We got out hands on the Hexcal Studio for review to figure out just how useful this device can be for music producers and creative professionals and if it is worth the price tags.
So let’s get to it…
What Is Hexcal Studio?
The Hexcal Studio is a professional-grade desk riser that gives you an entirely new platform to rest and store your computer, synths, and other studio gear. It’s built for creators who require a lot of cable management and storage, and while it’s not specifically designed for music producers, they seem to have thought of everything a producer would need.
The Hexcal Studio has an incredibly durable build quality, whose hollow core allows you to store anything from the slack in your cables to your external hard drives and more. It’s a game changer in terms of organization, cable management, and spatial utility, but it does come at a price (which I will get to later one).
Other features include some really awesome quality-of-life features as well.
The first of these features is the adjustable lighting in the device, which allow you to dial in the brightness and temperature of the lighting in your immediate workspace (pictured below). It’s awesome to keep your workspace just lit enough to see your synths, keys, and typing keyboard without being so bright that it kills the creative vibe.
That’s a bird’s eye view of the device, so now let’s dive into some of my favorite uses and features of the device.
Before we do though, learn how having a well-organized space can affect your creativity in positive ways in this interview here
What I Liked About The Hexcal Studio
I’ve had the Hexcal in my studio for about a month now, and I can’t say how impressed I am with this device enough. Here are some of my favorite things that instantly stood out about this device.
Its Aesthetic
First and foremost, it just looks cool.
It has a dark-metal coloration that is sleek, modern, and stylish and simply looks great on my studio desk. This darker coloration pairs really well with the lighting options that it can display on your desk.
The lighting ranges from warmer, soft tones to bright and crystal-like cold white lighting. As I mentioned above, these variations in lighting options are clutch for working all different hours of the day. During my early morning production sessions, I love the white light that keeps me focused on what I’m working on. During my nighttime sessions, I switch to the warmer, softer yellowing lighting which helps maintain a creative vibe late into the night.
Its Storage
The Hexcal Studio’s biggest benefit is the amount of storage that it has, and it decluttered the number of cables and random items that always seem to be scattered across my desk. The top-facing cover lifts up, allowing you to store external USB drives and excess cables so that they are out of sight and out of mind.
But you can still access and organize these components however you need through Hexcal’s clever routing.
Firstly, you can still access the external hard drives and chargers for your devices through the ports on the left-hand side of the device. This allows you to easily access all of your data and storage devices with ease while reducing the clutter of the hard drives and chargers on your desk.
Next, the Hexcal has a number of cable-managing grips and holds in the back that keep the cables in place and prevents them from moving all over the place and crossing wires. These handful of simple cable grips are easy to manage and help you keep cables from numerous devices (I personally have eight different cables all arranged safely in mine) organized with ease.
Finally, this piggybacks off the previous point, but the Hexcal also has outlets in the back which allow you to easily power all of your devices. Charge your laptop, monitor, synths, drum kits, and more directly on the Hexcal, and then safely store all excess slack from these away in the storage space of the device.
Struggling To Keep Your Studio Clean? Check Out Our Guide Here
What I Wasn’t Crazy About
That all being said, I also noted a few things about this device that would certainly raise some eyebrows for some users and might prevent them from buying the Hexcal Studio.
So let’s dive into these couple of issues.
Lack Of Additional USB Ports
You are allowed to store up to two external hard drives inside the Hexcal Studios which can be accessed through the two USB ports on the outside of the device. Two ports are great, but I feel as if it was a missed opportunity to not include more.
I would have loved to see a USB splitter that allowed for many USB devices stored in the Hexcal to be summed into one of its two outputs. Sure, you could daisy chain all of the devices inside into a USB hub that plugs into Hexcals USB output, but that would introduce another set of wires into the inside of the Hexcal which might get out of hand.
Its Price
Alright, this is the elephant in the room that I’ve been avoiding talking about because of how much I love this desk organizer but… It’s expensive, and you’ll have to pay a premium to be able to access some of the cool stuff that Hexcal can bring to your space or studio.
At the time of writing this, it retails for $899; which for starving artists and producers is a hefty pricepoint that will be hard to stomach. Luckily though, they often have small sales that can save you 10% or more on these devices which can help curb the investment by a small amount.
But if you work in a larger studio or are a part of a bigger operation, this would be an easy recommendation for a studio and office upgrade!
Should You Buy The Hexcal Studio?
Now it’s time to make the ultimate decision and find out if the Hexcal Studio is right for you and is worth the investment. And while I am not you and don’t know your own needs and finances, allow me to shed some of my own opinions on the matter.
The Hexcal Studio is an amazing product; it’s well-built, incredibly well-designed, and does everything that it promises to do amazingly well. It cleared up a TON of space on my desk which ideally I would keep clean and tidy, but I ended up just filling that empty space with more desktop synths I’ve picked up over the past few months.
But the downside is that it’s incredibly pricey. It’s an easy justification if you have the capital for it just laying around, but for those music producers among our readership who are on any kind of budget at all, it will be hard to rationalize. But even then, it can always be something on your wishlist to celebrate when you get your first big release!
Learn More Here
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
