Top Studio Gear of 2025: Inspiring Music Production Hardware

You probably know you don’t need high-end gear to make music. But let’s be real — some hardware can inspire your creativity in a way software sometimes can’t. It might be a mind-bending synth, a slick new controller or a reimagined classic. And, rest assured, 2025 has seen a ton of new, exciting products that are sure to get you inspired.

Maybe you’re on the lookout for a piece of kit to make your studio a little more interesting this year; a new MIDI controller, a powerful audio interface or even just a unique synth.

MusicTech’s reviewers have spent the year getting hands-on with the freshest hardware out there — here’s the gear that’s made a lasting impression, and that we think you should check out.

READ MORE: MusicTech’s favourite plugins of 2025 

Warm Audio wins again with the WA-87 jr and jr SE

My favourite product is actually two products, but since I reviewed them simultaneously, I reckon it counts!

Warm Audio’s WA-87 jr and WA-87 jr SE are essentially two versions of the same microphone, with one featuring three polar patterns, a 70hz HPF and 10dB pad, while the other is a simple cardioid design with no filters.

What makes these mics so special is that you get the classic 87-style character at a fraction of the price of Warm Audio’s full-sized WA-87 R2, or indeed a genuine U 87. Both feature a vintage-correct K87-style capsule, which delivers much of the legendary 87 sound but without the transformer, which saves you hundreds of pounds. A true audio bargain.

In my review, I said: “For the price, the WA-87jr is superb and would be an excellent choice for anyone requiring one decent mic to record anything and everything. And if you only need a cardioid design and can live without the high-pass, pad and shock-mount, the SE is practically a gift.”

— John Pickford

Bitwig Connect 4/12 is a dream for modular synthesists

Bitwig’s inaugural hardware release, the Connect 4/12, is beautifully built, looks smart, and is perfectly tailored to its task: getting audio, CV and gate signals into and out from your computer.

It provides a blend of standard jack and mini-jack connectors (the latter located on the top of the unit for easy patching), all of which are DC-coupled and so can serve as audio or CV/gate connectors. Other audio interfaces can handle CV/gate, of course, but none do it quite so seamlessly and elegantly as Connect 4/12. Moreover, with many DAWs only able to connect to one interface at a time, having one box that’s perfect for both audio and CV/gate is a godsend.

Connect 4/12 removes all of the complications involved in interfacing a modular synth rig with a DAW, and in doing so, opens up whole new creative avenues to explore.

“The company’s understanding of what [its users] want, and how they work, is second to none, and is on full display here,” I said in my review. “Connect 4/12 is a strong, confident, good-looking and perfectly executed first foray into the hardware world by Bitwig.”

— Adam Crute

Novation Launch Control XL Mk3: a superb all-in-one MIDI controller

For an eminently sensible £190, Novation’s third-generation LaunchControl is a pretty awesome all-in-one controller that works with your software and hardware instruments, powering and sending data over a single USB cable. It also has a MIDI Thru port for combining signal flows between devices, and of course comes with maps for most leading DAWs.
Its flexibility makes it ideally suited to the ever-increasing number of musicians who are combining different types of gear in their live rigs. As I noted in my review, “by building custom maps, you can assign different controls to different connected devices, effectively working with multiple synths from a single control surface patch. Throw in the ability to stream MIDI through or back to a computer, and this makes it a remarkably powerful controller that can communicate with software and hardware from a single setup.”

Though most tightly tied to Ableton Live, you can use templates for many other DAWs and devices and build your own, with the Components system even working in a browser via your account, so you can customise the device anywhere. For knob tweakers, there are a ton of encoders, buttons and faders, but they’re well thought-out so you don’t get lost. Best of all, it fits easily in a backpack! For both your studio and your live setup, you’ll find almost everything you need in this box.

— Hollin Jones

The hype is real for Telepathic Instruments’ Orchid

This diminutive debut instrument from Telepathic Instruments began as a pipe dream for Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, who had long fantasised about building a chord-generating songwriting tool.

The fruit of that dream is every bit as impressive as I hoped it would be; an ‘ideas machine’ in every sense, this compact and sleek instrument features a keyboard and array of chord voicing buttons for instant chord generation, alongside a looper, onboard effects and more.

• READ MORE: “I’m doing it for something bigger than me”: Telepathic Instruments’ Orchid is Kevin Parker’s dream synth — he hopes it’ll be yours, too

In no time, I was creating music I actually liked. One might describe the whole package as style over substance, I concluded— if there wasn’t so much substance.

“Playful enough to encourage exploration but sleek enough to command respect; Parker has had hits before, but this might be a very different kind,” I said in my review.

— Vincent Joseph

Saying goodbye to the Focal Lensys Pro was tough

Some products are easier than others to return to a brand once we’ve reviewed them. Of all the gear I’ve reviewed for MusicTech, the Focal Lensys Pro were the hardest to give back. After using them for several months and largely ignoring my other headphones, I’d fallen for their exceptional comfort, their striking look and, of course, their exciting sound.

Focal paired its expertise in hi-fi and studio monitoring in the Lensys Pro, resulting in a pair of headphones that make even your demos sound inspiring, but still somehow show you where to apply some EQ and level balancing.  Sadly, they’re not immediately affordable at $650, but it’s been tough to return to my less-accomplished pairs of headphones ever since.

And, as noted in my review, they can compete with headphones in a higher price bracket, thanks to their “magnificent sound, M-shaped drivers and supreme comfort.”

– Sam Willings

Want more gear-buying advice? Check out our buyer’s guides.

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