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Notes: The Nord Wave 2 is a powerful 4-part performance synthesiser combining Virtual Analogue synthesis, Samples, FM and Wavetable with an intuitive layer-focused interface. With 48 voice polyphony, innovative performance features and hands-on controls, the Nord Wave 2 offers outstanding sonic possibilities with advanced layering and tweaking on the fly.

With 4 independent synthesisers in one the Nord Wave 2 offers exceptional possibilities for layering both classic waveforms and samples. Dedicated OLED displays for Program and Oscillator sections provide an excellent overview when shaping your sounds. The wide range of performance features and instantly tweakable hands-on effects makes the Wave 2 Nord's most versatile performance synthesiser ever. The new Monitor mode displays your settings for Amp Envelope and Filters in the Program display for better overview and control.

The Wave 2 features a Program Layer section with faders for easily controlling the volume or pan for all 4 layer parts at once. The Layer section also provides handy features for quick layer focus, pan control, solo and multi-editing. The Split mode offers three split points providing up to 4 zones with optional crossfades. The flexible Hold functionality lets you latch and hold slots independently in the background while playing something else on top. The new Group feature allows you to group 2, 3 or 4 layers and lets them share the same Filter, Envelope, Arpeggiator, LFO and Effect-settings - perfect when creating complex multi-layered sounds that can be edited as one coherent sound.

The Oscillator section for each of the 4 layers offers 4 modes: Analog, Wavetable, FM and Samples and is easily browsed with our new direct category mode. The Oscillator Control features additional control over shape, sync or detune. The Wave 2 features a powerful multi-oscillator Unison effect with true Superwaves simultaneously generating hundreds of waveforms for extremely thick and fat sounds.

The Sample section has 1 GB of memory and comes loaded with a wide selection of quality samples including Strings, Brass, Guitars, Choirs, Chromatic Percussion as well as the exclusively licensed sounds of the legendary Mellotron and Chamberlin. All sounds are easily replaceable using the Nord Sound Manager. Adding your own custom sample instruments has never been easier thanks to the new streamlined Nord Sample Editor 3 for Mac and Windows that lets you map, loop and transfer samples to your Nord Wave 2 in a breeze.

The Filter section has 6 Filter types featuring classic 12 and 24 dB Low Pass, a High Pass, High Pass/Low Pass and a Band Pass filter, together with a stunning emulation of the transistor ladder filter from the legendary Mini. The unique modeling of these filters captures the true character and response of the classic analog instruments, allowing for flexible and precise sound design. The Filter section is equippied with full ADSR envelope.

The Wave 2 features a dedicated LFO for each layer with a choice of waveforms plus AD/AR Modulation Envelope with dedicated velocity setting and Invert mode. The LFO has several morphable parameters and the rate can be synchronized to the Master Clock.

The Amp Section is equipped with a full ADSR envelope featuring a powerful new Transient Attack mode for adding more punch to your sounds.

The Wave 2 features an extensive range of morphable parameters that can be controlled from four different sources: Velocity, Aftertouch, Wheel and Control Pedal. All morph sources can be quickly assigned to control multiple parameters simultaneously and the powerful Impulse Morph feature lets you instantly change any parameter of your sound. Instantly assign LFO, Oscillator Control or Filter to the Modulation Wheel.

The Nord Wave 2 is truly a rhythmical powerhouse with both a classic arpeggiator and a polyphonic mode with directly editable patterns. The Poly mode is a polyphonic Arpeggiator that will retrig all held keys either straight or patterned featuring different inversions for exciting harmonic variations. The brand new Gate mode chops your sound up in a rhythmic pattern with adjustable depth. The Pattern mode contains a wide selection of Rhythmic Patterns allows easy editing for creating your own custom patterns.

The Master Clock of the Wave 2 allows the LFO, Arpeggiator and various effects to be synchronized, either internally or by an external MIDI clock. With Master Clock synchronization you can synchronize 4 layers with individual patterns, all perfectly in sync with Delays and LFO's. A Tap Tempo allows you to easily tap to the tempo of a drummer or to playback tracks.

A separate Effect section for each layer featuring a great selection of instantly tweakable high quality stereo effects modelled after classic stomp boxes. Tremolo, Pan, Ring Modulator, Chorus, Ensemble and Vibe effects with Rate and Amount control. All effects are controllable via Control Pedal (or other Morph sources) and can also be synchronized to the Master Clock for rhythmic effects. EQ with Bass and Treble control - or 1 Band Sweepable EQ. A sparkling Tube Drive emulation is also available. Advanced stereo Delay effect with Ping Pong mode, Analog Mode and Tap Tempo. New features include creative new Feedback options for adding Ensemble, Chorus, Vibe as well as HP/LP and BP filter in the Feedback loop. The Reverb section has five different Reverb sizes (Booth, Room, Stage, Hall and new Cathedral) for adding some ambience to your sounds, and the amount is now morphable. New features include Bright and Dark modes for either extended or reduced treble. The new Chorale effect adds a lush modulation effect.

Features

Performance

Advanced Arpeggiator with Polyphonic Trig mode
Gate feature for rhythmic effects
Advanced Morph features with Impulse Morph
Master Clock control of Arpeggiator, LFO and Effects
Vibrato with 3 Delay modes and Wheel/Aftertouch assign

Oscillators
Analog: Basic, Shape, Multi, Sync and Noise with up to 16 oscillators
Samples
Wavetable
Advanced FM with harmonic and inharmonic algorithms
True Unison mode

Modulation
LFO with five waveforms
Flexible syncing and routing options
AD/AR envelope

Amp
ADSR Amp envelope
Transient Attack Mode

Filter
12/24 dB lowpass, lowpass M, band pass, high pass, and LP+HP
Filter Drive
ADSR envelope

Effects
FX section with Tremolo, Pan, Ring Modulation, Chorus, Ensemble and Vibe.
EQ section with Drive
Advanced Delay section
Reverb section with five sizes + Dark, Bright and Chorale modes

Review: The latest deep dive into Galaxy Sound Co.'s Black Hole series is another carefully dug out delight featuring three essential jazz-funk-psych cuts. Joe Pass' 'A Time For Us' opens with beautiful cinematic strings, sparse drums and ghostly guitar that has been famously sampled by J Dilla and the Slum Village crew, and sounds powerful in situ here. Milt Jackson & Ray Brown's 'Enchanted Lady' follows with hypnotic modal swing, again famously flipped, this time by Pete Rock, De La Soul and Knxwledge. Closing out is Archie Whitewater's 'Cross Country', which is a funky, soulful groove with brass and keys that have been immortalised by Kanye and Common, but remains a burner here in its original form.

Review: Landing with a curbstomp the year before their debut full-length Matando Gueros, 1992's iMachetazos! served as only the second 7" EP (of what would become a lengthy discography) from drug cartel death metal outfit Brujeria. While performing with their faces covered and under gangster pseudonyms, anyone within the scene knows the collective alumni boasts (or has at one point) Fear Factory's Dino Cazares and drummer Raymond Herrera, as well as Billy Gould (Faith No More), Nicholas Barker (Cradle Of Filth Dimmu Borgir) and Jeff Walker (Carcass). Lyrically touching on tops of Satanism, torture, gang violence and drug dealing, all united through Mexican imagery and gangster aesthetic; when coupled with the band's extreme form of death metal imbued grindcore, the resulting menace is akin to waking up in a mosh pit during Sicario.

Review: Key playing master Byron The Aquarius returns to Star Creature with 'Jamajama', a slick 7" dripping in synth-heavy funk and future-facing deep house of the sort that has made him a real standout in recent years. On the A-side, Byron delivers a left-field jazz-funk burner that's packed with squelchy, bass-rich, and weirdly elegant vibes that perfectly straddle the line between two-step and house grooves. Flip it over and you get a lush nu-boogie banger featuring Steven Klavier on vocals, and his disco-laced touch has lit up tracks from Soul Clap to Eli Escobar so you may well be familiar. It's a tight, genre-blurring gem from one for heads, dancers, and divas alike.

Review: Carriego reemploys early Detroit techno and 00s minimalism, crafting a piezo powered four-track journey consisting in deeper, supersawed atmosses, and spanning electro to new wave. 'Hazard' sets a tense mood, while 'The Bridge' swells and quells pads and hip breaks voxes. 'Curtain Call' weirdens things, with popcorn string plucks piling on pylons of tension, while 'Seems Like' concludes on a snappier, momentous hush-hush. It's the fourth EP so far from the Frenchman, and an impressive one at that.

Review: New bursters onto the scene, Spain's Spirito Del Tempo present their inaugural release, Das Firmament's 'Voices Of The Past'. Their sound rodded in real-time creation, as opposed to obsessive editing in post, the Swiss duo nonetheless cut the cloth of a steely, ingenious exactitude, befitting of techno-into-dark-synth and its mechanistic mood of absolution. 'Herrscher Der Zeit' and 'Eine Frage an Disch Selbst' are bell-tower-chiming, synthpop machines, stripped of their humanity save for an irrevocable harmonic core. 'Condem Me' and 'Videodrome' move increasingly Cronenbergian, ending on an acid trance tonic traum: "television is reality, and reality is less than television".

Review: First released in the golden year of 1996 under Joe Manumaleuna's longstanding formative alias DJ Hyperactive, this founding Chi-bleep bluff-caller on 12" took the world by paretic storm just as easily back then as it surely will do now. Communique Records, executive vicars of the Sounds sublabel, now do a stellar job of reissuing this crazy-making clobberer, having first remastered it from the original DATs. 'Muzik Make You Lose Control' and 'Drummer Boy' riff off Chicago's rich percussive history, while 'Circle Of Life' and 'Alteno' go wilder on the monophonic synthwork, to eerily maddening effect.

Review: A masterclass in stark 'Kontrast' comes by way of producer Elektrotechnik, whose latest 12" here for Gladio Operations does unsurprisingly well to contrast his prior digital-only issue for A-Traction Records. Through glommy, paralytic, salivary sound design, 'Sigma' and its corresponding remix by Larionov mission-state the EP: one pronouncedly unafraid of weight or womp, and yet which still scoops out a mercurial feel akin to a volatile solder metal prior, pre and post-solidification. 'Kontrast' and 'Die Bestie' on the B-side sound like said reflowed solder chucked through a giant techno kaleidoscope, as both tracks move increasingly hypnotic and heavy.

Review: Formed in Edinburgh in the early 90s, Fresh & Low helped define the UK’s take on deep house with a dusty, groove-led sound that bridged warmth and restraint. This reissue digs up a lesser-known 1997 session and restores it with fresh mastering. ‘Sea of Desire’ sets the tone—loose, late-night and dubby, with floating pads and barely-there vocal textures. ‘Espresso’ picks up the pace with more rhythmic bounce and filtered chord work, while the B-side doubles down on mood: ‘Where The Wolves Once Roamed’ and ‘Where The Wolves Return’ feel hypnotic and half-submerged, tapping into that same smoked-out headspace as early Chicago or Prescription. One for fans of deep simplicity done right.

Review: BOOOoo! returns with its fourth V/A, bringing together Ildec, Pagenty, Phase O'Matic, Gogo Gadgeto and label head BOOH for a tightly assembled five-tracker. Steering into the murkier corners of electro but with a light touch, their next comp offers a range of moods without ever dropping to fully into the abyss. From 'Volviento AMT' to 'The System Is The Matrix', each artist contributes a knowing cut, one which leans dark but stays danceable, threading twisted textures and low-slung rhythms without losing sight of playability.

Review: Dr Packer brings an expert touch to Mikki Farrow's 1985 boogie-funk classic 'Dance Lover', baring a remix squaring electro-modernism and disco nostalgia. The little-loved Detroit singer moved to Philly in 1968, and worked as a backing vocalist before scoring her own hit with 'Love Emergency', after romantically partnering with producer Norman Harris. And nowadays known for his bottomless knowledge, the Australian remix master Packer keeps fastidious control over his own synth lines as they're layered like buttercream over Mikki's OG voxes; no more refining needed. The beat is heavier, the basslines deeper and the energy ramped up, adding crisper percussions and a refulgent audio finish.

Review: Mystic Bill (real name William Torres) has been making music in Chicago since the late 1980s, though it's only since the mid 1990s that his records have been appearing in stores. Here he makes his bow on Rawax offshoot ChiWax with a set of cuts loosely inspired by the long-held Windy City trend of fusing elements of jacking house and jazz. He begins in typically forthright fashion on 'Pitmaster Ritual', where jacking acid house drums are overlaid with spacey synth solos and jazzy electronics, before unfurling the chunkier and more locked in, organ-sporting shuffle of 'We Play Jazz'. Over on side B, '4 Paul' is a wholehearted tribute to sadly departed Chicagoan house great Paul Johnson, while 'This Side of the Tracks' is deeper, warmer and altogether weirder in the best possible way.

Review: Swedish multi-instrumentalist Gustav Horneij, best known as OPE, finally lands on Jazzaggression with a new 10" release that showcases his singular approach to spiritual jazz and overdubbed improvisation. It's a new release composed entirely around bamboo flutes, but the instrumentation stretches far beyond i drums, bass, reeds, harp and subtle string textures are all played by Horneij himself, each part layered with a feel for groove and tone that's entirely unforced. Tracks like 'Instant' and 'Picante Beef' hit with warm, rolling basslines and smoky modal phrasing, while 'The Deepest Bowl' moves slower, drawing you in with flickers of flute and ambient space. 'Udon' is a clear standout, combining a floating top line with an earthy, locked-in rhythm section that could loop forever without tiring. Despite the solo setup, nothing feels precious or overcooked i the mood stays loose and tactile, like a small ensemble jamming in real time.

Review: Silent Force Recordings drops a heavy 10" teaser ahead of the much-anticipated The Last Transmission album. This sampler of it features two standout cuts from Pixl and Murder Most Foul, who ramp up the excitement for what's to come. Gritty, atmospheric, and razor-sharp, both tracks tap into the label's signature blend of deep breaks and futuristic dread. The sound designs are pristine and the beats heavy so it's a fine preview of the full-length project due later this year-raw, cinematic drum & bass built for dark rooms and loud systems. Silent Force isn't playing here.

Review: Glispy Records makes a strong vinyl debut with a four-track showcase of Georgia's deepening electronic talent pool. Tbilisi producer Reshio opens with 'Electronic Mind', a high-octane blend of punchy electro and precise sequencing, setting the tone with clinical flair. Toke follows with 'System 32', a rolling groove machine laced with dubby atmospheres and smart modulationiweighty but agile. On the flip, DJ Astrobee injects some swagger into proceedings with the rugged, percussive funk of 'Elvis The Gator', full of low-end heft and filtered bite. Label co-founder Levan Grdzelidze rounds off with '84 Slave', an acidic slow-burner that builds intensity through tightly-wound layers. A confident and well-curated start to the Glispy vinyl era.

Review: In the early 90s, Danny Griffiths, Darius Keeler and Jiten Acharya formed Shikasta before dropping just one release on the now-defunct Swarm Music label. REZ34thirtyfour digs deep into that rare gem and gives it a fresh Rezpektiva polish. The EP features four tracks in all, three of which are from the original record plus a previously unreleased version recovered from DAT tapes. It's a thoughtful, atmospheric journey crafted for the dreamers and the deep thinkers who crave textured, immersive soundscapes. Trance is back and bigger than ever, but you can rarely beat OG get like this.

Review: Electric Ballroom proudly introduces Tommahawk, a rising force from Germany's next generation of peak-progressive house producers. 'Unfolding' lends a heart-in-mouth pre-drop choir motif to an antecedent stab centrepiece, whose vestiges linger long after the refrain tapers off. Label head Thomas Schumacher remixes the track in airier and floatier tones, meanwhile, creating an abiding minimal progressive ballast to contrast the A-side's intense eschatology.

Review: PEIM drops a fierce EP here that, make no mistake, is tailored for loud deployment on the d-floor. Opening with 'Sequence,' it fuses early 2000s tech house and minimal vibes into a peak-time weapon. 'Resonant' deepens the mood with hypnotic loops and trance-like textures that cannot fail to lock you in and on the B-side, 'Wanna' brings a gritty, rebellious energy that's perfect for darker, more mischievous sets. ILDEC's remix flips the script and melts techno and progressive elements into a polished, powerful track that commands your focus. Deep, driving and unapologetically club-ready sounds.

Review: New year, new vibes. Outside In kicks off its 2025 with a lush EP from fine Brazilian producer Villaca. Each of these four tracks tells its own story by weaving rich textures and cooking up moods that pull you in deep. The standout is 'Nineteen,' a powerful collab with Paraguayan artist Wildo that marries proggy, trancey pads with stiff drums and motorik energy. 'Your Eyes' is another mix of trippy vocal effects and roaming bass with starry-eyed pads. 'Surfnet' is a right, turbo-charged and electric prog techno workout and 'Same But Different' brings some celestial energy to a late night and unsettling techno bouncer.

Review: The Guy Ritchie-penned film The Gentlemen centres on Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), an American in London whose luxurious lap founders on the back of a lucrative but prone marijuana empire. As he plans to retire and sell his business, a web of schemes, blackmail, and betrayal unfolds as rivals plot to seize his fortune. British composer Chris Benstead's soundtrack is elusive and sluicing, incorporating Charleston-inciting bass undertows, ticking clocks and finger-clicking inquests, as of a main character's paranoia threatening to make truly manifest.