Music

Learning to play guitar is tough, and having small hands can make it even harder. Epiphone has launched the Power Players Collection to help young players take their important first steps to stardom using quality built 3/4-sized guitars.

As well as producing motorcycles and audio gear, Yamaha is also home to a think tank where design ideas from across the company can be shared, and the latest concept is aimed at making smartphone-based music listening a little more interesting.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have presented some remarkable audio from a new optical microphone system that uses cameras to see and reconstruct sonic vibrations. Remarkably, it can cleanly separate a single instrument playing in a group.

Celebrating the company's DIY legacy, Moog has launched a semi-modular build-it-yourself analog synthesizer called Mavis, which delivers the unmistakable Moog sound in a compact, wallet-friendly package to new users and seasoned musicians alike.

After showing off a clever folding system for its Ascender travel guitar at NAMM 2019, Ciari Guitars has returned to the music industry expo with a cheaper model rocking a new look and a new folding mechanism.

Back in 2019, Nashville-based smart instrument creators Artiphon launched a Kickstarter to fund the production of a portable music machine with a gaming controller vibe and sliced orange dimensions. Now the second-generation Orba has been revealed.

Back in 2018 we brought news of a feature-rich synthesizer for kids of all ages called the Blipblox. With the NAMM 2022 expo just around the corner, Playtime Engineering has now added two new fun-packed music makers to its easy play product lineup.

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.