Digitone. Yes the OT is sick and I make cool stuff with it, yes my DFAMs are a ton of fun.
Blackbox is fantastic as well. A4 is like the end of the world and I love it.
The Digitone was my first “I can’t stop exploring” device.
It plays nice by itself, goes great in a set, and has USB audio.
And you can explore for days. It’s really something else.
A&H Xone DB4 and the companion midi controller for loop manipulation the fly. The db4 works great for the kind of percussive textures I like to develop. It has quirks and limitations, and once was a brick but A&H fixed it out of warranty for free. Turned out the issue was cold solder joints.
iOS in general. I make so much art and music with iPhones and iPads. AUM, Patterning 1&2, Glitché, Hyperspektiv, iColorama, soundfruuze, fugue machine…the list goes on.
Critter & Guitari. I have a basic pocket piano, a Septavox, and now the Organelle M. They are all so playable!
Korg Volcas and electribes - playable and fun. Easy to sync. I like letting my niece and nephew play them, without telling them much of what they do.
Rytm. MPC4000.
Octatrack. Hell, it’s why I’m here. Sure, I could have read the manual, but it was far more fun Googling questions and always ending up here.
It was the first machine that really opened up recording live performances for me, and it’s led to much more. Before it was all mouse, clicking the day away. What a drag!
I’d have different answers at different points in my music journey, but they all led to the Octatrack and I knew as soon as I got into it. On my third year and have never once thought about parting with it. I have considered buying another, but it was a big expense then and still is.
Second, even though you didn’t ask, is TR707/TR8 (they’re in spirit the same to me, TR8 replaced my dead 707).
drums. hand drumming in particular. drumming on tables. drumming on my skateboard. drumming on windows.
if you cant make it happen with nothing less than a Coke can, then you cant make it happen.
All these amazing machines and their blinking lights have never even come close to the connectedness ive felt while drumming in nature.
The piece of “gear” was an ashiko i wore strapped across my back and i played it under my arm rather like a doumbek, but with some finger technique gleaned from studying tabla.
it was a drum sketchpad i could take with me anywhere and then rework the ideas/melodies/phrases out on to a drumset.
but ive never been able to speak so clearly through an instrument as I could on that one particular drum.
it was a gift from a friend, too…
i miss it. Lent it out and it never came back.
creating music by striking a membrane with your hands is powerful shit.
Whiskey
the a-rytm did but but now its the opposite! …i filled it up in slots, now i dont want to take anything off and cant put anything on so i dont use it
With ess leaving elektron I would doubt it will see significant updates. Look at the updates to the model samples, fairly small stuff altogether. I think you can expect similar with the model cycles.
The way elektron designs their devices makes it difficult for them to do extensive firmware updates. All their sound engines are written in very low level code allowing them to use very cheap components and still retain high quality. This makes for the most economical product but makes updates more difficult. It also means that there is less headroom for adding additional features as they already have mostly maxed out the chip.
My most inspiring devices which beam creativity.
OP-1
OP-Z
Octatrack
Monome Norns (don’t own it anymore though)
Eurorack
Digitakt.
It was an hard start since I never used a sampler to make music, but probably for that it forces me to find a different way to play and compose.
And now…few months later, I can’t stop using it and my Digitone and Model D sits under the dust.
OG: My Fostex X-15…wait, I can multitrack?!
Past few years: Digitone. As selfup said, I couldn’t stop exploring it, it broke me from a subtractive rut and the sequencer gave me freedom
Recently: Fantom 6. So immediate, so powerful, so simple; ideas just happen
Op-1.
Not the best gear there is, full of limitations, but this instrument and the community around made me create so many tracks.
Elektron gear is first this days, but I think I should try using the OT like OP-1 tape…
MPC X without a doubt!
Hate to say it. As much as I love the elektron sounds and workflow, for creating tracks and get something done, the elektron journey often slowed me down.
There are countless fragments, patterns etc on my 3 machines, but few that feel urgent to finish.
But the exploration always has been fun. A4 and DN taught me a lot about synthesis.
OT was mind opening how far you can get with even the tiniest sound snippets. I did a few tracks with its songmode but it never became my go to device for making tracks. It’s king of livesets though, I only use OT and nothing else when doing sets.
Gear aside - Ableton is still number one for me, to get things started and done. But I can’t sit at the computer anymore after work
Monotron Duo and anything that can layer it
This sounds obvious. but it is me. If this peace of gear isn’t ok , then nothing else helps.
I used Maschine for a few years and it has a really quick workflow, and I was really productive.
A couple year back I was paid to do some music for my employers project, and I pulled out my Maschine for the first time in over 3 years, because I knew I could get quick results using it.
Saying that, I always have a frustrating time using it for sound design in the way I would an Elektron piece. I feel there’s still work to do from NI on that.
Also, they made some updates recently that you’ll benefit from, which the long term users were crying out for years back. But yeah, I’ve still got a fondness for the Maschine.
I didn’t realise that you had got rid of your OP-1. In the past I’ve enjoyed a few of your YouTube videos using it.
1$ piezo contact mic
Op-1 / OP-Z / Analog Keys
favorite machines