Audio Companies
This is a list of gear companies sorted and categorized by how my experience with them has been.
Take my money companies
“Oh, you have a new product? Ok, I bought it now tell me what it is and tell me why it’s going to make me happy this time.” These companies are above Top Tier and created a new class for themselves.
- Fractal Audio
- Townsend Labs (It looks like UAD merger has taken this down a notch unfortunately)
- FabFilter
Top Tier Companies
If you’re thinking about one of these companies, there is only one question. Can you afford it. If yes - just buy it. Don’t waste time looking for alternatives. There aren’t any. (Unless you really can’t afford it and are willing to compromise a lot).
- Universal Audio (UAD)
- Genelec
Happy, No complaints
These all work as advertised with no bullshit. They do what they say they do, and I haven’t seen anything shady from any of them. In some cases there are better options, but you get what you buy with no regrets.
- Native Instruments
- RME
- Melda Productions
- iZotope (Not quite as nice now after the Native Instruments merger, but still fine)
- BitWig
- Plugin Alliance
- Arturia
- Tokyo Dawn
Shitlist companies
If there is NO other option and I need the functionality, and nobody else makes it, then I’ll still agonize and research and procrastinate, and try to find ways to not give these companies my money. In all but one case, it’s been easy to find an alternative (Wavelab for MacOS). In all cases, I haven’t been a happy customer.
- Avid
- Steinberg
- IK Multimedia
- Slate