Polyend Tracker Mini: Our Honest Verdict Before the 10th Anniversary Limited Edition
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The Tracker Mini is a compact music workstation built around a tracker interface: streamlined, portable, and shaped by deliberate design choices. It delivers serious production capabilities in a form that fits in the palm ...
Yamaha SEQTRAK Review: A Fast, Focused, and Fun Groovebox with Over 2,000 Sounds
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Yamaha has a long history of blurring the line between groovebox, synth, and sketchpad with some of their flagship synths. But the SEQTRAK is something different. Both a purpose-built workstation and a sequencer, it’s ...
Ten Years On, And The Reface DX Still Impresses in 2025 (REVIEW)
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Introduction In 2015, Yamaha introduced the Reface DX to make FM synthesis more approachable. It packs a four-operator engine, a Full-Dot LCD, and 37 mini keys. All fit into a chassis the size of ...
Timetosser MK2: Bold Time-Slicing Wizardry in a Compact Tool
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Introduction The Timetosser MK2 is a compact, button-driven box built to reshape audio in real time. No screens, no saved loops—just rhythm manipulation at your fingertips. This device focuses on one thing: cutting and ...
OP-XY Review: What Would Happen if The OP-1 Field and OP-Z Had a Love Child?
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Since launching the game-changing OP-1 in 2014, Teenage Engineering has carved out a reputation for marrying playful design with pro-grade functionality, from the pocket-sized OP-Z to the OP-1 Field workstation. With the OP-XY, they’ve ...
Reverb Launches Independents Day 2025 Sale to Celebrate Its Return to Independence
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Reverb is celebrating two big things this week. Not only is Independence Day around the corner, but the company itself is now independent again. And to mark the occasion, it’s throwing a major sales ...
The McNally Strumstick: Why 2025 May Finally Be The Year You Get Better at Guitar
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Why Strumstick? Learning the guitar can feel like a slow-motion car crash. Your fingertips go numb. Your chords sound like furniture falling down the stairs. You realize playing “Wonderwall” takes weeks, not hours. Worst ...
The Arturia MicroFreak in 2025: Still Brilliant, Still Bizarre
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Sometimes the story of a synth starts before you ever turn it on. The Arturia MicroFreak isn’t new—it’s been turning heads since 2019—but somehow, I’d never pulled the trigger. Most of the gear I’ve ...
Novation Launchkey 61 MK4 Review – Powerful Features, Thoughtful Design, Modest Price
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Around for over a decade, the Novation LaunchKey line has long been a preferred MIDI controller for those looking for a cost-effective way to control their DAW, especially Ableton Live users. Now in its ...
Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 4th Gen Review: Pro-Level Power Made Ridiculously Simple
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The first time I ever plugged a microphone into an interface, it was a Scarlett Solo—the tiny red box that launched a thousand home studios. Mine included. Back then, it felt like magic: clear ...
Daydreamer Synth 1 Review: The Stunning Wooden Wonder Redefining Analog Access
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First Impressions It’s not every day you stumble across a synthesizer that looks like it was carved from a tree trunk, but that’s exactly what the Daydreamer Synth 1 feels like at first glance. ...
Michigan Synth Works MSW-810m Review: A Forgotten Classic, Reborn for the Modern Desktop
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The Michigan Synth Works MSW-810m is a modern tribute to the rare Roland CMU-810—a synthesizer that, while largely forgotten outside niche circles, represents an intriguing chapter in the history of music technology. Originally released ...
Native Instruments and iZotope Are Doing Major Summer 2025 Sales with Amazing Discounts on Industry-Leading Tools
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New RX11 deal launches today with 40% off. Native Instruments and iZotope have kicked off their annual summer promotions, delivering significant savings on software bundles, instruments, and hardware for music producers and audio professionals. ...
Beetlecrab Audio’s Tempera: Turning 4,096 Grains into Colorful Sound Art
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Some gear seems unassuming until the moment you lay a finger on it. While attractive to the eye even without its power on, Beetlecrab Audio’s Tempera is one of those devices. Encased in a ...
Tom Morello’s New Reverb Exclusive Pedal Pays Tribute to Wayne Kramer & MC5
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When Tom Morello announces a new piece of gear, people listen. Morello’s past gear choices — from his heavily modded “Arm the Homeless” guitar to his unique effects rig — have shaped some of ...
Learn, Play, Repeat: How CubyFun’s EasyPlay 1S and EasyPlay Meow Make Music Education Fun
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For generations, learning music meant hours of drills, dry theory, and expensive lessons. But what if picking up scales, understanding intervals, or recognizing melodies could feel more like playtime than practice? Enter CubyFun’s EasyPlay ...
Sonic Youth Reopens Their Reverb Shop Again in 2025 with Rare Gear and Personal Treasures
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Even more than a decade after their final live performance, Sonic Youth remains one of the most influential bands to ever emerge from the underground rock scene. Now, fans and fellow musicians have another ...
Midicake ARP Review: How One Man’s Dream Made For a Pretty Damn Fun 4-Track Arpeggiator
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Let’s be honest, arpeggiators can sometimes feel like an afterthought. Many synthesizers include them, but more often than not, they’re simple, one-trick ponies with limited control and little personality. They’ll feel tacked on and ...
Chroma Console by Hologram Electronics: An Amazing Effects Console That Feels like 20 Pedals In One
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Some effects pedals are designed to color your sound. The Chroma Console is designed to transform it. From the moment I unboxed the Chroma Console, it was clear this wasn’t just another multi-effects unit. ...
Fever Dreams by Ari Mason: Beautiful, Quirky and Experimental – 10% Discount Code Inside
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If some of the recent reviews on Altwire have shown anything, it’s that I love weird, and I love quirky. So when I find something that combines both of my loves and sounds beautiful ...