2023 Gear Purchase: Hits and Misses

The Lounge General Discussion
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One final Sale for this year: Machinedrum SPS-1 MkII

TLDR:
I hesitate to call this a Miss, more of a Not for Me. It is an incredible instrument, built well, and full of possibilities. However, it just does not fit in my music and I only ever even recorded it when I sampled it before selling - most things I tried with it just didn’t work, or were better-achieved with Syntakt. I was also worried about longevity.

Specifics:

  • Loved the sound in isolation. It’s easy and fun to push the MD in to really weird territory. That really weird stuff was cool but I did not love trying to make it mesh with the music I make. I found that the MD sort of guided me to make music I didn’t enjoy hearing in the context of my own work. I felt like I had to fight it at times to make things I liked.

  • Specifically, I love the kicks and some of the metallic plinky sounds I got out of it. Snares were usually cool and it makes thunderous basses. The sine wave in EFM HH sounds great too.

  • Having a printed manual was great.

  • Previous Elektron experience transferred well and the form factor is perfect, but I missed a lot of modern features and did not want to spend the money on a MCL. I use Retrigs, trig conditions, etc a lot to make longer patterns and not having them hurts if I’m using a 4-bar sequencer (I work in 8 or 16 bar phrases typically). I dislike the jogwheel on the top left, I never got used to it. Func + Trig also switches tracks but I kept forgetting about that.

  • 16 freely assignable LFOs are cool, but I don’t want to spend the time assigning them and would easily lose track of what was going where. The 2-LFOs-per-track of the DT/ST/A4 work better for me.

  • Longevity is a real concern - parts can be expensive, and will only get more rare as time goes on and more of these break down. I don’t want to deal with that.

  • I just didn’t use it. I was excited to own it, but never wanted to play it. That’s not a good enough reason for me to keep something this expensive. That says nothing about the machine, it’s great. I just gravitated towards my Syntakt or Digitakt for the things I’d ostensibly use the MD for.

  • Despite all of the above, I’m very glad I got to try it out. Now I don’t have to wonder about it anymore.

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This was the first year since I started buying synth hardware that I didn’t have easy access to the US market, with its frequent 10%-off sales (sometimes more) and easily-dodged tax regimes. I also was reaching saturation on stand-alone gear and Eurorack space. So purchasing was down from previous years, and I expect it to decline further.

Hits:

Roland S-1: I had pegged the compact Aira series as limited toys, but everyone raved out this when it came out, and it sounded good in demos and had an impressive set of features. It was my first European purchase. I got it to pair with the TR-6S, but I have yet to hook them up together, because every time I take out the S-1, I just play with it by itself. What a little joy box!

Frap Tools Cunsa: This was my major purchase of the year. When it was announced, I was pleased to see it; a new module from Frap Tools is always an event, but at first I thought it wasn’t for me. Like its sibling Fumana, it is big, beautiful, and expensive.

IMG_4419
IMG_44194032×3024 3.34 MB

It’s a quad multimode resonant filter, with the usual features, plus four character knobs which morph from soft to hard clipping. There’s also a mixing section with clever normalizations, input and output VCAs with overdrive, ping inputs, and overall lots of CV inputs with attenuverters. I eventually realized it would solve a number of issues with my Frap Tools case. Most importantly, it would pair well with the Brenso oscillator, which deserves nuanced treatment, and I also had Usta to provide it with modulation.

Intellijel Plonk: This module is a few years old, and wasn’t at all on my radar, but I proposed a trade on my local Craigslist (which had a negligible amount of Eurorack traffic), and I was surprised and pleased with the result. Plonk is a digital module with high-quality physical modelling algorithms. It has a single trigger input, but is duophonic, so tails can ring out; it has presets and kits; one can morph continuously between two presets using the same model. It sounds fantastic, and pretty much put my fascination with the unobtainable Nord Drum 2 to rest.

Intellijel Planar 2: I hadn’t planned on purchasing this module, which was out of stock for at least a year, but Intellijel released a small tranche to retailers this month, and I jumped on it. So it is perhaps too soon to call it a hit, but I expect it to be one. It’s a joystick, but in addition to generating X-Y information (unipolar or bipolar), it can do 4-quadrant mixing/panning (4 inputs with associated VCAs). It has a manual gate, or gates can be generated by joystick motion. With an expander (which I already have) I can get Cartesian and quadrant gates. Its gesture recorder (joystick motion and gates) can record and play back up to 4 minutes, with overdubbing. Two CV inputs can be used for external Cartesian or polar control, or to scrub through a recording. Loads of possibilities. I’ve never had a joystick on anything.

Misses:

I didn’t have any misses this year, but two of my misses of previous years went out the door: I traded away Norand Morphos, and I sold Model:Cycles, each to someone who seemed enthusiastic about the new possibilities.

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I’ve bought very little this year, but sold a few things I was hoarding.

Hit: I’ve bought 2 spares of my favourite groovebox, the M+ as they were just too cheap for how good they are, and I can’t resist a bargain.
Bought a SP-16 again too. I’m one of the people that loves the sequencer and it’s more practical than it’s big brother, on my lap in the living room.

Miss: Polyend Play. Cool box in the right hands, but just not for me.

Still awaiting the EP-133, so could go either way.

Watched something recently about how unused gear takes away energy and there might be something in that, so I need to keep streamlining and focus on just keeping my better stuff, that I want to use, but there’s always that rainy day when i’m going to use that piece of gear again.

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Hits:

Korg Opsix:
Very great sounds and surprisingly easy and fun UI even though it’s menu divey

Arturia Microfreak stellar:
Mostly using it for the sample engine and it’s the most fun sample keyboard i used so far. The Microsampler is cool too but the Microfreak has more dedicated knobs for tweaking the sound. Best looking synth i own.

Critter & Guitari 5 Moons:
Great for recording ambient stuff or add free flowing loops over beats. Really digging the tiny format and straight forward UI.

Misses:

SP-404 mkII:
Made a lot of beats on SP-303, 404, 505 and wanted to get back into the vibe. It does a lot of things that i always wanted on the older machines but i couldn’t get on with the UI. Too many menu’s and hitting exit buttons. It’s a very capable machine but not for me.

Liven Lofi-12:
A lot of cool features but it felt too cheap and fiddly.

Dreadbox Nymphes:
Lovely sound but a bit limited. Mainly letting it go because i used it with 2 midi contollers that made my desk look crowded and messy. Without controllers the UI is painful imo.

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I don’t know why this fascinates me so much but it does: the fact that both past and new SP users complain about the complex UI means there’s a degree of objective truth to the criticism.

I think it fascinates me because I’m trying to put myself in the shoes of the product people at Roland who designed this interface. Do they disagree when reading these comments over and over (this thread alone contains 30+ records of it)? Or do the go “oh, right, we really should hire some European UX designers to sort this out”?

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The SP-404mk2 was actually carefully designed to stay in line with the older models in terms of workflow. They’ve just bolted a lot of things on top of it. If you just use the features as found on older models it’s a pretty straightforward device. Of course if you’re not going to use them why bother with the mk2?

There’s also a lot of the usual Roland jank. To some degree they could still streamline the workflow with an update. I think esoteric button combos are here to stay, but theres a lot of room for improvement on the step sequencer and menu navigation side of things.

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I feel like all in all Roland did a good job. If they would have made the UI more simple a lot of people would have complained about missing features. In my case i could just get an older version and be happy. I could also use the mk2 like the old versions but there are these little things that add up and feel like a drag to me. Hitting shift to let the fx screen stay on, etc…

But we’re all different and nowadays we have the luxury to find devices that fit our workflow. I find the Circuit Rhythm refreshing without a screen and just a few features. Others need more visual feedback and more advanced options. I wouldn’t want to be a product designer. A lot of difficult decisions to make to try to hit the market with a good selling device.

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They should just release a new official faceplate for SP with added shortcuts. Not everything could be crammed in there, but at least some important additions could. I like to have direct shortcuts, it’s faster than using screen, but they need to be properly labeled. I don’t mind looking at the manual when I learn the device, but if I don’t use it for some time, those hidden stuff fly out of my head.

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Reflection on gear and creativity, nice, i like it.

Hits

Lexicon LXP-1
I’ve been looking for a decent reverb that hits the spots that i get in the Alesis Quadraverb, and Ensoniq DP4+, and is portable, and the LXP-1 does this with abundance. Super happy with it and looking for the editor next year.

Ableton Live 11 Suite
Yep!!! I cant believe it myself either. Having used limited versions of this software for years, and having a sort if “meh” feeling about it, I needing it for work so went in big, and super happy i did. I dunno, having to work with it in all sorts of ways and not just the way i would normally, I started to really appreciate this software and it’s power. Although with great power comes great responsibility, so keen to use it and not let it use me.

Rode PSA1+ Professional Mic Boom Arm
After buying cheap shit and it failing in some way, i bought this really out of frustration, and wow, it’s so great, thinking of buying another next year for the camera.

Peli 1510 Carry-On-Case
££££ but feels so good to wheel this to shows.

Mackie 1202 VLZ Mixer (1996)
After trying various mixers and routes, i just got what i know works, and it’s making everything sound dope.

Analog Rytm Mk2 & 1.70
Ok, technically not bought this year, but this year has been huge for me and the Rytm. Diving into making tons of YouTube videos with it, and it finally sounding great to me and then 1.70 lands…pow!!

Eventide Clockworks Bunde (and loads of other suff)
Wow!! Wow!! Wow!!!

Shure MV7 USB/XLR Dynamic Microphone (in black obviously)
Yeah, it’s so nice when gear just does the job and makes things easier and more enjoyable. Sure, i could have managed with my crazy work around, but having this mic removed many blockers and i was able to do more videos and enjoy it at the same time.

GFW Clothing underpants
Finally something that works :black_heart::purple_heart::innocent:

Misses

Gear4Music Studio Arm Mic Stand
I knew this was cheap garbage but what a waste of money. Just don’t bother.

Conclusion

A pretty positive year with gear, didn’t buy much either which is nice, and everything i did buy made a huge impact.

Definitely had some urges, but being pretty broke i only got what really gave me a huge return, and that feels great.

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HITS

Syntakt
Introduction to Elektron boxes and sequencer. Really enjoyed at first, but I haven’t been using it that much, but am holding on to it (perhaps foolishly) in the hopes that this machine’s hardware potential will be realized someday in a firmware update. The analog tracks 9-10-11 sound so good. I’d love more synth patches.

Digitakt
The box I should’ve bought first. Compressor, samples, new firmware features, external MIDI tracks without sacrificing regular tracks.

A4 mkII
Just got it as a Christmas present to myself. Loving it so far, so deep. Will pair very well with the Digi.

Fender Player Precision Bass
Have had a lot of basses but no Fenders until now! Put flats on it, I dig it.

Tech 21 VT Bass DI
Versatile and love the VT bass sound.

SSL 12 audio interface
It just works. Only downsides are the software creates 12 useless virtual MIDI devices, which is weird.

Austrian Audio OC16
Sounds damn good, if on a budget and can’t quite justify the OC18.

MISSES

Samson SR950 headphones
Not comfortable at all. Cheap-feeling, which makes sense because they are very low-cost.

MOTU 828mk3
Took a chance on this old, semi-supported hardware, and it just didn’t work smoothly on recent MacOS versions.

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Ableton Live 11 Standard was a definite hit for me and very fast workflow to create tracks in seconds and lots of free great software plugins to avoid me from buying expensive hardware this year.

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Didn’t buy that many gear this year

HITS

Spectraphon - can be way too trebly and piercing but if mixed correctly it sounds glorious. Simple and clever design tbh

Acid rain maestro - having presets on modular is pretty great. Kind of playable as well

Five12 vector - kind of like the Metropolix, instant melody maker! The ability to send PC to other machines is just chefs kiss and helped me to actually make my first track on modular

MISSES

Syntakt - can’t gel with it at all. Plus I dropped it while having the headphones jack attached and now the jack is somewhat broken, making it difficult to sell :woman_facepalming:t2:

Acid rain chainsaw - sure, supersaw in modular sounds like a nice idea but the virus hypersaw sounded better to my ears

NOT SURE?

AR mk2 - sure the euclidean mode and new machines are great but I’m still not sure i like it as much as I thought I would. Reverted back to machinedrum for the time being

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In:

Bastl Bestie: the piece of gear I needed to get a crude mixing of the 2 or 3 hardware pieces I’m usually bringing. I can even route towards an FX chain, and use feedback to get a dirtier sound. Much fun, good quality for the price.

Roland S-1: incredible value for the money. This one will never leave… It sparked my inspiration when I was really down. Makes a nice combo with the M8.

Push 3 standalone: I already love it, despite the little instabilities at times. I want it to become my main piece of gear, my project for 2024. I want to prepare a live in which I can improvise with an Elektron machine besides it. The start of a new era for me. And a commitment to buy no gear next year.

In and out:

Dreadbox Erebus 3: during the Synthfest this year I tried it and fell in love with the sound, but I definitely don’t need more hardware so it’s gone.

Gone:

Novation Peak: love this synth, but a friend of mine needs it more than me and this helped finance the P3SA

Digitakt: love it as well, but Octatrack is my own favorite, and it also helped financing the Push.

Morphagene: bye bye crazy one. I won’t miss you much, Make Noise desktop trilogy gets more love.

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:+1: digitakt, metal zone mt-2

:-1: tr-606, po-24 office

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Happy to report that it was a “sober” year

Hits

TX-6: extremely useful, I use it everyday to practice digital piano with the ability to listen to music playback in the same time or to record stuff in the OP-1 field or Loopy Pro. It replaced my scarlett 2i2 as the main audio interface

Digitakt e25: second Digitakt, I sold the previous one in May 2023 so not a long period of time between both as I had GAS for Push 3 Standalone. However I remembered that I didn’t like P2 workflow so I managed to move forward and went back to DT. It is my only Elektron machine at this time. The workflow and sequencer help me to finish songs and the new design is really great

AIAIAI wireless monitoring headphones: amazing, I use them everyday

Miss

Analogue Heat + FX: I liked the song but realized I could obtain similar results with computer or iPad as most of time I use a hybrid setup, at least at the mastering stage. Maybe if I play live someday I would buy one again.

Next

Waiting for the next Elektron release and considering replacing my Moog Minitaur with a Syntakt but not sure about it

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What is that? :eyes:

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Roland S-1.
I have owned a SH-01a in the past but this one is way better, to me. The ultimate bed/travel synth.

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Got me a VLZ1202 myself, great little mixer!

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Oh, and I forgot: Mackie VLZ 1202 mixer! Just what I needed after breaking my old mixer in a freak feedback loop accident.

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How’s the latency with the AIAIAIs?