MusicRadar

With the global economic downturn affecting pretty much every business on the planet, it’s probably safe to say that music technology developers and manufacturers have had a pretty tough year. God bless them, then, for still managing to give us such an impressive range of new products, the best of which we’re celebrating here.

Our awards are based both on the reviews from our sister magazines - Computer Music and Future Music – and our own experiences. Kicking things off, 2009’s best control surface.

It was a straight fight between the two first ‘official’ Ableton Live controllers here: Akai’s APC40 and Novation’s Launchpad. Though each is designed for a slightly different type of user, both do their jobs superbly, but in the end, the Launchpad’s fun factor and affordability won the day. It certainly owes a debt to the monome, but in the value-for-money stakes, you just can’t beat it.

Read Novation Launchpad review