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XLR

CDM — Create Digital Music

10 stories

Elgato’s Stream Deck as a DAW companion; new Reaper controller

CDM — Create Digital MusicGearElgato’s Stream Deck as a DAW companion; new Reaper controller Elgato's Stream Deck, a push-button desktop controller with interactive color keys and software shortcuts, has quietly become an ideal DAW accessory. Take, for example, this thoughtfully designed addition from Granite Co

ALM records everything to stems, and now mixes, too, in compact modules

CDM — Create Digital MusicGearALM records everything to stems, and now mixes, too, in compact modules It's Stem Ripper, and its expansion module accomplice, "With Mixer." Patch it up quick, record individual stems, and perform stereo mixing with aux sends, panning, and even external USB MIDI control. And fit it all in 6H

Kevin Saunderson teaches a free 909 workshop, online and in Detroit

CDM — Create Digital MusicGearKevin Saunderson teaches a free 909 workshop, online and in Detroit The best 909 Day reveal yesterday was this: on Saturday, Kevin Saunderson, techno originator and one of the Belleville Three, teaches a free workshop on the 909 with Roland (with Dustin Good). You can tune in online, and

Dirtywave M8 has an official iOS app — a great addition to mobile tracker apps

CDM — Create Digital MusicGearDirtywave M8 has an official iOS app — a great addition to mobile tracker apps Dirtywave M8 is already superb as hardware, whether you run their pre-made device or build your own "headless" rig. Now, it has its own official iOS app for iPhone and iPad, too, and it looks hot.

Eminently controllable, accessible by design, Sting is now a plug-in

CDM — Create Digital MusicGearEminently controllable, accessible by design, Sting is now a plug-in Now this is how to do generative melodies. Add expression. Get control with your hands. Make melodies accessible -- including if you're blind and visually impaired. Sting, the beloved maker of acid melodies and other pat

Scales among updates to the free Ardour DAW — with tuning on the way

CDM — Create Digital MusicGearScales among updates to the free Ardour DAW — with tuning on the way Ardour 9.8 continues the rapid, detailed development of this free and open-source DAW, with improved session recovery and clip recording, expanded support for controllers and hardware, and an arpeggiator MIDI tool. The 9

Throng, a 3D BlueSky interface, imagines social media as a mob

CDM — Create Digital MusicGearThrong, a 3D BlueSky interface, imagines social media as a mob You're just relaxing by a peaceful campfire. You hear voices in the distance. Then, like a really chatty zombie invasion... they come. And keep coming. It's a 3D user interface for BlueSky, but it says something poetic -

Loraine James has a new LP, it’s a free download, and it’s raw brilliance

CDM — Create Digital MusicGearLoraine James has a new LP, it’s a free download, and it’s raw brilliance "U Get Me"? Yes. Out today, Friday, Loraine James' newest LP It’s Nothing Personal. is the kind of massive, glitchy percussive syncopation I would want to use to break in an excellent, brand new pair of trainers. Then co

In masses of live electronic sound, Jad Atoui built an opus

CDM — Create Digital MusicGearIn masses of live electronic sound, Jad Atoui built an opus It Will Take Forever moves through emotions in swells, as if pulling us through feelings. Composed and played live on modular synths from 2023 to 2025 in Beirut, Jad Atoui's work almost sings grief through those electron

Audacity 4, free and open-source audio editor, arrives with a revamped UI

CDM — Create Digital MusicGearAudacity 4, free and open-source audio editor, arrives with a revamped UI It's been a long time coming. Audacity, the ubiquitous open-source audio editor now owned by Muse Group, reaches version 4 with a reworked UI and enhanced usability. Here's a look at what's new and a first run. And there

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· Trade shows and launch events, this week's stories from each corner of the industry, and what its press is covering.

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How records get made in 2026 from the industry's own reports

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About

XLR is a magazine, a radar and a diary about music gear and the making of music — for the people who make records and put on shows, wherever they do it.

The name is the three-pin connector that every signal in the business passes through: the microphone on stage and in the booth, the line to the desk, the DMX cable that runs the lights. Studio, stage and lighting rig share it, and so does this magazine. Every few hours XLR collects what the makers shipped, what the reviewers heard, what the studios and the touring crews are doing, which producers and collectives are surfacing and what they are saying — synths and modular, plugins and DAWs, guitars and drums, microphones, monitors, PA and lights, the rooms and the people — from a few hundred sources in English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and more, then plots what is moving. The editor writes a letter every few days. Nothing is sold here; when a link leads to a shop, that is the maker's shop, not ours.