Best New Gear of the Year: 2014 Edition

2014 was an active year for audio. From boutique modeling plugins to re-imaginations of the mixing console, intriguing designs aimed at niche markets seemed to be the norm. Join us as we look back at some of the most memorable audio equipment announced this year, and nominate your favorites in the comments section below!

Plugins and Bundles

UAD’s Neve in a box, now available “in-the-box.”

If we could give an award for most prolific purveyor or plugins for 2014, there would be a clear hands-down winner. This year, it seems like we had the opportunity to run a news alert on a new plugin release from Universal Audio almost every week.

Hot on the heels of the latest versions of their Apollo series of interfaces, UA launched the Analog Classics Bundles, the Neve 1073 Preamp & EQ Plug-In Collection, and a whole slew of one-off plugin versions of prestigious and high-end hardware devices, including the Thermionic Culture Vulture, Tonelux Tilt EQ, Valley People Dyna-mite, Dangerous BAX EQ, 610 Tube Preamp & EQ, AMS RMX16 Reverb, Softube Summit Audio TLA-100A, Chandler Limited Guitar Amp Plugin, and unforgettably, the Manley Massive Passive and Vari-Mu.

That may be a tough act to follow, but UA is far from the only game in town. iZotope has grown incredibly in recent years by rejecting the model of simply modeling vintage hardware. Their new and inventive releases of the RX 4 noise reduction tools, Ozone 6 mastering suite and the sample-based synthesizer, Iris 2, have been earning continued accolades for their forward-looking approach to audio software.

Other major developers have also lunched highly-rated bundles of their own this year. After debuting the full version of the MicroShift Plugin, Vermont-based boutique plugin developer SoundToys finally made all of their plugins available in one bunch through the release of Soundtoys 5 – all 12 of their plugIns together in a single effects rack. Meanwhile, Slate Digital launched a modular plugin system of it’s own: the Virtual Mix Rack.

In 2014 companies like SoundToys, Slate and UAD have been putting together new bundles and packages of some of their best tools.

For its part, SSL continued its busy year by announcing three New Duende Plugins—X-Saturator, X-ValveComp, X-Phase—before releasing  AAX Versions of all Duende Native Plugins.

The power unlocked by iZotope RX4 would have seemed like an unlikely pipe dream even 5 or 10 years ago.

Other worthy mentions include the Eventide UltraReverb Plug-In, featuring 9 Reverbs from the H8000, the PSP Audioware MasterComp V1.8.0, FabFilter Pro-Q 2 Equalizer Filter Plug-In, Waves/Abbey Road Reel ADT Artificial Double Tracking Plugin, AVID’s Space and Eleven Rack, McDSP’s Rack Extension EQ Collection for Reason, and IK Multimedia’s take on Neve EQs – the EQ73 and EQ81.

In 2015, so many of the kinds of plugins so many of us hoped would one day exist have finally arrived. Where do we go from here?

Consoles and Controllers

SSL enters the compact live sound market with the L3000 and scales things down for the studio with the digitally controlled analog XL-Desk.

2014 saw the release of a surprising number of major consoles from major manufacturers. SSL released both the compact digital Live L300 console and the mid-sized analog XL-Desk.

Studer, another high-end brand long known for its advanced analog designs announced two consoles as well, both digital: The Vista X console and Vista V.

AMS Neve launched the Genesys Black, a digitally controlled analog console, and Rupert Neve designs added digital recall to its analog line with the SwiftMix motorized fader automation for 5088 consoles.

At a more accessible price point, Roland announced its M-5000 live console, while Allen & Heath introduced the Qu-32 Mixer as well as a wireless personal monitoring control system for its Qu Compact mixers.

AMS Neve aims to provide the best of both worlds with Genesys Black.

On the control surface front, Avid updated the S3L Live System with new performance enhancements while Slate Announced RAVEN 2.0. 

DAWs

A few major updates to DAWs came our way in 2015. In addition to Avid’s update of Sibelius, Propellerhead announced Reason 8 and Steinberg released Cubase 8 toward the end of the year.

Hardware

One Dangerous Compressor.

Fans of rock-solid hardware units had a few treats in 2014 as well. D.W. Fearn launched a four channel version of its classic tube mic pre designs, the VT-24. Drawmer introduced the 1973 Three-Band FET Stereo Compressor, and Dangerous Music debuted the intentionally over-designed “Dangerous Compressor”, one smooth and very powerful squeezebox.

For audio nerds who find creative ways to reappropriate guitar pedals, this year brought the Death By Audio Reverberation Machine and the La-2A in stomp box form, the Retrospec Squeeze Box.

Bock takes on the classic U47 design.

Microphones
As for microphones, two standout designs from small companies would have to include the very modern Ronin Applied Sciences Dove, and the Bock Audio 407, a faithful, spare-no expense recreation of the original tube Neumann U47.

Of course, Neumann is alive and kicking as always with its own recreation of the later FET U47, and Audio Technica has released a forward-looking and affordable high-end design in the AT-5045.

Speakers and Headphones

For maximum-quality personal listening, Brooklyn-based Grado labs has released its 3rd generation e-Series of headphones. Meanwhile, longtime microphone maker Blue has gotten into the high-end headphone game at a slightly lower price point with the Blue Mo-Fi powered headphones.

Blue Mo-Fi headphones.

On the other end of the spectrum, 2014 saw the release of the JBL LSR 705 and LSR 708, which arguable represents a ground up reinvention fo the studio monitor for this company, aimed squarely at the post-production field.

Tell us about your favorite releases of the year in the comments below!

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