News – ISU Trading

“Remarkably the DTX Pro is capable of layering up to four individual samples – one more than Roland’s flagship V71 module”: Yamaha DTX6K5-M

The DTX6K5-M is the latest addition to the DTX6 electronic drum set range and the first to feature mesh pads rather than Yamaha’s own TCS (Textured Cellular Silicone) heads. The series line-up includes four kits of various configurations; all powered by the DTX Pro module.

“The essential building blocks of any ‘board”: Fender adds vintage analogue heat to the Hammertone pedal lineup with the Breakup Drive and Boost, both with switchable modes and a budget-friendly $99 price tag

Fender has added a pair of bona-fide firecrackers to its $99 Hammertone guitar effects pedal lineup, both of which will give the front end of your guitar amp something serious to think about.

“The first fully generative, guitar tone design software tool powered by agentic AI”: Positive Grid’s Project BIAS X plugin allows players to design their sound using text and “music-to-tone” AI prompts

Positive Grid might just have done for the guitar plugin what its Spark amp did for the desktop amp by unveiling an AI-powered tone platform that allows you to design your electric guitar tone by text prompt.

With the Carbon 8X, Modal Electronics has completed its three synth families so that it has an instrument for every kind of user, and there’s still more to come

British company Modal is one of the great synth success stories of the past decade. Launched in Bristol in 2013, it quickly established itself as a maker of high-quality, innovative instruments that stood out from the increasingly large crowd.

“People sometimes expect me to be an audio snob because I exude ‘music snob’ sometimes, even though I’m not a snob. I’m not a snob at all”: Laufey says she’s happy to make do with voice memo recordings and doesn’t pay much attention to the mics she uses

She might have the purest of voices, but Icelandic jazz-adjacent pop star Laufey reckons that she doesn’t need an amazing vocal chain to get good results when it’s being recorded.

Gorgeous Seiko Presage Zen Garden trio captures Kyoto’s ever-shifting natural beauty

Taking a leaf out of its top-end stablemate Grand Seiko’s nature-inspired playbook, Seiko has unveiled the latest additions to its Presage Zen Garden series: a trio of 41.8mm timepieces inspired by the ancient capital of Kyoto. More specifically, the Seiko Presage Zen Garden trio reflects the serene beauty of Kyoto’s traditional ‘Karesansui’ dry gardens: a representation of Japan’s appreciation of nature

“An excellent build and pretty formidable soundset make it a desirable studio-based keyboard”: Arturia AstroLab 88 review

Arturia really does have all quarters covered; it was one of the first companies to reincarnate the classics in virtual form, shored up by MIDI controller keyboards and sequencers.
The MiniBrute hardware synthesizer was also one of the first of the new breed of analogue synths

“Each effect in the PX-1 delivers the genuine sound and response of the pedal it’s based on”: A compact series stompbox you can turn into any one of 16 classic Boss effects? Meet the Plugout FX

Boss has just unveiled a guitar effects pedal that assumes the familiar form of its compact series units, and yet can do the job of any one of 16 of the pedal giant’s most popular effects.

“It’s one of the most powerful software sound design tools on earth – and it’s free”: Try out this modular audio processing playground used by Aphex Twin

When we think of Aphex Twin tinkering away in his studio, the image that comes to mind is a man surrounded by a towering array of synths, sequencers, samplers and drum machines.

“Many of the Pro’s advantages are less towards sound, and more on the side of enhanced playability”: Alesis Nitro Pro review

Alesis has been on something of a tear of late, having surprised the world with not one, but three electronic kits featuring multi-sampled libraries delivered direct from the module with the BFD-equipped