Which hardware company do you think is the most interesting/innovative?

The Lounge General Discussion
#21

Really?
I thought expressive interfaces is one area (as opposed to basic building blocks of sound design) that has really seen development over the last few years.
Soma, Roger Linn, Expressive E, Haken, Polyend, Roli (not now obvs) are just a few bigger names but there are many more small, boutique makers too coming out with new expressive Interfaces

This, on the other hand, I definitely agree with. Of note, bought some reference haedphones from Ollo audio, a new Slovenian company recently, and everything on the headphones is serviceable, replaceable, and even upgradable when they bring out a new model. That to me is at least truly innovative in the current era in terms of customer support and sustainability!

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#22

Not off-topic at all. Synth companies are a business after all and I don’t think it’s off topic to point out innovations in more sustainable business practices.

Modular was the first industry where I saw companies use “paper bubble wrap”. Mutable and Mannequins will always agree to fix any module for shipping costs.

I think there are a number of companies who execute old ideas really well, but I would hesitate to call them innovative. Innovative to me is taking those old ideas and using them to make something completely fresh.

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#23

Dreadbox. Not very innovative technology sense, but innovative in ways making synthesizers more approachable to people. Consider it’s a small company but their lineup is very cool. Like for example their Chromatic series that are very capable for their price.

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#24

i don’t care :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
these days innovations don’t necessarily mean something good, rather something breaking the standards and then poorly supported.

#25

Elektron gave up on innovation when they released mk. 2s of their products.

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#27

Octatrack and Digitone would like a word

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#28

Octatrack? Mk. 1 was released before mk. 2, hah. And Digitone is just more of the same from Elektron, not really innovative. Just FM synthesis done really well with Elektron sequencer and multiple voices, all of which they already did with other products. Not saying it’s not a great synth, just that it’s not really that innovative compared to everything they released from Machinedrum to Analog Heat.

#29

MnM mk2 and MD mk2 were released before the OT though. So if they gave up on innovation then, you’re saying the OT wasn’t innovative.

I think the Digitone approach to FM is pretty innovative, it’s accessible not just done well. But it’s my first FM synth so I’m happy to admit I don’t know what I’m talking about here :slightly_smiling_face:

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#30

Well done sir, I stand corrected. I revise my opinion, they lost their innovative edge (with hardware) with the Digitakt.

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#31

Sequential! …especially with the recent Prophet rev4

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#32

In a sense modular is probably the most repairable in the long term too, in the sense that if your vco stops working the whole system isn’t trash. But also because a lot of stuff is well documented, is often THT rather than SMT (although that isn’t so much an issue) and a lot of it uses standard or easy to find parts.

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#33

Interesting. One reason I was hesitating building a new eurorack, was that I was afraid it might have shorter longevity than standalone units

#34

I’ve got eurorack modules from all over the price/quality spectrum and all of them are either built to a very high quality standard or super easy to repair, should a problem arise.

My AJH synth module is an absute tank (which it should be for over £300), but the modules I got from York Modular for about £30 a pop are fine, and the components are super easy to source/replace should they fail.
My only reliability concern relating to Eurorack are power supplies, but as long as you’re mindful of how much current you’re drawing and careful about connecting things up, it’s not really a problem.

Not that I will, but should I keep all my current modules in their case, I see no reason why they wouldn’t work exactly as they do now in 20 years with little to no repairs or maintenance.

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#35

the volca drum is so underrated! i barely see any discussion about it oddly enough. it seems to have slipped under everyone’s radar when it released, which is weird because it sounds 300 times better than the volca beats

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#36

I guess the only possible longterm problem, and it can depend on a number of factors - is the potential for “tin whiskers” which are a kind of side effect of some lead free solders used today (thanks RoHS) where you can get shorts caused by microscopic conductive ‘growths” from the tin in the solder, which the lead in leaded solder prevented. This is one of the reasons why many DIYers still use leaded solder, unfortunately companies are required by EU law to use lead free.

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#37

Agreed!
There are a couple of videos like the one I posted above that do him justice, though.
It looks like its notoriety suffered from its low price: too cheap to be considered serious :smiley:
The Volca-type UI has probably something to do with this lack of love as well (small knobs for fat fingers).
But I read MIDI implementation had been substantially beefed up over time, so a good controller should make up for this inconvenience.
I don’t own one but I’m keeping an eye open on the second hand market.

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#38

It’s the USSR vs USA all over again, the synth Cold War.

Make Noise
Sequential
Malekko
WMD
Moog

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#39

I fail to see what is particularly innovative about Sequential these days? I love their synths, but their output seems to be different configurations of sequencers, VCOs/DCOs/VCFs etc. but in fairly standard formats. Nothing wrong in what they do, especially if the quality is high, but not really particularly innovative IMHO.

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#40

Make noise - yeah, I’ll give you them, although most of their gear is just Buchla stuff with wiggly lines on it and the Strega is basically a shit Lyra.

Sequential - yeah, so innovative they just released a new version of their synth from 45 years ago…

Malekko - Roland’s American cousin who’s not afraid of analogue.

WMD - fair enough, these guys are actually pretty interesting.

Moog - still all sounds like a Moog though.

:wink:

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#41

I find it innovative because they’ve been able to bring some of the classics back to life in a modern package. The work Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim did together with the OB6 has been very inspiring at least for for me. Then you have their Pro 2/3 series, incredible work.

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