I’ve got some cats i could lend you.
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I may revisit Renoise at some point, but I had a very rocky start with it. Just couldn’t gel with it at all. M8 was totally different. Only had mine a week, so can’t say I fully ‘get it’ but I’m writing tons of music on it every day. Really like mine a lot
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I put my MC-101 in my list of hits this year but may have to move it off. I don’t use it a ton and feel like I have to relearn how to use it every time I go back to it.
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My kitty cats are only good at being a drone-weight on my keys and trying to jump on my shoulders when I sit down to play… (cute when they succeed, less so when they miss and claw all the way down trying to hang on for dear life.)
I meant moreso a Western Washington state synth n fx lending library of sorts…
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I really wanted someone to hack a Polyend or MPC live to run M8. I know it’s gameboy style hardware, but the OS and synths seem so deep, and begging for more display/buttons & a few pots!
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yeah if I was moving internationally, I’d sell all the big gear I have that I know I could easily purchase again. easier than shipping it internationally or flying with it. likely the Matriarch will be cheaper in the states than Korea too.
oh man you gotta try that! main reason I’d get one (even though I have a Space Echo).
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I was terrified of the limited buttons on the M8, but it really is well laid out and logical for the most part
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Alright, never mind. Not buying any new gear next year! I can sequence just fine with what I have for now.
But I do have a preorder for the Liven Bass & Beats, plus a VO-1 vocoder on the way…
Man, if that thing had audio inputs, I may have gotten it over the 707. There’s been many times I wished the big sister were easier to lug around!
I really appreciate all the extra tracks and functions though.
I find it interesting how most opinions differ to my own when it comes down to the SSL Fusion. I really didn’t rate my one because it was too subtle for my taste. I always felt I wasted my money, and eventually sold it.
What do you love about it?
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I guess everything I bought was a hit. But I really don’t find myself using the RD-8 or TD-3 much. I like them, nothing wrong workflow or sound-wise but it doesn’t seem worth having them routed when I can get all those sounds easily from samples (RD-8) and I don’t do a ton of acid stuff. I think I just need to setup a separate live acid station with the RD-8 and TD-3 with some pedals.
The Warm Audio Tone Beast and Toraiz SP-16 are 100% winners.
HIT
Yamaha 01v96i - Just WOW onboard effects are really fantastic. Loads of inputs (bought an expansion card MY8-AD24) motorised faders. Just a fantastic mixer all round
HIT
Yamaha RM1x - Owned it when it first came out, sounded great at the time however I mostly wanted it for the midi/sequencer. This thing was feature packed back in the day and still is now even 20yrs on.
HIT
DSI Mopho Desktop - What more can I say! Absolutely love the sounds that come out of this tiny little desktop and that’s why in 2022 I’ll buy a second hand Tetra. Can’t go wrong with Dave Smith synths IMO.
MISS
None I can think of. Whatever Iv’e bought and/or sold was purely for space saving reasons OR that I didn’t feel I needed that sound in my own setup even if that given synth really was top notch in it’s own right.
Things I wish they’d remake and think developers are missing a trick
- Machine Drum v2
- Mono Machine v2
- Yamaha RM1x v2 (sequencer is amazing)
- Novation Nova KB v3 (Owned both the Nova Desktop and 36 voice KB) back in the day. These were fucking amazing, changing patches didn’t cutoff the sound just a great featured synth.
I could mention more but errrr…
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I greatly enjoy this thread. Tone: sincere.
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Hits:
Extra Octatrack MK1 Got it right around new years. I don’t use all of it, but i needed more than a single OT was capable of. It’s great to have. I feel less constrained, and I can adapt anything to a live set now.
Analog Heat MK1 Yea, took some time to tweak a preset again and again to get it right where i want, but combined with p-locking the OT master comp and, some reverb. I get a nearly finished sound out of Octatrack thanks to the Heat. Great harmonics, saturation, and depth.
Nord Lead 4 (basically my dream synth, has just about everything i need, and is quite ergonomic, immediate. Elegant design)
ASM Hydrasynth KB Got four tracks out of it for my next album release. And that should make it a keeper. Considered letting go of it when i got the NL4, but for all the things that bug me about it, it is quite deep and worth the time to explore. And the filter drive is amazing. Some of the things i wish it could do (save chord mode settings inside each patch) i’ve submitted as feature requests, so fingers crossed it improves in some key ways. The arp is magical. The filters are great. But the interface gives me “VST in a controller vibes” often. What comes out of the jacks is what matters, and for that it’s staying (for now). Polytouch makes for great pads. It’s a modern SQ-80++
Sourdforce SFC-5 I’ve mapped it to more than just Repro-5. It’s the best built box in my whole studio, and it’s just spitting out MIDI CC#s. Got a great deal on it, around $230 during a mega sale at perfect circuit. Living above the NL4, with NL4’s shallow control panel, it’s quite ideal for exploring software as if it were hardware.
Misses:
TR-6S. Great sound, great FX. But menu hell isn’t for me (and I don’t typically mind menus). And ultimately, anything that can do drums is competing with my pair of octatracks, and that’s a lost battle before even entering onto the field. A larger display would make it better. Or if it had the sequencer tricks the TR-06 has. OH well.
MC-101 Super ultra menu hell. No thanks. Sorry, Roland.
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Ornament and crime running Hemispheres: new favorite module
Norns: could change my whole way of working.
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Hits
Norand Mono- Awesome sound, intuitive UI and innovative sequencer. I’m surprised it doesn’t get more love.
Analog Heat MK2- I’ve wanted one of these for years, but just never prioritised purchasing one. Well, found a good second hand deal and bought one a few months back. I’m really impressed by the sound enhancements it can do. I’ve not fully incorporated it into my set up yet (my aim is to be able to resample the sounds I run through it) as I need to consider my audio routing.
M8 Tracker- My biggest hit of the year by far!! I love what this can do. The onboard sounds are great, plus the ability to use samples. I love it so much, that I’m tempted to buy another one as a back up, just in case. I’ve been doing a lot of 3hr train journeys due to a long distance relationship, and it’s been a pleasure to while away the time using the M8. It’s also got some exciting updates on the horizon, which is great…
Misses-
No misses for me. Which is good.
To be determined-
For a while I’ve wanted to own an SP404, and in the weeks just before the MK2 was announced I nearly pulled the trigger. Luckily I waited. So, when the MK2 was announced, it was a no brainer for me. I preordered on the day of the official announcement, and just received it yesterday. I’ve got a lot on my plate, (work/family) at the moment and haven’t got the headspace to learn it. So, I’ve decided to treat it as a Xmas present and open it then. Hopefully my head should be be less cluttered with responsibilities then, and I can enjoy it over the festive break.
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Ohhh… are you able to share what the updates are? I didn’t spot anything on the M8 thread and I’m not on the M8 discord…
I like the fact that it is subtle. It feels like a surgical tool that makes it possible to create gentle (less obvious) enhancements to the sound. Most of the stereo mojo devices out there seem to instantly squash and burn everything compared to the Fusion.
To me the Fusion is more sophisticated in that sense than other products in that price range.
I don’t use it as a distortion box but as an end of chain processor that makes everything sparkle and feel good. That final 10% or whatever. 
Also the vintage drive adds such beautiful colour to the mid freqs I don’t know how to achieve otherwise and it goes into brutal overdrive when cranked. The imager is on another level compared to the digital ones I’ve used in Logic, Izotope and whatnot.
The Fusion is NOT cheap but I think it’s perfect for what I do.
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There’s been quite a few things mentioned. Off the top of my head, I recall:-
-The ability to choose scales/micro tonality settings
-A new Analog style amp mode, which Trash80 has demonstrated briefly in a video and sounds great!
-Various proposed sample enhancements- loop markers. Custom slicing. I think transient detection was also mentioned.
-MIDI, and Audio routing fx enhancements, which I haven’t really paid much attention, but they appear to be useful additions…
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Reading your response, it seems we liked the same things about the Fusion. I saw it as a sweetener, with pleasant subtle distortion and a nice stereo imager. I guess the difference is, those minor enhancements weren’t as significant to me as I thought they would be.
Have you ever used anything by
Tegeler Audio Manufaktur? Their boxes always intrigued me too.
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