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June 2023

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255 articles

June 30
- Plini’s new signature Strandberg Sälen is here and it pairs “super-twangy single-coil neck sounds” with high-gain muscle at the bridge
- Josh Freese pays homage to Dave Grohl: “Playing drums behind one of the world’s greatest drummers is a total trip”
- ThorpyFX promises Uni-Vibe perfection from the compact and easy-to-use ER-2
- TikTok owner ByteDance launches Ripple, a new app that generates music based on what you sing or hum into it
- EVH’s MIJ Signature Wolfgang applies high-end Japanese craft and Eddie Van Halen’s touring specs to one seriously cool guitar
- Show Us Your Studio #3: "You never know exactly how the Moog is going to sound until you start fiddling around with the patch cables"
- Audio-Technica ATH-M60x review
- Celebrate summer with these hot deals from Sweetwater
- Gibson teams up with master luthier Leo Scala to reimagine four classic electrics for the Master Artisan Collection
- Harley Benton launches the Spaceship Power series – affordable pedalboards with integrated rechargeable power supplies
- Producer Andrew Scheps visits Brad Pitt’s revamped Miraval Studios and checks out the ‘Spaceship’ mixing desk that the actor co-designed
- "I know that I’ve got to put on a show. I want it to feel like a performance" – How Koven balance live vocals and DJ mixing
- How improvised MPE, misused plugins and AI speech software made Galen Tipton’s mind-boggling brain scratch: "A lot of my work is made by experimenting and learning something new"
- Musician heads to an Apple Store and makes a complete track in GarageBand for free
- Learn 5 Beatles guitars riffs that rock
June 29
- Learn inspiring guitar chords from Paul McCartney's solo and Wings career
- Fender Steve Lacy People Pleaser Stratocaster review
- How to clean your piano keys
- New ‘smart gloves’ could help stroke patients relearn how to play the piano
- 5 songs you need to hear by... Kendrick Lamar
- "This is a moment I won't forget in a hurry" – Richard Fortus is now flying the flag for two great British guitar brands with Guns N' Roses
- Has Behringer managed to create a “premium” 10-input analogue mixer for $129?
- These Yamaha Stage Custom Birch demos will make you question why you need a more expensive drum kit
- Dave Mustaine and David Ellefson pay tribute to late Megadeth drummer Lee Rauch
- I Can’t Ex-pane: Jeremy Clarkson shares clip of window cleaner drumming on his Premier Spirit of Lily Keith Moon kit
- Hans Zimmer has reportedly bought the BBC’s iconic Maida Vale Studios for £10.5 million
- Audiomodern Chordjam 1.5 review
- The extraordinary story of John Lennon's ‘Imagine’ piano
- Play Like a Pro: Exploring aftertouch
June 28
- Warm Audio's new ODD Box and Mutation Phasor II pedals look familar
- TC Electronic is packing the value and guitar amp sounds of the ‘60s in its Ampworx Vintage Series preamp pedals
- Songwriter Desmond Child explains why his chorus melody from Bon Jovi's You Give Love A Bad Name features in two other hits songs
- Secret SAWs: the story of the impossible sampler that made the Stock Aitken Waterman smashes, and the backroom boys that pushed it to its limits
- The making of Harry Styles' As It Was: "Harry was sitting on the Moog One and I liked what he was playing, so I sat down and played as he started to write the melodies and the lyrics”
- Mick Mars claims he barely played guitar on the last three Mötley Crüe albums
- The Beatles' Mellotron, Stevie Wonder's Hohner clav, multiple MiniMoogs and more: The 7 most important keyboards of all time
- Issue 398 of Future Music is out now
- Harley Benton's 25th Anniversary guitars and basses get a funksome demo
- In celebration of Wendy Carlos: composer, inventor, genre creator and pioneer
- Play Like a Pro: Perfect your pitchbend
- Barry Cadogan plays Rory Gallagher's iconic guitar and amp rigs – including that '61 Strat!
- The 9 biggest myths about learning the piano
June 27
- Musicians' Union at Keys Week 23: Join a bigger band
- You can now buy Cory Wong’s heavily modified signature Fender Stratocaster in Surf Green and Daphne Blue
- Isla Instruments S2400 review
- Splice is now letting you use AI to create ‘Stacks’ of complementary samples on its website
- John Frusciante says he only found his identity as guitar player when Red Hot Chili Peppers wrote Blood Sugar Sex Magik
- There's going to be a lot of buzz about the new Beetronics Octahive V2 High-Octave Fuzz pedal
- Full Bucket Music’s latest free plugin brings back the Crumar Bit One analogue polysynth
- Dave Murray’s Iron Maiden touring rig has been revealed – it features a walnut-necked Masterbuilt Strat and Fractal Axe-Fx III amp modelling units
- Kurzweil at Keys Week 23: It's the sound
- Studiologic at Keys Week 23: Trust your feeling
- Nirvana fan tries to recreate Steve Albini's aluminum Veleno guitar that Kurt Cobain used on In Utero
- Gibson officially launches Custom Shop Richie Faulkner Flying V Custom
- Fantastic (stock) plugins and how to use them: Logic Pro Compressor
- Wait, is the new Squier Strat-O-Sonic guitar fitted with an Epiphone wrap-over bridge?
- As it prepares to launch its new Phone (2), Nothing announces a ringtone composer that features exclusive sounds from Swedish House Mafia
- 5 songs guitarists need to hear by... Johnny Marr
- Has Fred again.. switched from an NI Maschine+ to an Akai Pro MPC Live II?
- Classic keys on a budget: Get a grand piano for way less than a grand
- Play Like a Pro: How to control software with your keyboard
- In celebration of Bill Payne: the unsung keyboard master
- With its 61-note keyboard, Korg’s Opsix SE synth looks like a 21st-century take on the Yamaha DX7
June 26
- Eric Johnson is experimenting with Neural DSP's Quad Cortex but explains why he's not going down a rig 'rabbit hole' anymore: "The gear's really secondary – I wish I could say I always ascribed to that belief"
- "I played a blues scale as fast as I could and he said, 'That's not fast, you're not a good guitarist'" – John Frusciante on his depressing encounter with a guitar teacher, and his teenage heroes Steve Vai and Adrian Belew
- Play Like a Pro: Get funky with the clavinet
- Amadeus Code’s new AI API can generate royalty-free music based on non-musical text prompts, and Roland has signed up to use it
- Best arranger keyboards: Great instruments for solo keys players
- Rediscover keys with Expressive E's Osmose next-gen MPE synth
- In celebration of Stevie Wonder – legendary hit maker to legendary player
- Nektar keyboards have more features and DAW control than you thought possible
- Roland's digital Pianos are in a class of their own for sound quality, ease of use and fun
June 23
- Mexican guitarist Rafael Flores stuns Steve Vai by playing For The Love Of God on two guitars simultaneously
- Paul Rodgers proves class is permanent on new single Living It Up and announces first solo album for nearly 25 years
- HoRNet’s Cassette644 plugin harks back to the hissy days of 4-track home recording
- What’s this? A Gibson Custom Shop Richie Faulkner Flying V Custom in Pelham Blue, unveiled by the Judas Priest guitarist himself
- Tom Bukovac demoing a vintage Gibson Les Paul and Strat in a guitar shop is the best sales pitch we've heard
- Bitpunk is an aggressive new bit-mangling tool that promises “the raw energy of digital degradation”
- Metallica fan recreates James Hetfield's Ride The Lightning guitar tone with a Marshall JCM 800 and Tube Screamer
- Jackson unveils Custom Shop Diablo IV Kelly – a high-end “nightmare machine” for gaming/metal fans with deep pockets
- Keys Week 2023: Exhibitor A-Z
- Pnau on how they produced Elton John and Dua Lipa’s Cold Heart: “We had the tapes from Elton’s whole career, so there was a lot to choose from”
- Matteo Mancuso lets the good times roll and offers a masterclass in fingerstyle fusion guitar on new single Samba Party
- Paul McCartney sets the record straight on AI-'extricated' Lennon vocal in "last Beatles song": “nothing has been artificially or synthetically created”
- Meet 4 unsung hero effects pedals and learn the great ways to use them
June 22
- Revv designed its new Chat Breaker overdrive pedal with AI via Chat GPT
- Record your guitar at home from $80/£70 with these 3 cost-effective rigs
- BEACN Mic review
- Session guitar ace Eddie Martinez breaks down his parts on Robert Palmer, Run-DMC and Steve Winwood hit songs
- Jonny Greenwood says he had to “unlearn” elements of Western music theory during the making of new album Jarak Qaribak: “There’s times where you have to really step away and not impose what you think is a major or minor chord on something”
- Has Boss just unveiled the must-have delay pedal for analogue fans with the DM-101?
- Guitar teacher John Wines on his show-stealing America's Got Talent audition: "I knew it would go a bit crazy but I didn't think it would get this mad!"
- Nembrini Audio’s Big Stuff is a free plugin emulation of Electro-Harmonix’s classic Big Muff pedal
- Best Martin guitars: Classic tones for all budgets from the famous acoustic guitar brand
- JHS Pedals' Josh Scott will teach you how to build effects in a new series
- Almost three quarters of producers think that AI music generators could replace them in the future
June 21
- It's official: PRS Myles Kennedy signature T-style and NF 53 guitars announced
- Spitfire Audio Abbey Road Orchestra: High Percussion review
- Is the ‘2 loop rule’ really “a cheatcode for better arrangements”?
- 10 pedalboard mistakes every guitarist makes
- How to watch Glastonbury 2024 from anywhere on the planet - your guide to streaming the UK festival
- Synth wars: The story of MIDI, the one interface that ruled them all
- Watch 6-year-old multi-instrumentalist Miles Bonham recording at Electric Lady Studios on Stevie Wonder’s Rhodes and Questlove’s drums
- Aphex Twin releases Blackbox Life Recorder 21, his first official new music in 5 years - then immediately deletes it
June 20
- The Beast is caged: Bernie Marsden has decided not to sell his Gibson '59 Les Paul Burst for $1.3 million after all
- Tosin Abasi teams up with Bad Cat Amps and is using a prototype Jet Black model on tour with Dream Theater
- Best offset guitars: Our top choice asymmetrical axes for every budget
- Watch a YouTube luthier take 10,000 fallen leaves and turn them into a beautiful electric guitar
- Bitwig Studio 5 review
- Watch Tom Morello and Slash battle for six-string supremacy as they perform Interstate 80 live for the first time
- Could an AI win a Grammy? Recording Academy CEO says "we are going to allow AI music and content to be submitted - if there's an AI voice singing the song, we'll consider it"
- Roland's new E-X10 arranger keyboard looks like a fun and portable starter instrument
- Noel Gallagher fluffs the guitar solo to Don't Look Back In Anger onstage
- Julian Lage once performed a whole tour on his Telecaster’s bridge pickup to “settle a bet” with himself
- 10 great blues guitar chords to learn
- The most creative chord generator plugin just got better
- This guitarist doesn't want to wait for a Tom DeLonge signature Fender Starcaster so he's made his own
- Korg unveils Wavestate MKII and Wavestate SE, a premium 61-key version of its wave sequencing synth with aftertouch
June 19
- Lewis Thompson: "The UDO Super 6 is one of my favourite pieces of gear. It's like a Juno on steroids"
- Frantone's Fran Blanche has invented a way to stop neck dive on guitars
- How to modulate gates on synth pads like Kraftwerk
- Korg LP-380U digital piano review
- How to use snap compression to add punch to your mixes
- 78-year-old man turns to producing synth-pop to cure depression: "I hope what I'm doing inspires other people in their '70s"
- DH Plugins Halo 2 review
- Richie Hawtin teams up with Erica Synths for Bullfrog, an educational analogue synth: "Our goal is to promote a fun easy learning path into basic sound synthesis"
June 18
- 10 famous father/son drumming duos
June 16
- Taylor’s Andy Powers launches his high-end electric guitar brand, Powers Electrics, with SoCal surf-inspired A-Type
- Catalinbread’s new Carbide distortion pedal offers metal guitarists the ultimate in necro HM-2 “chainsaw” tone
- Anthony Naples: "Any time I get new gear, it's just a way for me to resist getting down to actually making music"
- Butch Vig on playing Roland V-Drums live with Garbage: "I jumped at the chance!"
- Show Us Your Studio #2: "Synths like the Ensoniq Fizmo and the Elektron Monomachine are prone to happy accidents"
- Joe Bonamassa announces new album Blues Deluxe Vol. 2 and asks: “Am I even good enough to pay tribute to my heroes all over again?”
- The guitarist who recorded himself playing the same Weezer solo lick for 990 days finally got to play onstage with them
- Blackstar Dept. 10 Amped 3 review
- AI music wars: Meta takes on Google and releases its own AI music generator - but whose is better?
- “Everything is hard on guitar” – Matteo Mancuso explains why guitar is one of the hardest instruments to learn
- "For me, the hardest thing is the songwriting" – Trent Reznor on the future of Nine Inch Nails, his soundtrack work and a new appreciation for Dua Lipa
June 15
- Noel Gallagher says he's started recording an acoustic album, and also has songs for a "very heavily guitar-based, stadium-rock album"
- Fors' Opal drum synth and sequencer is one of the coolest Max for Live devices we've ever seen
- More keys and more control: Novation expands its FL Studio MIDI controller range with the FLkey 49 and FLkey 61
- See Nita Strauss perform a storming cover of Pantera's Cowboys From Hell live
- John Lennon and George Harrison: 10 guitar lessons you can learn from their Beatles era
- Gibson is now selling Demo Shop guitars in the UK for the first time
- Learn the riff to No One Knows by Queens Of The Stone Age
- Geezer Butler rules out future gigs with Black Sabbath and explains retirement from touring in general
- Rode’s Rodecaster Duo is a more compact, cheaper version of one of the best podcasting mixers on the market
- Bone flutes, pelvis banjo and a horse semen shaker: how Matthew Herbert made an entire album using a horse skeleton
June 14
- Arturia Rev LX-24 review
- "I've taken enough drugs to kill a small boy, and I think that was my inner child, actually" – Josh Homme on why he's living a cleaner life now
- "He was just some kid at Berklee who was bootlegging Ben Folds Five concerts and selling them online”: Ben Folds on how he first became aware of John Mayer, and the Dr Dre cover that caused problems when he supported him on tour
- See British guitar teacher and YouTuber Old Grey Guitarist audition for America's Got Talent
- iZotope, Brainworx and Plugin Alliance are now part of Native Instruments, which means that Soundwide is no more
- Lindsey Buckingham: 5 Fleetwood Mac and solo songs you need to hear featuring the guitar maverick
- All you need is Love, says Tracktion Software, as it unveils an amorous ‘instant ambient’ plugin
- Best phones for musicians: our pick of smartphones for music production
- How to automatically tune your vocals for free with Auburn Sounds Graillon 2
- Learn to play John Mayer's Continuum song I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You)
- How to apply wildly creative effects with free plugin FKFX Audio's Influx
- Issue 323 of Computer Music is on sale now
- Nabihah Iqbal: "I got a vintage harmonium in Karachi. It’s the most ‘analogue’ synth you can get"
June 13
- “Despite what people might think, Radiohead are not rock” – Ed O’Brien explains why U2 can crank it up while he is trying to turn the volume down
- Judas Priest and Elegant Weapons guitarist Richie Faulkner on Painkiller and the 10 albums that changed his life
- Collabhouse is the new way to release, promote and monetise your music
- Fender unearths a shoegaze fuzz holy grail for My Bloody Valentine fans with the Kevin Shields Blender
- Nile Rodgers on AI and Avicii: “He didn’t understand tertiary harmony. He would write the most beautiful songs without knowing what he was doing - his ear was telling him what to do”
- Walrus unveils the Canvas Passive Re-Amp – a functional recording tool for exploring inspiring different amp and pedal sounds
- Moog Music joins Akai Pro, Alesis and M-Audio in the inMusic family in a bid to “overcome long-standing challenges and strengthen the company”
- The ultimate guide to Arturia Pigments 4
- Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme reveals he had surgery for cancer
- Newly AI-separated Lennon demo vocal will feature on 'the last Beatles song', says Paul McCartney
- Tom Oberheim heads to the factory floor to confirm that the OB-8 desktop synth module is now shipping
- SampleRadar: 151 free track builders samples
- Fender's Saint Laurent Strat is none more black and $12,500
- Steve Vai’s tech Doug MacArthur reveals what is in the guitar legend’s rig when he is playing with an orchestra
- Radiohead’s OK Computer painstakingly recreated using a slew of N64-derived classics
- Hip-hop don't stop... or does it? For the first time in 30 years, hip-hop hasn't hit No 1 in the first half of the year
- The Prodigy announce Army of the Ants tour: “We’re comin’ back for u the only way we know, full attack mode, double barrel,” says Liam Howlett
- Joni Mitchell returns to the stage during a 25-song set playing a Parker Fly guitar
June 12
- Improve your rhythm guitar playing now with these three types of chords
- Adam Audio A8H review
- How to build a virtual studio for free with free plugins and music software
- Joe Bonamassa explains why he isn't interested in being 'relevant': "I've never been and never will be"
- “Don’t ever say we don’t play our instruments”: Haim hit back at commenter who suggested that bassist Este Haim was ‘acting’ during a live performance
- The mystery chord in Oasis classic Don't Look Back In Anger's bridge identified
- “I’ve got a dad who plays like Billy Joel,” sings Lana Del Rey, as her ‘Nepo Daddy’ Rob Grant releases a piano album inspired by his love of the ocean
- Looking for some light reading? 350 pages of new MIDI 2.0 specs have just been published
- Hear how the same iconic guitar riffs sound played on an SG, Tele, Les Paul, ES-335 and more
June 11
- AC/DC's Brian Johnson joins Sam Fender onstage in Newcastle for Back In Black and You Shook Me All Night Long
June 9
- Punk Rock Factory: meet the family-friendly pop-punk covers band merging Disney tunes with distortion
- Watch senior Apple executive Craig Federighi shred on a triple-neck electric through a full Marshall stack
- Browne Amplification unveils the Gritador – it’s yet another a green-boxed drive but is it the perfect TS-style drive yet?
- Fender Gold Foil Jazzmaster review
- Why I love my… Fender Troy Van Leeuwen Jazzmaster, with LÜT frontman and guitarist Matt Ystmark
- Rabea Massaad reveals the specs and demos the tones of his prototype signature Ernie Ball Music Man Sabre
- “We’re going to live in a world where you can’t differentiate The Beatles from the AI Beatles,” says Janelle Monae, as she reveals the advice that Prince used to give his band
- What's the difference between an active and passive PA speaker?
- GigRig unveils the Gen-X-14, a power supply with the juice to keep even the most current-hungry pedalboard happy
- See Joe Bonamassa tracking a feast of blazing guitar solos for the forthcoming Black Country Communion album
- Here’s how you can download IK Multimedia’s J-60, a Roland Juno-60 synth emulation, for free
- Fender gives core models a limited edition Satin Black makeover for the Made In Japan Noir Series
- Keys Week 2023 is coming!
June 8
- Arturia’s FX Collection 4 is the focused, creative bundle of plugins that you’ll actually use
- Ferndale P3-E Parlor electro-acoustic guitar review
- Millenium Rookie review
- The 1975’s Matty Healy claps back at Noel Gallagher: “The difference between me and Noel is that I do a series of interviews to promote an album, whereas he does an album to promote a series of interviews”
June 7
- Universal Audio UAFX Max Preamp & Dual Compressor pedal review
- The story of Wild World: "I don’t think that either Cat Stevens or Alun Davies would have been the same without the other. They were a complete fit”
- Welcome to the silver parade: Fender goes glam with signature Jazz Bass for My Chemical Romance's Mikey Way
- Music photographer Mick Hutson has died, aged 58
- Still Dre is one of the top 5 songs that Americans want to learn on the piano, says new research
- Noel Gallagher talks guitars, amps and pedals: "I love presets and I love nicking other people's settings" – including Pete Townshend's
- Behold the ReBirth orchestra, which runs on three vintage iMacs
- Producer and engineer to the stars Josh Gudwin: “I got a call from Scooter Braun and he’s like ‘I need you to go to Colombia to get Justin Bieber on this remix’”
- "Without Pet Sounds, The Beatles wouldn’t have made Sgt Pepper": Giles Martin on mixing The Beach Boys’ masterpiece in Dolby Atmos
- Computer Music 323 August 2023: free downloads
June 6
- PRS expands its John Mayer signature SE Silver Sky lineup with new maple fretboard options and fresh finishes
- Stone Gossard reveals Pearl Jam are close to finishing a new album with "hardcore fan" Andrew Watt producing: "He can play all of our songs and all Soundgarden's songs back at us"
- Emily Wolfe and Epiphone team up for the classy 'White Wolfe' signature Sheraton, finished in Aged Bone White
- What’s wrong with modern metal guitar? This guitarist explains all in a two-and-a-half-minute song
- Real amps Vs profiles: IK Multimedia's Tonex pedal impresses in a blind test
- MXR launches the Hybrid Fuzz, a compact Fuzz Face-inspired stompbox with silicon and germanium in the circuit
- BandLab confirms that it plans to discontinue its current free Cakewalk DAW and bring back a new version of Sonar
- Nita Strauss steps in the ring and delivers a knockout guitar solo in heavyweight new single Victorious
- "The way that we're doing it now feels kind of fresh to me, it feels like it's a High Flying Birds song, almost" – Noel Gallagher defends his Joy Division cover and issues a challenge to brother Liam
- Caelum Audio Choric review
- Should musicians be goggle-eyed for Apple’s new 15-inch MacBook Air, Mac Studio and Mac Pro?
- Best Fender amps: From all-tube classics to cutting edge modelling options
- 5 of the best free guitar amp simulator plugins
June 5
- Watch a teenage Josh Freese appear in a promo video for Simmons electronic drums
- Danny Carey reveals the Tool songs he finds most difficult to play live
- How Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head was written in a couple of hours and took most of its sounds from the Korg Triton
- Score significant savings on Strats, Teles, Jaguars and Mustangs as Thomann slashes the price of popular Squier models
- ALM Busy Circuits Pam’s Pro Workout review
- Choose a genre and BPM and this online DAW will use AI to make a complete track for you
June 2
- Watch Noel Gallagher use a Fender Strat for High Flying Birds’ “blasphemous” cover of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart
- Ben Folds names the only album on which Elton John is “represented as a piano player”
- Is Dave Grohl’s new Epiphone DG-335… Gold?
- Toontrack EZKeys Synthwave & EZX Expansion review
- EFnote 3X review
- Show Us Your Studio #1: This modular madhouse is giving us serious gear envy
- EarthQuaker Devices resurrects the OG Disaster Transport, with the cult classic ‘Delay Modulation Machine’ newly improved with expanded features
- Former 10cc keyboard player Duncan Mackay showing his Yamaha and Roland synths to comedian Mike Reid could be the strangest video you'll watch all week
- The British Pedal Company launches limited edition King Of Fuzz Tone Bender to commemorate coronation of King Charles III with gnarly MKII fuzz
- Remi Harris interview: talking Peter Green tone and gypsy jazz with one of the UK's brightest guitar talents
- Jon Hopkins spent 4 months perfecting the synth riff for Open Eye Signal on a 1979 Korg MS-20: “So much effort into trying to make something sound effortless”
- Learn 7 of the greatest blues guitar licks of all time
- Orange Amps enters the Bluetooth speaker market with the Orange Box
June 1
- A Jazzmaster 12-string?! Squier steals the limelight from Fender with its new Paranormal Series guitars
- Spectrasonics Twisted Trees Sonic Extension review
- Arturia’s FX Collection 4 lands with an all-new Leslie speaker plugin and emulations of Korg and Lexicon classics
- Propellerhead’s ReBirth is reborn as a hands-on hardware synth, and it’s all thanks to Look Mum No Computer
- Attica Blues: "This album opened doors for other people. We played our part so the Little Simz of the world could come through"
- Future Music 401: Samples and downloads
- Issue 397 of Future Music is out now