Hit:
Kailh Choc Low Profile Sunset Switches: Got these for my M8 after accidentally breaking one of the caps. They are linear like brown switches, but the extra bump adds a feeling of weight without extra clickiness
On the Fence:
Alexander Pedals Syntax Error V1: A very noisy pedals that can make some wild sounds (with a nice srr on every mode), but I struggle to get predictable results out of it
What a neat thread! Here are mine:
Hit:
Bastl SoftPop II: What a fun little synth, hasn’t left my table in months.
Knobula Pianophonic: It’s only been a few weeks but really enjoying my time with it, much more than Cinematic.
M8: It’s always in my laptop bag, and saved me on a couple of occasions when I needed a MIDI controller to test a synth while out and about.
Uncertain:
Oxi One: I want to like this device, it’s really neat on paper. But it’s very frustrating to use day-to-day, at least for me. For example, changing the track type resets the scale and the key it’s in, so it’s really hard to just stay in the moment. Some key combos also make little sense to my brain.
Osmose: I love it as an MPE controller hooked up to Super 6, but been having hard time with Haken sound engine, presets are amazing but I’d love to dig deeper.
No real misses this year.
Hits —
Hydrasynth Explorer: I wanted a synth with keys and I’m very happy with the selection I made. Endless sound design capabilities, feels great to play, the interface is fast and intuitive when you get the hang of it (though I did have to revisit the manual recently after setting the Hydra aside for a while). It’s a great GAS antidote since there isn’t much the Hydra can’t do.
Digitone: I had a DN a few years ago but ended up selling it since I didn’t really understand how to program it. Now I have a better understanding of (and appreciation for) FM synthesis and the DN feels like an ideal playground for making the weird/beautiful sounds I love to hear. I mean really this synth just sounds so ridiculously good, I’m very happy to be reunited with it.
Syntakt: I am not a Syntakt master. Oftentimes I treat the Syntakt as a quick sketch pad for drum beats and percussion to accompany something else I’m working on. It does a great job in that role, but it’s capable of much more. When I’ve spent more time focusing on Syntakt by itself and pushing the synth engines to their limits with modulation and automation, I’ve always enjoyed what comes out. Plus the master distortion and filter are immaculate.
Miss —
Attempting to expand my Eurorack setup: We’ve all seen the memes. Modular setups tend to grow over time, and I love patching my modular, so naturally I started adding things to build mine out. I wanted more drums, so I picked up the Erica Synths Sample Drum, which is kind of like 2 tracks of a Digitakt in modular form. With more voices playing, I needed more mixing, and I managed to find a Cosmotronic Cosmix v.1 with its wicked master distortion. I wanted a more powerful sequencer so I dove into the world of Nerdseq. And at that point I realized I was in deeper water than I was comfortable with. All of these additions would require more modulation, more utilities, more filters and effects, a bigger case with more power, etc. etc. and I just didn’t want to get into all that. I was totally satisfied with my modular setup as it was before I started building it out, so I reverted to the way it was before and have been very happily sticking with that. I’m sure I’ll be buying modules again at some point but I’ll be a little more cognizant about what’s involved — one addition begets another, since they’re all connected and interdependent.
Here are some tips to make it more your thing, sorted by least time/money consuming:
reduce the pitch sensitivity of the preset;
use the EM for sounds that your Super 6 cannot produce.
add an external HQ reverb and/or delay effect to your signal chain;
use only one expressive finger per hand in the beginning and learn how to keep the “unexpressive” fingers steady because, with EM presets, subtle movements of any finger can have a dramatic effect.
Thanks for sharing this. I’m in a similar place with my eurorack right now and starting to (finally) think about what I really want out of it and what I’m really getting out of it. That feeling of constantly needing to “accessorize” is gross, and it’s great to hear that moving in the opposite direction has worked out for you.
Hits:
Intellijel Sealegs
Intellijel Tangrams
ALM Squid
Expert Sleepers ES-9
Doepfer A-100LC9 PSU3 Low Cost Case
Misses (all returned 
):
Bitbox Micro (still no screensaver, shitty ux…)
Behringer Chaos
Behringer Eurorack Go
Not shure yet:
Dell XPS 15 OLED
Thanks, will try those!
I got quite a few eurorack modules that I don’t feel like mentioning all of them.
Hits:
Bastl Aikido is a dope mixer/ vca/ cv mixer with side chain.
Pittsburgh Modular Taiga is probably the best semi modular synth in the market right now, imo. It brings a huge amount of modules to the table within its tiny frame.
Deluge OLED: the OLED screen and incredible work by the community patch team has really evolved this device in a way that it hasn’t seen since maybe 2019. Just huge leap forward. It’s my third Deluge and I’ve had a love hate relationship with the device but it’s in a phenomenal state now.
Mega FM MK2: Incredibly and lively digital synth. I love me some lofi digital crunchy synths and this guy delivers. It’s not as noisy as the original version (which I haven’t heard in person) but I could swap out to those chips if I wanted to (I don’t really care to). Twisted Electrons is a very cool and very focused synth company, really enjoy what they (or he? Might just be one guy) are doing.
Misses:
NerdSeq. I think this module just works better if you know exactly what you’re doing with your eurorack and you’re mostly patching and leaving those cables patched in, which I never do. It’s a great sequencer but Ive shifted to just using Ableton with an ES-9 instead and I’m enjoying it far more.
Not sure:
EP-133 KO2: cool workflow, extremely light and portable with a pretty decent build quality (despite QC concerns). It sounds great and it’s easy to pick up and play but it’s also extremely basic. I didn’t expect to get a workhorse sampler out of the thing and I’ve got more “professional” hardware samplers for that, but in its current state it definitely feels more like a fun toy gadget then anything. Probably fine because I bought it mainly as a thing to collect rather than a thing to make music on. But we’ll see if it can develop into something a little more useful for me. I love the screen and workflow.
Ableton Push 3 Standalone: I think the concept of the Push 3 standalone is great and having all those ableton synths and effects in a standalone package is also great. I just don’t find myself using the thing in standalone and far more often than not I’m using it in controller mode. It’s great hardware, and great upgrade from the Push 2 which it replaced. The pads are phenomenal but I kinda think I should have just went with the Push 3 controller instead. But we’ll see. I’m definitely not gonna sell it or anything.
This! It was my first one and spoiled me rotten - Habit and Gen Loss 2 had a ton to live up to
sounds like you bought a lot of gear this year similar to how much I bought the past few years. Glad I resisted GAS this year. Would love to visit synth shops next year in socal to try new gear out.
Hit
Korg Opsix
AS Impulse Command
Not sure
Korg Wavestate
OMG Why
Eurorack. Again. Found a too-cheap-to-resist bundle with case of mostly Mutable modules. Got some more. Decided to get some Xaoc and ADDAC stuff I’d always been interested in. Oh, now I need a new case. Who’d have thought. It’s ridiculous. And sad. And fun.
NGL I’m really liking Lossy!
It has a ton of depth thanks to the spectral freeze
Not me, @m0ld did.
Hits:
Unknown:
Misses:
Long term changes in status:
Long term stable:
2023 conclusions:
I had really good results pushing the MD into the EHX Platform.
Interesting - I assumed the MD’s built-in compression would be good enough. Once I get the 2408 setup so I can bring my MD/MNM/OT rack into my new digital mixing world I’ll give the Platform another try.
Bad Gear uses the Platform on just about everything, so I thought maybe my gear wasn’t bad enough…
Two Crude Dudes ?!!! 
It likely does but the Blofeld has some other things unique to it like comb filters and filter fm.
The TI has a lot of good effects that can be combined with other synths. Basically a Kemper unit.
I would still recommend any Virus or Blofeld to someone interested in synths and unsure where to start. Blofeld if you are on a tight budget, and Virus if you find an amazing deal or have sufficient budget. Entire sequences of albums could be made on either synth alone.
PolyAT is another thing I’d like to explore, now that I have the Hydra.
I can’t remember if the Blofeld handles PolyAT but I know the Virus does not.
The solution since they are multitimbral is just having multiple instances of the same patch on the different channels then you can play with the Hydrasynth in MPE mode. I haven’t tried it but I know this sort of strategy works on the Modal Cobalt8M.
