Death By Audio: The Destroyer Series – 3 Small But Mighty Pedals
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Death By Audio has been hand-building noisy pedals in New York for over twenty years. The Fuzz War is standard-issue in noise rock. The Rooms is one of the most unhinged stereo reverbs you ...
Heavys H1H Review: Finally, Headphones That Respect Rock
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Full disclosure, I am aware these have been out for several years. However, I kept seeing these pop up on my feed during the holidays, with Instagram videos of people listening at trade shows, ...
Audima Labs The Sway Review: An Entertaining New Take on DJing
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The Birth of The Sway If you live in Australia, your first introduction to The Sway or Audima Labs may have been on Shark Tank Australia, where many startups get their first spotlight. However, ...
EDMProd Superknobs Ultimate Collection Review: 230+ One Knob Tweaks That Make Your Music Suck Less
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We received this product from EDMProd complimentary after contacting them to do a review; however, we received no financial compensation for writing this piece. I wanted Superknobs Ultimate for the last stretch. I can ...
Think Like a Synth: 31 Lessons That Finally Made Synthesis Click
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We received the Think Like a Synth course complimentary from Anthony Marinelli’s team after contacting them to inquire about a review. We have received no financial compensation for this review. I’ve spent years “using” ...
this.is.NOISE.inc Gamma Mini Synth: 90’s 8-Bit Nostaglia In An Always In Tune Synth
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We received this review unit from this.is.NOISE.inc, however, we have received no financial compensation for this review. Having been a big fan of their MIDI controllers, and the team behind this.is.NOISE in general (they’re ...
Trap Door Electronics Active Acid: Prophet-5 Character In A Stomp Box
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If recent reviews and demo videos on AltWire haven’t already made this clear, I’m a massive fan of acid-style music. Its sounds, its subgenres, and the numerous 303 hardware clones, tributes, and VSTs that ...
Strange Things: Subsocial Studios’ War on Boring Samples – Plus 25% Discount Code!
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EEnjoy a Subsocial Studios Now & Forever discount code, courtesy of Altwire! Purchase a forever subscription here, and use code ALTWIRE at checkout for 25% off the full price! Picture this: somewhere in Vancouver, ...
Sim’n Tonic Nome II Review: Finally Making MIDI Timing Work The Way It Should Have Since 1983.
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Here’s the thing about running hardware synths into a DAW: it should be simple. MIDI has been around since 1983. Your interface has MIDI ports, your DAW sends clock, and with significant advances in ...
The ESI XSynth Review: A Surprising Tiny Synth With Brilliant Depth
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I first saw the XSynth on Instagram and had to get my hands on it. At 387×148×27 mm and 634 grams, this is the iPhone Air of the synth world, with a size that ...
Home Bake Instrument’s Acid Mint & FM Mint MK1: Our Latest Cool Reverb Finds
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As with so many of my Reverb finds, this one started with a random Instagram account that the algorithm decided I needed to see: over and over again. My first encounter with Home Bake ...
Eternal Research Demon Box (2025) Review: Playing with Electromagnetic Fields
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A unique instrument that turns invisible magnetic fields into playable sound. Everything hums, but most of us never hear it. The Demon Box, created by Eternal Research in Los Angeles, captures invisible electromagnetic fields ...
Waldorf Iridium Core Review (2025): A Greatest Hits Collection Disguised as a Desktop Synth
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Waldorf has been around long enough that you can watch digital synthesis evolve simply by looking at their catalog. The early PPG influence shaped everything. Those bright, shifting wavetables became a signature of late-80s and early-90s electronic ...
Norand Mono MK2: A Delicious Sounding Acid Synth That’s Not A 303-Clone
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Norand hasn’t been around as long as the big Japanese or American brands, but their path is already pretty clear. The company is based in France and started with its first release, the original ...
Board Review: Rebuilding Game Night for Our Distracted Brains in 2025
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There is a quiet irony to modern social life. We have never been more connected, and we have never spent so much time sitting next to one another without actually interacting. Phones glow on ...
IK Multimedia ARC On-Ear: Better Monitoring, On The Go
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Headphones are often the most practical monitoring option, but they rarely replicate a full-room sound. They isolate each ear, eliminate acoustic blending between channels, and remove the cues created by speakers interacting with a ...
Gibson x Loog SG Guitar Review: 2025’s Best Guitar For Children
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When our tester, Jordan, first introduced the Gibson x Loog SG to their home, it wasn’t their first attempt to help their 11-year-old daughters, Adalynn and Autumn, get into guitar. Previous efforts with full-size ...
The Chirp Contour: Decompression For Those Scared of Chiropractors
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While we cover a lot of music gear, every once in a while, we cover something outside of that realm. Below is a review of the Chirp Contour, which we tried recently, that you ...
DEAL ALERT: Mixed In Key Black Friday Sale – Mixed In Key 11, Wingman and More!
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Mixed In Key Launches Biggest Sale of Year! Mixed In Key has launched its 2025 Black Friday sale, offering up to 73% off its catalog of DJ software, composition plugins, and software bundles. If you’ve ...
Noon Instruments: Vessels, and Toska Review – Impressive Atmosphere In Real Space
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NOTE: Noon Instruments’ BF sale is now live meaning both Toska & Vessels are currently 20% Off until 12/12/25. More details here. Sometimes it can be hard to find software that carries real spatial ...
