￥For much of the past decade a lot of hardware developers, at least the more affordable end of the market, have seemingly been obsessed with recreating the sound of vintage gear. However, after years of 808-alikes and vintage-styled monosynths, things seem to be swinging back toward towards innovation (with the exception of Behringer, of course, who continue their mission to clone every instrument ever released). 2020 so far seems to have been a year of interesting and unique instruments, and even retro-leaning gear like Pol end’s Tracker has put a fresh spin on old ideas.

 

It’s that sense of innovation we’re trying to tap into with this issue’s cover feature; taking the bread-and-butter theme of beat-making and exploring lesser used ideas and unique modern tools.