Welcome to FutureMusic’s Gear Of The Year 2022. Here you’ll find our choices for the best gear of 2022 in several categories. There were a lot of compelling products that debuted this past year, so congrats to the developers and manufacturers who came out on top!
GEAR OF THE YEAR 2022
BEST SOFTWARE
Native Instruments Playbox
This ground-breaking, sample-based Kontakt instrument from Native Instruments blew us away and earned our coveted Diamond Award. Just amazing. Mic drop.
HARDWARE SYNTH UNDER $500
1010Music Nanobox Lemondrop
1010Music’s Lemondrop employs granular synthesis and features four voice polyphony, two granulators and an oscillator – all packed into an impossibly small size. Our evaluators raved about the diminutive synth in our 1010Music Lemondrop review, which scored a Power Award.
BEST GUITAR PEDAL
Meris LVX
The Meris LVX came out of our long-term review with flying colors and left our staffers in awe of what Angelo Mazzocco, Terry Burton and Jinna Kim were able to accomplish. The LVX sounds absolutely amazing with true independent stereo processing, 24-bit AD/DA w/32 bit floating point DSP and the latest ARM processor. With true stereo and MIDI I/O, sophisticated guitarists, as well as synthesists will find a lot to love about the LVX.
BEST DRUM MACHINE
Erica Synth Pērkons HD-01
Erica Synths always brings something new to the table whenever they take on a new project and with the Pērkons HD-01, they changed the game for drum machines. The Pērkons HD-01 may have only four voices, but what you can do with those voices is nothing short of amazing. It can deliver a banging techno, and tribal warfare, but also soft ambient vibes. Each voice can be routed to its own effects source, allowing anyone who has invested in a nice guitar pedal collection to have a literal field day. Just too much fun.
BEST EURORACK
Making Sound Machines Stolperbeats
Don’t know where to even begin with this one, but this could be the perfect example of why Eurorack is so compelling. Making Sound Machines says that Stolperbeats translates to “beats tripping over themselves,” but that still doesn’t describe what this drum trigger sequencer is capable of. Designed to create shuffled beats based on Old School Hiphop, it somehow does things to drums that go far beyond the typical chitter-chatter of glitch Eurorack beats for something that’s more liquid, yet still cerebral.
PODCASTING
RØDE RØDECASTER PRO II
The best all-in-one podcasting solution just got a whole lot better. We’re nearing the end of our long-term test of the PRO II and all we can say is – “wow.” The PRO II could have taken the best hardware update from Chase Bliss in the category below, but with no real competitors in this category, RØDE Rules!
BEST HARDWARE UPDATE
Chase Bliss Generation Loss mkII
There were quite a few hardware updates in 2022, but we think Chase Bliss really nailed the revamp to their Generation Loss effects pedal. While many manufacturers offer some sort of LoFi effects, nothing out there really compares to the quality of results you can achieve with the GenLoss.
HARDWARE SYNTH OVER $500
ASM HydraSynth Deluxe
Sure, we could have gone with the Sequential OB-X8. Certainly a monster. But who can really afford a $5000 synth? ASM’s HydraSynth Deluxe packs quite a punch and comes in at a much more reasonable $1800 price point. With dual sound engines, the Deluxe offers 16 note polyphony and PolyTouch, allowing both On/Off velocity and aftertouch as well as full polyphonic aftertouch. Aside from the Pitch Bend and Modulation Wheels, the Deluxe can add even more expression to any patch with the 4-octave Ribbon Controller above the keyboard. The Ribbon Controller is freely assignable as a source in the Mod Matrix, but it can also be used in Theremin Mode where it will send both trigger and pitch. It could take days to describe the feature set of the Deluxe, so if you want the full-breadth of the synth, hit the link below.
App
SonicPlanet StarWaves
Dr. Sinan Bökesoy, of SonicLAB fame, recently released a new music composition / sound design paradigm for iOS and MacOS under the SonicPlanet umbrella called StarWaves. It is absolutely mind-bending and showcases Bökesoy’s unique imagination when it comes to pushing experimental music software into the future. StarWaves is a granular sample player with an audio visual interface like no other. It allows you to manipulate two key elements, an Emitter and a Platform Block in a 3D space. The Emitters, which look like orbiting satellites, spray either beams or balls. The Platform Blocks are visual representations of samples. In the simplest of terms, when the balls or beams contact the blocks, they trigger a sound. However, that’s only the tip of the iceberg – read our StarWaves review to learn more!
BLUETOOTH PLAYER
JBL CLIP 4
You know what you want in a Bluetooth player? Portability, great sound, long battery life and an IP67 rating when the water guns come out. What you don’t want? Having to hire a forklift to take your favorite bangers to the beach. While there are certainly other portable music players that have better sound, none can clip to your backpack and seamlessly provide the soundtrack to your life.
BEST MIXER OVER $1000
Solid State Logic Big Six
If you ever wanted a famed SSL in your bedroom, the Big Six could be your answer. Even at $3600, it still has some limitations, but it still delivers 18-inputs (four stereo pairs + four mono inputs) with 4 SuperAnalogue Preamp Channels with Per-channel Compressors, Per-channel Three-band EQ, Nine Long-throw Faders, 18 Summing Channels, G Bus Compressor, Talkback with LMC, and 16-in/16-out USB-C Audio Interface.
BEST MIXER UNDER $1000
Mackie Onyx24
When the going gets tough, the tough get Mackie. Packed to the gills with features, great sound and built-in effects, all in a very compact footprint for a 24-channeler, the new Mackie Onyx24 easy goes from studio to live rig without breaking a sweat. We especially loved be able to record directly to SD Card for capturing live shows, social media segments and spontaneous inspiration when twiddling knobs on analog gear. Wait. We don’t twiddle knobs. Nope. Not us. Never twiddle do we. Never have, never will…
BEST NEWCOMER
Modalics
Modalics dropped their rhythmic playground, Beat Scholar, in 2022 and we’ll never look at pizza the same way again. Just when you think the drum machine paradigm can’t take another step forward, along comes Modalics to create a way of creating sub subdivisions that make complete visual sense, allowing you to create dynamic, intricate rhythms in just a few clicks. Can’t wait to see what they come up with next!
