I’ve spent the last few weeks learning what it’s like to play a true studio workhorse. American Music & Sound sent this to me on loan, and the experience was fun, if not an exercise for my lower back. Here’s some backstory: most of my 88-key piano experience is with plastic-housed MIDI controllers that feel … Read more
The moment I pulled the OPL Studio by Cheerful Electronic out of its box, I was hit with a wave of nostalgia. It looks like a handheld toy straight out of the 1990s, a dead ringer for those old Tiger Electronics handhelds every kid seemed to have, only now with a full color screen instead … Read more
Sad Boi Cult is a nu-alt-pop-punk artist reviving the nostalgic 2000s pop-punk sound with a modern injection of relatable “Sad Boi” emotions in their lyricism. They released their latest sad single for sad people, “caskets,” on February 26, 2026. “caskets” is their first single of 2026 following their 2025 single “hopeless,” and it’s promising for … Read more
A glass window sits on top of the enclosure, revealing a brushed DC motor. Feed in a note, and the pedal’s pitch-tracking system uses that note to drive the motor oscillator. An A4 at 440 Hz corresponds to about 146.6 revolutions per second. Higher notes accelerate the motor. Lower notes slow it. A calibrated inductor … Read more
A significant part of my job involves scrolling Instagram’s explore tab to find products worth covering. A few months back, I kept seeing informative tutorials from the same account. These were short clips about Ableton Live, each presenting a production problem, a solution, and just enough explanation to make it memorable. That was No Work … Read more
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 can buy. If you’ve followed them for a decent period, you’ll know they loved to build some heckin’ chonkers. Compactness was … Read more
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, so I reached out to the Heavys team for a pair of the H1H to test. Most headphones are tuned for … Read more
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, the story of The Sway began over a year before that appearance. Founded in March 2023, Audima set out to create … Read more
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 already build tracks and keep ideas moving in Ableton without much friction. But the slowdown is always the same. A part … Read more
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” synths without really knowing them. Following “recreate this sound” YouTube tutorial videos, preset surfing, and the occasional lucky accident after twisting … Read more
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 really nice dudes), I was excited to see their first attempt at a synthesizer. Our earliest articles on them covered both … Read more
Austin, TX • Emo’s Austin (East) Walking into Emo’s Austin last Saturday, for The Runarounds show, the energy was unlike any I had seen for some time. While I have been in this game for a long time now, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for what I was about to experience. The … Read more
Friday, January 16, 2026 San Antonio, TX • Historic Aztec Theatre Friday night at the Aztec Theatre felt like stepping into a portal into the 90s-2000’s. From the moment Everclear’s amp stacks lit up under the Aztec’s rich, carved interior, the vibe was a blend of raw ’90s rock grit and warm crowd nostalgia. Fans … Read more
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 emulate them. I found Trap Door Electronics’ Active Acid because I thought this was a 303-inspired guitar pedal. It’s got “acid” … Read more
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, a member of the Subsocial Studios team is hunched over a vintage accounting machine, coaxing life out of a mechanical lever … Read more
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 tech since the 1980s, you’d hope that everything should behave predictably. Except it doesn’t, and if you’ve spent any time recording … Read more
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 suggests a MIDI controller, because that’s all something this thin should be. Except ESI crammed an entire polyphonic synthesizer in here. Under … Read more
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 Instruments came through their mint series, those unmistakable mint tins hiding PCB synths inside. At first, I’d scroll past, but the … Read more
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 and turns them into playable sound. Instead of generating tones with oscillators, its 33-inductor array detects nearby electromagnetic fields and converts … Read more
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 sound. The Microwave took that identity and sharpened it. The Q carried virtual analog into new territory, and the XT became one of the most recognizable digital … Read more