The Chemical Brothers are auctioning off one of the touring Roland Boutique TB-03 bassline synths as part of a fundraiser for the #ILoveLive campaign, aimed to raise money for backline staff and stage crew during the pandemic. Simply donate £5 to get one prize draw entry, £10 for two and so on. 

Roland Cloud, the manufacturer's suite of software instruments, has announced the Techno Suite, an extensive set of 220 presets and grooves which the company says "encapsulate the history" of techno from its late '80s roots to current trends in the genre.

The suite of samples has been developed by sound designer Francis Preve and "sample wizard" Jim Stout, and takes in sounds from some of Roland's most iconic products, such as the TB-303, TR-808, TR-909, SH-101, JUNO-106 and JUPITER-8. 

Roland have added the TB-303 – the classic sound of the 'acid' bassline – to their subscription service Roland Cloud. The virtual re-creation of the famous synth features the same layout and interface of the hardware version, using Roland's ACB (analogue circuit behaviour) technology to generate the sounds, similar to the plugin versions of the Juno-106, Jupiter-8 and others from their Legendary Series. 

Software engineer Vincent Jackson launched his iO-808 to mark 808 day on August 8, which is the most accurate browser-based replica of Roland’s classic drum machine yet.

Jackson has paid close attention to detail on the iO-808, ensuring that everything down to the typeface is authentic, whilst all the pads, instrument select and tone dials are where you would expect.

When it dropped last year, the Korg Volca Bass synthesiser caused quite a stir among producers. Styled like a miniature TB–303 the Volca is a powerful polyphonic analog synth and loop sequencer. It may be compact, but the Volca packs a solid punch, as you can hear on the video below.