2023 Gear Purchase: Hits and Misses

The Lounge General Discussion
#21

I had a pretty quiet year after a couple of getting-started years…

Hits

  • 0-Ctrl (written about elsewhere here, its simply a lot more than meets the eye and really completed my semi-modular jamming setup, mostly paired with 0-Coast but in a surprising number of ways)
  • Guitar pedals and especially guitar pedal DIY, managed to step back from the Eurorack precipice by grabbing a Carbon Copy, dusting off an old Boss Ch-1 chorus, and then diving into different drives. Building classic circuits from PCBs was both therapeutic and a lot of fun, have started building things for friends as well.

Jury Out Software: I was prescribed very limited screen time, still on it, shortly after purchasing Bitwig 5, and I’ve also purchased a number of iOS apps that are great but I only fiddle with them really. Same with the Electrosmith Daisy DSP platform, which I made into a guitar pedal, but aside from some proofs of concept I haven’t had a chance to dig in and build anything myself…

Old Favorite I’m still getting a lot of mileage out of the Syntakt, I continue to find its immediacy inviting, its limitations challenges, and its depth surprising.

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#22

Hits:
This became my year of diving further into eurorack dumba$$ery:

  • Maths
  • Mimeophon
  • Make Noise Case with middle row CV thing
  • QPAS
  • Pam’s Pro Workout
  • Boredbrain envelope follower (for my saxophone into eurorack!)
  • 4x4 stereo matrix mixer
  • Beehive (Plaits clone)

Non modular:

  • 12’x16’ backyard studio! heavy insulation and just moved in last weekend!
  • Bass Clarinet (not a saxophone… at all)
  • Mood MKII
  • OBNE MTET (midi to 4 exp outputs! Very fun)

Misses:
Not a lot, as I’m getting wiser in my 40s…

  • OBNE Float (good filter, the envelope followers aren’t as usable as I want)
  • OBNE BL-44 reverse (it’s fine… just not as good as other options)… OBNE is one of my favorite companies… these two just didn’t work out for me.
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#23

Just hits here with a slight exception.
I tried not to buy much at all with a failed no gear new year commitment, but there were a few things I couldn’t resist.

Roland S-1:
Excellent little poly synth. It deserves the praise it’s getting.
I do have mine up for sale though since I feel like I’ve got the ground covered in synthesis with other things I’ve got.

Mood MKII:
Instant ambience is right. And I love how the clock function just destroys sounds into a bitcrushed and stretched blanket.

Korg MS-20 Mini:
It’s a bucket list synth for me and just got it recently for cheap at a second hand shop.
I can’t say much to add to the allure of this classic mono. Patching it is making me really appreciate how easy things are on the digi boxes, but I’m having a great time exploring it.

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#24

Hit: when the Tracker was on sale for barely what, 300$? (fairly recent ago)…thats a hit for me.
I like how easy it is to change notes/key/octaves.
It gets me away from Ableton, while retaining most of the visuals. keeper.

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#25

Almost all hits for me this year! Carefully building a studio back up after some time away.
Hits:

Syntakt - currently my only elektron box, finding it very fast and comfy. The focused machines and large track count are liberating after spending a lot of time with the DN.

Take 5 - feel quite lucky to be able to own such a sweet sounding and flexible vco poly at this price point. Sweet spots flow quickly but can also get very weird via the mod matrix. 44 keys with the low split make it a great master keyboard without taking up tons of room.

DIY norns+grid - a world of creative looping and sequencing. a low-friction master recorder for quickly bouncing jams and ideas. huge thanks to denkioto for this, it’s more of a game changer than I had planned.

M1 mac mini - always-on studio computer. Silent and powerful. Bitwig handles arranging, mixing and midi routing, which is so much smoother than trying to do it OTB. hybrid ftw

jury’s out:

M8 tracker - used headless for a while but haven’t been able to click with the ergonomics of the hardware unit. The buttons just feel too far apart and it strains my thumbs. Bummed about this because the software is amazing and there’s a great discord community around it.

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#26

Misses:

Original Arturia Drumbrute: too large for my shrinking studio but I loved its ‘Clap’ particularly; many of the parts need extra processing to really get right, which isn’t surprising given that it has no FX section, but doing this means eating all my audio inputs to route for it

Modal Craft Synth 2.0: lovely little thing I never used because it was difficult to make it work without noise on USB, and I got tired of swapping batteries on it; I kind of miss it, but noisy-by-default means it’s something to ‘deal’ with, and I’m tired

Drops:
Korg Z1: too large for my shrinking studio/sucks to program

RS7000: people are always like ‘what!!’ But it’s HUGE sand sounds like crap; sequencer rocks; Pyramid covers most of that

Ableton Live 11 Suite: barely use it; never grew on me; performs horribly compared to LP on the same machine; periodically looses projects due to the file being corrupted, and MAN I have no tolerance for that. Might sell this license now.

APC40: see above

Key step Pro: I don’t get why people like this; midi routing sucks for a sequencer; it’s not dual MIDI out, it’s a hub; always sends note from keyboard out whatever track channel you’re on

Around 70% of my software-based virtual instruments and samples collected over 20 years. This was easy just saying: keep the ones that are M1 native AND that install without Rosetta and ditch everything else… that cleared things out quickly --> some are still on the Intel machine so I can migrate elsewhere. I don’t miss computer-time to make music (eventually, after dealing with some stupid issue nearly every time) ANY.

Hits:
Wavestate: used, cheap, mint. Love it. It’s complicated, but that’s part of its appeal to me
Volca Kick: used, super-cheap
Monologue: used, insanely-cheap, mint: It’s easy, and that’s a huge part of its appeal to me
MIOXL: midi-routing/filtering nirvana for me on sale for cheap and used sales-money anyway
Squarp Pyramid: sequencing nirvana for me, also on sale for cheap

Undecided:
Drumlogue: Ugh. Don’t even know where to start, lol. It sounds great. MIDI implementation sucks. Using it alone is alright. Integrating it is a nightmare. It’s undecided because the MIOXL has added the MIDI routing and filtering it ‘should’ have come with.

7 Likes
#27

Hits:

OT: pretty cool except for the sound quality :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

SP404mk2: perfect end of chain for me. And it’s tons of fun making hip hop beats with it. My kids love singing into it and making funny auto tune voices.

Meh:

I tried for the 3rd time to like a Jackson guitar. Very high build quality for the price but I just can’t get into the feel. Always thought I’d look super cool playing one but sometimes it’s not always about looks.

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#28

Things that made it permanently in the Studio :

  • Take 5 : wow!
  • SH-01A : I don’t know why I’ve waited so long to get one.
  • Meris LVX : sounds fantastic and I prefer its UI more than the H90.
  • AH+FX : replaced my AH MKII

Things that didn’t make the cut :

  • H90 : it does too much.
  • JU-06A : I would prefer a Nymphes.
  • Endorphin.es Golden Master and Ghost pedals : shitty products.
  • MI Nina : multitimbrality is not my thing.
  • Terra : no time to learn an Instrument.
  • Prophet Rev 2 : I prefer the Take 5.
  • Hades reissue and Vermona Retroverb Lancet : would have keep them but took them to finance something else.
  • Waldorf M : didn’t bring anything more than my Hydrasynth.
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Endorphin.es fx pedals!
#29

Hits
Syntakt: I was unimpressed by the early demos, but now I am all in. The DVCO and chord machines make it a powerhouse. It’s an absolute dub monster
Digitakt: Scored this secondhand after the 1.50 update. It’s a great companion for adding texture, and it really scratched my itch for granular.

Miss
SP404mk2: Got a good deal on it, bought a powerbank to use it on the go, reordered my sample library to play nice with the file structure. Absolutely hated the workflow. Some people get great stuff out of that machine. That is just not how my brain works at all.

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#30

HITS:

  • Nord Drum 3p - BIG HIT. I haven’t had this much fun with new gear in a while. It just taps into a different part of the brain being able to play your instrument like this.

  • Octatrack mk2 - rebought this, also had an mk1 but I can’t cope with the old screens and encoders. So it had to be another mk2. Love it and won’t sell it this time. Just to useful in too many situations. Yes, I still have my gripes, but can ignore them now.

  • A4 mk2 - pretty much the same situation as above. Haven’t had too much time to use it, but it is a keeper, as I know how versatile it is.

  • MOTU Ultralite mk4 - I replaced my TX-6, because I need a Mic input with a proper preamp, which means I had to connect a larger box to it anyway. The MOTU fixes this and also has a lot of room for expansion. (actually bought an old 828mk3 for really cheap if I need more inputs)
    The mk4 is easily accessed and edited from any browser…which I guess makes it more future proof than having to install a software that may or may not be supported in future (if I understand that correctly). It sounds good to my ears, although i got the older, non-ESS version. For the price of $300 used, it was an absolute bargain and I am super happy.
    The TX-6 is great, if you don’t need a Mic preamp and have a few small TRS desktop devices…but it also distorts easily in a not so pleasing way.

MISSES:

  • Digitakt - bought it after selling my OT. Bad decision. The new slice mode is too limited and I generally don’t like the form of the Digi units. I thought Overbridge would make it worth it…lesson learned.

  • Syntakt (I think it was this year) - Again, don’t like the Digi range for some reason. The really interesting features from the larger boxes are missing, which makes them feel different to me.

  • AR mk1 - I am not a fan of the drum synth…I like the performance features, but that isnt enough to keep it, as the sampling is so limited. I’d love a Digital Rythm, with performance pads & scenes + sampling. That would be a real winner in my books.

In-Between:

  • Analog Keys - Great instrument, if there was an mk2 version (better screen and encoders, different LED for trig keys) it would probably be my favorite instrument. But after having used the mk2 versions, the slow refresh rate of the (way too small) screen combined with the sluggish encoders just isn’t fun to use.
    If one can get over these little issues, it’s one of the best instruments out there in my opinion. I sadly can’t get over it.
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#31

Forgot to mention that I bought this used from Guitar Center. The previous owner named the Syntakt “Diddy” (as in P.Diddy I guess?). I’m an idiot and I can’t figure out how to change it. So every time I plug it in to my computer, I see the message “Diddy is connected.” It’s great.

24 Likes
#32

I only bought 4 pieces of gear this year - all hits:

Digitakt, Lyra-8, Vongon Paragraphs analogue filter pedal and Bastl Bestie mixer.

Misses from 2022 - SSL Six. Overly complicated my setup, took a ton of cables and sucked down all my I/O. Sounds great but not worth the hassle. I realized how much I love RME’s totalmix software.

Rytm Mkii - my second foray with this machine. It was behind a good deal of releases the last time I had it and I had sentimental value. Unfortunately it just doesn’t work for me anymore as I needed more out of the sampling side of it. I loved the sound locking functionality of it too.

TE OP-1 - This thing is so awesome. Unfortunately the M8 showed up at the same time and rapidly became my go to portable gadget. But honestly if I get a lot of spare cash next year, the field would be on my short gas list just because it is so unique, portable and powerful.

My 2024 GAS list is very short - Digitone, Pulsar-23 and maybe the Field. I of course reserve an opening on this list for the next Elektron release.

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#33

only bit o’ kit i got in 2023:

Polyend Tracker Mini, and it’s been a hit for me so far.

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#34

Hit
Pittsburgh Modular SV-1b. Unbelievable synth for bass. Multidimensional. The Pittsburgh filter is incredible. This is the only bass synth I have had that can truly compete with a real bass guitar. (I control the SV-1b with my AK using CV.)

Miss
Dreadbox Hades. Pretty cool, but sounds generic to me. Also, it is one dimensional.

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#35

I too gave up on the iPad. Even Drambo didn’t live up to its hype.

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#36

Mixed, with the caveat that I think I just haven’t dug deep enough:

Pulsar-23: Incredible sounds, endless depth…just not enough time spent unlocking its secrets.

Erica Techno System: Same as above…I know once I spend some more time with this beast, it will most likely rise to a hit.

Misses:

Glo The Polyphonic Whale: It’s too muzak-y, and more like a toy than an instrument.

1 Like
#37

really is such a devise piece of gear. i’d be curious to see what genres everyone is trying to make with it, would be interesting data.

1 Like
#38

Erica synths LXR02
Erica synths drum sequencer
Intelljel Metropolix
Tiptop audio mantis case

All absolutely smash hits (even the case, no sliding nuts, plenty of power, nice and light, good size)

Roland sp404mk2
The jury is still out…I want to declare it a hit, there’s a lot I love about it but sometimes I want to chuck the little fucker out the window, the workflow is very foreign to me coming from MPCs/mashine/several Elektron boxes/Ableton etc I’ve gotten a bit spoiled and lazy in that most of the above named gear I’ve used I’ve worked with without reading the manuals generally if I want to do something I think how would I implement this? And 90% of the time it’s what I figured. That couldn’t be further from the case with the 404mk2 it’s extremely counterintuitive imo though that doesn’t inherently make it bad by any means I’ve gotten most of the features I’ll commonly use figured out and I’m memorizing them now so I’ll have to hold my opinion until I’ve worked with it for a few months but I must say for the price the feature set and portability almost instantly make it a hit…time will tell but I am very happy with my recent modular purchases

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#39

I’m sure it is in a lot of hands. I found funny in such a small amount of posts that it was mentioned several times. Humorous observation.

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#40

Mostly focused on re-configuring my R&B studio setup this year. Below of some of my favorite purchases to support the said goal:

  • Akai MPC Key 61
  • Korg Nautilus 61
  • Roland Fantom-06
  • Yamaha MODX6+
  • Korg SV-2
  • Solid State Logic Bus+
  • Solid State Logic Fusion
  • Warm Audio WA-47

I cannot recall any misses,

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