Andrew Huang’s 2025 Gear Picks: Grooveboxes, Glitch and Gearhead Gold

Andrew Huang wastes no time: this is his personal, unsponsored list of the best music gear from 2025. No brands in his pocket, just a pile of boxes, modules and gadgets he’s actually used, bought, or borrowed. It’s a gearhead’s dream—no marketing spin, just what slaps in the studio and on stage.

He’s slicing through categories like a samurai at a synth convention: grooveboxes, pedals, controllers, Eurorack, and a grab-bag of oddities. If you want a year-end round-up that’s more rave bunker than boardroom, Andrew’s got you sorted. The man’s taste is eclectic, and his picks are as playful as they are practical.

First up, the groovebox category gets the full Huang treatment. The Akai MPC Live III lands third, but don’t let that fool you—it’s a DAW in a box, loaded with sampling, synths, multi-track audio, and a touchscreen that doubles as an XY pad. The new MPC-E pads are a game-changer: each pad is an expressive XY surface, letting you cram 64 sounds under your fingers and twist articulations like a mad scientist. It’s complex, sure, but if you want options, this thing’s got more than a dodgy curry menu.

Second place goes to Elektron’s Tonverk, which Andrew reckons got unfairly roasted by the rumour mill. Multi-sampling, granular engines, 64 tracks, and effects routing you can sequence or play live—this isn’t just another Elektron box. But the real curveball? Sonicware CyDrums. It’s focused, portable, and pure wavetable drum synthesis—no samples, just punchy, tweakable chaos. The pads are velocity sensitive with aftertouch, and the performance features (like the dice parameter and sequence randomizer) make it a proper street weapon. Don’t be fooled by the toy look—this thing kicks like a drunken horse.

Pedals get a lean but lethal spotlight this year. Kernom Elipse is Andrew’s modulation Swiss army knife—blend between effects, tweak speed, depth, and even add a swirl of drive. It’s all about finding those in-between spaces, and the pedal’s ability to morph and mix makes it a pedalboard space-saver with serious attitude.

But top spot goes (again) to Gamechanger’s Motor Pedal. Forget subtlety—this is a literal motor spinning inside a stompbox, tracking your guitar and spitting out gnarly, physical sound. Five expression modes, five motor modes, and a gas-pedal-style controller mean you can go from glitchy stutters to endless drones. It’s wild, it’s weird, and it sounds way better than it has any right to. If you want your pedalboard to look like a toaster-fight broke out, this is your ticket.

Controllers are usually about as exciting as a grey Tuesday, but 2025 brought the heat. Melbourne Instruments’ Roto-Control has motorised knobs that remember their positions, haptic detents, and settings that travel with you—not your DAW. It’s a tactile dream for plugin wranglers and DAW jockeys alike.

Lightraft’s Monolit brings eight sliders of MIDI mayhem, with LFOs, motion recording, sequencing, and banked presets. If you’re always short on modulation, this is your new best mate. But the real showstopper is Neuzeit’s Drop. It’s not just a controller—it’s a morphing, snapshot-capturing, LED-lit command centre. Snapshots, morphs, momentary actions, and a back panel designed for actual humans. This is the kind of controller that makes your other gear jealous. Andrew’s verdict? It’s the best MIDI controller of the year, maybe ever.