My Highlights of 2024: The Best Software for Electronic Music Production
My favorite software releases of 2024 including entries from Arturia, FabFilter, Excite Audio, and more!
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The best software for electronic music production · Source: Apple, Arturia, Excite Audio, FabFilter, Roland, Tracktion
When it comes time to actually make some music, here’s what I reach for. These are my 2024 picks for the best software for electronic music production.
Best Software for Electronic Music Production
I may spend all my time writing about hardware synthesizers for Gearnews but in reality, I operate a hybrid studio. I’m just as likely to turn to a vintage synthesizer like my Roland System-100 or a crusty old effects unit like an Alesis QuadraVerb as I am to pull something up in my DAW. For this end of year highlights piece, I thought I’d take advantage of the opportunity to write about software and shine a light on some of the plugins that I’ve been digging in 2024.
Just one thing: I do electronic music. I always have. I’m mostly ambient-focused these days but I have in my time released breaks, techno, drum and bass, dubstep, and even Krautrock-inspired stuff. So my choices here are a reflection of the kind of music I make. I don’t record with mics. I don’t play guitar. That being said, you don’t have to be a raver to dig all of the plugs here – but it will help explain some of my choices.
Here then are my choices for the best software for electronic music production for 2024.
The Best Software for Electronic Music Production: Excite Audio Bloom Drum Breaks
I’ve always been about breaks. My first musical love was hip-hop in the ‘80s. Meat Beat Manifesto blew my mind when they paired breaks with industrial noise. Hardcore rave was the next logical step, then onto jungle. I even released nu-skool breaks records in the 2000s (remember that genre?). So Bloom Drum Breaks from Excite Audio is pretty much the perfect plugin for me.
Part of the Bloom series (which also includes the most recent Bloom Drum Machine), Bloom Drum Breaks is a break-generating sample player that lets you get granular with editing not only the breaks but the individual sounds themselves. It’s easy to whip up extremely useful bespoke breaks, with applications including everything from groovy toppers to complete choppage mayhem. The only thing I wish it had was more samples. Hopefully Excite will start making expansion packs available.
- Excite Audio Bloom Drum Breaks product page
The Best Software for Electronic Music Production: Tracktion BioTek 3
Although I do make beat-oriented tracks, my bread-and-butter is ambient. I started in my bedroom making noise with cassettes and pedals as a teen and that’s still pretty much the way I do things, only with slightly more sophisticated equipment now. So imagine my joy when I discovered BioTek 3 from Tracktion.
I included the synth plugin in my recent story on envelope-pushing soft synths so I won’t get too into it here but BioTek 3 is essentially a sound-design-forward soft synth practically ready-made for ambient thanks to its layers of professionally recorded field recordings.
Best yet, BioTek 3 feels personal. A lot of Tracktion’s synths feel like that. You get the sense that it was made by a person, not a corporation. The person in this case is Wolfram Franke, who’s behind some pretty amazing instruments, including a number from Waldorf.
If you do ambient or sound design or anything atmospheric, really, you should check out Biotek 3.
- Tracktion BioTek 3 product page
The Best Software for Electronic Music Production: Roland Cloud RE-201 Space Echo
As Stefan mentioned in his article on its release, Roland was a little late in getting an official emulation of its classic RE-201 Space Echo out. But good things, as they say, are worth waiting for.
The Roland Cloud version of the RE-201 Space Echo has quickly become my favorite Space Echo emulation, beating out entries from Universal Audio, Arturia, and AudioThing. They all sound great but where Roland’s beats them is in the preamp circuit. The RE-201 is rightly famous for its tape echoes but it’s also known for its tone. Lots of producers and engineers will use it just for the preamp color. And that’s what Roland’s version does right, at least to my ears.
I like it so much, I hardly ever use my hardware RE-301 now. Well, not hardly ever.
- Roland Cloud RE-201 Space Echo product page
The Best Software for Electronic Music Production: Arturia Synthx V
This year, Arturia released an emulation of the classic Elka Synthex. I talked about the original in my story on the history of Italian synthesizers, but this 1981 eight-voice polysynth is famous for its sound – which interestingly used DCOs before they became popular.
Arturia did a fantastic job on the emulation but what I really love the Synthx V for is its arpeggio section. More than just your basic arpeggiator, the Multi-Arp gives you four arp sections each capable of controlling the two layers separately – so it’s really like eight arps. You also get control over the rhythm rate and length plus note gate. It’s incredible for whipping up techno and electro-style arps and other melodic weirdness.
- Arturia Synthx V product page
The Best Software for Electronic Music Production: FabFilter Pro-Q 4
My last pick for the year is Pro-Q 4 from FabFilter. When I first got Pro-Q 2, I was amazed at the difference it made compared to the stock Logic EQ. With just one or two you might not hear it but used across a song, with an instance on every track and bus, it adds up. I didn’t bother with the third version of the EQ plugin but when number four came out recently I figured it was finally time to upgrade. I’m so glad I did.
I love dynamic EQ. I know this feature arrived in version three but having adjustable attack and release makes it into basically a compressor. And then there’s the instance list. Being able to see all instances of Pro-Q in one place makes mixing so much easier. Game changer.
- FabFilter Pro-Q 4 product page
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