Marcus Feld

Senior Reviews Editor

Marcus has been testing synths, plugins and DAWs for over fifteen years, with a stubborn weakness for modular and anything that abuses an envelope. He leads Dubspot’s reviews desk and owns the Dubspot Score methodology.

PluginsSynthsDAWsReviews

Latest from Marcus

d16 Group PunchBox 2 kick drum design plugin interface
Sound Design

d16 PunchBox 2 Adds a Wavetable Engine for Kick Design

d16 PunchBox 2 adds a wavetable engine, four sound generators, and 1,100+ presets to the kick-design plugin, launching at €79. Here's what changed.

Marcus FeldJun 28, 20263 min read
Excite Audio Evolve Dark Matter sample-based synthesizer plugin interface
Software

Evolve Dark Matter: A Quad-Engine Synth for Dark D&B

Excite Audio Evolve Dark Matter is a quad-engine sample synth for dark drum and bass and atmospheric techno, with XY morphing and 250 sound sources.

Marcus FeldJun 27, 20264 min read
Akai MPC 3.9 oscillator synth engine update on a standalone MPC
Production

Akai MPC 3.9: The Update That Turns Your MPC Into a Synth

Akai MPC 3.9 adds a built-in oscillator synth engine, hybrid keygroups, new Arrange tools, and flexible time signatures. Here's what's new and if it matters.

Marcus FeldJun 23, 20263 min read
Bitwig Studio 6.1 rebuilt Sampler device interface
Software

Inside Bitwig Studio 6.1: Spectral & Fragments Sampler

Bitwig Studio 6.1 rebuilds the native Sampler with Spectral time-stretch and Fragments granular modes, plus auto tempo and pitch detection and slicing.

Marcus FeldJun 22, 20262 min read
GForce Sequential Prophet-5 software synthesizer plugin interface
Software

GForce Prophet-5: The First Official Sequential Plugin

GForce and Sequential ship the first officially licensed Prophet-5 plugin. We cover the features, the Rev1/2/3 models, price, and whether it's worth it.

Marcus FeldJun 20, 20263 min read
Universal Audio UAD Topline Vocal Tune pitch-correction plugin interface
Mixing & Mastering

UAD Topline Vocal Tune: Native Real-Time Pitch Correction

UAD Topline Vocal Tune is a native pitch-correction plugin with ultra-low-latency monitoring, Shift mode, MIDI repitching, and a key finder. $99, $79 intro.

Marcus FeldJun 18, 20263 min read
Best DAWs for Beginners — Free and Paid Picks for 2026
Software

Best DAWs for Beginners in 2026: Free and Paid Picks Compared

The best DAWs for beginners in 2026, from free picks like GarageBand, BandLab Studio, and Cakewalk Sonar to paid options like Ableton Live Intro, FL Studio, and Logic Pro.

Marcus FeldJun 12, 20267 min read
The Best Free Synth VSTs in 2026 — That Actually Compete With Paid
Sound Design

The Best Free Synth VSTs in 2026 (That Actually Compete With Paid)

The best free synth VSTs of 2026, tested honestly: Vital, Surge XT, Dexed, OB-Xd, Odin 2, and Tunefish. Synthesis types, CPU load, sound, and real limits.

Marcus FeldJun 12, 20268 min read
The Best Free VST Plugins in 2026 — Synths, Effects, and Instruments
Software

The Best Free VST Plugins in 2026: Synths, Effects, and Instruments Worth Installing

The best free VST plugins of 2026, ranked with honest pros and cons. Vital, Surge XT, Valhalla Supermassive, TDR Nova, Spitfire LABS, and more.

Marcus FeldJun 12, 20268 min read
The Best Reverb Plugins in 2026 — Free and Paid Picks for Every Mix
Mixing & Mastering

The Best Reverb Plugins in 2026: Free and Paid Picks for Every Mix

The best reverb plugins of 2026, free and paid. We compare Valhalla VintageVerb, FabFilter Pro-R 2, Eventide, free Supermassive, and more by use case.

Marcus FeldJun 12, 20267 min read
Stable Audio 3 from Stability AI showing the open-weight generative audio model family for music and sound effects
Software

Stable Audio 3 Is Stability AI's Most Useful Audio Release Yet — With One Big Caveat

Stable Audio 3 brings open-weight music generation, six-minute tracks, ComfyUI integration, and on-device inference. The trade-off: no vocals, no lyrics.

Marcus FeldMay 26, 20268 min read
Suno v5.5 Custom Models interface for training a personalized AI music model on your own catalog
Software

Suno Custom Models Review: Tuning AI to Your Own Sound — and the Questions It Leaves Open

Suno's v5.5 Custom Models let Pro and Premier users train the AI on their own catalog. We test what works, what doesn't, and the copyright questions Suno hasn't answered yet.

Marcus FeldMay 26, 20269 min read
u-he Zebra 3 software synthesizer interface showing the adaptive modular routing
Software

u-he Zebra 3 Review: A Ground-Up Rebuild, Spline Oscillators, and an Adaptive Modular Interface

u-he released Zebra 3 on April 20, 2026 for €249. The cult-favorite synth has been rebuilt from scratch with spline-based wavetables, additive synthesis up to 1,024 partials, and an adaptive modular interface.

Marcus FeldMay 19, 20265 min read
Native Instruments Komplete 26 product collage showing Absynth 6, Kontakt 8, and the included instruments
Software

Komplete 26 Review: Is the Absynth 6 Return Enough to Justify the Upgrade?

Komplete 26 ships with Absynth 6 back in the box, plus iZotope Elements bundles and a Fazioli grand. The headline is real — the rest of the upgrade is murkier.

Marcus FeldMay 5, 20265 min read
Bitwig Studio 6 — full GUI screenshot of the modular DAW from Bitwig GmbH
Software

Bitwig Studio 6 Review: Clip Aliases, Project Key Signature, and a Major Automation Overhaul

Bitwig Studio 6 brings clip aliases, automation clips, project-wide key signature, Spray Can, and layered editing to the modular DAW. Out April 2, 2026.

Marcus FeldApr 28, 20265 min read
Kiive Audio VX-Q plugin interface showing four-band EQ and saturation controls
Software

Kiive Audio VX-Q Review: British EQ Meets Creative Saturation

Kiive Audio's VX-Q combines rare British EQ character with five saturation modes for creative tone-shaping. Here's our hands-on review.

Marcus FeldDec 12, 20257 min read
Universal Audio Paradise Guitar Studio interface showing the Enigmatic '82 amp model with cabinet and effects rack
Software

Universal Audio Paradise Guitar Studio: The End of the Hardware Requirement

UA's Paradise Guitar Studio brings Golden Unit amp modeling to native plugins. We analyze the Dumble, Showman, and Plexi emulations that make this a studio essential.

Marcus FeldDec 1, 20259 min read
Valhalla FutureVerb plugin interface showing dual-engine reverb and echo controls
Software

Valhalla FutureVerb Review: Eight Years in the Making

After 8 years of development, Valhalla DSP's FutureVerb delivers pristine reverbs and granular delays in one powerful $50 plugin. We explore its dual-engine design and why it's becoming essential for producers.

Marcus FeldNov 13, 20256 min read
Omnisphere 3 software synthesizer interface by Spectrasonics
Software

Omnisphere 3 Review: A Decade Later, Still the Synth to Beat

Omnisphere 3 review: 26,000+ patches, a standalone 93-effect rack, Quadzone, full MPE, same 64GB. We tested it and break down who should pay the $199 upgrade.

Marcus FeldOct 23, 202516 min read
Xfer Records Serum 2 wavetable synthesizer interface
Production

Serum 2 Review: Xfer's Hybrid Synth, One Year On

An honest Serum 2 review: what's new vs the original Serum, the $249 price, the free upgrade for v1 owners, system requirements, and who should bother.

Marcus FeldMar 20, 202511 min read