marina

NAMM 2024: “The purest snare sound ever achieved…” Tama’s 50th Anniversary Mastercraft Bell Brass puts the snare drum behind Metallica, Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine and more back on the market

NAMM 2024: Tama is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024, and as such we’ve been hoping for some special gear to mark the occasion. Well, it turns out that the wait is short, because the Japanese drum giant has unveiled its first release of 2024, and it’s a reissue of one of the most sought-after snare drums of all time: the Mastercraft Bell Brass.

Arturia releases _Efx Refract, a new unison plugin, and makes it free for the holidays

Arturia has announced Efx Refract, a stereo multi-effect “with versatility at its core”, and has only gone and made it free until the 4 January. It’s the latest in a series of free music software giveaways this year, making 2023 something of a bumper freebie year. And if you download one free plugin this year, we reckon you should make it this one…

Pre-orders open for Seiko 5 Sports GMT field watches

Seiko is broadening the appeal of its 5 Sports collection of affordable trend-led automatics with the launch of two models with a field watch design and the added functionality of a second time zone hand and 24 hour bezel.
There is a raw steel version on a steel bracelet and an all-black piece on a black strap it calls the Seiko 5 Sports Deception.

No, you’re not dreaming – Behringer’s UB-Xa synth has finally been launched (though we still can’t find it for sale anywhere)

Who knows whether the Behringer UB-Xa will win any awards for its performance, but we’d like to give it some kind of prize right now for being the synth with the longest time between announcement and release. Believe it not, we wrote our first story about this Oberheim OB-Xa clone back in January 2018 – that’s almost six years ago – but only now is it finally ready to come to market.

Casio to Release Charles Darwin Foundation Collaboration G-SHOCK Watches

Casio Computer Co., Ltd. announced today the release of new additions to the G-SHOCK brand of shock-resistant watches. The three new GW-B5600CD watches are the brand’s latest collaboration with the Charles Darwin Foundation, an organization that engages in environmental conservation activities in the Galápagos Islands.