Music

When people start learning to play guitar, a full-size electric can seem pretty daunting. For those looking for something just a little bit smaller, Fender has responded with a couple of electrics and a bass that can also serve as travel companions.

Bryan Guitars has come up with a quick way to change the body color of a guitar. The body is filled with colored liquid, which can be drained and refilled in a jiffy. After more than 30 years in development, the first guitars are ready to rock.

Elvis Presley’s 1942 Martin D-18 guitar sold at auction this week for $1.32 million, becoming just the tenth guitar in history to sell for more than $1.0 million. Clearly, the music memorabilia marketplace is red hot right now.

A couple of years ago, Playtime Engineering launched a colorful portable synthesizer on Indiegogo, and now the startup has reworked the hardware and software, and toned down the cuteness, for the Blipblox After Dark.

If you've always wanted a grand piano in your living room but thought you simply wouldn't have the room, think again. Lego Ideas has just launched the 21323 Grand Piano set, an 8.5-inch high show piece that works with a smartphone app to play tunes.

For its limited edition 2020 Parallel Universe series guitars, Fender has mashed up different models to create oddball new ones. And the latest is possibly the oddest of them all – the Maverick Dorado.

IK Multimedia's Axe I/O guitar interface now has a baby brother. The Solo is a cheaper, more compact bus-powered version of its impressive sibling, with two inputs and three outputs, instrument tone shaping and music production software bundled in.

If we're to celebrate all forms of human endeavor here at New Atlas, then I don't want to go a minute longer without featuring this 25-year-old London polymathematical wunderkind who seems to be pushing against every boundary of music, all at once.

Californian startup Irijule has launched a MIDI controller on Kickstarter that color codes the relationship between chords and notes, to simplify music theory and put almost two billion chord combinations and over 800 scales within easy reach.

The Zound Industries/Marshall Amps collaboration has made a teeny addition to its Bluetooth speaker line. The Emberton is water-resistant, offers over 20 hours of playback and promises to throw out 360-degree sound "that only Marshall can deliver."

Luxury portable music gear brand Astell&Kern has announced the second product in its premium A&futura range, the SE200, which is claimed to be the first in the world to sport a multi-DAC design.

IK Multimedia has drawn key tone-shaping features from its mighty Axe I/O instrument interface and put them into the Z-Tone Buffer Boost preamp pedal for gigging and Z-Tone DI active box for studio work.