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.
Just months after being acquired by inMusic, Native Instruments is going through a heavy restructuring: a reported UK office closure, roles on Maschine, Kontakt and Komplete at risk, and a reshuffled leadership. Here’s what’s really at stake for one of the pillars of music software — and for your plugins.
Pittsburgh Modular brings its flagship semi-modular workstation back to life. The Lifeforms SV-2 is no mere SV-1 facelift: it’s a complete rethink, with two thru-zero oscillators, a dual multimode filter section, saturation stages scattered across the signal path and, best of all, a built-in Eurorack bay. Available now at €1,599.
Analog cable and multicore are losing ground to the Ethernet network. But between Dante, AES67, Ravenna and SMPTE ST 2110, it’s easy to get lost. Here’s a clear guide to what audio over IP really is, how these standards fit together, and what you need to master before deploying an audio network.
Fender rolls out its first two pad controllers, the Motion 16 and Motion 32. Each packs FATAR-built RGB pads with polyphonic aftertouch, built-in songwriting tools and tight integration with Fender’s own DAW. A quiet move that says a lot about the company’s software ambitions.
GC Audio unveils the Producer Channel, a fully analog channel strip whose every setting saves and recalls instantly thanks to motorized pots and a companion plug-in. Class-A Lundahl preamp, four-band EQ, VCA compressor and a valve stage: the best-of-both-worlds dream finally takes shape.
Focusrite brings its ISA transformer preamp — the one Rupert Neve designed for the Air Montserrat console — inside a USB-C interface. Eight mic pres, 24-bit/192kHz conversion and an unmistakable anodised-blue chassis: the ISA C8X targets the studio that wants colour without leaving the box.
Setting the right level at every stage of the chain, from preamp to master bus, is one of the most rewarding and most misunderstood skills in the digital studio. Here’s how to think in dBFS, protect your headroom and build a clean gain structure, with no myths and no magic numbers.
For 808 day, Berlin’s Tubbutec unveils a kit that swaps the Roland TR-808’s original processor for a new CPU. On the menu: velocity MIDI, eleven extra instruments, a rebuilt sequencer and performance effects — fully reversible, and compatible with the Din Sync RE-808 replica.
Behringer is bringing back the Korg Mini Pops 7, the 1966 analog rhythm box immortalized on Jean-Michel Jarre’s Oxygène. The modern take promises analog circuitry, a fully programmable step sequencer, a distortion unit and a tone control. Its appearance in Behringer’s Syntribe software points to a release that’s just around the corner.
Manley reworks its passive tube EQ know-how into two new dual-channel boxes: the Dual Mid Band EQ for sculpting tracks, and the Dual Main EQ built for buses and mastering. Passive inductor filters, tube make-up gain and in-house transformers bring the Manley color into a proper stereo format — at a price that matches the pedigree.