Oh, snap, I gotta add Studio Display to my hits. I loooove it.
1 Like
Same, it’s a bit overpriced but a comparable 5k display that allows good Mac scaling is near the price and not as beautiful.
3 Likes
Bestie- it’s portable, battery powered, has an effect send, and it sounds great.
Norns Shield XL- I already have an og Norns but I might sell it. The xl is less than half the price, has midi jacks, and removable storage.
Volca Drum- best $80 I’ve ever spent. It’s basically a budget Raster-Noton sound box.
Mood MK2- my favorite pedal of all time. It’s the perfect tool for making ambient transitions in a live performance.
Robbons- it sounds lovely and is surprisingly versatile as a sculptor/colorer for fitting any sound into a mix.
8mu- a credit card sized midi controller with 8 sensitive faders?! It’s certainly not everyone’s idea of a hit but it’s perfect for my needs.
Mixed:
Peterlin- its base sound is kind of irritating, imo, but interesting things happen when it’s externally modulated, processing sound, or being the modulator… I mostly hold onto it cuz there aren’t that many cheap banana options to pair with my double knot.
Dfam- I honestly haven’t spent much time with it, but for some reason I’ve mostly used it to create softer sounds… sort of feels like I’m working against its inherent industrial nature.
4 Likes
Oh dear. I’m struggling for any hits.
Fors Opal I guess. The only thing safe from regrets 
I’m hoping at least one of Electribe 2 and EMX-1 will be a bit. Early signs of promise from both.
Misses…
Octatrack. Again. The problem is a I’m a 40 year old man with barely any time and ADHD and often stressed. It is too much.
Everything else that came in and out, I’m giving a free pass. It was ME that was the miss this year.
9 Likes
Miss:
Midicake ARP
Although great functionality on paper I totally hated the look and feel of it.
Exchanged it for a…
Hit:
Torso T-1.
Yeah the UI takes some learning, but this thing is awesome. Helps me a ton in “finding” melodic stuff, which I always struggled with before. Also great live performance functionality with random and temp.
Another Hit:
Dirtywave M8.
Absolutely insane device, if one can get into the tracker workflow.
Great support and community too.
7 Likes
How does your Eastman compare to a Martin?
1 Like
I would say in terms of fit and finish, etc, it’s excellent. Setup out of the box was pretty much perfect for me, even though I generally accept I’ll have to spend money on a good setup after buying an acoustic. I took a chance and bought the Eastman online.
I have a Martin Dread that I’ll never part with. It looks and sounds better with each year that passes. I did wonder whether there was some hype around Eastman but I’m happy to say any online praise I’d seen seems to be deserved.
It’s a different tone to my Martin - square shoulder vs sloped, etc - and more based on Gibson J45 style. If the Eastman happened to be my only guitar though, I’d be happy with it as a good workhorse. So much so that I’m now looking at their electric guitars too.
Not sure if I’ve answered your question but I’m impressed with Eastman based on this purchase.
G
3 Likes
[In]
Vermona Mono Lancet +++
Not the most flexible mono out there, but that filter never fails to impress. I also managed to tweak some FM-ish stuff out of it.
Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X +++
These just came in few days ago to replace my AKG 702s. Love the sound and that lower bass extension and appreciate very much that they are quite linear and don’t have that much of the dreaded Beyer-Peak.
[Out]
MAM MB-33 Retro
Not a real miss as it does what it is supposed to, but I sold it because of just being another one-trick-pony. Could have expected that. Lessons learned.
BOSS BX-800
Loved the design, cleaned it thoroughly, recorded a few ideas with it. Kind of got bored from the muffled sound of the EQs though. Sold because couldn’t justify to keep it just for saturation.
AKG K702
Had these for about 2 years and always struggled with the lack of bass and the strong boosted highs. Build quality is questionable, too. I had to solder a loose connection internally that seems common to break. If you look at what thin wire they are using and how, it’s obvious why.
3 Likes
Interesting to hear - I’ve nearly pressed the purchase button on an H90 several times, but something’s always held me back (probably price…), so always good to know about alternatives (somehow the Meris stuff is never on my radar).
I primarily play stringed instruments, so an external reverb/delay + more that works for synth/bass/guitar has been on my shopping list for a while.
HITS:
- Erica Synths Zen Delay - My favorite performance delay.
- Jomox MBase 11 - Probably the best kick-module for sculping analogue kicks.
- Analog Rytm MK1 - Almost replaced my digitone. Does well as a groovebox.
- Boss DD-200 - Nice and underrated bread and butter -delay.
- Analog Heat MK2 - Using it all of the time.
- Moog Minitaur - Had it once, then sold, and now bought it again. My main synth for basses.
- Allen&Heath ZED 14 - Wanted a mixer with enough channels and aux sends. Suits all my needs very well.
MISSES:
- Korg Minilogue - Good and simple, but didn´t find any usage for it.
- Dreadbox Erebus MK3 - Big, but good looking. Couldn’t find any good sounds from it. Sold it.
- Empress Zoia - Too weird and too difficult to use. Sold it.
- Roland TR-8S - Quite ok, but too big for my desk. Sold it.
- Arturia Microfreak - Has nice and unique sounds, but something still didn´t click for me. Sold it.
- Moog DFAM - Excellent piece of gear, but I just can´t find enough diversity from its sound palette. Still have it thought.
STILL TRYING TO LIKE/LEARN:
- Ableton Push 2 - Deep learning curve. My Digitakt does well enough for sculpting beats and sending midi to the Ableton Live vst´s.
- Analog four MK1 - Kinda like it and can see it´s potential, but still learning to find good sounds.
- Erica Synths Bassline db-01 - Has a lots of potential, but I hate the sequencer.
REGRET NOT BUYING:
- MFB Tanzbär 2 - Was listed in local classifieds for 500 euros. Still regret not buying it.
- Jomox XBase 09 - Was listed in local classifieds for 150 euros. Not the most versatile drum machine, but for this price it should have been no-brainer.
5 Likes
Hits:
- Roland T8 - tiny magical acid allrounder box
- Roland S1 - convincing emulation of my favorite synth sound in a tiny but tweakable package
- Dreabox Nymphes - sounds wonderful. Easy to tweak. Strange display less menu, but I just ignored it for the most part
- Strymon Iridium - nice amp sounds, super hands on, very versatile
Misses:
Roland J6 - nice sound, interesting concept, but the sequencer felt fiddly and though I usually like macro controls, the sound sculpting options were too limiting
Take 5 was last year if I remember correctly. That’s the best synth I ever played and owned.
I haven’t touched any of the synths in months though, due to a personal guitar revival. Listening more to cream and sabbath than aphex and co lately 
12 Likes
Didn’t go wild this year on electronics, hit a major guitar phase in the second half of the year. I wanted to get myself set up with a really good rig for both electronics and guitar this year, as we’re moving to the country for a bit, and I feel like I’ve hit a really sweet spot where I have enough to keep me interested but also minimal enough that I don’t die of option paralysis.
Hits: Syntakt! I’m not using it much lately (mainly as it kinda feels unfinished) but it’s an absolutely wicked box and covers so much ground, and sounds amazing.
Kawai K1m: bought this a while back but didn’t use it at all until this year, and it’s just a really amazing and totally unique sounding device that slots into the Syntakt FX Block so so well. I don’t think I’d ever part with it, especially that I finally picked up a decent 88-key controller for very cheap, hitting those very lowest notes and highest simultaneously is great!
Guitar related hits: Picked up a 90s Ibanez RG505 (RG550 with a different neck) which is just a phenomenal guitar and so versatile that I haven’t really picked up any of the many other guitars since it arrived.
Orange Rocker 15 Terror head and HB cab, a really wicked amp that sounds just the way I want and changes character hugely with pedals. Nice. Got the better unloaded cab and speakers that I love enough options to keep me from being bored.
Boss RV-2: the nicest pedal I bought this year, I love that old Boss 12-bit verb from the half-rack series so having it in pedal form is a joy.
Kinda hit, kinda miss: Picked up an old Novation Zero SL controller for the Kawai but I kinda enjoy programming it the old fashioned way, and let Syntakt provide the movement. I did have to pull out my elderly plastic MacBook to use the editor, and that was actually lots of fun!
I also got rid of the old Volca Sample to a mate who really got into and is doing amazing and wild stuff with it so that was a win, just not my personal win
Misses:
Empress Zoia: sounded great, but just not compatible with how my brain is wired. Glad I got it though, cos it forced me to accept some things about myself that led me to a tighter and much happier creative place. I do miss the reverbs, tho, Empress really have those down.
Behringer ms1: meh. Had an original 101 and it just isn’t the vibe. On lend out at the moment but wouldn’t care if I never saw it again tbh
Gibson SG 60s Tribute: got rid of this after it was gathering dust for ages, just do not like those Gibson necks no matter how much I try to.
9 Likes
That’s a great answer, thank you! I wasn’t super familiar with their offerings and see them getting pitted against Martins all the time. Fair pricing too! I tell my friends that the most productive I was during my music-making journey was with a Martin DX and Loopy Pro for iPhone. You’re nudging me back in that direction since I haven’t had an acoustic for a second!
2 Likes
Sold a bunch of stuff this year to finance an A4mkII and a Syntakt and they’re both big hits, even though they’re sort of opposites in a way.
My main setup is now OT, DN, A4 & ST and I’ll most likely never get bored of that.
7 Likes
This!! Really can’t get over the generosity and promethian nature of so many of you putting in the effort to write about your experiences.
It has helped me massively so thank you all.
I’ll put together a little list for this thread soon!
5 Likes
Hits:
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro - my best headphones, i have several other good cans but like these best by a good margin…
Elmyra 2 great fun, i moved from standalone to eurorack mostly for mults tbh, but i like Blades with it, too.
Misses:
Didn’t buy that much else, not enough time for many eurorack DIY modules. No disappointments this year, I did exercise quite a bit more restraint than last year…
5 Likes
More of a slight slim down for me
IN:
Monomachine MK2
Machinedrum MK2 UW+
Cirklon V1
Mood 2 LE Pedal
Gen II LE Pedal
OUT:
Syntakt
0-Coast
0-CTRL
Cirklon V1 (due to V2 waitlist speeding up)
Maschine+
SSL Sigma Summing Mixer
Machinedrum (ended up with 2!!)
I was so close to offloading my OP-1F as my portable as have way more fun with the M8
Tempted to grab a silver Syntakt and Digitakt but know deep down its just GAS and will be counter-productive
8 Likes
Hits:
- Analog Four MKII: I rage-quit on my MKI years ago, but the MKII pulled me back in. Much better audio quality (bass), CV inputs, individual outputs have me enjoying it. Doesn’t hurt that I already know the workflow.
- Gotharman’s Urano: I didn’t actually buy it this year, but it sat on a shelf for almost a year being ignored. After giving it some space its back in all my setups. Its definitely expensive, quirky and limited in a lot of ways, but also has a lot of options, analog filters and a great gritty sound.
- Unfiltered Audio lo-fi-af / Silo: Favorite iOS plugins of the last year. lo-fi-af captures all the different digital degradation sounds (cd skip, shitty speakers, transcoding) that can be a lot of fun. Silo on the other hand is an excellent granular/spatializer/reverb effect. Plugins like these stop me from buying expensive hardware!
- FabFilter Twin 3: Best sounding synth on iOS. Great for poly, bass, percussive sounds. I can see why desktop users don’t really care about it, but nothing else on iOS comes close IMO.
Neutral:
- Uno Synth Pro X: This synth is an awesome improvement of the Uno Synth Pro line. Sounds a bit better than my Analog Four MKII. But I want less hardware not more, so I’ll probably just sell this and use my Analog Four.
Misses:
- Twisted Electrons MegaFM: I found this synth to be too hard to work with. I’ve done a lot of sysex manipulation on old FM synths and thought this would give me that weirdness in a self-contained package. But instead it always sounded broken in a way I didn’t want.
3 Likes
Hit:
- MPC Live 2 - sold it in January, bought it back this week. I’m realizing it’s way more useful as a device to make music on if you leave the mixing and finalization to the DAW. So with a bit of a workflow tweak, I can avoid most of the hassles of it while enjoying the freedom of a very creative sampler and sequencer workflow blended with great synthesis. Three days in and I already have a new song that I could never have made on the Syntakt. Two entirely different worlds really, and I love them both.
Miss:
- SP-404 mk2 - this thing is just not for me. Can’t click with the workflow of committing to effects (I dial up and down the reverb of a hi hat at least 10 times over the course of a song production phase) and the sequencer is too limited. The whole idea of being battery powered, to me, is that you’re supposed to use it in standalone or on the go, but this thing is completely handicapped on its own unless you’ve already fed it with you’re ready-made music. I’m not interested in DJ:ing but rather music production so this was a flop in the end.
Special mention:
- Syntakt - bought it September last year but I didn’t get serious with it until this year. What a brilliant device this is, both in the studio and as a live performance instrument. So fun and quick to use, and so surprisingly inspiring. And now that I’ve started to multitrack it dry and apply more effects in the daw, it sounds better than ever.
9 Likes
I’m a bit confused about the amount of devices many of you buy and sell within one year.
For me it was only one miss this year: 1010music Blackbox.
Nice device but the development seems to go less in the direction of a mighty and accessible mobile groovebox with clear and fast sequencer and nice synth engine (the device and the company definitly have the ability to!) but more of a mighty sampler with much more MIDI implementation to be (or try to be) the center of a studio setup. I don’t understand this approach as the device seems much too small to be a center piece in a studio, but that’s what it is. It’s a good device, but not mine.
Still looking for a perfect mobile groovebox for daily train travel, which does not look like a toy (MC-101), is not too clicky (Elektron boxes), is less programming and more jamming/playing (M8) and less blinky (circuit) and really not too extensive only for some mobile fun (OP1F - seems to be lovely!). Not sure about the tracker mini yet. Phone app might be the best option but I will not buy an IPhone or a standard Google Smartphone (run /e/ OS on Fairphone), so… 
7 Likes