I agree with @Sleepyhead that the MKII has a sound signature. Pretty much all of the samplers I have owned sound different to me in some way.
To me, the 404MKII has more of a polished, modern sound signature to it. Feels beefy in the low end and has a good deal of headroom. The DT felt very modern to me as well, but in a more “hi-fi” way than the 404MKII.
I think all can be made to sound good, but I think that the 404MKII doesn’t immediately sound like an old school sampler, which I’m guessing is what Sleepyhead likes. I recently got a TE EP-40, which is on my hits list for 2025 (to take this back to the original topic), and that immediately sounds much more like an old school sampler to me.
Behringer 369 Limiter Compressor : a very good Module to have in the chain.
Behringer Model D : I only had it for one week but it’s a great sounding Monosynth. I don’t know why I’ve waited so long to get it.
Digitone II : a big upgrade from the original. It’s now the centerpiece of my setup.
OTO Machines Bébé Chérie : I’m really impressed by this Mixer even though it runs on 1/8 audio cables. Great sound and Audio tools (Tilt EQ, Bliss and Compressor).
Yamaha Reface CP : no need to say something about this Synth, it does exactly what I bought it for.
Misses
Selling the Vermona PERfourMER : over the years, I’m realizing that I really like working with simple knob-per-function Synths.
It gets an A+ from me. There are a few things it lacks (most notably being able to use multiple effects at once), but as a whole it’s just a joy to use. It might be the most fun sampler I’ve ever used and great sonic character to it. Very much old school sampler vibes if that’s the kind of thing you like. The learning curve is also not bad at all. It feels more intuitive than the stuff from Roland, as much as I like the SP line.
I think it will pair great with the SP-404mkii as well, although I’ve been focusing on using the EP-40 standalone so far to try to master the workflow.
I didn’t buy anything this year. I made a list of everything I currently have and realised that it is time to slim down.
So…
Gone:
Waldorf Rocket. Saw little use. Never a big fan of the fixed envelopes.
Novation Bass Station 2. Didn’t really warm to the filter, or some aspects of the interface and parameter scaling. It is a good synth, with a lot of features but plastic and the knobs fell apart. In fairness Novation replaced them for free. Can’t fault their customer service.
Korg Volca Drum. Bit of a fiddle fest. The ER1 has a simpler engine, but a better design.
Zeppelin Labs Midi Theramin. Novelty device. The pitches are quantised which makes it easier to play than a regular theramin. More often used for collecting dust than running up and down a musical scale.
Meng Whingie Qi. Who do I think I am? Hainbach?
On their way out.
Red Panda Tensor. Too specialised to justify keeping.
Roland JX-08. Boring.
Dishonourable Discharge
Waldorf Blofeld. I don’t like the fact that those encoders have more agency than me. All over the place. And if you think I whine on, wait till you hear the Blofeld. Such a shame. A potential classic marred by poor quality components.
Hits
IK Uno Synth Pro-X. Great filters, memory, and decent effects. Sent the Bass Station packing.
Syntakt. My favourite instrument.
Texture Lab. Bit clunky, but a great value granular hardware synth
I absolutely don’t need one - I have a Move that I’ve barely begun to explore - but despite initial skepticism I’ve been impressed with everything I’ve seen from it
I’m really late to the party having never used an EP-133, but I feel like all of the videos I’ve seen don’t even do the EP-40 justice, as the machine is just so quick. @schoolbabyboy said it best when he said you aren’t fighting with the machine, like it often feels like with things like Roland devices.
Hats off to Teenage Engineering. I owned the Pocket Operators and never really liked them because they felt so cheap and were a bit fiddly. A lot of the other Teenage Engineering stuff looks amazing, but is just out of my price range. The EP-40 is the absolute sweet spot for me. Affordable, sounds great, awesome workflow. It looks like a toy, but in a sense, it is in the best possible way. It feels like I’m a kid again playing. With a lot of my music gear, there is some element that feels like a chore, which kind of stops you from wanting to pick it up, but this is the opposite. I want to pick it up all the time.
I’ll give this a go’, but a bit of short-story since I’m a new here and have enjoyed being part of the community.
I took a pretty long hiatus from music (Ableton, Maschine and Push were in first set up) and got curious about hardware, thinking it may change my desire to sit down with it again.
I met this cat from Chicago who introduced me to a few units in his set-up and was kind enough to answer a lot of questions.
After lurking around the web, digging through manuals, and watching for deals, I came up on a handful of second hand units, which I think is the way to go when possible, and treated myself to some new instruments since I’m pretty much committed as long as the lights stay on.
HITS
TR1000 - It’s just wild the timing of this release when I was considering vintage or the Strada kit. Said “f#ck it, you only live once. It’s not like work is rewarding anyway.”
MPC X-SE - I get why the MPC is behind so much music I love. Was surprised to learn it’s on a lot of house and techno from the 90s to 2000s; I thought mostly Hip Hop producers used it. Copped the last units when the prices dropped. So no remorse and I don’t see upgrading to whatever comes out for more RAM or a more powerful processor.
Barefoot Footprint 03 Monitors - Upgraded from my starter boxes (entry level Focals), and I’m completely blown away at the clarity and lower frequency range of these.
MISSES
Torso S-4
Tonverk
I wanted both of these devices for similar reasons: sound sculpting and sample manipulation. But as everyone knows, they shipped with a lot of issues. But shoutout to everyone who loves having these in their setup!
N/A
OP-XY - Got a pretty insane deal on it and just haven’t gotten time to sit with it. I need to soon, because I want to commit to a system. What I’ve heard people make here sounds dope and the firmware updates make it hard to let go of, when it might be what I want from an immediate sampler and creative device.
2026 Outlook
Honestly, nothing really. But I am very curious about the new UDO synth. I had the Super 6 for a hot second, and while it was such a beautiful piece of hardware (I mean, really up there for me), the sound didn’t grab me. DMNO appears to pick up where the Super 6 left off.
Thanks for the thread. I hope everyone is feeling good about their music choices, not just gear-wise, but as enthusiasts and artists.
Now I’m the one that is going to get GAS. The U-bass has been on my radar since it came out, and that was a long time ago now.
I like short-scale guitars, and playing my electric bass (G&L L-2000) always feels so unwieldy to me. For that reason, I’ve considered something like a Hofner or a U-bass for recording.
It’s worth noting that the original U-bass has a very distinct sound - not unlike a little upright bass. That’s why I bought it. However, it might not be the best choice for every use case. I also use an electric bass and a cheap full-sized acoustic bass guitar for bass needs. Now, I’m no bass player. Not at all. So my opinion should be taken with a very large sack of salt. However, I recently recorded a band whose bass player elected to use it for a jazzy tune and he loved it. So that’s something, I suppose.
What were the issues you had with the S-4 and Tonverk? And did you try sample manipulation on the TR1000? I’m especially interested because all 3 of these devices seem to have a large number of software issues.
I think you’re right. The 404 mk2 might just be too transparent for me, maybe its showing me little details in my own music which I dont like, whereas older samplers sound more like a polaroid than a sharp photo.
Love your stuff on the 404 and in a lot of the battles we did I’m conpletely blown away by tracks made on the 404 so yeah its me.
You’re also giving me gas for the ep-40 now haha. I love dub so the theme kind of sparked my interest, but like others I might just have too many samplers already. Can we gear something you made on it?
Also: big fan of the kala ubass here, I’ve had a fretted one for 10 years now. Its great for playing on the couch while watching tv, but it does feel very weird going back to my p-bass after a couple of days on the kala, because of the tiny size, but mainly because of the rubber strings. To kill your gas a bit: I’ve never been really succesfull recording it. Acoustically it sounds like a double bass, with a lot of nice plucky high frequencies. Through the pickup I only get a low growl, like playing palm-muted on a p-bass with flatwounds. Combining the 2 somehow sounds weird, so it rarely ended up in tracks for me.
Thanks, man. I’ll get something together soon! I haven’t recorded anything yet. I’ve mostly been doing lots of short tracks to learn each of the features, but I’ve pretty much got all the basics down now I think, so I’m about ready to record something!
Also, thanks for the info about the U-bass. That’s good to know. I’ll stick with what I have now, as I have too many toys at the moment and not enough time.
I’ll dive in. End of the year is a good time for reviewing & reflecting.
Definitely up for a NGNY2026 having sold more than half of my kit this year.
I’ve bought a couple of things but not felt very much GAS this year, long may that continue.
HITS MPC Live III
It basically does everything I could ever need and more. My only wish is that programs would come back…
SP404 mk2
It has been my travelling music gear. I’ve sat in several wet tents with it, by various continental pools, on trains & coaches, while staying with family. Really easy to get something going, and always an enjoyable few hours slip by. Great studio companion to MPC 2500 when that’s on the desk.
MISSES M8 v2
It’s unreasonably good and full featured, but tracker workflow is just not for me. Pads, knobs & sliders all the way.
Modular
Again it’s fantastic but sucks time & money +++ from me, so it’s all been sold. 0-coast is plenty thank you (especially with Live III CV playground).
TR8S
Another stellar bit of kit but 8 tracks on MC707 is enough for me to cope with in trying to put together live sets without adding 11 tracks of drums, so out it went.
Was curious about this one to replace KRK 5. I understand you can have it connected to the PC through usbc without having to turn on your mixer/audio interface, perfect for non studio tasks. And feed the analog inputs any time without any switches?!
