The following releases delightfully disrupted, seismically shook-up and all-round innovated our world in 2023
Creating a product that’s genuinely innovative isn’t always easy. As consumers we all get so used to familiar norms – the feel of a weighted keyboard, the architecture of a synthesiser and the conventions of mixing a track – that anything that goes against the grain can be met with suspicious eyes. That said, everything that we now consider central to music production once took its own teetering first steps into an uncertain world. Across all the preceding categories, you’ll have noticed more than a few products this year have done things slightly differently (Modalics’ Beat Scholar, Baby Audio’s Transit and Sonic Charge Synplant 2 to name but three), but now it’s time to doff our cap to the truly forward-thinking.
While we’re largely keeping a software angle, we can’t not mention the superb CMPSR from Digit Music. Merging a gamified, joystick-centric interface, this hardware controller enables those with limited accessibility a route into expressive music-making with MIDI. It’s a highly configurable beast, able to trigger chords, explore the depths of MPE-capable instruments and even take out onto the stage as a live instrument in its own right.
We spoke to the team behind it earlier this year, and gleaned some insight into why CMPSR was developed: “We set the company up as disability confident and so I think we both feel that there’s a need for diversification in music and the wider creative industry. That starts by giving people a tool they can actually be creative with.”
Back into the box now, and one of our favourite forward-thinkers, Slate and Ash, came up with the absorbing Choreographs which we enjoyed delving into at the start of the year. This divine texture and movement generator came into its own as the sound design tool we didn’t realise we needed. Built around conventional subtractive synthesis coupled with deep modulation, its contemporary and minimalist interface invited sonic exploration.
“Choreographs is incredibly impressive,” we said, “inviting experimentation and learning to really get to grips with its depth, although it’s usable on very basic or advanced levels. The payoff will be a very unique sound which is incredibly formidable and will have you returning on a regular basis.”
Elsewhere, Void and Vista’s Strands similarly offered up a flavoursome platter of sounds, harboured within an ultra-modern interface and a revised route to achieving movement and depth within a mix. Aimed at those who make music with the big screen in mind, its sampled sound sources leaned into quirkier lanes, taking in both acoustic and electronic sources, spanning bows, cymbals, broken tape and noise. As we put it in our review, “Armed with a host of significant control and editing capabilities, Strands is very much
