Should I get a soft case, a hard case, or a rack case?

A soft case is a padded nylon or ballistic bag: light, inexpensive, and fast to grab for day to day handling, but it only cushions against bumps, not a drop or a stack of gear on top. A hard case is a rigid shell, often with die-cut or pluck foam inside, built to survive being thrown in a truck, checked as luggage, or stacked under other cases; some are rated water resistant or airtight for outdoor and marine work. It costs more and weighs more than a soft bag for the same gear. A rack case is a different job entirely: it holds rack-mount equipment such as mixers, amplifiers, and processing gear on rack rails measured in U (1.75 inches per U), and it is sized to the gear's rack height rather than its outer dimensions, often with wheels, handles, and a shock-mounted frame for a touring rig.

Grab a soft case for gear that lives in one room. Move up to a hard case for anything that travels or gets shipped. Reach for a rack case only when the gear itself is rack-mount, and size it by the total rack units the gear needs plus room to route cables.

• Soft cases cushion against bumps but not drops, stacking weight, or rough freight handling.
• Hard cases use a rigid shell, often with cut foam, and are built for shipping and touring.
• Rack cases are sized in rack units (U) to hold rack-mount gear, not by the outer footprint of the box.
• A hard case costs and weighs more than a soft case for the same piece of gear; that tradeoff is the whole decision.
• A rack case sized for touring adds wheels and a shock-mounted frame that a shelf-bound rack does not need.