Announced more than three years ago, the Behringer AKS Mini has finally gone up for pre-order at €119. This small analogue synthesizer is directly inspired by the 1971 EMS Synthi AKS, one of the most legendary British instruments in electronic music history. One question remains that will determine its real appeal: the pocket format has done away with the most iconic element of its ancestor. A British legend condensed into a pocket format To understand what Behringer is attempting here, you have to go back to the source. The VCS3, released in 1969, then its portable version Synthi A and…

Korg is quietly expanding its Nu:Tekt range with the piece it was missing: a mixer. The NTS-4 is a compact six-channel analogue performance mixer, featuring two digital effects engines, a USB-C audio interface and a MIDI output, all supplied as a solder-free kit for €219. On paper, it is the missing link in the brand’s desktop ecosystem; in practice, it is above all a clever answer to a problem familiar to anyone who plays live with several boxes. The mixer that was missing from the volca ecosystem For years, the world of desktop synths, grooveboxes and volcas has been growing…

Strymon is relaunching the delay pedal that built its reputation. The TimeLine MX features a tri-core processor, a dual engine capable of running two delays at the same time, five new machines and a five-minute looper. Here is what actually changes, and why this overhaul goes beyond a simple pedalboard update. A classic redesigned from the ground up The original TimeLine has been sitting on pedalboards and in effects racks for more than ten years, to the point of becoming the de facto reference for versatile digital delay. Strymon is not content here with a cosmetic facelift: the TimeLine MX…

Brazilian manufacturer EMW is launching the DX7000, a desktop FM synthesizer whose ambition can be summed up in one sentence: to instantly deliver the sounds of the Yamaha DX-7 without needing a computer. Sixteen-voice polyphony, 1,110 factory sounds, compatibility with DX-7 SysEx patches and a price of 365 dollars: a machine that fully embraces its status as a player rather than a laboratory. For a few years now, FM synthesis has been making a discreet but very real comeback, driven by both plug-ins and a handful of dedicated hardware units. The DX7000 takes this logic to its conclusion: instead of…

The Magnolia, an imposing eight-voice analogue polysynth with through-zero FM from Frap Tools, receives its 1.10 firmware. MIDI CC control over every parameter, MIDI over USB and eleven velocity and aftertouch curves: enough to turn a niche machine into an instrument that can be fully integrated into a modern studio. Frap Tools has built a reputation in the Eurorack world with modules renowned for their build quality and sonic precision. With the Magnolia, the Italian manufacturer leaves the modular format behind to deliver its first stage and studio keyboard: an eight-voice analogue polysynth, housed in a solid aluminium chassis and…

UVI crosses the symbolic 300-machine mark with Synth Anthology 5. The fifth version of its library of sampled hardware synths adds 100 new instruments, a redesigned dual-layer engine and brand-new modelled filters. Here’s an overview of a collection that distils half a century of synthesis into a single plugin. 300 synths in one plugin: what Synth Anthology 5 actually contains Since 2014, Synth Anthology has been pursuing the same goal: sampling hardware synthesisers one by one and making them playable within a common engine. Version 5 marks a step up, taking the catalogue from 200 to 300 machines, meaning 100…

After three years of development and a long public beta phase, Anukari is now officially released. This software synthesizer does not emulate analogue circuits or wavetable oscillators: it makes simulated three‑dimensional mass‑spring structures resonate, calculated in real time on your graphics card. It is one of the most distinctive approaches to sound synthesis seen in a long time. A synth that simulates physics, not electronics Physical modelling is not new: it has been around since the 1990s, from the Yamaha VL1 to the string and reed engines in modern computer music. But it has remained a strangely underused territory, often…

With Korg Collection 6, the Japanese developer bundles around twenty software instruments and effects into a single package, adding three new heavy hitters to its virtual arsenal: an emulation of the semi‑modular PS-3300, TRINITY in multitimbral workstation form, and the SGX-2 piano software. Together they form a sound palette spanning several decades, designed as much for music production as for scoring to picture or game audio. Installation and first steps: a suite that’s easy to roll out Installing Korg Collection 6 is surprisingly straightforward. You can pick exactly which instruments you want to install, without being forced to download everything…

In the already very niche world of Yamaha CS-80 clones and high-end MPE synths, the Love Hultén Deckard’s Dream X2 is far more than just a “beautiful object”. It is a complete performance station, conceived as a single instrument rather than a simple stack of machines: two Deckard’s Dreams, an Expressive E Osmose MPE controller, two top-tier effects, an oscilloscope, and a custom chassis inspired by the Yamaha CS-50/CS-80. The objective is clear: to recreate the sensory experience of a legendary large analogue synth, but with the precision, reliability and expressiveness of modern tools. An instrument designed for expressive playing,…

With Logic Pro 12, Apple doesn’t just add a layer of music theory on top of an existing workstation. The new version literally turns chords into a kind of “raw material” used to drive the entire project. For demanding producers, this is less a simple update than a change of working method: harmony becomes an engine for creation, not just information displayed at the top of the session. Compose faster: Logic Pro 12 as a harmonic translator Logic Pro has always been appreciated for its value for money and its built-in composition tools. Logic Pro 12 pushes this philosophy…