Marcus feels at home in software, recording gear, and synthesizers. Beyond his work as an author, he's a music producer, mix and mastering engineer, sound designer, live performer, DJ, and lecturer (including at SAE). At GEARNEWS.de & GEARNEWS.com he's Editor-in-Chief, and he has also written for bonedo, DJ Mag and other magazines. Based in Mainz, Germany, he's worked across strikingly different projects over the decades: touring as Broombeck and Guardner (including a live show at Berghain), as one half of 2pole with the Beatport number one hit "Alone feat. Ursula Rucker", and under his own name as Marcus Schmahl. He's released on a wide range of respected labels, produced music for film, broadcast and advertising across genres from pop to techno to ambient, and holds two gold records. His technical background as a graduate electrical engineer shows in his productions just as much as his musical instinct. And even though his catalog already runs to more than 2,000 releases, the story of Marcus Schmahl is far from over.
Apple has officially unveiled the new Mac mini M6 or M5 Pro. The M6 is Apple's first 2-nanometer chip. Pre-orders are already live.
Making Sound Machines Plinky 12 review: Toadstep and Chords as studio idea generators. Is €530 worth it? Here is my studio review.
Gurman reports that Apple is preparing a new iMac M6 in fresh colors. The launch is expected to take place later this year. Would that be a good fit for you?
Apple Music is (soon) rolling out a mandatory "Made With AI" label. Over a third of uploads are already fully AI-generated, but barely getting listened to.
Amsterdam Dance Event 2026 celebrates its 30th anniversary with Jean-Michel Jarre as guest of honor, over 2,500 artists, and 200+ venues. Everything on ADE!
Sound design with plugins is where the real magic happens. We show you three tools for shaping new sounds, plus a free alternative for each one.
Dawesome's Abyss II drops the oscillator menus entirely, letting you shape sound through tone colors and taste instead of synthesis theory.
macOS 27 Golden Gate brings Siri AI and better performance, but kills off Intel Mac support entirely. Here's what that means for your studio.
Xfer Serum 2 gets a Linux beta. A genuine industry-standard synth finally lands on a platform that usually gets left out entirely.
Minimal Audio's Lucid rebuilds any sound grain by grain into textures, harmonies, and rhythmic effects, always in key, and always locked to your session.
Steinberg HALion, Acon Digital Restoration Suite 2, and Safari Audio Rhino Reverb on sale: sampling, audio restoration, and vintage reverb, discounted.
Here's how to expand what Ableton Live can do with Max for Live, a visual programming language packed with free instruments and effects.
With the RP-2000 MK4, German manufacturer Reloop introduces a new DJ turntable that costs little and delivers a lot.
Beatport is banning fully AI-generated music and rolling out the Beatdapp detection tool to enforce it. 77% of DJs say they want music from real artists.
Sampling and field recording as a creative process: what gear you need, how the workflow works, and why the best sounds are waiting right outside your door.
Suno Studio 2.0 brings MIDI, a chat bar, and custom plugins to the browser-based DAW. But does this shift the creative work away from actually playing music?
Big guitar tone: a Les Paul with humbuckers, a 100-watt tube amp, a 4x12 cab, and plenty of gain? That's not always the whole story.
Producing IDM gets a serious boost with these three hardware tools that complement each other perfectly. A genuine Perfect Match!
Suno x BMG: After Warner, BMG becomes the second major rightsholder to sign a licensing deal with the AI music platform. Universal and Sony are still suing.
Spotify is rolling out the AI Persona label starting mid-September and cutting AI artist profiles from recommendations. Royalties, though, stay untouched.
Softube Reference EQs bring two legendary passive tube equalizers into plugin form, combinable with Softube's own Equalizers plugin for maximum flexibility.
William Orbit built pop hits on minimal gear like the Korg MS-20 and Roland Juno-106, from the Ray of Light sound to his final albums.
Roland Cloud JUPITER-8, Universal Audio Lexicon 224, and Baby Audio Crystalline on sale: vintage synth, vintage reverb, and modern hall, heavily discounted.
After around 100 layoffs in July, inMusic has reportedly closed Native Instruments' entire UK office. The story keeps getting worse.