Was cleaning up my worktop and reminiscing the studio gear I used to own, and wishing for some to be around. I probably don’t need so much stuff now and I should start to chop some out since they don’t get used much, but looking back there are some machines I wished I kept. What’s yours?
80’s to 90’s
Korg Poly 800*
Mattel Synsonics*
Roland SH101*
Roland MC202*
Korg KPR77*
Yamaha CX5M*
Roland MC80*
Fostex X-15*
90’s to early 00’s
Roland MC303*
Roland MC808*
Casio CZ-101*
Casio RZ-1*
Roland D5#
Amiga 500*
00’s to mid 00’s
Ableton Live 1-3*
Fruity Loops*
Not very active…
mid 00’s to 20
Akai Force#
Korg Volcas#
Elektron Octatrack* + Digitakt
Native Instruments Maschine Studio*
Teenage Engineering OP-1 and OP-Z
Pioneer Toraiz SP16
Novation Circuit#
20 to 22 (pandemic years)
Elektron Models#
Elektron Analogs Rytm + Four
Elektron Syntakt*
Akai MPC One
Roland MV1
Roland SP404 MK2
Dirtywave M8*
Polyend Play + Tracker
Teenage Engineering OP-1 field + TX6
Native Instruments Maschine MK3#
Bitwig Studio#
Serato Studio
Years ago I spent a few months after being laid off building a room within a room, treated space. I moved 10 years later. While I much prefer where I’m living now, I do miss that space.
I think it will be pretty wild to look back on those “pandemic years,” with respect to acquisitions and possibly even musical direction.
I don’t know if that altered anything in that way but with some more distance it might be interesting to reflect on what will hopefully become a blip on the larger scale of things.
Sherman Filterbank
Roland Alpha Juno
MFB Dominion 1
ADX-1
Lyra 8
Argon 8
Microkorg
Behringer Monopoly, Neutron, Model D, Deep Mind
Fusionbox
Oto Biscuit
WMD Geiger Counter
Akai S2000
MPC One
SP-404
SP-505
MFB-503
Streetbox
Volca Bass, Keys, Drum, Modular
…etc
Now i have:
Reface CP, CS
MS-20 mini
Swarm
Blofeld
Digitone
Digitakt
Polyend Play
Yamaha CS-15D
Minitaur
Lofi-12
Microsampler
SP-202
Lemondrop
Cosmos
Volca Beats
T-8
EHX 2880 Looper
GSSL Compressor
Transient Designer
Kaoss Pad Quad
Zen Delay
Blackhole Pedal
Mood
and a lot of other pedals
Yeah. I went heavy with Elektron thinking with all the extra time stuck at home during the lockdowns, I’ll dive deeper into it. And I did… but when work opened up, I no longer had the time. I didn’t have enough muscle memory stored, and it’s a pain now using it
I hear you. I hit a limit for what I’m willing to remember how to use.
My limit is ST & DT along with OP-Z and SE-02. The SE-02 can be used at face values, so it doesn’t add on much.
I have some Eurorack stuff that requires muscle memory (Morphagene, CVilization and Mindphaser) but I’ve learned my lesson I think. I want to keep it all WYSIWYG moving forward.
Nothing worse than needing to look things up when you have an idea and inspiration.
Doing the Jamuary was an eye opener for needing things to just work (or work without a manual).
I still might off-load more (or at least add to the off-load pile that I keep procrastinating instead of selling).
