MusicTech’s favourite music gear of the decade…so far

Audio hardware is having a renaissance this decade. The 2010s were dominated by vapid, redundant ‘analogue vs digital’ debates, an unstoppable avalanche of iOS apps and innovative plugins, and countless new MIDI controllers.

In the 2020s, however — despite the furious noise around artificial intelligence — we’re seeing tactility and analogue circuitry back at the forefront. In the past five years alone, historic brands like Oberheim, Sequential and Moog reprised their leviathan synth roots, Behringer led the charge on affordable analogue hardware, boutique rotary mixers have become the centrepiece of many hi-fi DJ booths, and brands like Warm Audio have put valve mics firmly back on the market.

Still, plugins, apps and DAWs are, expectedly, better than ever; you could decide to never own any hardware instruments, and still drop a Grammy-winning record with the tools available. Hell, with the number of capable smartphone DAWs, you don’t even need a laptop anymore.

MusicTech‘s writers have tested and tweaked hundreds of products already since 2020, and there are plenty of brands and products to celebrate at the decade’s halfway point...

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