Behringer revives a rare cult effect: the Pedal Flanger, an all-analog flanger you control with your foot like a wah, a tribute to the 1976 Tycobrahe Pedalflanger. Auto mode, Spread and Intensity controls, and a floor price that will turn heads.
zplane launches Timbre, a real-time poly formant shaper that shifts formants across three octaves without changing pitch. A dual-band architecture, a carrier section for vocoding and low latency make it a color tool that behaves like neither an EQ nor a pitch shifter.
Animal Factory unveils the Asura, a portable six-voice wavetable polysynth built with Sanjay Das. Two wavetable oscillators, an analog distortion stage in place of the filter, a granular delay and a parameter-lock sequencer make it one of the most distinctive synths of the season.
French maker HLabs brings its PRE169 preamp — a replica of the Studer 169 console input stage — to rack. The PRE169S packs two channels into 1U, with Carnhill and Neutrik transformers.
The new Yamaha DM5 sets a high bar, and so does its price. Here are eight compact digital consoles that do the same job, from true rivals to more affordable alternatives, with an honest take on how each stacks up against it.
Telefunken re-issues its M80-SH low-profile dynamic for 2026: 40% lighter, 10% shorter, with vibration-dampening built in. A 50 Hz – 18 kHz supercardioid designed for tight positions on stage.
Brazilian maker EMW unveils the S-8000, a small desktop sample-playback synth. Multi-samples on microSD, a resonant filter, envelopes and onboard effects: a modern rompler approach, open to your own sounds.
At IBC 2026, four manufacturers and a research institute founded the LMMG to finally measure dialog intelligibility with a shared unit, the DIU. A direct answer to the recurring viewer complaint: “we can’t understand what’s being said.”
However good it is, a main PA never covers a whole room evenly. Front fills, delays and out fills plug the level and intelligibility gaps — as long as you delay and align them properly. A field guide.
A compressor is not defined by its ratio or attack time alone: its gain topology shapes speed, colour and feel. Here is how to tell FET, VCA, opto and vari-mu apart, and how to pick the right one for the source.