2025 Gear Purchase: Hits & Misses

You can find them in the dedicated threads. Just scroll up to when they had newly launched.

Hits:

OP-1 Field - Easily my favourite piece of gear of all time. Such a pleasure to work with, and the possibilities seem endless.

Yamaha TRBX174 bass guitar - Got it almost free from a neighbour. Solid bass!

Ikea Bollsidan table - super useful as a mini desk for the Field and other small pieces of gear. It’s got wheels for moving it around and the height has loads of adjustability with a lever, very convenient.

Misses:

OP-XY - very impressive bit of kit, but ultimately I find the Field much more inspiring.

6,5 inch Genelecs for home listening - way too small sounding.

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Hits

Tonverk (my greatest hit)
Digitone 2
Native Instuments X1 & Z1

Misses

In the end, A4mk2. Very excited about it but just not for me, takes too much tweaking for my available time. I’m not much of a sound designer. Will either sell or put in a box for a few years and revisit it when I’m more experienced.

Cyclonix TT-303. Shite.

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Hits

Organelle - not new this year but lots of new patches. Stopped GAS for a lot of stuff by just creating something on the Organelle instead. Though current patch in progress is last one as want to play some sounds now.

Ableton Move - it’s wire free, it’s a logical workflow. I don’t use it to full extent at all, but it’s definitely my friend. The MC101 failed to do what this does for me (see workflow).

Misses

Eurorack - I tried. I failed. My mind works in single core, thinking about multiple devices connected up doing multiple things just didn’t help generate any creativity. I will miss FX Aid only. Put that in an FX style box!

I cleared out a lot of stuff this year but was mainly eurorack and some old fx boxes. Like the lighter load and room for more DIY type stuff.

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It reminds me of Zoom MS70-CDR more than anything else. I have an FX Aid (sold my Zoom) but only to have something simple in rack for a bit of modest reverb and/or delay without having to hook up an external pedal.

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Yes, it’s real!
https://www.reddit.com/r/PioneerDJ/comments/1nwfuzu/alphatheta_confirms_they_are_working_on_a_rmx1000/

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Hits:
Ableton Move
RME Fireface UCX II
Converting from Spotify to Tidal
Perplexity

Misses:
Digitone II

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I’ve been on the fence about the DN2 so I’m curious why it was a miss for you.

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is Tonverk easier than the Analog 4? I would have thought the A4 was more immediate

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Hits
OP-XY (Really Really inspiring machine)

Wish
Tonverk
TX-6… but the year didn’t end yet :joy::joy::joy:

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I can empathize after spending way too much money and time on eurorack. I mean don’t get me wrong, patching and tweaking is great fun and lots of folks have and do make cool music with it. But fixed hardware synths and plugins fit my workflow better. I use modular more for effects and layering now.

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I’m curious too because if I were buying an Elektron I would only buy the Digitone 2.

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i think the dn2 is the most complete and coherent instrument elektron has produced

with that being said, it’s also for some reason the least fun for me to use

when it comes to sound design, it’s personally preferred to either abuse syntakt’s machines or mangle samples with the dt2 (as opposed to the initial empty canvas provided on the dn2)

if st had the qol features of its siblings (updated trig conditions, track swap, the ability to lock trigs to scale, etc), it would be the ultimate elektron synth

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You’re the first person I’ve ever heard say this. Could it be that you just don’t like the way the 303 is programmed?

Consider checking out a Rytm Mk1 (which can be had for cheap now). It lacks the very latest trig conditions (first and last) and track swap, but it does scaling, Euclidean triggering, and you get things like a separate FX track, parameter slides (which really make up for the single LFO) and fantastic performance controls.

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Not in a month of Sundays my friend. I mean they’re different machines and that really matters, A4 makes wonderful drum sounds (better than AR tbh) as well as the rest of its abilities but it’s also very technical. TV is unbelievably quick to create on. Ignoring the minor gripes i won’t waste my time or yours on repeating. It’s a masterpiece of sound quality and workflow IMO.

I’m an amateur with precious little free time to indulge this hobby and being able to switch something on and steam into it is a priority.

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thank you - yes same here, I have little time and this is why I was asking cause I was in between A4 and TV - i thought TV was demanding more time due to the sampling etc - thank you this is very enlightening

For me it offers way to much possibilities:. drums and pads and leads. I am fine with the Syntakt and a workflow that is a bit more focused.
… Just my 2ct

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It’s very user friendly considering its depth. You’ll have a lot of fun. It’s the most complete machine in the line up too. There are a few things that are to be/are already being resolved but there is nothing, I repeat nothing that stops you making music and performing on it.

Let me mention the fucking fabulous sound quality again just to drive it home.

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this is why I love the original DN - because it is more focused, I do not need 16 tracks coming out of 1 stereo output.

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DN and TV are a match made in heaven

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