Every year, we like to pause and take stock of the year's best-selling gear. What's hot? What's not? And how do this year's winners compare to previous bestsellers?
We've already explored the best-selling synths and electronic gear, best-selling guitars of 2022, and best-selling effects pedals and amps. Now, we're looking at the year's top recording equipment.
Note: All rankings are determined by total order count—that is, the actual number of items sold, not the total price of sold items. Releases that were exclusive to Reverb are not reflected in these rankings. And because Reverb is home to individual sellers, independent brick-and-mortars, and makers alike, our rankings include all sales, whether brand new or used.
If you read through last year's best-selling lists, you may now have a flashback to Focusrite's sea of red and Shure's microphone dominance, which of course has continued.
But placing all pro audio gear together, as we've done here, makes for some interesting comparisons. For instance, you can see just how popular the Cloud Microphones Cloudlifter CL-1 Mic Activator has become—one of the many booster devices producers and engineers can use to get more signal (and character) out of their microphones.
This snapshot of some of the best-selling pro audio products newly released in 2022 provides an interesting mix of gear. Walrus Audio's very first DI boxes top the list. Coming in at No. 3 is Universal Audio's very first mic, the SD-1.
Teenage Engineering's new TX-6 Field Mixer (launched alongside the new OP-1 Field) makes the cut, as do new interfaces from Audient, AMS/Neve, Presonus, and Universal Audio (with its latest Volt 476P). That the AMS/Neve 88M and PreSonus AudioBox GO interfaces tied for 9th place is interesting, given the wide spread in price point (the 88M is $1,245 new, while the AudioBox GO is just $79).
New-to-2022 microphones also include both the WA-CX12 and WA-47F from Warm Audio, along with the United Studio Technologies UT Twin87 Microphone.
What stands out to you on our best-selling lists? Let us know.