Welcome to the world of portable studio gear, where you get to take your musical ideas and creative toys with you wherever you go on your travels.
Portable music tech devices will always be exciting because there is always room for improvement. In this dynamic marketplace, creative manufacturers are forever competing to make instruments smaller with more features and longer battery life.
Portable Studio Gear: Synths
Portable synths are wonderful creative tools, as they can sneak into your bag when you go on holiday. If you’re into building your own unique sounds, this is a great way to do it because it provides a singularly focussed interface without the distractions of email clients and browser tab mayhem you find on laptops.
The range of sound creation devices we have available today is simply astonishing, with eclectic brands like Teenage Engineering offering simple toy-like Pocket Operators, and instruments that can do almost anything like the OP-1 Field.
Meanwhile, the 1010music nanobox range offers a slightly more specialized approach, with powerful compact devices with incredible sound engines and connectivity options.
Portable Studio Gear: Grooveboxes
Grooveboxes have come a long way since the term was first used with Roland’s MC series of beat sequencers. Today, we have access to options that are completely portable and comprehensive music production tools.
Inspiration can come from anywhere, so the ability to record or load your own samples is a must. No matter what style of sequencer you prefer, the ability to choose and shape your favourite sounds can help you create something unique.
When it comes to portability, the more high-end options have internal lithium-ion batteries, while others can run off USB power banks. With the right beat creation station, all you need is a pair of headphones and you’re ready to go.
Portable Studio Gear: Headphones
A portable studio isn’t complete without headphones, so choose wisely. If isolation isn’t a factor, you might want to consider open-back headphones, as they often deliver a more analytical sound with better translation properties.
This means that if you’re doing mixing and music production rather than recording, you might want to check out open-back headphones, to see if they suit your workflow.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for a discrete monitoring solution, closed-back designs will shut the world out so you can get into your creative zone and stay there. Also, if you’re doing vocal recording, closed-back headphones are a must.
Portable Studio Gear: Monitors
The range of monitors that are easy to connect and light enough to carry in your backpack is constantly growing. Today, you can find extremely compact monitors that deliver professional results like the IK Multimedia iLoud Micro series.
Battery-powered studio monitors, on the other hand, are a completely new frontier. In 2023, we saw the introduction of the UNIT-4 Wireless+ monitors from the Danish headphones manufacturer, AIAIAI.
Although 20 hours of battery time is very impressive, the technology behind the battery-powered amplification and low-latency Bluetooth pushes up the price tag considerably. This makes battery-powered monitors an expensive novelty currently, but we look forward to more affordable designs in the future.
Portable Studio Gear: Controllers
Whether your main production station is a laptop or an Octatrack, having a MIDI controller can expand your workflow considerably. Controllers offer keyboards or trigger pads for using software instruments, as well as channel faders, parameter knobs, and transport controls.
Luckily, no matter which controller you need, most of them power via USB, making them perfect for a portable studio. Controllers speed up DAW operations, especially with Ableton Live where launching clips is a powerful arrangement method.
A music production interface like Native Instruments Maschine is almost like a DAW within a DAW. It features its own specially designed controller, giving you tactile control of creative features with MPC-style groove sequencing.
Portable Studio Gear: Audio Interfaces
If you’re using a DAW to perform live or create music in studio, your audio interface is a crucial part of your setup. These come in many different shapes and sizes and will help you get signals into and out of your DAW.
Not every interface is created equal. While manufacturers offer excellent quality AD/DA conversion like the RME or rugged build quality like Sound Devices, others offer versatility for different workflows like Zoom.
How you use your setup will determine which one will suit you best. Electronic musicians, for example, will love the idea of the new Zoom LiveTrak L6, which can function as a mixer, audio interface, and SD recorder.
More about Portable Studio Gear:
*Note: This article about portable studio gear contains promotional links that help us fund our site. Don’t worry: the price for you always stays the same! We will receive a small commission if you buy something through these links. We appreciate your support!
