Dusk Audio is back with Tape Echo 2, a free, open-source emulation of the legendary Roland Space Echo. Three playback heads, a spring reverb and the full mechanics of the tape modeled end to end — all under a GPL license, no sign-up required.
Audio Damage drags the legendary 1983 Roland MC-202 into the plugin era. The AD-202 keeps the single oscillator and ladder filter of the little silver box, then bolts on polyphony, MPE and microtuning — a cult monosynth finally freed from its fiddly onboard sequencer.
The Roland RE-201 Space Echo is still the reference for tape echo. Here are eight plugins that bring it into your DAW, from free to high-end — and, honestly, which ones truly do the job versus which are only cousins.
Dawesome sets Abyss II for 20 August 2026: the second generation of its visual synth deepens the engine, adds a mono mode, sample import and full MPE support, without abandoning its founding idea — designing sound by colour rather than by calculation.
Softube releases the Reference 1998 and Reference 1956 Equalizer, two passive tube EQs built for colour and broad musical moves. Available for macOS and Windows from $79, with mid/side and a Headroom control on the 1956.
Lawo gives its Edge One a European debut at IBC 2026: a compact edge device combining video (SDI, HDMI) and audio (MADI, XLR, USB-C) connectivity on a native ST 2110 network, with swappable modules and on-demand FLEX licensing.
A PA system isn’t tuned by ear alone. Delay, phase, gain, tonal response: here’s how to align mains, subs and delays so the whole room hears the same sound.
Triton Audio, the company behind the FetHead, adds a single-knob tone control to its in-line preamp. The Tilt EQ delivers 22 dB of clean gain and reshapes a mic’s tone straight off the XLR, without ever passing phantom power to the microphone.
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.