Ins & outs

PLAY YOUR CARD RIGHT It’s probably never going to be a ‘serious’ music-making platform, but Nintendo Labo w was used to great effect recently as Jimmy Fallon and Ariana Grande performed a version of Grande’s hit NoTearsLeftToCry, using only Labo-created instruments.

SUPERBOOTH SOFTWARE We went to Superbooth 2018 expecting to see plenty of great hardware, but it was a pleasant surprise to find lots of new music software there, too. It looks like the show is here to stay, and we’re very much looking forward to next year.

PLAY YOUR CARD RIGHT, PART 2 You might think that you’ve got a cool business card, but we’re telling you now that it’s not as good as Tim Alex Jacobs’, who’s created one that, as well as providing his deets, also serves as a Stylophonestyle synth. Beat that.

SWIFT RESPONSE Artists always hope to do covers justice, but co-writer Allee Willis wasn’t convinced by Taylor Swift’s recent Earth, Wind & Fire September reworking. “It was as lethargic as a drunk turtle dozing under a sunflower after ingesting a bottle of Valium,” she reportedly said.

A SORRY CHAPTER More bad news for Gibson: the company was forced to apply for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, with debts thought to be up to $500 million. They offloaded Cakewalk to Bandlab earlier this year, but still owns the likes of Stanton and KRK Systems.

MORE MONEY THAN SSENSE? Making music can feel like torture if it’s not going well, but we’re unsure about SSENSE’s ‘leather cage’ headphones, with “D-ring hardware at the face” and “post-stud” fastenings. It’s not just the $6450 price that’s making us wince.