1010music went back to the drawing board for its cult sampler. The blackbox 2 keeps the pocket form factor but doubles the processing power, moves to a 4-inch touchscreen, adds internal battery power and a brand-new granular engine. Available now at $649 / £579.
Pittsburgh Modular is teasing the return of its most beloved synth voice. The Lifeforms SV-2 swaps its Eurorack ancestor’s rack format for a full keyboard, promises paraphonic and duophonic modes, and gets its official reveal on August 11.
UK boutique builder Hampshire Electronics is back with the Vulcan MK2, a Eurorack module that squeezes an 8-voice, all-analogue polysynth plus two digital engines into just 37 HP. Pre-orders are open at £679, with shipping slated for the end of August.
The first fully in-house instrument from Dutch builder Vannes Devices, the Obsidian is a desktop semi-modular analog synth that blends East and West Coast synthesis in one box — an ambitious bet backed by an architecture with real character, still in its final tuning phase.
reFX, the studio behind Nexus, unveils Rippler: a software synth pairing modal physical modeling with subtractive synthesis across two independent layers. Twelve resonator models, an energy-coupling architecture and a $99 intro price. Here is what it actually brings to the table.
Germany’s Vermona has opened pre-orders for the drumDING, a hybrid drum machine that flips the usual formula: one endlessly tweakable analog percussion voice you shape by hand, then freeze into a sample to replay across six tracks.
Dusk Audio has just packed six vintage synths into one free, open-source plugin. A good moment to sort the best free software synthesizers of 2026: faithful emulations of a specific machine, modern do-it-all instruments and featherweight classics. Every one playable without spending a cent, with the caveats that matter.
Rhodes Music expands its software line with Clav Pro, an emulation of the 1977 Hohner Clavinet D6 ‘Transition’. Deep multi-sampling, amp and mic simulations and an in-house FX suite bring the clav’s funk bite into your DAW for a $89.95 introductory price.
Released at the beginning of 2026, the Boss GX-1 and GX-1B expand the GX series with a compact floor format, designed for guitarists and bassists who want a modern processor without blowing their budget or overcrowding their pedalboard. Despite being entry-level models in the series, these two units take on key elements already found in the larger devices. Overview of the Boss GX-1 and GX-1B The GX-1 and GX-1B are two multi-effects processors in pedalboard format, very similar in terms of design. Both are based on the manufacturer’s AIRD amp-modelling technology, offer more than 140 built-in effects, and allow up…
Dusk Audio bundles six classic synthesis engines — from a DCO poly to an acid bass box — into a single free, open-source, cross-platform plugin. Sunset Circuits targets both the curious and producers who want a full vintage palette without spending a dime.