Best free plug-ins this week: loads of free sounds and a Swedish saturator

It's time for our line-up of free plug-ins and audio freebies. There is something for everyone, including a ludicrous number of sound effects, a saturation unit, reverb IRs, and scary strings...

Acustica Audio has released Aquamarine4, adding an EQ to the mix

Acustica Audio has released Aquamarine4, a new version of the mixing and mastering plug-in suite that now includes an emulation of a rare passive EQ in addition to the compressor.

David Gilmour guitar exhibition opens in London (including THAT Black Stratocaster)

Guitars owned by a certain D Gilmour Esq are up for auction this year, getting many of us gear heads pretty excited. The collection is viewable for free in London until 31 March.

Analogue Solutions reveal Impulse Command stereo dynamite synthesizer

Impulse Command is a ferociously dynamic stereo synthesizer that's built like a battleship console and doubles up on oscillators, envelopes, filters and sequencers - it's explosive!

Aclam Dr Robert overdrive: “A perfect replica” of The Beatles’ fave Vox UL730 amp?

This pedal mimics a classic amp designed by legendary Vox engineer Dick Denney used by the Fab Four on Revolver and Sgt Pepper - LSD and eight-track recorder not included!

Future Sound Systems finds a naked groove with the Portland percussion synth

Portland is a stripped down percussion synthesizer using resonators, noise and plenty of shaping for its 4 channels of drums. The huge patch bay makes it quite at home amongst all your other gear.

Pedal Crush: A new book for effects pedal enthusiasts now on Kickstarter

Pedal Crush brings the world of effects pedals to all musicians, from harp players and DJs to producers and makers of weird synth noises. And to people who play guitar and can read...

Solar Guitars finally reveals that 8-String! Enter the new A1.8C

This thing looks like it can crush skulls at 20 paces: Ola Englund's Solar Guitars has a new 8-string, the A1.8C! Looks like this will handle all you can throw at it and more. Time to Djent?

Serato Studio hybrid groovebox/DJ DAW presents interesting possibilities

With Serato Studio, producers looking to get into DJ-ing can experiment inside a more familiar environment, without investing in decks or DJ software. Same goes for DJs interested in production.

Noise Engineering opens pre-orders on 3 new modules

Sinc Bucina, Terci Ruina, and Cursus Iteritas Percido are being released April 18th and Noise Engineering has started taken orders. What are these things? We'll try to explain.

Genelec Aural ID tech promises acoustically accurate headphone monitoring

"Virtual Earality", anyone? Genelec's Aural ID tech promises elaborate hearing compensation that takes into account the unique acoustical properties of your hearing anatomy. The next big thing?

Panharmonium Mutating Spectral Resynthesizer = mind blown

Rossum Electro-Music boggle our minds with the Panharmonium. Plug in some audio and it extracts the spectrum and runs it through up to 33 oscillators. But we don't know what it sounds like yet.

Fender Europe fined for hiding documents during price-fixing investigation

Fender Europe has been fined for withholding documents during a CMA inspection in the context of an ongoing price-fixing investigation involving Fender, Yamaha, Korg and Roland.

Tracktion releases Waveform 10 with over 60 new plug-ins, workflow enhancements

Leading additions in version10 include the Actions Panel meant for faster work, flexible track grouping, and track editor window. Furthermore, Waveform 10 ships with no less than 62 plug-ins.

Apple partially fixes USB audio on 2018 Macs in latest Mojave update

The latest Mojave update (10.14.4), released yesterday, quietly improves the USB audio situation on 2018 Macs, as mentioned in the release notes and in beta testing user feedback.

LD Systems reveals the U500 series in-ear monitoring systems

LD Systems will present the U500 series in-ear monitoring systems at Prolight+Sound 2019. The new systems are available in five versions, with or without headphones.

Mastro Valvola Area Multi Reverb V2 adds a nifty Timed Bypass System

The new Mastro Valvola Area Multi Reverb MkII from Italy is a studio quality reverb pedal, just with some interesting switching options to help keep your guitar tone intact.

PreSonus StudioLive Series III S: Four new DSP-powered digital mixers

PreSonus has introduced the StudioLive Series III S Series of digital mixers. The 64S, 32S, 32SX, and 32SC come with DSP processing, many onboard FX, 128-channel USB recording, and flexible routing.

Via – same hardware, multiple Eurorack modules

Starling is releasing "Via" for running multiple module firmware on a single hardware module. With different faceplates and open source software they could become any module you could ever want.

denise.io releases Noize 2 creative sample mangling plug-in and Berlin sample pack

Upgraded to version 2, Noize adds new parameters designed to let you more flavours of dirt to instruments and sounds, and even includes a pack of atmospheric samples recorded in Berlin.

Birdcord cables can power your pedals and synths from USB powerbanks

What, no power outlet? Power your pedals and synths from USB powerbanks using these cables for 6, 9, 12 and 18 Volts and the optional adapters to hook up KORG and Casio synths. Nifty!

Ex-AKG employees found Austrian Audio to bring back the “Vienna sound”

Ex-AKG employees have founded a new brand in the pro audio industry, the aptly named Austrian Audio, that's introducing 8 new products in 5 categories, such as mics and headphones.

A Styrofoam Telecaster! Is this the lightest guitar ever?

Another incredible guitar from Burls Art: Following on from two models made of colouring pencils, his new Styrofoam Telecaster weighs in at 3.5 lbs. Could this be the lightest guitar ever?

Apple iMac 2019 refresh: New desktop machines for musicians and producers

What can the new iMacs do for musicians and producers? Both the 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs now have 8th/9th-gen Coffee Lake Intel processors and Radeon Pro Vega graphics. Worth an upgrade?