It’s often said that the best way to figure out where we’re going is to look back at where we’ve been. Across 2023 we strove to cover as many of the thousands of new releases across software music production as possible. While some of our highlights stuck to more traditional concepts, or emulated historical legends, others wrote new rules and re-stimulated the way we thought about making sounds, developing creative ideas and more. This issue we’re making the time to both evaluate the year’s key developments across the major product categories and pay particular homage to the releases that we think made the biggest impact – and might just signpost the future of music production.
Unlike typical features of this kind, we’ve decided to not hand out our ‘Winner’ prizes to just one singular product, but instead afford accolades to around six or seven excellent new additions to our hard drives. When it comes down to it, music-making shouldn’t be about winners and losers. There’s little that can do everything, and its often combinations of instruments, effects and mixing tools that can yield the most rewarding results. That being said, we’re not shy about heaping praise upon some of the very deserving spotlight products. Head to page 14 to begin.
Also this issue, we take a plunge into Linux, and explore why it could be a perfect alternative to the more mainstream music-making ecosystems in 2024. We speak to the sublime SILK, who shares his experience of social media audiencebuilding, and the mental health impacts of creating content vs making art. Don’t forget to grab your copy of Beatskillz Chorust and this month’s free samples. Enjoy!