MODX6. I never really expected to get one as I was a happy enough with my MOXF. However I saw a new one for a very good price so took the plunge. Very impressed as it goes well beyond the capabilities of the MOXF (apart from not having a dedicated MIDI thru port) plus it is less bulky.
Miss
Native Instruments S69 Mk2. Nothing particularly wrong with it just not sure what possessed me to buy a keyboard which did not have a sound engine (I think I let the attraction of its low height cloud my judgement).
Sold my ADAM A77X and KH805 sub, and went all Neumann DSP, with room correction.
Now the two rooms I work in have a clearer and comparable monitoring situation, so I lose less time going back and forth for mixing decisions.
Undecided, but rather on the positive side:
Syntakt
Undoubtedly sexy, inspirational and with the added portamento it’s a keeper.
I still wonder though, if I’m not already deep enough into drum synthesis with my Rytm/ND2/TR8S combo.
Misses:
Allen Heath DB:4
It had all the functions I wanted, but died after 10h of careful studio use.
Returned, but I still want this without the phono preamps and in a smaller form.
What happened?
I’ve got one that’s gone down on me too…
Works for 10 mins then goes into a weird blinking boot state where all audio dies. I need to get it in for repair.
DecadeBridge Bora - Great drone synth, really enjoy the sound that I get out of it
MBase 11 - Oldie but goodie… hate the physical interface, love the fact it’s fully CC’ed so you don’t have to use it. Great sound… prefect for me. Great price recently new from Germany.
Craft 2.0 - not a new synth, but new to me… great little synth… at a great price! Again looks like a shit physical interface… but just use the VST which is fantastic.
Ok- need more use
Syntakt - Bought it the first day… but I guess since I have a digitone.rythm,and A4… it doesn’t really do anything new. Not going to sell it as it’s a great one piece techno studio… especially if I didn’t have a couple of full studios…. that being said here is too hoping for new machines soon that make it the monster it could be!
Betastep Pro - Was looking for a controller that had CV for more of the drone/ambient music I have gotten into making and this seems to be the best piece that fit my needs. It’s OK… but I think that’s just me getting used to it, not that it’s a bad… maybe just need to save up for a custom controller….
Misses
Acid8 MkIII - Love the sound but the damn thing is so buggy. Don’t know if it’s caused by software/firmware of poor build quality inside(outside is built like a tank). Seen others complain about weird problems with them… perhaps should have gotten the mk2 with the analogue filter, as most of my problems seem to be with the digital filter and dsp
SOMA ROAT - It’s cool and cheap… it’s got a good amount of actual sound design but don’t know why it hasn’t got either a built in battery or USB(which then make midi and let me send CC). Just not my sound I think.
Orgeldream Eoten - Seems like it would be a good pedal/FX but the synth side is just not as interesting to me as the videos made it seem. It was cheap so don’t care.
Emlyra - It was a fun 1 hour build to make the synth, and it doesn’t sound bad… it just doesn’t sound nearly as good as the lyra 8… maybe if I didn’t have a original it would make me more interested but the 3 osc as a drone machine is somewhat limited. sequencer is cool though…
Bought a few other things… like a Atari goth console(cheap and worthless aside from fun making), a few more controllers that I didn’t really use and a few synths still in the mail
All in all I think I bought too much and didn’t use the stuff I have nearly enough…… Not really looking for my sound now… more like looking for new ways to produce it and expand the sonic palette…
I am contemplating moving on from my SP-404 MkII as well. It’s easily the best thing I’ve gotten so far this year but I’ve been able to graft what I’ve learned from it onto my MPC One in terms of workflow, and the new MPC Flavor Pro plugin more or less replicates the low fi vibe so I’m leaning towards letting it go in favor of consolidation. The workflow is still somewhat faster than the MPC for getting something going though, but there are many things the MPC One can do that the SP can’t.
On the other hand it does a nice job of stripping things down to a very simple level and I still find it loads faster for destructive work like bouncing / resampling pads.
How do you use it? More aptly, how does it use you?
I’m a little “controlled chaos” in the time domain (music and otherwise…) so I enjoy loopers but the randomness of the Chase Bliss Mood was too much for my needs.
It’s quite hard for me to guess at how much I may click with idiosyncratic gear like the Cosmos, even if I do quite dig Soma’s devices.
Playing 2 chords and a few notes (not too many) into it and adding a vocal sample with the rhythmic firmware gave me the best results so far. Feeding drums into it was cool too.
I like the randomness but that’s also the problem when the results are not to my liking. It’s just too random sometimes. It might play 5 very nice variations of a loop and then 2 bad ones. That’s why i record everything and then cut some samples out.
Or i get in the zone and just play into it for a few minutes. But that’s not always stuff i want to listen to later.
Oh, yes. I’ve been holding onto Maschine MK3 for quite a while despite it not seeing much use, just because it really, absolutely does what I want and does it quite well. The workflow, the interface, however… so many buttons, so little consistency.
@ddiamond84 could of at least gave it till November before making this thread (only thing i have left here, jk).
it’s all good, but i was going to give it till November before making the Hit & Misses topic again because as i recall, last year it seemed i made it a lil too early which some people didn’t like because there was still lots of time to buy gear in the remaining months (i agree with that).
my topic streak is over…i’m ruined.
now i’m going to have to post the next Hits & Misses topic in August next year but now since you know i will have to post it in June incase you post in July now (actually writing up the 2023 Hits & Misses topic rite now with a release date of New Years).
Hits:
Lxr 02 - thing knocks! i don’t know what it is but sounds punchy. (or maybe i haven’t used enough drum machines or any modular to judge it fairly in that regards)
the price point is very welcoming.
i’m also really fond of the form factor/build and the visual appearance (leds and all).
-its a nice break from elektron
the Syntakt is the Syntakt but if you have a sampler already and don’t like the Lxr’s sequencer, this could be a nice addition to feed & sequence.
or better yet; combo w/ a Models:Samples to sequence (same amount of tracks).
Roland RE-150 Space Echo. Not just for the echo, but driving the input with drums.
Sound Skulptor Neve and API clone preamps (old style 4 channels in a 1u rack, not 500 series format). Got these used for mic’ing drums / perc / vox / gtr / etc, but driving the preamps is causing my Analog Heat to give me some worried sideways glances. And the AH is my last Elektron machine. 🫣
Waldorf M. Lots of loveliness in a big blue box.
Misses:
Eventide Space. Love Eventide hardware, but I guess this just isn’t my kinda thang.
Strymon Volante. Really good, but just doesn’t compare to the RE-150.
Akai Live II. I know lots of people love them, and I can really see why, but just not for me and the way I make music.
Hit: Digitone Keys. The sonic potential is baffling, as is the ease of use. Keyboard is a big help. Don’t know what I am doing half of the time, so now studying to get better at sound design.
Miss: OP1-Field. I get why people like this device, but decided the workflow is not for me. Too much fiddling and too much resampling to get the results I wanted.
Ps. Still looking for a daw in a box for use on the couch.
It might play 5 very nice variations of a loop and then 2 bad ones. That’s why i record everything and then cut some samples out.