I currently have a Microbrute, DFAM & Model Cycles. What I get next has to be a smart choice, if/when I can afford it. Considered, in no particular order:
Behringer CAT (I like the look & sound of it & not bothered by morals on a clone of a fairly obscure synth)
Moog Subharmonicon: interesting but a little esoteric, and probably out of budget.
Drumbrute, DB impact, Microfreak: prefer not to overload with Arturia, especially since Keystep is likely a necessity soon.
Model Samples: like the dusty drums but again, want to vary my brands. Plus I technically still have my old Roland MV8k, TE OP-1 (bought back when it was <$1k new) & Volca Sample. All can either sample, chop or manipulate samples, can do granular weirdness or MPC style beats but moving away from this.
Dreadbox Typhon: good sound but mostly considered for the Sinevibes effects.
Empress ZOIA: speaking of effects, but also synth and more, this the front-runner. I like the modular workflow of it and near limitless possibilities on sound from such a compact box.
As to the others, they’re quite different. You’re comparing apples to grapes to banoffee pie.
What sounds do you want?
What live performance activities do you want to play out?
What is missing from your music?
What do you want to play with?
You seem affected by brands (no judgement): which ones do you want to support?
Why does “esoteric” matter?
Why might one of these items be out of budget? Surely you could save up longer?
Basically, your post looks like the early stages of GAS. You have the assumption of buying a new gadget but you don’t know why. That’s pure GAS.
Perhaps you do know why, but you’re not communicating it with us (and thus probably not to yourself). Work on that bit.
Also, just make more music and let that help you decide.
NOTE: I’m not having a go at you, or if I am, I claim no moral high ground. I have bouts of GAS. I’ve spent too much on gear this year and I’m fairly embarrassed by my synth collection in comparison with the low quality and low rate of my output. This is all a work in progress.
Thanks, but wasn’t quite done with post… you are quick! Im mostly just making conversation. I try to keep my GAS under control by just doing a lot of research. I’ll narrow it down eventually. Truth be td I don’t really NEED anything else, I just like the idea of planning the setup. Most of the list is just theoretical. Reason I don’t include Keystep is it’s just a midi controller & therefore not as exciting lol. Have a BSP that I never use anyway. Looking at ZOIA because I want access to big lush reverbs and delays but need bang for buck, and a way to have modular without a money pit.
And I don’t mean to waste anyone’s time, it isn’t a serious predicament, just a hobby. I enjoy talking on gear forums because they are among the few refuges left on the internet that haven’t turned into war zones. People are always courteous, supportive and helpful on gear forums, at least compared to the rest of the internet where the culture war rages into zero sum scorched earth territory. Thanks again for response!
In a budget setup the DFAM seems like an unneeded luxury. With the Model Cycles you’ve got drums well covered and if you got a M:S you’d be fully covered for sampled or synthesized drums.
What does “technically still have” mean? If you really still have a Volca Sample and a OP-1, I’d be doing some serious thinking on what you actually need. With the Volca Sample you’ve got 8 (10) voices of sampling per pattern even if the sequencer isn’t Elektron level…and isn’t the OP-1 like an amazing little all in one groovebox?
I don’t think another drum machine or analog monosynth is going to add a lot to this setup.
Honestly for this setup and being on a budget I’d look into getting an iPad + audio/midi interface. I recently looked up new iPad prices and they aren’t bad at all. Apps are cheap as chips.
I dunno, if this were my setup I’d ditch the DFAM, and maybe buy the M:S and an iPad or even just the iPad. Or maybe a mixer with an aux send for an FX unit.
See also: Organelle and Norns, which are even more open. Also consider just learning Max, PD, SuperCollider, or the like without the extra hardware. It’s pretty empowering when you get GAS to say, wait a minute, I could just build my own version of that…
The smart choice is make a few albums worth of material with the gear you already have.
Then see if additional instruments will benefit your creativity.
(Hint, they almost 100% dont)
…if ur into sine vibes fx, check for korgs nts1…
and no worries with the cat clone from b…in this case, b did a good job…bringing back rare synth that ran out of business long time ago, is a good thing…
in fact, that cat clone is the only b product that tempted me also…it’s a great n easy n versatile truu analog synth…
but looks to me, ur gear is missing some headquarter like centerpiece…ur a bit too much all over the place to really nail ur sonic results instead of just noodling around…if we’re talking hardware only…
some mpc/ot like instrument as centerpiece would help u achieving big time…
good to have many different approaches and sonic flavours at hand, but at some point u gotto sum it up with something to get a final grip on all that sonic safari, just for the sake of ur mindset…