If you could add one more thing to this setup, what would you add?

The Lounge General Discussion
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I’ve got an Elektron Digitone, Moog Sub Phatty, Fender Stratocaster, and a pad controller for my DAW (PreSonus ATOM).

I prefer hardware for playing and digital for effects, but I do use my pad controller for some things besides drums, but I mostly use it for finger drumming my DAW. I really like identifiable sounds and music. I’ve listened to Tool’s 10,000 Days front to back hundreds of times in the past decade or so. Same with Tame Impala, Emancipator’s albums, Jimi Hendrix and a few others.

I feel like my setup lacks proper polyphony but maybe I’m wrong. I’ve used my DAW to add polyphony using its built in polysynth but it didn’t do it for me, sounded a bit too bland and digital, even with its native reverb.

Favorite artists: Tool, Emancipator, Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Santana a ton lately, Arturo Sandoval, Herbie Hancock… anything rock, psychedelic, tribal, or improv trance I’d say. Also happen to really enjoy Indian music and instruments like sitars and some other Eastern instruments.

If you chose one more piece of hardware or software to complete this setup what would it be?

Current options: Novation Peak - $1,135. Octatrack MKII - $1,100-$1,349. Analog Rytm MKII - $1,350 - $1,550. MicroMonsta VST - Around $150 last I checked. Budget is $1,500 or below and I’d prefer one thing rather than a bundle of things.

Thanks for any input! Hopefully my last thread for a while before I release music. Still learning the Digitone’s powers since I’ve only had it less than a month.

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You’re not wrong, sampling and a multitimbral polysynth are obvious gaps for you at the moment. Personally, I wouldn’t be expecting a single channel polysynth to fill all gaps and I’d prioritize the sampler above all else if you must add only 1 box. If you can do 2 boxes, I’d go sampler and multitimbral synth before I’d add another single channel synth. You’ll have more flexibility to build up your arrangements with this approach, IMHO.

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I have no experience with samplers besides playing professionally sampled instruments using a MIDI keyboard or drumming in my DAW lol, but perhaps you’re right, maybe that’s a key point I’m overlooking that could really open up the production possibilities, polyphony included…

I coded in college so the Elektron workflow is intuitive for me. I have yet to find a demo that suits me using the Octatrack though, however the more I’ve thought about it the past few days the more it seems like the OT would be right up Tipper or Shpongle’s alley, whom I enjoy very much. I’ll hold off for bit and keep searching for that OT demo that sells me on its non-glitch/trance capabilities.

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Ability. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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deluge.

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Ok, thank you.

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I’ve only seen one video on the Deluge and was pretty impressed. Forgot all about it! I finally found an Octatrack video I enjoyed though, it had a bit of funk in it, and another had Alan Watts.

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I’m pulling your leg! I think about all the items I have bought and sold and how far they have got me!

My brother in law is a guitar player; he’s got a beautiful acoustic guitar. When I am round there and having a glass of wine and he is noodling in the background - wow. I think he’s pretty gifted. Sometimes I wonder if the time I have spent reading manuals could have been better spent working hard with the machines I have.

:grinning:

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hi, yes… the polyphonic side would be next…

well, the killer would be moog one :-))…
… you are also good to go with novation… just heard good things from everybody owning it
… i love sequential/dave smith stuff (cause especially chords from that machines are gorgeous over full bass analog stuff in the mix)… OB-6 is great, rev 2 (or used prophet 08) are also genius. still love my prophets…
… if you are into very basic polyphonic stuff…
… the medusa is somehow paraphonic and seems very inspiring… maybe also worth a look.
… or simply a good fender… i love to mix synths and guitars :slight_smile:

in your budget range i would choose a used DSI/sequential or the novation peak.

have fun exploring and finding your next piece of gear…

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As I often respond to this kind of question, what do you find is missing from your music?

The answer to that might guide you to whether you should buy a polysynth, a performance sampler, or a drum machine.

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dont get lost in the gear trap… You got more than enough stuff to last a lifetime. I think you should just get really good at what you got, using everything together really crazy

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Probably a new mixer with more than a stereo (2 bus) output to my daw. The extra outputs would help my work flow while tracking. Otherwise I would like a dedicated analog filter for my Machinedrum. Maybe the Moog MF-101 lowpass filter or the Vermona Filter Lancet. Take a little of that digital edge off.

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I don’t think there’s such a thing as a complete setup. Maybe a minimal viable setup makes more sense, but that’s probably a philosophical discussion (and I’d probably expose myself as hypocritial, looking at the amount of gear I own.)

Are you lusting for new gear or are there sounds you would like to get that you can’t? If the former, I think you’ve already got some good recommendations: A4 or Novation Peak are strong contenders to give you lots of pleasure. OT has a certain risk of derailing your music making for quite some time, also it does have some limitations with regards to polyphonic sounds. Rytm is an interesting option. Again, not addressing the (perceived) polyphony issue, but it sure can make samples from you VST shine with its analog filters. Micromonsta is a solid synth, but at the end of the day it’s a VST in a box and the UI is inferior to a modern softsynth IMHO.

What have you tried to make the sound less bland? What modulation options are there that you haven’t tried? Subtly detuning the oscillators? What I’m trying to say is that softsynths in current DAWs have become very good and I consider it unlikely that what you have can’t do what you want.

Sorry if my incoherent rambling isn’t helping. I need to have a double, possibly a quadruple espresso now.