSR-SX600 with a redesigned panel, a new joystick, over 1,000 voices and four times the expansion memory, for around $1,199.
With the new D-Control Basic mode in V-Control Pro, Neyrinck makes Avid D-Control surfaces usable again on Apple Silicon Macs, where Pro Tools no longer supports them. Motorised faders, transport, automation and plug-in editing return, over the HUI protocol.
Panorama Audio Labs debuts Panoramic, a stereo-image plugin designed by a two-time Grammy-nominated mastering engineer. Its trick: it widens by working the Side signal rather than phase, so the image holds up in mono. Out now on macOS for $99 ($69 at launch).
Haken Audio shrinks its legendary Continuum into a 1.6 kg travel instrument. The Slim 21 keeps the continuous neoprene surface and the full EaganMatrix engine for $1,799, delivering the most expressive playing surface around without the bulk.