2024 Gear Purchase Hits and Misses

The Lounge Other Gear
143

Not so much of purchases in 2024.

I have one hit however.

Waldorf Quantum MK2. One can say that it is a VST in the box. And indeed, it is. With analog filters but it does not really matter in 2024. It costed a lot, that’s true.
But it sounds fantastic. It does not have stupid limitations. This thing can do a lot.
Before I bought it I was expecting I will not buy anything else soon. And I was right. It killed all my GAS.

I have to admit that I had an idea to buy some new equipment. But I didn’t know what sholuld I buy. With MK2 my setup may be considered as completed. I don’t know what to add, I don’t even feel I need anything more than that.
So even if Waldorf was expensive as hell, it saved me from buying a lot of other stuff and maybe spending even more.

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144

Oberheim OB X8 is super awesome!

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145

only thing that I bought was pair of wireless blue tooth AIAI speakers and they are fantastic! I have battery pack on the way to complete my outdoor travel setup.

146

Ha! I wouldn’t think of it. They aren’t exactly expensive! I only bought another because I have an industrial-ish collaboration going with a friend and those crunchy Yamaha kicks and snares are ideal for that sorta thing.

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147

Ponders the size of the RX5 when it leaves its shelf in the store cupboard… but all those individual outs with sliders… analogue sync. Hmmmmm

Does the RX7 sound crunchier or about the same as the RX5, do you happen to know?

I remember when I first played the RX5 I thought “Instant Front 242”.

Come to think of it, someone gave me it as a gift about 15 or more years ago.

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148

Hit:
Ableton Move
Chase Bliss Mood mk II

Miss:
None

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149

The sound is pretty much identical, but the features differ. I think the RX7 has a few more sounds, but lacks individual outputs.

It was my main drum machine in the late 1980s. I loved that thing, despite the typical Yamaha interface… :crazy_face:

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150

I bet you did… but the interface is what keeps me from taking it out of the store cupboard more often, that and the sheer size of the thing.

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151

I get it. I had mine up for sale a while but no takers. I kind of gave up a few times already, but I’ve started using it again this month and some of the knowledge is starting to stick. I’m not a fan of the SH-4d’s sequencer so pairing them has been rewarding.
Also just plugging the T-1 into my kids’ piano really helped me learn the melodic side a little better. That’s where I’ve really been struggling with it. I think it’s awesome for beats as is, but Syntakt has Euclidean mode now…

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152

Hits:

Digitone II - Favorite Elektron machine so far, I’m absolutely smitten. It’s everything I loved about the original cranked up to eleven. FM Drum machine and comb filters are key highlights.

OP-XY - I unloaded a bunch of misses recently and decided to splurge on this. It’s great, the synth engines are perfect for my style, and I have always been a huge fan of the OP-Z sequencer, so nice to have it in a substantially less bendy package.

iPad Air M2 - I’ve fiddled with iPad apps before, but having a dedicated iPad just for music making, along with the discovery of AUM and killer sequencers like Neon, Senode, and Ochtacron have made it a lot of fun.

Misses:

Everything Eurorack - I keep going back to Eurorack, but the constant module churn is exhausting. I’m down to 60hp of voices and FX I like that the DNII / OP XY can’t easily replace, and I’m in the process of selling everything else. At least I hope so, but every time I listen to one of the jams I’ve recorded from my modular, I get pulled back in.

Polyend Synth This synth had so much potential, but I just didn’t like the feel of it. The knobs were slow and the pads had too little travel for my taste. Plus hardware that can’t handle its own capabilities is pretty unforgivable to me.

Honorable Mention:

Moog Labrynth - This is a really dope synth. I sold it, but I really enjoyed playing with it while I had it. It’s innovative for Moog, but obviously nothing new if you’re somewhat familiar with modular / West Coast synthesis. But it’s a clever package and sounds great. Only beef is that it’s too big for what it does.

Michigan Synthworks Xena (SVF) - So glad to have an affordable way to finally check out the Ambika. It’s a really cool synth, but the mono mix out is a bummer, I had to get a mixer to go with it. Nevertheless, it’s a great paring for any multi-channel MIDI sequencer and despite being quite lo-fi, is capable of sounding really fantastic. But it’s been eclipsed by my iPad, OP-XY, and DNII which are pretty much all I use now.

Yamaha Seqtrak - I have a soft spot for this, even though I sold it. It’s got a lofi pitch shifting effect to die for that lets you drop the whole sequence in fractions of the tempo, which can instantly transform patterns into something gritty and dark. 100% of my creations used this technique.

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153

What does that refer to?

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154

I’m guessing the Polyend Synth having some CPU overload here and there.

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155

Oscilator Sink mentions this in his review, where he points out that he was getting performance issues here. I will say that on Tracker+ (which is the only benchmark I have for these sorts of things) if you load in 3 synth tones, it does seem to stretch the CPU to its limit, and you can almost feel the box being pushed as you add the final notes of polyphony.

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156

HITS:

Torso T1 - Always dismissed this but had a blast and love the display less concept

RE303 - had some fun jams with this, just wish I could MIDI control the Res and cutoff which I wrongly assumed you could like the boutiques. Hopefully this is something to come

Prophet 6 Desktop - took in a trade my first proper analogue synth, very lush

Soma Pulsar-23 - Maybe honeymoon period is slowly wearing off but this gave me the most fun in ages.

Waldorf Iridium Keyboard - Needed a new MIDI controller and also had a Iridium Core, so this made sense

TE - EP-133 KO II - Purchased more for messing around but its seriously fun, hope they introduce some updates.

Pro Tools Studio - As much as I love Live, I wanted something for more traditional recording and editing and remembered I had a dormant licence from many years ago. Gets a lot of flak but I found myself loving the latest versions

MISSES:

E25 Digi Series - of course nothing wrong with these classics but only natural to feel a bad taste in your mouth when MKIIs were clearly already in development

iPad Pro M4 - I sold my iPad Pro and for some reason bought a new powerful one and not sure why. I rarely use it and when travelling I still need MacBook Air and there is no way I am taking the heft of both. Should have upgraded my MacBook instead to a 14" Pro - doh!

ON THE FENCE:

Lyra-8 - Simply not had enough time with it but think will be a hit

Oxi-One - finding it a bit cumbersome regarding the interface and stuck initially trying to do some simple things. Early days, will get back to it

Digitakt 2 - All roads lead back to the Octatrack. Live sampling, resampling etc and scenes

5 Likes
157

Those who’ve already replied are correct. I should have elaborated on this, but when using the physical modelling and/or granular engines, it’s quite easy to overload the CPU. Additionally, these engines have less polyphony. This could mean a “Synth+” will come in the future.

I would say this was less of an issue than the feel of the pads for me, I just didn’t find them too enjoyable to play. I was expecting something a bit more like Ableton Push, but they’re really shallow and slick. Good for some styles, but lacking a bit of tactility for my taste.

While I had some gripes with the Synth, the engines were so good that it’s made me seriously consider grabbing a Play+ or Tracker+.

1 Like
158

Do you mean the spiralizer fx?

159

No, I was actually referring to the beat repeat effect. You can leave the repeats off and just use the pitch shifting. I would usually combine it with sample rate reduction for some extra grit. Like this.

It starts without the effect, then you can hear it come in. momentarily a few times, then it gets latched around 00:23.

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160

Hits:
-Digitakt 2 - the new filters alone make this thing so much better than the original, and then some…
-Minifreak - so hands on and expressive, also the integration with the plugin is just great! It’s so easy to get random but controlled arps from this, then save them to the sequencer, just a great instrument!

Misses:
-Digitone 2 - too much going on for that small interface imo. Too much page-jumping for the synth parameters alone + I don’t really get why they didn’t switch to regular sized seq-buttons and get rid of the 4 former track buttons and put their new functions somewhere else in a user-friendly way.
-Roland P6 - fuckin menu diving killed it for me. I’d love a small sampler in that format but those cryptic menus + tons of shortcuts that noone can ever remember are just a pain in the ass. also the microphone sucked.

not really bad but sold:
-Korg Monologue - great synth and had a lot of fun with it, but i needed some space for the Minifreak and also used the Monologue mainly as anonther Acid-machine, which i already have a TB3 for.
-Roland S1 - cool synth, a lot easier to understand than the P6, but it was an impulse buy and I didn’t really use it anymore once I got the Minifreak
-Ableton Move - another impulse buy. Kind of cool, but lacks so much in terms of sampling (can’t even play a sample backwards wtf?!) + I didn’t really like playing synths on a Grid.

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161

Are you sure? Ableton Note can, so surprising if correct

162

Ok I was bad in the last few weeks and bought as many things as I sold. The prophet x and Waldorf m were supposed to replace my Modwave plus analog heat combo. (A testament to how theoretically amazing the Modwave is)

Hit:

Prophet X. Feels like cheating at synths. So easy to pull up a string sample and then have a metallic percussion sample modulate it’s pitch. Add a sine oscillator, pan those suckers and you’ve got an alien planet. Maybe everyone has one and they aren’t telling, but I was shocked at how easy it is to create something incredible. Also the effects are better than any other synth I’ve played - they seem like an extension of the synth vs. some crappy tacked on thing.

Jury’s out:

Make noise Bruxa: beautiful sounding delay (I bet you could play a whole set with it) and everything I make with it so far sounds the same.

Waldorf M: I wish they would have talked to some customers before building this.
Waldorf: “would you prefer to have modulations hidden throughout menu pages or all together in one spot, kind of like how we have on the Iridium?”
Customers: “hmm neither sound great, but please don’t hide them”
Sound is bloody amazing though.

Op-xy: half the time I’m frustrated - I hate sequencing and can’t figure out how to copy a pattern or find what I just sampled or transferred to the user sample folder. The punch in effects seem so corny and limited. The other half of the time I’m in love: pitching things way down, warping and twisting the one bar I managed to record in brain and tape mode.

6 Likes