Dear Akai Force,
Go make me a sandwich.
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To my Octatrack,
I have, at times, barely interacted with you, sometimes I’ve felt a strong new passion and didn’t see you for a while, leaving you abandoned and not realising your true potential. You’ve always been loyal, always been there for all the times that these fleeting passions cooled down and I saw a new side of you that excited me again to bring these new passions to you and let you do your thing to take them to new magical heights.
I won’t ever part with you, even though I barely use your Parts, you make every new passion even more exciting and the more I’ve known you the more I want you to be always here.
Thank you.
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Seven months with my MS-20 FS, so I think the honeymoon is over and it’s just a healthy, productive and loving relationship. Not the sound I want all the time, but it’s the most organic sounding analog I’ve heard and it’s still one of my all-time favorite looking synths.
I currently am using Ableton + modular drums, and the MS-20 is the perfect complement to bring some immediacy to the setup. Typically it’s for bass sounds but I’ve written a lot of songs starting with playing lead melodies on it. Despite the lame keys it’s very fun and expressive to play.
I also like that things I would just modulate in other synths I have to control by hand. I usually like to program those variations, but the MS-20 is typically very hands on and it makes for a more fun and meaningful experience/recording.
I have one electric guitar (Telecaster), one bass (Precision Bass), and the MS-20 would be my “one synth” to hang with those if I didn’t have a dozen others.
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Dear Analog Heat,
You keep me high with gain
You keep me warm in rain
You keep me heated in long cold winters
You invite me to use my fingers
You glue my tracks with ease
You heat the toast and melt the cheese
You don’t mind touching you gentle at night
You’re 1/4” inlets do always feel right
Your always on top of my desk and you never resist
Your clean boost act like music’s been kissed
You got midi in, out and thru
And a Treshold, envelope follower and stereo filter too
Your resonance peaks nicely and fills the gap
Did i mention you fit nicely on my lab?
You saturate nice with the right amount of gain.
It’s damn close to Stimmings instant mastering chain
I never noticed any wining sound
Or shitty noise by faulty ground
Both Fully wet or a bit dry you really shine
I’ll bought you so you are mine
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And now straight to the store to trade the heat for a Culture Vulture or Vertigo…
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to my OP-1
my spring of inspiration
where is the undo
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right this second I am loving my Dweller by Old Blood Noise Endeavors. its one of the weirdest effect pedals for my guitar set up and it is especially fun with an expression pedal.
OT is close second and my most important live tool.
My favorite piece of gear is maschine mk3 though. I know it’s actually just a midi controller for a software that runs on my laptop.
But it doesn’t feel like a midi controller. It feels like a wonderful instrument.
The hardware feels super solid, the pads are the best I ever touched, the controller looks super great. The whole maschine + Komplete universe delivers great sounds for each style until the end of days and the controller lets me edit these sounds precisely enough to make them my own. NKS gives me even more to explore, lets me browse and edit presets of wonderful u-he instruments and many more.
The workflow is intuitive, muscle memory kicks in quickly. Scale and arp mode lets me create beautiful melodies with ease, played and recorded with these great pads, not restricted to the often found 4 bar paradigm at all…
The arranger mode is super quick. I can build up whole arrangement from patterns and scenes in no time.
The onboard but especially NI and third party effects are all here. Mixing whole tracks just on the controller is no problem at all.
Sure it has its flaws. Quite some flaws. The displays would be wonderful - if they would actually get used in a meaningful way. What a waste.
Sure there are a lot of fancy sequencer tricks and details missing, that we are used from other modern alternatives.
Updates are slow and often ignores what users ask for.
But still. I never finished so many tracks on one piece of equipment in such a short period of time, like on maschine in the past 1.5 years. And they all sound different, styles are all over the place. Cause it delivers sounds for pretty much all applications I can think of.
This controller speaks to me. It invites me when I look at it. Totally awesome.
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thanks for the GAS 
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Ha, sorry about that! I know this thread will backfire for me at some point… So far I’m happy for all the OT love, cos I already have one.
Love this thread idea!
So, after really getting some deep work in with my setup of my Minilogue XD, DT, M:C, and Subharmonicon all controlled by my Keystep for Jamuary and in general, I’ve been practicing for my first live set this weekend (eep!) with the same setup minus the SubH. I’ve come to really gain a new respect and love for each, but the one that has really become my desert island friend is…
My Minilogue XD. My first synth and my favorite. It took some time to really get used to its character, but with the help of some Logue SDK reverb and a ton of practice with sound design, I can now pretty easily build whatever sound I’d like and sink into an ambient pool in seconds. The filter really grew on me after initially feeling less predictable than the Moog-style ones I’d used. And the multi-engine oscillator is a goldmine. I actually find myself returning to Waves pretty frequently, and the Tim Shoebridge plugins that I’ve tried are always a pleasure, but the stock shapes are often a perfect pair with the two analog voices - particularly the sines.
I have a plan to get a tattoo of my favorite ADSR shape (a pad with full sustain and medium release) in the style of the MXD’s EG knobs. This synth helped me learn to not just tinker, but to actually play and create the sounds I’ve been dreaming of.
Love you, Minilogue XD. Looking forward to the improvised sections in the show this weekend in which you can have the spotlight you deserve.
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your enthusiasm is what keeps me from sending it back right now 
It’s nice but and I surely haven’t spend enough time with it, but so far it doesn’t feel to give me something extra over my other samplers. Maybe I‘m not into learning new gear generally at the moment
I’m head over heels for the OT as well.
It took a while for me to come to terms with the A4 but once it set in I decided to trade it for an AK, and I’m smitten over that as well.
That said, my slimPhatty just drips with classic analog power. Very much a one trick pony but I like that
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Once it clicks I reckon you’ll find it a joy to use, with the right samples loaded, and grid fx set up how you want its very capable. If you want I’ll send you one of my packs to see how you get on. The factory stuff is not really too great I think, all too samey splice type stuff in lofi hip hop style.
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Have fun! And do share the set / parts of it after!
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Thank you so much! I’ll do my best to record; worst case I’ll share a practice take video. I’m nervous but excited!
(Meant to reply to you, @korpinen - sorry!)
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Well actually, head over heels with this new flame that is on its way as we speak. Haven’t been this excited for a while I might add, all butterflies rn. But I don’t wanna jinx it, you’ll probably see in latest purchase sooner or later.
Or here, depending how it goes. 
Dear MPC One. Thank you for bringing back the joy of making music after a 25 year long hiatus. Sorry for breaking up with you. It’s not you, it’s the Live II. I still love you.
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