Music

Even if you don't know the songs, you'll likely recognize the look. After 50 years in the music business, rock band Kiss has just ended its End of the Road world tour at New York's Madison Square Garden by introducing digital avatar replacements.

Boss has launched a new compact pedal that offers guitarists stomp-sized access to digital recreations of 11 amp tones matched with Celestion Impulse Responses, for "consistent, high-quality sound while performing, recording, and practicing."

Back in 2015, Sweden's Teenage Engineering launched a bunch of pocket-friendly synths and samplers called, appropriately enough, the Pocket Operators. Now the team has announced a higher-end, almost pro-level version called the EP-133 KO II.

IK Multimedia's gorgeous ToneX pedal remains unrivaled at its price point as 2023 comes to a close, replacing your guitar amp with a cornucopia of tone profiles either captured directly from your own rig, or downloaded from thousands online.

Around this time last year, as part of its 50-year celebrations, California's Drum Workshop announced the upcoming release of an acoustic/electronic drum set featuring wireless triggering tech. Now the DWe convertible kits have officially launched.

UK music hardware company Roli has launched an updated version of the Seaboard Block controller, which "promises to bring infinite expressive possibilities to musicians everywhere, whether at home, in the studio, on the go, or on the stage."

Back in mid-2020, a project out of Taiwan launched on Indiegogo to produce a gorgeous little mechanical music box that could play tunes loaded in using a smartphone app. Now its makers are aiming for double the fun with the Muro Box N40.

Alto Professional out of Rhode Island has announced the appropriately named Busker battery powered portable amp/speaker for street musicians, DJs, party performers, and "anyone and everyone who wants to be heard."

When it comes to portable pickers, a ukulele can make a great travel companion. Wanderers looking for a tough traveler with more bottom end might be interested in the carbon-fiber baritone and bass ukes from Utah's Klos Guitars.

Fender has pulled back the stage curtain on the Highway Series acoustic guitars in dreadnought or parlor guises, each slimmed down for a more comfortable playing experience and "finely tuned for performance on and off the stage."

Vienna's Austrian Audio has announced a pocket recording system designed to capture "what you want, where you want, and when you want." The MiCreator Studio wraps a tilting condenser microphone and a USB audio interface into one rugged package.

Fender says its new eight-core multi-effects and amp modeling floor unit is the best-sounding, most powerful and easiest-to-use digital floor pedal ever built. It's got a legit claim to two of those three titles – but is it undergunned in 2023?

We first got our hands on Lava's oddball carbon-fiber Me 2 smart guitar back in 2021, which was followed by a new model later that year. Now the company has announced the fourth generation, adding a spruce option plus a more affordable Play flavor.

The latest project from music education company Loog Guitars isn't a three-stringed Gibson classic to go with its pint-sized Fender Strat or Tele electrics, but a 37-key portable piano for kids of all ages.

Boss has added a new desktop model to its impressive Katana range of app-enhanced modeling amplifiers for electric guitar and bass. The 35-W Air EX allows for wireless connection between instrument and combo amp, and can also run on batteries.