Ableton Live 6
Make a new banger in the airport, then pump out the jam in a club hours later. It’s a traveling producer’s wizard wand.
Curses, Institubes

I had my doubts about it, but Ableton has really made Live work as a sequencing and performance software. It’s very customizable and easy to use.
Mochipet, Daly City Records

Fuck, fuck, fuck Pro Tools.
Laurent Bardainne, Poni Hoax

Ableton is so easy to make tracks with that it makes me weep tears of joy. Live performance possibilities are enormous when coupled with Triggerfinger or any of the MPC emulator pads.
Oliver Mak, Bodega

Serato Scratch Live
Serato is the bane of all serious DJs because of the preponderance of blog house DJs that can’t mix, but I still think its an excellent tool and it lives in my record bag right next to the always-necessary vinyl I take to gigs.
Blair Carswell, Music For Robots

It still has yet to crash on me.
Kid Kameleon, XLR8R writer

The Yamaha QY100
My mini-band in a box. I’m writing my whole album on it.
Pigeon John, Quannum

Echoplex
We used this effect unit on nearly every song on our new record while recording at DFA. Tom Verlaine from Television had one. Whenever anybody would ask “Hey, what does this song need?,” I would always reply with “Tuned feedback through the Echoplex.” “Right you are, Tim.”
Tim Hoey, Cut Copy

Boss DD-6 for Vocals
Instant three-part harmonies!
Charlie Salas-Humara, Panther

Spectrasonics Plug-ins
I’ve been very happy with the quality of the Spectrasonics plug-ins. They all sound great and bring an unexpected natural feel to each song.
DJ Ulysses, Scatalogics

Acid
‘Cause the name rocks and nobody except us is using it. I use it cause it’s simple and it’s just everything we need to compose songs. I don’t know how people can make music on Logic–it’s a different language to me.
Dorian Dumont, The Teenagers

Bias Peak Pro 5
Without Peak Pro (coupled with my iPod nano and Griffin iTalk recording device) for transcribing interviews, I basically wouldn’t be able to do my job.
Ken Taylor, XLR8R

More Best of 2007
Switch: Artist of the Year
Sage Francis’ Top Five Albums of 2007
Best Artists of 2007
Best of 2007 by Cameron Bird
Best Albums of 2007
Best Singles of 2007
Best of 2007 by Busy P
Best Live Events of 2007
Best of 2007 by Dust La Rock
Best Visual Artists of 2007
Best of 2007 by Dirt Crew
Best Music Trends of 2007
Best Style of 2007
Best of 2007 by Mochipet
Best of 2007 by DJ Ulysses