According to insolvency documents, Berlin-based Native Instruments GmbH (also parent to iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx) is in preliminary insolvency proceedings. This is devastating news for one of the biggest brands in music-making technology.

GEM and LEM are the lost Italian legends you may not know, but should. Toto, Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Italian icons — all users. But the moniker was retired, and most of us assumed we’d never see it again. Surprise: Generalmusic (now Finnish-owned) just announced it’s making GEM and LEM gear again with an Italian leadership team, starting early this year. No idea what any of this us? Don’t worry — just 90s the **** out anyway!

It’s 1986. Laurie Spiegel creates something unlike any software available at the time — an “intelligent,” algorithmic composer you can play as an instrument, for Mac, Amiga, and Atari ST. You’re at NAMM, and it’s 2026. Surprising everyone, Eventide announces they’re working with Spiegel to bring the original software to modern computers, preserving a breakthrough moment in digital music making. The mouse is back.

Surprise! Casio has something unexpected — Dimension Shifter, a spring-powered expressive wireless controller that attaches to your guitar strap. And it was the invention of one employee, inspired by his kid’s school-lunch retracting chopstick and cutlery case.

The experimental electromechanical 8-voice instrument, after a long gestation period at KORG Berlin’s skunkworks R&D, is now going public. That means this unique set of sequenced steel resonators is making its way off the laboratory table and into the wild.

Tough times and tight spaces call for deep algorithmic generative triggers. So now is a great time for Noise Engineering to reimagine their trigger module. Tap a tempo, patch a cord, and instantly spin up percussive patterns you can freely modulate — the best of what the company gave us before, but now with live performance transformations and more possibilities. It’s Multi Repetitor. It’s Multi Repetitor. Sorry.

It started with Kastle 2, Bastl Instruments’ cute and clever handheld. It could be a multi-effect, a sample player, a synth. Then Citadel modules came along and did those things in Eurorack. Now, Bastl’s got a surprise: you can buy these as DIY kits, and a big chunk of the Raspberry Pi-powered platforms are being released as open source. Here are all the details.

As expected, LANDR is adding plug-ins, mastering, and distribution services to the Reason+ subscription. Here’s the surprise: Reason Rack is available as a standalone, perpetual purchase for the first time ($199), with Reason perpetual licenses lowered to $299. (There’s also a new subscription for just Reason Rack.)

More vintage Roland gear is bound for official plug-in versions. Here’s the surprise: the CR-78 gets the nicest, most detailed software rendition yet. We also round out those nice BOSS pedals. It could be just what you need for some extra classic Roland gear in the software rig.

It leaked, you saw it — it’s real, it’s huge. In addition to its recent MPC Live III, Akai has a big mama standalone called the MPC XL with more dedicated controls and a big 10.1” display — but mostly the same innards. Let’s explain.