Hit:
Behringer Pro 1 - had to snag one with the recent deals. Such a simple, great synth.
Roland SP-404 MKII - so many ways I can see utilizing this, so glad I went for.
Miss:
Roland MC-101 - Really nice box, just not needed in the studio and a little too clunky for live use (particularly the way drum mutes function). I’m not on board with the subscription thing either so pretty limited patch editing capabilities. Still was able to get some nice sounds out of.
Hits:
M1 Pro MBP -laughs at me when I throw way more processing at it than one would reasonably do.
MI Beads -Definite improvement over Clouds, but I’m keeping clouds because it still sounds great.
Triptych -great filter/comb/distortion, currently making Plaits sound nasty.
Saïch -good for poly, but great for detuned mono saws.
Mimetic Digitalis -shred button makes this module worth it.
MS-20 -30 years of dreaming about sounding like DAF with an MS-20, and now I have one. Used it on two records for other artists in the first week of receiving it, and on my stuff too.
Octatrack mkII -last but not least! totally changed my workflow, song mode works better for my editing style than the A4 song mode. Also, for some reason I could get PNW to sync better to OT than to other Elektron devices, but I could be tripping.
You can’t put new sounds on it unless you have a subscription? What happens with any sounds you’ve made and saved when the subscription ends?
Rev2- was very nice but too harsh in the high frequencies and hard to wrangle in. love the 3rd looping envelope and the james blake-ish almost digital modern dco sound. very rich but hard to get anything but that brassy sound. filter is hard to work with, fx are unusable
Peak- pretty much what i expected. flexible but overall not very usable/disappointing. very weak sound. nice filter though
Hydrasynth- deeper and more exciting sound design than peak but somehow even less usable/organic alongside other synth voices because of it’s frail oscillators and just fizzy almost ethereal timbre. it’s nice, i just wish it had something behind those oscillators to make it stand among other synths. it is my dream to have a synth this wild and patchable with a stronger, more rich vco/dco/va-fpga engine behind it’s core sound source to sculpt from
Take-5- my search is over. best of all existing options. best overall sound. best deep flexible sound design/patching synthesis options. best filters, best vcos, best analogue fm in a polysynth, best interface, pretty good fx
Digitakt - ok, i understand why people like it but compared to my octatrack, it’s not really worth having. the only thing keeping it from being redundant is the higher resolution midi sequencing, the quality of the sample tuning, chromatic sample pitching, the lp filter, and the compressor. it does color samples in a very nice way that the octa does not. imagine if they just gave the octatrack an updated sample engine & some newer fx
Behringer Crave - love it. needed a strong bass voice that doesnt go out of tune and its been perfect for that. can also be patched for some wild complex timbres
Malekko Manther- very cool but envelopes are strange when de-coupled from internal sequencer. works fine midi sequenced from digitakt, but it seems like it’s meant to be sequenced internally. although using the internal seq strictly for automation p locking while midi sequencing notes externally results in some pretty crazy evolving-shifting patterns. i like that it has a wave mixer and wave folder, but the timbral range is too limited and its very hard to hit “sweet spots”. maybe its the led mini fader workflow i dont like. feels very much like a eurorack voice. growly and deep but no in between the clean and the extreme dirty folded waveshapes in my experience. the filter and envelope relationship does not allow for a wide range of nice clean snappy patch that i prefer, but there is one setting where you can achieve that sort of sound if you want
T-Resonator II- Should have kept it. can get wild with feedback routing but also has a very nice fat wide ultra subtle chorus effect that can do what i imagine the strymon deco does with its tape-style doubletracking & glue effect
Eqd Plumes- pretty nice overdrive for synths. would probably get again
Dba Rooms- love it. love gong and peak settings. Chorus is also amazing. Love the dry & wet gain knobs. Best reverb ever. very organic and natural but massive sounding
Erica Acidbox III- Beautiful. The saturation was a little too dirty to use on a master chain but the filter was great
856 for Zellersasn- cool so far. still confusing but the best pedal of it’s kind that i’ve ever used
Boss Rge-10 Rack Eq- so glad i finally got a graphic eq (for $35 on ebay). really nice way to shape my tone (in parallel/mono/on a mixer send/return) and saturates my analog synths very nicely
Ah the boss microrack units! Such a nice format, I wonder why these – or similarly formatted units – are not more common nowadays. It’s like they’re made to accomodate a Digitakt or Digitone on top.
I’ve got the RPQ-10 for a few years and that one’s doing a very nice saturation too!
they’re still a little overpriced. but i guess $100 isnt bad. I probably wouldn’t have taken the risk if it wasn’t $35 but now that I know how good they are, I will probably grab the delay and the parametric eq, whatever else they have. I always wonder if the old alesis and presonus rackmount stuff is worth checking out. maybe one day reverb will stop inflating the prices and we can grab things like that for what they’re really worth in current year
I don’t think that is what he meant.
He is referring to Zenology, which is the software editor-librarian for Zen Core synths, which include MC-101/707, Jupiter X, etc. Zenology Lite is free, I believe. Zenology Pro is only available as part of a subscription. You need Pro to create your own Zen Core presets. You don’t need Pro to simply export patches to the 101.
More info on the appropriate thread - and a bunch more posts about Zenology besides that.
scored an old (UK-made!!) Novation Remote 25 for 40 bucks, changed my life
Another big hit in before year’s end… Moog Grandmother Dark. Even better sounding than I remember the GM being from an in-store demo. Replacing a Little Phatty in front of the modular and so much more enjoyable and hands-on (although I expect I’ll keep the LP 'cos it still sounds great).
my best move in 2021 was completely getting rid of my eurorack. It’s just not for me - every jam would result in shopping lists, modulargrid sessions, rearranging, binging and purging. got rid of 100% of it cold turkey and it is so nice to ignore every module ad that shows up without thinking about if it’d be a great new add-on to my setup
A4 MK2: Really wanted to have a decent analog synth after soloing with the Digitakt for a year or so. It was kind of overwhelming and fun at the same time. Tried to find a fluid workflow with it, but I missed out on immediacy. I’m sure it’s an awesome synth, though. I’ll have one later and learn to slow down a bit - I just wasn’t ready so to say.
Model:Cycles: This is probably the most immediate “toy” I could think of at the moment. Patterns keep flowing out in no time. Since I have the Digitone now, I’m wondering if I still need it, because sound-wise it’s nice but not really going into extreme or unpredictable territories…
Original Bass Station: Found this 2nd hand as raw monosynth plus midi-keys option. Sounds were still quite amazing but had some issues with patch storage and at least one faulty pot. Could return it luckily. Now I need another keyboard, though.
Digitone: It was a long process to decide whether I should try FM and the DN in particular. I have it for just about two weeks now, but I’m quite impressed and design sounds most immediately. It helps to read some stuff about FM and a couple of excellent threads about the DN in here, too. Can’t imagine I’ll ever get bored of this. Big fun!
Boss BX-60: Wanted any of these infamous gnarly low-fi mixers to play around with saturation. I’m just waiting for it arrive. 
LOVE the BX line. Pro-tip, put it on a mixer aux bus so you can run your distortion in parallel, it is much more useful in this configuration.
My synth-focused hit list:
Casiotone CT-S1
I like a digital piano with built-in speakers for working on piano playings. The limitations of this type of instrument compared to keyboard synths has been conducive to focused practice. Casio has other budget-minded pianos and keyboard arrangers in the $200-$400 price range, but I like the design of the CT-S1 and the onboard electric piano tones are really good for the money.
M8 Tracker
I wasn’t 100% sure how I’d get on with its UI, as I couldn’t wrap my head around LSDJ on my Game Boy Color, but did ok with SunVox on IOS years later. The learning process has been faster than expected and navigating around with the buttons is also surprisingly quick once you get used to them. It has the comprehensive set of sequencer commands that you would expect from a tracker for fine-grained control of instrument behaviors. As if that was not enough, it also has the Tables functionality, which add even more power on top of the regular sequencer functions. All of the Instrument types sound great to me, including Macrosynth which is a port of Mutable Instruments Braids. Ships with a nice selection of presets.
Roland MC-707
Before buying this, I already had the MC-101, which I still like as a compact multitimbral sound module. However, I got the MC-707 when I saw it had dropped in price, because it has a nicer layout for editing stuff (synth parameters, sequence patterns, etc.). I particuarly like being able to see how clips are laid out by track and by row, which is not possible on the MC-101 due to its much smaller display. The pads being velocity-sensitive is another nice upgrade, although I need to tweak the sensitivy for my fingers. The quirkiness of the UI has been talked about, but even with those quirks, I find it quite a nice groovebox. The ZenCore sounds have been good enough to stave off GAS for other polysynths.
Line 6 StageSource L2t
I had looked before at powered speakers that can do double duty as guitar amp and synth amp - at least be able to handle sustained synth bass tones without blowing a speaker. I stumbled across a random comment mentioning the StageSource L2t and ordered one when I saw it on sale. L2t has several smart speaker modes which include Reference, Keyboards (flat like Reference but different crossover frequency), Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar (2x12 guitar amp), etc. It has orientation sensors which can detect whether the speaker is pole-mounted or tilted and adjust the speaker mode accordingly. Plenty of headroom and quiet - a winner!
Open Studio Piano Courses
I am not a jazz pianist, nor do I aspire to be one, but jazz is the source of chordal ideas that have been used in neo-soul, soul, some house music, etc. I like Adam Maness’ teaching style.
This is the one-year anniversary of my first synth purchases as an adult, so a good time to finally contribute to this thread. I hit a breaking point in early January 2020 (this will not be a surprise to those who follow US politics), and needed a new focus and something to get me away from the computer, for the sake of my mental health. Inspired by a Nils Frahm documentary on Netflix, I chose a long-overdue return to electronic music.
My biggest hit of 2021 was Elektronauts. I know, it isn’t gear, but I can’t talk about the gear without acknowledging the huge influence of the forum which so extensively informed me. My first experience with “social media” was USENIX newsgroups, forty years ago. I have seen a lot since then. Elektronauts is the single most successful online forum in which I have participated. I lurked for a while, joined in late January, and made my first post in mid-February (answering a question about equipment I didn’t yet own). I have learned a great deal here, contributed where I could, and it has been an oasis in these difficult times.
There are too many great individual contributors for me to list, but I do want to give a shout out to @your_lamp, who sold me an A4mk1 at a terrific price (putting up with my obsessive questions and doubts before the sale, and responding to my enthusiasms afterwards in a lengthy conversation that continues to this day), then demoed his Lyra-8, Analog Rytm, and Shared System for me in person, and lent me an 0-coast indefinitely, both launching and informing my journey into Eurorack. His generosity exemplifies the Elektronauts ethos.
The biggest miss was me. I didn’t know what I was doing when I started, and as usual, despite reading a lot, I tried to spend modestly, and spent too little. I can’t fault the equipment I bought at first, as arguably each of the pieces outperforms its price point: Korg NTS-1, PO-33, Microfreak, Model:Cycles, Zoom MS70-CDR. I was trying to avoid getting an OP-1, and I think the PO-33 convinced me not to. These first purchases were too small, too fiddly, too limited, and they are now underused. Were I to travel back in time, I would tell myself: just get a Digitone.
Instead, I got a Digitakt (which fit better with what I had so far) in late February, and that started me on a good path. It was the first hit (the A4 was still in the future, and eventually, a Digitone Keys), and just about everything since then has been a hit. I won’t list it all (that would be embarrassing), but I will single out the Erica Synths DB-01 Bassline, probably the single most fun purchase of the year (though the Blipblox After Dark, bought for my daughter’s child, quite exceeded expectations!).
I mentioned Eurorack above. I plunged into it too quickly, bought too much (this seems inevitable) but despite making what I think are atypical choices, just about everything worked out, and I’m quite happy with the result. I also wrote about it at length, my first non-academic writing in a long time (even though, I suspect, it still sounds academic). As for the modules themselves, I will highlight those by Frap Tools (Brenso, Falistri, Usta), the beautiful Xaoc Sarajewo BBD delay, and the Bastl Ikarie and Mannequins Three Sisters filters.
I am not explicitly participating in NGNY, but I will respect its spirit, and try to spend more time appreciating what I have instead of lusting after more. That’s not to say I won’t make more acquisitions, but I doubt I’ll ever do so again at the rate that I did in 2021.
Thanks again to all of you; best wishes for 2022, and I look forward to what you have to say and share.
In regards to music making, I’m a complete amateur and I have this whole thing purely as a hobby. My journey into electronic music and its typical instruments started just 4 years ago, after 15+ years of playing the guitar in rock and metal bands and not listening to much else outside those genres. I think I just got bored with guitar-focused music eventually, needed something else and I am now in love with music like never before.
I am a nerd at heart, and exploring/learning various gear is a big part of the fun. I am very picky (quality- and detail-focused) about most things in life and I get weird hang-ups on little details that annoy me. And as a rule of thumb I sell whatever equipment that don’t get much use at the moment. All this results in a lot of equipment going though the doors, even things I might consider somewhat a hit. I should probably be embarrased, but I don’t care. And “keeping it” means “keeping it for the time being”.
In chronological order:
Moog Grandmother - KEEPING IT
It is big and clunky, has a bunch of parameters hidden behind unmarked button/key-combos, its arp/seq beat-syncing to external midi is too iffy for live use and I hate spring reverb. I’m keeping it for its core sound which is amazing, and I am mostly using it in the studio for simple evolving arps and sequences which means I don’t need to change its global settings very often and don’t need patch memory.
Elektron Digitakt - SOLD IT
Had it twice this year. Had it three times before. The reason I sold them all where always the same one: I really HATE the sample management on the Digitakt, and I have way more fun making music with synthesis than with samples, even for drums. I kept getting lured into re-buying it for a lot of other reasons (immediacy, utility, form factor, speed, sound quality, experimentation, happy accidents etc etc) but once I had to manage sample folders/lists/slots again I urged for a different drum machine.
Vermona DRM1 mkIV - SOLD IT
It did exactly what it was supposed to and sounded very good, but I realized that I needed a drum machine with patch memory, an internal sequencer and effects.
Elektron Digitone & Digitone Keys - SOLD THEM
I love the Digitone for the sound and the happy accidents. The powerful arp in combination with the sequencer leads to some amazing stuff! Upgraded from the module to the Keys, but that form factor didn’t really gel with my very limited studio space, so it had to go. Even though I loved the module, I probably won’t re-buy it. We’ve had our fun.
Korg Prologue 8 - SOLD IT
Loved the sound! One big annoyance was that a few of the settings I use the most are buried in one of the worst menu systems I have come across so far. I would probably have kept it, if it wasn’t for the Take 5.
Sequential Take 5 - KEEPING IT
Everything I want in an analog poly and nothing I don’t need. It sounds fantastic and I have yet to come across anything with it that annoys me. Which is a really good sign that this one will probably stick around for a while.
Vermona Mono Lancet - RETURNED IT
Sounded good, but no overdrive anywhere in the signal chain and only one envelope made it a tiny bit too limited. When I had to return it due to a broken USB-port and new ones were out of stock, I had the chance to exchange it for the DB-01.
Erica Synths DB-01 Bassline - RETURNED IT
Sounds great! Funny (good funny) sequencer! Glide/portamento didn’t play nice, no headphone out meant no sofa-fun, no master volume meant trouble when cranking the drive. Returned it.
Arturia MicroFreak - KEEPING IT
I was initially underwhelmed by the sound of this synth, until I got to know it a little better and also slapped some Valhalla effects on it. Now it sounds amazing! Jammed with a friend this weekend, we made 9 tracks/ideas and the MicroFreak was featured on all of them. Probably the best back-for-the-buck synth I have ever tried.
Elektron Analog Rytm mkII - KEEPING IT
A drum machine with drum synth engines that I really really love the sound of. Has all the bells and whistles and will likely not leave me wanting anything more in the drum department for hopefully EVER. I love the Elektron sequencer for drums, the performance features are great and I can really grow with this machine. I hardly ever use samples on this thing (which is good, because the sample management is equally atrocious here as on the Digitakt).
As for 2022, I will most likely buy much less and jam way more (not a goal, just a prediction). I’ve spend the last 4 years experimenting and figuring out what workflow(s) I enjoy and what kind of equipment suits me. I’ve promised to play a live show with a friend this summer, and that entails keeping the rig more or less static. I’ve learnt that I love synths (subtractive in particular) and hate sample-based workflows. I run a hybrid setup, Bitwig in center.
Felt the same and did the same with mine. I really hope they make a v2 with a headphone out, a way to preserve the gate length when recording sequences in keyboard mode, and a volume control that isn’t buried 2 menu levels deep. A volume knob on the back of the unit would even be better than the current setup.
I know this thread is for 2021 purchases but there isn’t one yet for 2022 so I’m going to add my experience here.
Hits:
MPC Live - I always wanted an MPC but went the scenic rout to get there. Since diving into the hardware hobby I tried Maschine (returned years ago), OP-1 (sold), and Digitakt (sold) along the way. I went ahead and got an MPC Live MKI at the start of the year and it’s been fantastic. A great hub for music making with very few limitations. I have also enjoyed having the MPC software on my laptop so I can make use of the workflow when away from home.
SP-404 MKII - I have a 404SX and really enjoy the immediacy, despite the archaic limitations. That’s why I jumped on the MKII as soon as it was released and was fortunate enough to get it in November. It exceeds every expectation and will probably be one of my favorite instruments of all time!
Misses:
Erica Synths LXR-02 - It looked intriguing and more exciting than something like the Roland tr-6s. For some reason I thought I’d benefit from a dedicated drum synth with easy access to all the sound design parameters. While the LXR excels in that area, I just don’t need a dedicated drum synth. I much prefer composing a song rather than in depth sound design and I just haven’t clicked with the LXR. Also the step sequencer is more limited than I had anticipated. I seem to get by with my sampled drums or the MPC drum synth too. Given that it’s $600, I’d rather use that money elsewhere. Therefore I will be returning it in a few days.
TBD:
M8 Tracker - I just ordered one a few hours ago using the cash I’ll get from the LXR return. It looks like a peculiar, multifaceted device that I’m excited to learn (I have no experience with trackers). I hope it adds a different dimension to my music making than the MPC or SP-404 provide. Looking forward to using the best aspects of all 3 devices and the ability to make music in different settings (based on the size of each device).
Hit:
Kawai MP7se stage piano.
Underrated.
I was looking for a versatile stage piano with a good action and good piano sounds, but tweakable with layers, fx etc. These things are expensive.
The Kawai has a better piano action than any of the Nords (except the $$$$Grand) and is substantially cheaper. Four layers. Great MIDI. Surprisingly good FX. Very good piano and electric piano sounds. Not much doing as a synth, but very good if your focus is piano. Heavy - but worth it.
Miss:
Wavestate.
Some great sounds in it, and interesting synth architecture; options galore. I really appreciate how much Korg give you with WS, but build quality and UI were just inadequate for me.
In summary, this is the year I realised I prefer playing to programming, and how important UI is to me.
Only hits for me in 2021 :
-1010 Bluebox. Perfect for live mixing or as a synth sub-mixer. Easy to use and small footprint.
-Tascam Model 12. It sounds good and feels just like a cassette portastudio in use.
-Erica Synth Syntrx. Feels like a synth of a lifetime. Solid construction.
-Roland MC101/707. Latest firmware update brought some significant improvements.
This.