May's been a busy month. Between major plugin drops, gear announcements, some spicy artist news, and deals that are genuinely hard to ignore — there's a lot to catch up on. Whether you're a bedroom producer, a mixing engineer, or just someone who loves the craft, here's everything worth knowing right now.
🎛️ New Gear Dropping — And It's Getting Interesting
First up — Suonobuono just pushed a major firmware update for the Polyvera, their hybrid wavetable synth and sampler that's been quietly impressing people since its launch. The update adds a bunch of new synthesis features that take it from "cool niche instrument" to "wait, this thing can actually do that?" territory. If you own one, go update it immediately. If you don't — might be worth a second look.
Meanwhile, Bastl Instruments announced the Kalimba — a new desktop instrument that combines physical modelling and FM synthesis. Bastl always does weird things in the best possible way, and this one looks like a genuinely expressive tool for sound design. It's compact, it's strange, and it sounds like nothing else. Expect it to end up in a lot of ambient and experimental setups over the next year.
And for the DAWless crew — 1010music dropped the blackbox 2, the follow-up to their beloved compact sampler. The original blackbox built a serious cult following, and this new version is designed specifically for standalone production, live performance, and portability. More power, same form factor. That's usually a recipe for something good.
🔌 Plugin News: Serum 2, Omnisphere 3, and What Everyone's Talking About
If you've been anywhere near a music production forum in the last few months, you already know — Serum 2 and Omnisphere 3 are both out, and the internet has had a lot of opinions about it.
Serum 2 is basically the same plugin everyone fell in love with, rebuilt from the ground up. New oscillator modes including granular and spectral synthesis, a refreshed interface, and the kind of stability improvements that make you realize how much you were tolerating in the original. For EDM and electronic production, it's still the one. Some producers have been getting genuinely wild results — there are clips floating around of a single Serum 2 preset playing complex arrangements. That's not a flex, that's just showing you how deep it goes now.
Omnisphere 3 got a glowing review from MusicRadar, who called it "one of the most unique, stylish and feature-packed workhorses available." That's not hyperbole — Omnisphere has always been a backbone plugin for composers and producers who need massive, evolving textures that feel genuinely expensive. Version 3 doubles down on that identity. The sound library alone is worth the price of admission for most people.
Arturia also updated Pigments, and the new Spectral Engine is a standout addition. If you haven't touched Pigments in a while, it's worth opening it again — the modulation routing in particular has gotten significantly better. It's one of those plugins that rewards you the more time you put into it.
Universal Audio released the Enigmatic '82 Overdrive Special Amp plugin — a faithful capture of their physical guitar pedal. If you're into amp sims or producing anything with guitar-adjacent tones, UA's hardware-to-software pipeline continues to be best in class.
UJAM is also getting ready to drop Symphonic Elements CHOOIR on May 13th — a choral instrument that's available for preorder now at £130. Worth keeping an eye on if orchestral or cinematic elements are part of your sound.
💸 Plugin Deals You Shouldn't Sleep On
Alright, the part a lot of you actually came for.
Universal Audio is running a Mastering Month Sale — up to $39 for selected UAD plugins, with the sale running through May 25th. If you've been eyeing any of their mastering tools, now is genuinely a good time. UAD plugins are expensive for a reason and they rarely go this low.
UA is also doing a UAD Spark trial for $0.99 for three months — that's access to 60+ pro plugins used by top-tier engineers for basically nothing. Even if you just want to demo some of the classics (SSL, Neve, Studer tape), it's worth a dollar.
UJAM has bundles on sale up to 82% off right now over at Plugin Boutique. Their rhythm-based instruments have a very specific lane — they're not for everyone — but if you produce genres that benefit from structured, groove-focused instruments, that discount is hard to argue with.
AIR Sub Factory is sitting at 50% off ($49), and Plugin Discounts has a running catalogue of 1,300+ plugins from names like Waves, FabFilter, and iZotope with consistent rotating deals. Worth bookmarking if you haven't already.
🎤 Artist & Industry News
On the artist side, Banks is back. She described her upcoming album Off With Her Head as "a big sister to Goddess" — she's reunited with the core musicians and producers behind her debut, which if you know that record, is a very good sign. Banks has always been one of the more sonically deliberate artists in her lane, and a return to that energy with more experience behind her should be something.
Beyond that, 2025 has been a big year for releases across the board — the Billboard and Consequence of Sound release calendars have been filling up fast. The volume of music coming out right now is genuinely staggering, which makes curation more important than ever. If you're a producer trying to keep up with what's sonically influential, it's worth dedicating some time each week to actually listening rather than just reading about it.
⚡ Quick Takes
- Absynth 6 got a new GUI and an AI-powered preset browser. Whether you trust AI to find your sounds is a personal thing, but the update breathes new life into a deeply underrated synth.
- Mixwave Fearn VT7 and the Purafied 5420 tape saturator are getting consistent praise in the audio engineering community. If you're building out your mixing chain, both are worth researching.
- GS Music Bree6 Four Octaves Edition is on the way for producers who want more range from that instrument.
- Rane One MKII dropped at NAMM — an updated take on one of the better DJ controllers out there for producers who perform live.
Wrapping Up
Honestly? It's a great time to be making music. The tools available right now — even at the free or budget end — are better than what most professional studios had ten years ago. Serum 2 and Omnisphere 3 being out simultaneously is genuinely historic for the plugin world. The hardware side is getting creative in ways it hasn't in a while. And the deals are real.
Keep an eye on the UAD sale before May 25th, check the Plugin Boutique UJAM bundles if that's your thing, and if you're sleeping on the Polyvera firmware update — wake up.
We'll be back with more roundups. Stay in the loop, keep making things.
