Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire Dead at 74
Maurice White’s battle with Parkinson’s may have ended on Feb. 4th, but something vastly important will live on in the legacy of his music. Turn on the radio, maybe to that side of the dial you tend to neglect, or listen to more voraciously than others, and before today you’d be bound to hear something […]
Fret-King’s Trev Wilkinson
Whether or not you’re familiar with Trev Wilkinson’s name, you’ve likely encountered his work in a guitar or bass you’ve played at some point. Whether it was a Wilkinson tremolo system, a Roller Nut, or a set of his pickups, Wilkinson has left his mark on the guitar industry as a prolific and innovative designer of […]
The 16 Coolest Things We Saw at Winter NAMM 2016
Our crew is back from NAMM 2016 and still buzzing from all the awesome stuff we saw. There were so many photos from our coverage of the show that we wanted to condense it all into the best of the best. So here (in no particular order) are the 16 coolest things we saw at NAMM […]
Three Guitar Pedals That are Great for Bass
It’s not so much that there aren’t a good amount of bass-specific pedals that get the job done — I’m a big fan of the Boss ODB-3 and Dunlop’s bass wah, for instance. But there are certainly more made-for-guitar effects out there that are more readily available. For that reason I took a handful of guitar pedals we […]
Arturia MatrixBrute: The “most powerful analog synthesizer ever?”
“When was the last time you met an instrument that truly inspired pleasure and creativity?” Here at zZounds, we’re no strangers to marketing hype or brand-new, exciting analog synthesizers, but the above quote from Arturia’s website may be completely justified when it comes to their mind-boggling new creation released at the 2016 NAMM show — […]
JBL at NAMM 2016
The last few months have seen JBL breathe some fresh air into some of their classic speaker series, and with good results. Their newest models show clear improvements to functionality and aesthetics; the speakers just look better and are easier to use. Improvements haven’t just been skin-deep though — new and improved waveguides inside the speaker enclosures are […]
Arturia MatrixBrute: An Avant-garde Analog Synth
The MatrixBrute’s product description opens up with plenty of questions: When was the last time you felt your heart beating faster? When was the last time you heard sounds you had never heard before? When was the last time you met an instrument that truly inspired pleasure and creativity? The only question I have is how. How […]
Meet Korg’s minilogue
2016 is set to be a good year for analog synthesis if recent releases from companies like Arturia, Dave Smith and Korg are any indication. While Roland recently paid homage to their rich history of synth design with their analog-modeling Boutique synth line, Korg is looking to the future with the new minilogue. Unlike the […]
Q&A with School of Rock The Musical’s Brandon “Taz” Niederauer
Twelve-year-old Brandon “Taz” Niederauer is a real-life guitar whiz kid who’s played with the likes of the Allman Brothers, Gary Clark Jr., and Luther Dickinson. Now, Niederauer has landed his biggest gig yet — making his Broadway debut as “Zack” in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical adaptation of School of Rock. Opening in December 2015 to […]
