2021 Gear Purchase: Hits & Misses

The Lounge General Discussion
#163

Hits:
Pro 2 This is the 2010s Fizmo. It’s just weird and has its own sound. Really easy to get fizzy noisy melodic sounds with it. The quality of the knobs and keys are pretty shameful on something this expensive though.

Polybrute: I literally got this 2 days ago so this is really just a first impression. Probably the best interface I’ve used on a hardware synth, making it a joy to program and play.

Maaaaybe:
Matriarch Time will tell if I’ll keep this one around, but it really does sound amazing. I don’t really like patching it up though. Maybe this modular thing just isn’t for me.

Miss:
Prophet 12 module I liked how it sounds a lot, but ultimately found it a bit cumbersome to use. It’s not the modules fault, but I just noticed I want a dedicated set of keys with my synth. Midi controllers are a hassle.

Novation Peak Somewhat similar to above, but additionally I found programming it this weird blend of knob-per-function and deep menu diving. As a result I found myself not really wanting to dig in.

M8 Tracker I got along well with the headless version, but something about the tiny handheld itself just didn’t do it for me. I ended up leaving it boxed for 2 months until I decided to sell it. It does so much, but I just wasn’t making music with it. Time to move on.

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#164

Hits:
I bought nothing this year

Misses
Sometimes i miss my ot, i sold it

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#165

Hits:
ASM Hydrasynth desktop. I have never created that many patches on any synth I had before (does not mean they are any good :joy:) . Love the routing matrix accessibility, stepped LFO that acts as sequencer.
Behringer RX 1602 v2: had a really nice Midas Venice 160 with a lot of routing options but could not justify it. Sold it but needed a basic line mixer. At 100€ this thing is a problem solver.

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#166

I bought a matriarch in december 2020, i bought an MPC mk2 in 2021, but sent it back

#167

Top hits:

Moog Subsequent 37
Audiothingies Doctor A
NI Maschine+
Mac Mini M1

No misses. With MPC One I have mixed feelings. Still keeping it although I like Maschine+ workflow way more.

#168

I’ve always imagined this to be a bit like a HW physical version of Pigments, which I really like… not sure how accurate that is but there’s something about the Polybrute that is really appealing. Have you compared them?

Then I read this and worry about you. :joy:
I can count on one hand how many times I’ve sat and patched things on my Matriarch… I just get to too many inspired sounds:settings before even thinking of a patch. It’s the purest sounding synth I have by a mile.

Even with those 4 oscillators, I constantly find myself pulling it back to 1 or 2 Osc’s and just loving it’s sound.

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#169

Hits:

Octatrack MKII. 3rd time owning it and it finally making sense. Not sure exactly why it’s clicking this time, but finally deciding to take meds for my adhd is definitely not hurting. I have a lot more patience these days.

OB-6 Desktop. Always wanted one and recently scored this off a friend. Been playing this every day.

Keystep 37. Still so compact with more keys and awesome features. Love the strum/chord mode and plays well with everything!

Echo Fix Tape Echo. Wife asked me what I wanted for my 50th and thought I should get something indulgent to ease the pain. It worked! The feedback and time inputs take CV and been wanting to explore that…just a little nervous to try it.

Endorphin.es Shuttle System. There’s a lot packed into this small system. Really versatile and pairs well with other things…been using it a lot with Digitakt lately. Also keeps me from wanting to expand/spend lots of money on more eurorack.

Great to see so much praise for the Pro 2 in 2021 as well! I recently moved studio into a bedroom corner and don’t have room for it so it sits in its bag against the wall until I can figure something out. Might end up trading it for a Vermona Perfourmer in 2022.

Misses:

ASM Hydrasynth. Really cool, just didn’t click with it. The layout was a struggle for me and was time consuming. Kind of weird footprint with the I/O recessed in the back too.

Enjoy Electronics Reminder. Super fun to play with and easy to create interesting rhythms. Some small complaints…the filter made a annoying pop when switching from high to low pass that would be repeated in the delay line and the reverb could be harsh and difficult to dial in at times. It had to be used with extreme moderation and found myself messing with the filter a lot.

Might seem silly, but what really bothered me was the footprint. It was large and the cables stuck out in the back at a angle making it difficult for me to find space for it. I was always moving it around trying to make room and the wood seemed really soft and delicate…made me nervous every time I moved it. A 3U rack option would have been amazing…definitely take that over the wood and glowing lights.

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#170

There’s some overlap for sure. I’d say the FX might honestly be straight lifted out of Pigments. The core sound of it is more like a souped up minibrute though. They tamed it a little so it could work as a poly, but the heritage is undeniably there. As far as polys go this is probably the fattest sounding one I’ve owned. Pigments analog engine is a bit tamer in comparison.

Am I the only one in this thread that didn’t put the Matriarch down as a hit? :wink:

It’s really down to the interface more than the sound. I’m probably going to box it for a little while and see how I feel later on.

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#171

purchases:

monomachine
machinedrum
octatrack
pulsar 23
matriarch
zoia

hits:
machinedrum
monomachine
pulsar 23

miss:
zoia
octatrack (ehhh)

not a miss but had to let go:
matriarch (immigrating to the states from korea and it’s too big and heavy to travel with)

I only got machinedrum because the monomachine seller was only going to sell if i bought both of them together but turns out I enjoy machinedrum just as much as, if not more than, monomachine.
Especially with the unofficial firmwares, this thing is so so so much fun to play with.

Pulsar23 is my latest acquisition, kind of an overkill for me, but I couldn’t resist when I watched some videos on youtube of people demonstrating all that it can do.
This is the instrument that I’m having the most fun with at the moment.
Once I start that thing up, I only stop when my neck starts to hurt from looking down for too long, and that takes about 4 hours or so.
Infinitely fun and exciting that now I’m planning to revolve my whole setup around it with MAX/MSP and ES-9 to process signals from pulsar in and out using max

Octatrack is the first piece of hardware I ever got
and I did have a lot of fun with it, until I wanted to actually synthesize sounds and not rely on samples.
It is still quite a fun little box to play with for sure but I’m not sure if I need it anymore with all these other boxes that can make/process sounds.
Especially now that I started learning max/msp, I feel like I can cover a lot of sample mangling and slice chaining that I was using OT for.
Still not sure if I want to sell it off just yet. I’m trying to find a way to incorporate it into my workflow.
I am not trying to go the dawless route so I’m not at all opposed to having a laptop in my workflow so having an OT is a bit awkward at the moment but idk. I wanna keep it and use it.

Zoia was also kind of fun for a while, and it is actually kind of the reason why I opened myself up to learn max finally.
It was my first time with modular and i had great fun with it, but the screen and tiny buttons were just too damn difficult to get used to. Not fast nor intuitive enough for me. Sold it off to a friend.

Matriarch was my next step after Zoia, and I miss it dearly. (sold it about a month ago)
I am thinking of maybe getting one again once I get to the US.

#172

I thought the same thing with the MatrixBrute I purchased several years ago, until I got the Hydrasynth desktop this year, which works very similarly but in a much smaller package (because it is digital, rather than virtual analog). I almost think of the Hydrasynth as a portable MatrixBrute. The same guy designed the interface and capabilities of both, and it shows in the way you can so easily and sensibly get into the oscillators, modulations effects and macros. I’d say the Hydrasynth actually improves on the interface design structure of the MatrixBrute/PolyBrute, but they still both definitely have their places.

#173

From what I’ve seen the Hydrasynth takes a lot of inspiration from the Prophet 12 module. It’s really efficient, but not really comparable to something knob-per-function if you ask me.

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#174

Hits:

  • MPC Live 2
    I may bought this in 2020, but it affected my workflow a lot in 2021. Coming from the OT and jamming rough mixes on it, I wanted a device that is not a computer (sitting in front of one all day at the office) but has more depth for arranging songs and not just jamming patterns. I still haven’t reached that goal (Akai give OS 3.0 with arranger plz), but it was a big step forward.

  • Selling things
    After I finished my studies and get into my first real job, the sudden financial income gave me the opportunity to buy a lot of gear. In the past, I only were able to spend money on gear when I worked part-time jobs as a student and then I could only afford used gear where I found a good deal. That changed a lot and I bought lots of random stuff where I felt I could need it (GAS / shiny new thing).
    After all, it didn’t help my music or made me any happier.

Misses:

  • MC-101
    I bought it for having an easy access to “digital” bread-and-butter sounds from the classic Roland romplers (e.g. JV-1080) and use it basically as a MIDI sound module. Unfortunately it’s too menu-divey for my taste and it’s not easy to choose one of the thousands presets (very good ones!) via MIDI Program Change.
    It may be fine as a groovebox, but I think it’s not very suitable as a sound module.

  • Eurorack
    As I said in the second paragraph above, with the full-time job came more money and more opportunities to spend that money. Modular became the big new shiny thing and of course I wanted to try it too.
    I bought popular module after module (PNW, Morphagene, Squid Salmple), but quickly learned the all the wiring and random noises without musical context weren’t for me. I think I like instruments as a “closed devices”, kind of traditional instruments.

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#175

Hits:
Sequential Prophet Rev2: I’ve been looking for a workhorse poly and tried out the Hydrasynth, the Peak, and the Rev2. I loved the Hydrasynth and held onto it for several months, but ultimately sold it because I heard so much about those Peak oscillators. But then I just didn’t dig the Peak. I respect it, I know people love it, it’s just not for me. So I returned it and got the Rev2. In a nutshell, I think I’d be happy with either the Hydrasynth or the Rev2. Both have their strengths. The Hydra is the most fun but I truly think the Rev2 sounds better. And its enough fun that I’m gonna stick with it.

Roland SE-02: I actually already own an SE-02, but I freaking love this little guy so much that I decided to stockpile a second one just in case they suddenly discontinue it. I know it’s not a modern classic and there will be plenty on the used market if and when they discontinue it, but we all know those aren’t the highest quality materials, so at least I have a backup that no one has banged around or farted on. Incidentally, I’m not much of a preset user, but the presets on the SE-02 are so GREAT! This is an unbelievable synth for the money. Makes me want to sell my car and get an SE-3X.

Arturia MatrixBrute: I’m a sensitive guy, I wear my heart on my sleeve to my detriment. So it’s hard for me not to get to hyperbolic about how awesome this big bear of a synth is. It doesn’t seem to get a lot of love out there. I think people think it’s a beefed up Minibrute and i guess in some ways it is. But it has that ladder style filter to go along with the Steiner Parker for those who don’t care for the aggressive S-P. Having both filters with both personalities is a blast. It can be punk rock, but it can also totally be a kind and gentle giant. It is too fucking big, I’ll give it that. I can’t justify getting another keyboard synth for the rest of my life basically.

On the fence:
Pittsburgh Modular Lifeforms SV-1B Blackbox: I just haven’t spent enough time with this thing to really know for sure if I can give it a permanent home. I have 2 young kids and consequently my creative energy is so fleeting that I need to be able to start making music immediately when I get the chance. The SV-1b, for me at least, is not an immediate gratifier. But if I can just hang onto it 11 more years.

Misses:
Red Panda Particle: It bricked after the return window closed :frowning:

6 Likes
#176

Ive been getting into this little box a lot more for a new album project. Its so good! The thing that stands out is vanilla bass patches, stand out among similar patches on my other synths. Theres a unique voice here that you just dont hear anywhere else. Tiniest bit of reverb from the quad and it has presence

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#177

MatrixBrute is fully analog (including analog fx), I believe.

#178

Don’t underestimate the value of maintaining a tasteful level of frugality throughout your life.

Not only will you end up with more of the stuff you really value (because frugality is about optimizing for value), but people will respect you more. People love it when you splash money around, but as soon as you are done, they are gone.

5 Likes
#179

Yeah, that blade wave sounds so good raw. i gotta put more time into it. i’m not gonna sell it.

1 Like
#180

Hits Hardware:
Electra One Controller
Strandberg Boden 7 String Guitar
Apple MBpro 14 M1 pro

Hits further education:
Music Hackspace Workshops
Amazing Max Tutorials F. Foderaro

Misses: Line6 HX stomp

1 Like
#181

2021 wasn’t quite such a hyper-active year for acquisitions and disposals. As life got back to normal, the lockdown distractions of Reverb and Ebay thankfully moved onto the back burner as my wallet recovered.

Hits:
Lyra-8: so I bought it on the basis that everyone else seems to have as well. And it’s as amazing as promised. An electronic instrument that has (or effectively fakes) feels. The Soma guys are full of nonsensical rhetoric most of the time, but they properly nailed it with this one. One of those classic-keep-for-ever bits of kit. No wonder so few end up on the second hand market.

Grendel Drone Commander V1: So I had the Classic pedal, which is on the face of it better - more range, more flexibility, a non-daft form factor. But when I saw this drone/ammo can hybrid up for sale for a non-ridiculous price I bought it anyway, and it has brought much happiness by way of payback. Another keeper, there isn’t anything like it aesthetically or sonically.

Kinetik DAO Algorythmic Chopper: Basically a modular unit in pedal form without a foot switch. Which is annoying. But its a neat toy. Basically it chops stuff in a variety of rhythmic patterns depending on where you turn a couple of dials. Thats basically it. But its clockable, which is neat. And (when you hit a sweet spot) churns out all sorts of interesting accidental delights.

Blackskycraft Solaris Reverb: A shamelessly exact clone of the DBA Sunshine Reverb pedal. Rackety great blasts of fuzzy reverby garage goodness. Just fun to let rip with.

Reuss Fuzz Repeater MkIII: Spacemen 3 in a box. Almost exactly. A perfect clone of the Vox Starstreamer onboard effects. Boost/Fuzz/Repeat Percussion. Sure, there are limits to what you can do with it, but its hard not to admire the absolute precision of what they’ve done.

Elektron Digitakt: It’s rather good isn’t it? For a casual electronicist
like me (basically a guitarist looking for diverting activities) its straightforward, accessible and fun. No song mode though which would make life so much better…

Misses:
Sonicware Liven 8bit Warps: it’s got some great sounds, its cheap, brash and fun. But I haven’t really been drawn into playing with it after the first few weeks of ownership. Maybe its the plastickyness. Maybe its the slightly annoying control set up. It should be great - I think in a slightly different form factor it could have been epic.

Elektron AR MkII: Look its great, the sounds are fantastic, I loved it. But just too big and heavy to be much fun to use outside of an installed environment. Dragging it out of the bag to set up became boring and frustrating quickly. You can’t just chuck it in a back and take it somewhere. Quickly replaced it with a Digitakt, which isn’t quite as amazing, but is a lot more convenient.

In betweens (for now):
Gamechanger Audio Light Pedal: its a spring reverb with optical sensors and some clever electronics. It makes interesting and unique sounds. It lights up when you play it. Still not quite sure I’ll keep it. But then again, thats because I can’t ever make up my mind about reverbs. Can anyone else?

DBA Speed Tripper: I bought into the limited edition hype. And its a decent pedal with one (very) good trick. Sticking a phaser on the delay feedback. Its gnarly and lofi and turns simple strum alongs into woozy psychedelic delights. One to keep? Not sure yet, perhaps for a while given that if I sell it I probably wont get another one at a decent price.

Dwarfcraft Reese Lightning: mainly because its just arrived. A much tweaked Eau Clare Thunder fuzz, with more volume and gain on tap than is sensible. For some reason almost forces you to play stoner riffs on your guitar when you switch it on. This might move to the hits by the end of the month/year

Seppuku Octave Drone: basically another very loud fuzz/distortion pedal. On the in betweens because I just haven’t used it much. Mainly bought because Seppuku pedals are (or were back in the days when ilovefuzz was an active forum) indescribably unobtainium in their day. Not as good as their Memory Loss (the best glitch/fuzz/delay ever?). But will probably keep in the cupboard for a while on the basis that I would find it hard to get rid of.

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#182

I’d really like one of those!

1 Like