News archive
September 2020
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218 articles
- September 30
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- Tower Of Power funk bass legend Rocco Prestia dies aged 69
- EHX bitcrushes you back to the '80s with its Mainframe pedal
- Code launches new Signal drumhead range
- Teenage Engineering’s “magical” new product is the OB-4, a $599 radio and “media instrument”
- It's official: vocalist Brian Johnson, drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams are back in AC/DC
- Add wireless MIDI to your synths, drum machines and PC with Roland’s new Bluetooth adapters
- Steinberg Studio Sessions: Prok & Fitch
- Valhalla DSP Supermassive updated: stellar free reverb plugin is now even more out of this world
- Joe Satriani part 2: in-depth on his signature AmpliTube Collection
- September 29
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- BT: "Synths like the Prophet-5 were built in Dave Smith’s garage over a period of weeks… now they’re just banged out in China."
- See how Fender made this astonishing George Harrison 'Rocky' Strat recreation
- The super-cute Prophet-mini looks like a downsized Prophet-5, but will we be able to buy it?
- Is Softube’s Model 72 plugin the ‘perfect’ Minimoog synth emulation?
- September 28
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- Jack White and CopperSound Pedals' Third Man Triplegraph Digital Octave is a retro-futurist's dream
- ROLI’s Lumi MIDI keyboard is finally set to go on sale: learn to play and use it as a polyphonic aftertouch controller
- Solar unveils new Artist Series guitars with premium specs
- Zoom’s PodTrak P8 is a standalone mixer and recorder for capturing your group podcasts
- IK's Davide Barbi on the state of the digital art: "Digital today can really beat analogue in most cases"
- Roland’s Zenology Pro plugin unlocks the Zen-Core synthesis system for sound designers
- Moog goes back to black with new Dark Series Grandmother and Matriarch semi-modular analogue synths
- Behringer is considering turning classic guitar effect pedals into Eurorack modules and selling them for $29 each
- September 26
- September 25
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- EVH at VGS 2020
- Classic albums featuring John Bonham
- Harley Benton releases its budget T-Bird-alike in Satin Black
- You Me At Six's Max Helyer and Chris Miller talk Telecasters, Ibanez and tone lessons learned in the studio
- Red Witch says it has just released “the most dial-able fuzz on the planet“
- Hands-on demo: Charvel Joe Duplantier Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 2 and Pro-Mod So-Cal Style 2 guitars go head-to-head
- Competition: Win a Taylor AD27e electro-acoustic
- Ace Frehley: “I studied Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, the Beatles, the Stones... Those guys taught me how to play“
- Lindsay Ell guitar lesson and interview
- Pioneers of looping: 9 guitarists who made the looper pedal a 21st-century pedalboard staple
- LR Baggs' founder Lloyd Baggs 40th anniversary interview: "I had no business experience, I was just a guitar-making hippy"
- Ernie Ball at VGS 2020
- Interview: why Fender's new Tone Master Blonde amps are the best of both worlds
- Gretsch at VGS 2020
- Primal Scream's Simone Marie Butler: "If you're a bass player you don't need a metronome, you just need to listen to James Brown, Sly & The Family Stone and the Meters"
- Erja Lyytinen gives us a tour of her pedalboard and breaks down her riffs
- "All the platinum albums have got these things that don't belong there" – Joe Satriani talks transcending the shred label in The Virtual Guitar Show interview
- Guns N' Roses guitarist Richard Fortus shows us his vintage gear
- Gus G rig tour: "It's always good to have a cat, it gives you inspiration and makes everything better"
- Walrus Audio Virtual Guitar Show exclusive: Julianna? Why? How?
- Virtual Guitar Show exclusive: Beetronics FX's Los Angeles Pedal Tour 2020 film
- Video guitar rig tour and blues rock tone tips with Jared James Nichols
- Exclusive Virtual Guitar Show lesson: Jon Gomm teaches you how to play his song Cocoon
- "I think I sound more like me when I play a Telecaster" – Brian Fallon: The Virtual Guitar Show interview
- Welcome to The Virtual Guitar Show 2020!
- "It's about getting the most mileage out of the smallest amount of information – that's like my whole trick" – Kirk Fletcher talks about his blues mindset and heroes
- The Virtual Guitar Show: Plini talks new album, gives us a chord lesson and shows how to avoid "guitar store vibrato"
- Fender's American Acoustasonic Stratocaster and Telecaster at VGS 2020
- Yamaha at VGS 2020
- Stu Hamm shows us his key bass guitars and plays Charlotte's Song
- Crimson Guitars, Luthiery School and Training Centre at VGS 2020
- How King Crimson guitarist Jakko Jakszyk went from a fan of the band to a member
- Guitar lesson: Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal shows you how to play from both directions with a thimble
- Cory Wong lesson: how to write guitar hooks around major, minor and dominant chords
- Video: Susan Santos breaks down her blues licks for you to learn
- Fender Custom Shop's Mike Lewis on the Broadcaster's 70th anniversary
- How I turned 7 classic metal songs into instrumental funk workouts
- Beetronics at VGS 2020
- Jackson at VGS 2020
- Charvel at VGS 2020
- Ampeg at VGS 2020
- Line 6 at VGS 2020
- Walrus Audio at VGS 2020
- Wolfmeister at VGS 2020
- IK Multimedia at VGS 2020
- Taylor at VGS 2020
- Laney Amplification at VGS 2020
- Ibanez at VGS 2020
- Takamine at VGS 2020
- Allianz Insurance at VGS 2020
- The VOX Cambridge50 at VGS 2020
- September 24
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- Ace Frehley says Gibson is going to release a signature guitar based on his “Black Beauty“ Les Paul Custom
- House legend Derrick Carter is selling his 808, 909, 303 and a whole lot more: "I'm not a mad scientist anymore”
- Save 50% on Arturia’s Analog Lab 4 plugin: get this classic keyboard anthology at an amazing price
- Introducing Pedalpocalypse: It’s like Desert Island Discs but for pedals
- Sylvan Esso: "We know it’s not going well if we feel like assholes"
- Elektron’s Analog Four MKII synth and Analog Rytm MKII drum machine have been ‘refined, rewrought, and reborn’, but don’t call them MKIII models
- September 23
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- Harley Benton's GPA-100 is a solid-state power amp the size of a stompbox
- Ace Frehley, Primal Scream's Simone Butler, Brian Fallon and Gojira's Joe Duplantier confirmed for this week's Virtual Guitar Show 2020
- Classic album - Beardyman on Distractions: "I was pushing the computer to within an inch of its life”
- Issue 362 of Future Music is on sale now
- No, that’s not a TR-909 you’re looking at, but it might be as close as you can get if you want to buy one
- Add depth, dirt and harmonics with the Dusky Electronics Augustus octave fuzz
- September 22
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- Fender unveils the H.E.R Signature Strat in the quite spectacular Chrome Glow finish
- AOM’s Nu Compressor plugin gives you a different program for every week of the year
- This free plugin version of the Kawai K1 keyboard now runs on PC, Mac and Linux
- John Petrucci and Ernie Ball Music Man are working on a new eight-string Majesty
- Avenue Beat on having a viral TikTok hit with F2020: “If you’re sharing great music, you’ll get the fans”
- September 21
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- Harley Benton unveils the Mighty-15th amp head
- Why your studio might be making your mixes sound worse (and what to do about it)
- Have AC/DC accidentally confirmed Phil Rudd and Brian Johnson are back?
- 11 great Fender golden age Tele and Strat guitar tones
- Brian May debuts the "Pinkest Pink" Red Special
- ‘Leaked standalone Push 3 controller’ image is fake, says Ableton
- Gibson makes a replica of the 'Greeny' 1959 Les Paul Standard for Metallica's Kirk Hammett
- Kylie Minogue on teaching herself Logic Pro in lockdown: “If 11-year-olds can do this in their bedroom, I can figure this out"
- September 18
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- Dean's new Edge Pro Select series offers stylish walnut and poplar burl topped basses at a wallet-friendly price point
- Sweetwater and PRS join forces to spec up the ltd edition Owls In Flight range
- 5 songs producers need to hear by… Max Martin
- Yamaha at The Virtual Guitar Festival: Billy Sheehan, Peter Hook, Chris Buck, Josh Smith and more confirmed
- Big Ear introduces Albie, an ambient modulator for new-wave and post-punk
- Buy iZotope’s Breaktweaker drum machine plugin for less than €10 (and get Trash 2 and Carbon thrown in for free)
- Donovan Woods: 10 albums that changed my life
- Learn the riff to Black Sabbath – Paranoid to celebrate its 50th birthday
- Behringer takes the Sequential Prophet-600 synth “to the next level” with the Pro-800 reboot
- Strymon reveals the NightSky, a "Time-Warped Reverberator" for all your extra-dimensional reverb needs
- Roland’s Fantom 2.0 synth workstation update lets you sample directly to the keyboard
- September 17
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- More than 100,000 guitarists join the smart amp revolution with the Positive Grid Spark 40
- Blackstar and Gordon Smith/Auden go their separate ways
- Dunlop unveils the Tom Morello signature wah
- Get Led Zeppelin, Hendrix and The Rolling Stones drum sounds with Toontrack's Legacy Of Rock SDX
- DrēmTrigger looks to change the way you use electronics in your acoustic kit
- deadmau5 gets his own signature Subpac strap-on subwoofer
- Boss announces the latest in its OC octave pedal series, the OC-5
- Electronic drumming pioneers: 11 trailblazing players who raised the bar for electronic and hybrid drumming
- Boss unveils the Pocket GT – a multi-effects unit the size of a smartphone, packed with tones and practice tools
- IK Multimedia’s MixBox channel strip plugin promises “all the FX you need in one rack”
- Watch: Baby Audio's Parallel Aggressor makes parallel processing easy
- September 16
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- Jared James Nichols confirms rig tour and tone tips lesson for our Virtual Guitar Show next week
- Orange signs up Nick Johnston as brand ambassador and professional Rockerverb wrangler
- Record money fetched at auction for Bill Wyman's toilet seat cover – and his Mustang and AC30 broke records too
- Add some sweet pastel shades to your acoustic game with Cort's JADE Classic series
- Two Notes buddies up with Victory Amps for a suite of DynIR Virtual Cabinets
- Modular, collapsible, Reveho's Slite might just be the ultimate travel electric guitar
- September 15
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- Dave Grohl writes theme tune for 10-year-old drum battle opponent, Nandi Bushell
- Here’s why Apple’s new iPad Air beats the Pro model for music-making
- Kenny Wayne Shepherd discusses his brand new signature Strat: "I didn’t want to just create a continuation of the previous guitar"
- Arturia’s PolyBrute looks like a beast of an analogue polysynth
- Hands-on demo: a deep dive into the new Arturia PolyBrute
- Send your guitar tone through time and space with Eventide's Blackhole Reverb
- Strymon suggests a close encounter with a new pedal is imminent
- M-Audio’s KeyStation 88 MK3 is a full-size MIDI keyboard with a small price tag
- Moog’s new Patch & Tweak book promises to be “the ultimate resource” for synthesists and electronic musicians
- Watch Joe Bonamassa unveil his signature Epiphone Les Paul Custom ”Black Beauty”on Gibson TV
- Sweeten your tone and boost your signal with Catalinbread's Epoch Boost
- Jon Gomm to film exclusive video lesson for The Virtual Guitar Show
- September 14
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- The ultimate pitch shifting guitar pedal? The new Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork + stakes its claim for a place on your pedalboard
- Chris Lord-Alge: “What shows off a good engineering situation is something that has air, is punchy, and the low end and top end breathes“
- It’s the Computer Music Synth Special! Free SynthMaster plugin synth and EDM sample pack
- Furch Guitars to reduce its carbon footprint by up to 60 per cent in 2020
- This Dell 27-inch, 4K monitor deal could convince you that your studio needs a UHD display
- Hellripper: 10 metal albums that changed my life
- Watch Les Claypool give a Primus bass lesson to Aquaman and Game Of Thrones star Jason Momoa
- Sequence Groovebox could be the best Android music-making app you’ve never heard of
- Skreddy Pedals' Super 100 is bringing Plexi back for vintage British drive tones
- Here’s why Behringer’s RD-9 drum machine still hasn’t been released
- What happened to Jimi Hendrix's Danelectro guitar? Bassist Billy Cox reveals its fate
- September 12
- September 11
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- 5 songs producers need to hear by… Timbaland
- Is music theory racist? Adam Neely argues that the harmonic style of 18th Century European musicians has become the default
- Grabbing press coverage: 7 quickfire pointers
- Here’s how an SSL 2+ audio interface and GarageBand helped bass legend Leland Sklar to record a lockdown cover of Easy Lover
- September 10
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- Max Portnoy: The 10 albums that influenced my drumming style
- Guitar lesson: Baroness's Gina Gleason teaches bends, trills and hammer-ons
- Some good news for music during lockdown: people are buying a lot of guitars
- 10 of the greatest Fender Stratocaster guitar tones of all time
- Pioneer’s flagship CDJ-3000 promises “a new world of creative possibilities” in the DJ booth
- Transmutator is a less boring kind of crossfader plugin that’s designed for producers as well as DJs
- “If you go fishing to just catch fish you’ll be disappointed" – Adrian Smith talks Iron Maiden, vintage Marshalls and the joy of angling
- September 9
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- John Mayer's video for Land Rover is very John Mayer indeed
- High Score is a nostalgic ‘80s chiptune soft synth designed by a former Moog Music engineer
- IK Multimedia’s free Classic Clipper mastering plugin can “tame unruly peaks” in your mix
- "I did a lot of cover versions to try and improve my voice" – Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith tells us what he's been up to during lockdown
- John Dyer Baizley: “I don’t think Baroness have a record ready – I think we have three! Twenty-seven songs, almost three hours of music“
- Happy 909 day! Why we love Roland's classic drum machine (and the best VST plugin versions for your DAW)
- "I've been doing a lot of Zoom collaborations… and planning the next album" – Samantha Fish confirmed for The Virtual Guitar Show
- Waves’ Kaleidoscopes plugin is a suite of modulation effects that you can play like an instrument
- Positive Grid offers 10% off the Spark amp to celebrate 100,000 sales
- GLASYS and T-Pain’s cover of a classic Super Metroid track is a wild synth ride back to 1994
- September 8
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- First look: NI announces Maschine+, a standalone groovebox with WiFi, Massive and Ableton Link
- Arturia’s KeyStep 37 is a MIDI keyboard that encourages creativity but won’t break the bank
- Billie Eilish signature Ukulele launched by Fender
- Why Line 6's Powercab loudspeaker is a great investment for your guitar tone
- Need a low-cost AUv3 Grand Piano for iPhone and iPad? Here you go
- September 7
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- Harley Benton has a new modeller-friendly FRFR active guitar cab
- We're loving the demo for Walrus Audio's new Julianna Chorus / Vibrato pedal
- Evanescence guitarist Troy McLawhorn: 10 albums that changed my life
- Porter Robinson was inspired to make electronic music by Dance Dance Revolution: “It really changed my life”
- Here’s how you can get the Chinese orchestral sounds from Disney’s Mulan soundtrack in your DAW
- The Virtual Guitar Show is coming!
- 6 songs guitarists need to hear by… ZZ Top
- As it celebrates its 20th anniversary, a jazz pianist has reimagined Radiohead’s entire Kid A album
- September 5
- September 4
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- The Great Guitar Build Off 2020 for charity wants you to choose its winner
- “I’m a bit of a psychopath:" Producer BJ Burton on working with Bon Iver, Kanye West and Sylvan Esso
- Harley Benton has just raised its acoustic guitar game with two solid wood models
- Is Biffy Clyro's cover of WAP by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion genius or folly?
- Ola Englund's Solar Guitars get bloody with two new EverTune models
- Kush Audio says that its new Silika compressor plugin is “sonically identical” to analogue hardware
- Harley Benton reveals new bass combo, amp and cab series with affordable prices
- September 3
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- "I often get sent to work with artists who are scared of co-writing and don’t want to do it" – Semisonic, Adele and John Legend songwriter Dan Wilson shares his 10 tips
- Free Waves plugin: here’s how to download mix engineer Manny Marroquin’s $99 Tone Shaper for nothing
- DJ Swivel’s Spread plugin makes it easy to add stereo width
- Behringer aims to leave its mark on the podcasting market with the Bigfoot USB microphone
- Tone City has released an overdrive pedal with Greg Koch and it's cheap!
- September 2
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- iZotope’s RX 8 is here and ready to “solve the unsolvable in audio”
- “The Roland Jupiter-6 is amazing”: a synth geek shows you why the the dark horse of the Jupiter family deserves more love
- Mateus Asato's signature overdrive / distortion pedal is here and it sounds pretty spectacular
- Guitarist Roy Ziv: why I love my Music Man Silhouette Special
- UDO Audio’s stunning Super-6 synth is finally here: “Experiment, play, learn, and, hopefully, love it like we do!”
- Majority of musicians in the UK are considering quitting, suggests new study
- John Frusciante to release ‘90s-style breakbeat, hardcore and jungle album dedicated to his cat: “She loved music”
- "Tone's in the fingers" – Scottish rock hero Alan Nimmo talks new King King album Maverick and shows his gear
- "Find these cool phrases and keep building off of that – it's amazingly effective… something that people can sing along to. They dig that." – Samantha Fish: The Virtual Guitar Show interview
- ThorpyFX's Adrian Thorpe and Dan Coggins answer our pedal questions
- September 1
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- DJ Erick Morillo found dead at his Miami home aged 49
- Enter Guitarist of the Year 2020 now!
- Guitar Rig 6 Pro is imminent, nearly a decade after 5
- Native Instruments goes back to Guitar Rig as it announces Komplete 13
- Yamaha’s new PSR models promise to ‘raise the bar’ in the portable home keyboard market
- Newfangled Audio and Eventide’s Pendulate is a free VST synth plugin that’s ready to cause chaos in your DAW
- Teenage Engineering is releasing a ‘magical’ new product this month, but what is it?
- Virtual Guitar Show 2020: Exhibitor A-Z
- Make a Statement with Softube’s simple new EDM plugin lead synth
- Music Never Stops: 8 Acts, 8 Genres, 1 Virtual Stage
- "It was such a great band because Paul Kossoff was such a great guitar player" – Paul Rodgers talks songwriting with Free, Bad Company, Brian May and Jimmy Page