Music

Last month, Teenage Engineering launched the first in a new line of portable audio products, the gorgeous but expensive TX-6 mixer. Now the company has revealed the second member of the field family, a modern reworking of its iconic OP-1 synth.

It's been a busy week for high-end portable audio brand Astell&Kern, with the launch of the fourth member of its Kann performance line of digital audio players plus a new pair of in-ear monitors in collaboration with Campfire Audio.

Back in 2019, Soundboks sent us a pair of crazy loud Bluetooth speakers to try out which, though certainly portable, each proved too much for one person in the long haul. Now a smaller and lighter – but almost as powerful – version has launched.

Roland has announced the Juno-X programmable polyphonic synthesizer, which combines the power of the company's Zen-Core synth engine with authentic recreations of the legacy Juno-60 and Juno-106 models for three powerful synthesizers in one.

The masters of minimalist styling at Sweden's Teenage Engineering have added a feature-packed but tiny pro audio mixer to the company's lineup, which packs built-in sounds, beats and sequencing and can also serve as a USB audio interface.

Bang & Olufsen has followed last year's release of its very first noise-canceling wireless earphones with another set that are dressed to impress, this time carrying improved waterproofing and an oddly familiar stem structure.

Styled similarly to the older Jazzmaster model, the favored underdog of artists like Kurt Cobain, Tom Verlaine, J Mascis and John Frusciante has now reached its 60th birthday and Fender is celebrating with two new Jaguar guitars.

Moog celebrated the 100th anniversary of the invention of the theremin back in 2020 with the special edition Claravox Centennial. Now the company has returned to its original design book for a next-generation Etherwave Theremin.

Following in the creative footsteps of the Old Growth Strat, the Front Row Legend Esquire and the 80 Proof Blues Jr, Fender has now used wood reclaimed from a famed Toronto nightclub for a pair of limited edition guitars by Master Builder Ron Thorn.

Hauling heavy gear to entertain passers-by can be a pain for street or subway musicians... literally. The Caseic from Florida's Zachary DeJarnette could make such things less of a chore, by combining a guitar case with an amplifier and speaker combo.

Japan's Sonicware has developed a hand-held groove machine for folks who create music using sounds from the world around them. The SmplTrek is a sonic sampler with a built-in sequencer that can also serve as an audio interface for live streaming.

The goal of the Roli Seaboard 2 is no less than to inject some soul and instrumental virtuosity into digital music, by giving keyboard players expressive tools to rival and even eclipse what acoustic musicians have to work with.