Music

While wireless technology has liberated many guitarists from the restrictions of a cord running to the amp, stomp box effects can still threaten to sully the stage with spaghetti madness. Ahead of the 2013 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, Diablo FX has launched what's claimed to be the first high fidelity wireless all-in-one effects pedal management system. In addition to making the working area a safer and tidier place for players to strut their axe-wielding stuff, the Sound Control 6 system allows players to turn multiple analog or digital effects on/off in one stomp.  Read More

Although sales of digital music tracks are rising year-on-year, it's clear that U.S. music lovers are still spending most of their hard-earned cash on physical media. According to Nielson SoundScan (which measures point-of-sale of recorded music products), of the 316 million albums purchased stateside in 2012, 193 million were on CD, compared to 118 million digital downloads. Amazon has launched a new service called AutoRip that will save many of those spinning disc buyers the trouble of converting the just-arrived CD to MP3 for playback on a modern portable music player. Anyone who buys an AutoRip CD from the online retail giant will also get a digital copy free-of-charge.  Read More

Educational electronics kits like the one from Minty Geek are a great introduction to the world of circuit building and electronic tinkering, but are perhaps a little too basic for more advanced hobbyists. Three MIT students are currently enjoying enormous success on the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform with a DIY Tesla coil kit called oneTesla that can make artificial lightning sing ... well, erm, play music from a MIDI source. Now where did I put that polyphonic version of This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us by Sparks?  Read More

Invented in 1959, the extremely elastic synthetic fiber spandex can be found in cycling shorts and other figure-hugging sportswear. It's also made its way into home furnishings and served as a leave-nothing-to-the-imagination 70s rock god favorite. Now, it has well-and-truly entered the digital age with the creation of Firewall, an interactive performance wall that alters the speed, volume or intensity of music in response to a user pressing into its membrane, while also showing off some eye-popping, user-reactive visuals.  Read More

The idea of catching a sound in a bottle in order to listen to it later is one that many of us have toyed with, especially as kids. Unfortunately it isn't possible in the real world, at least not with a real bottle and nothing but a real bottle. However, Re: Sound Bottle is more than what it first appears to be, and its internal components means this particular bottle is capable of recording, remixing, and playing back sounds captured from all manner of different sources.  Read More

Should you find yourself thinking about supergroups, you'll likely center on the famous names that make up the bands and not the instruments they use. Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, for example, rather than the double-necked Gibson EDS-1275, or Cream's Jack Bruce instead of his Gibson EB-3, or Brad Wilk of Audioslave/RATM and not the custom Gretsch drumkits he uses. Being as much fans of the tech behind the hits as the talented folks who create them, we've grouped together a super collection of favorite music-making gadgets from the past year.  Read More

Peavey's AT-200 electric guitar featuring Antares Auto-Tune pitch correction technology, which was launched in January 2012, has now been released.  Read More

There is no doubt that smartphone- and tablet-based apps have had a huge impact on music creation. While there seems to be plenty of plastic devices that extend functionality and creativity beyond the touchscreen (from the toy-like Fingerist to the iTar), if you yearn for wood then you're options are a little less abundant. After spending two years in development, the first images of Artiphon's intriguing, hardwood-bodied INSTRUMENT 1 for iPhone have been released ahead of a product launch in early 2013.  Read More

San Francisco-based audio manufacturer Olive has launched some audiophile-level digital music hardware in the past, but the new ONE promises to be its most stylish, consumer-friendly offering yet. Olive calls the touchscreen-based music player "the world's first all-in-one HD music player."  Read More