So my wife and I work for the state taking care of my mother and sister in law who live with us. The state messed up the previous 12 months and shorted us 50 hours per month so we got a nice chunk of money…helps with the uncertainty of the covid crap we are in but we are ok with our jobs and cant see them going away.
So I bought:
Digitone
MC 101
Pioneer SP-16
Roland SE-02
Keystep Pro
Neutron
Vermona DRM Mk.3
Circuit mono station.
I already had a System 1, a Black Box, a Deepmind 6.
OMG…I dont even know where to begin. Seems the SP-16 could run the Vermona while the Keystep sequences the Digitone, MC101, and SE-02. Maybe the Digitone could play nicely with the MC101. I could run the CMS and control the Neutron for some mono fun.
It’s almost too much…I just had to try some gear that I have not tried yet.
Honestly, I"m tempted to return or sell most of it and get the following setup:
Just to have some really nice things instead of a bunch of little things…I dunno. I DONT make music, I just noodle around and really enjoy making stuff that I can nod my head to. Trying to learn keyboarding now and so maybe someday I will actually make music but for now, just fun.
Would you guys (gals) keep all the little stuff or buy the nicer stuff but have less???
I’m torn…and I have to decide soon so I can either play with my little things or return them and get the cool synths.
Seems like a fun bunch of gear though. Enough to spend years diving into the possibilities. If you do decide to keep it all, take it easy, don’t feel like you need to use it all together, make little sub-setups of 2-3 machines, at least that’s what I’d do
edit: I also have trouble deciding between either a small amount of expensive gear, or a large amount of cheap gear. I’m somewhat in the middle at the moment, I think.
One complicated piece of hardware at a time. I dunno, they are tools. An ends to a means.
Are you trying to go dawless? the pyramid + (a bunch of smaller devices with good midi implementations ) + a good mixer and monitors.
Are you a DAW freak? then maybe one or two synths with a good companion software for daws and a nice keybed.
if you really like just noodling around maybe get a NDLR for sequencing
There is a lot of cross over there, and you say yourself that you don’t make music, just noodle; so get rid of duplicates cross over and get/have the following: Sequencer, Synth, Sampler, Keyboard.
Personally, I’d return everything you brought with the exception of the Digitone. Maybe keep the SP16, maybe not as you have the Black box already.
You only need a third of that gear if that.
Quality over quantity any day of the week.
I’d return most of that; not but anything more, and put some money aside for a rainy day, you may need it sometime, trust me on that
Small amount of good/expensive gear is better then a pile of cheap and nasty stuff imho.
If I had all that gear in one room I would make space for 2 maybe 3 of them at a time and just mix them up everyonce in awhile until I find something that works.
I could never ever work with that much gear all at once or even half of that gear
Yea…I just like to play around…Usually I buy/sell stuff and only have 2-4 items at a time but i needed to spend the money quick before the wife did!
I will definitely sell stuff I wont use as much. Probably the Neutron as I love the SE-02 sound. Most likely the Black Box even though I like it a lot…just want something a little larger. hence the SP16.
It will get whittled down. I dont do computers…no DAW for me ever. Tried it, hate using computers for music. Tried IPAD, no go…just DAW less forever.
I was giong to put Matriarch instead of Grandmother but there is only so much money to go around!
Thanks everyone.
And thanks for the NDLR suggestion…now i gotta check that out!!!
yeah, I have found that with quality gear comes quality experiences.
cheaper gear always has shortcomings (no interconnectivity, no fx, no expression etc. )
if you like noodling, then you probably want a synthesizer with a one knob per function interface (summit, moog).
Most people on the forum say they have better experiences with a singular sequencer as opposed to multiple. I think alot of people usually only use 2 or 3 instruments at a time too. anything more than that will be more setup than playing.
I think rusty gave really good advice.
Buy quality equipment that doesn’t overlap and works well together.
That sounds like overkill my friend. Just my opinion, but trying to get all that equipment to communicate in sync, deciding which will be master sequencer, physical space, power outlets running out, ugh…I couldn’t do it. It may be more headache than it’s worth, maybe not though for your personal workflow. Also depends of you rotate gear in and out.
You may want to look at the overlapping features and see which devices can be eliminated. Your Black Box and the Pioneer SP-16 are both samplers, so decide which one is more tuned to your workflow. Neutron, Roland SE-02 and Circuit Mono Station, all mono synths. See which one is best for you and ditch the other 2 perhaps. Digitone is great and I’ll tell you to keep it because I love mine to death, it’s great for all types of synth duties and has a great onboard sequencer and fx. Not sure about MC 101, maybe good for traveling (sketch pad) Vermona might be a dope drum machine to keep and I notice you don’t have a dedicated analog drum machine. Key step Pro could be a great master sequencer and any studio could benefit from having one.
Ultimately it may be hard for you to decide what to keep and what to sell until you’ve given each new piece of gear some time. You may pass your return window if you want a thorough test of each piece, in turn getting stuck with it, but a lot of gear holds it’s value pretty well. You can always sell on Reverb, Ebay, local, etc…
Good luck, keep us posted. I’m curious to see what you decide
Well, I received the SP-16 tonight. Played around with it for a couple hours. Don’t really like machines with big touch screens., tried and sold an MPC One and Force. I’m more old school. I’d rather have an Analog Rytm mk.2 but this was $600 mint used so it was a great deal.
Compared to the BB, this has a lot easier and nicer arranger, obviously has the pads which I always missed on the BB, less max steps per pattern but the same as the Keystep Pro so 64 is ok. Not having to rely on the touchscreen for step sequencing as you do on the BB is nicer. The sample size max is great in the BB but I don’t do long samples so that’s no biggie.
I made a quick sample from the mini Moog app on my iPad. Worked fine, quick…as easy as on the BB.
Overall, I like both samplers and the BB is more minimalistic which I kind of like but this one is more tactile and seems like it will be a good sampler/drum machine for me. I just want to see how it controls the Vermona when it gets here next week.
I also received the SE-02 today. Played with it a bit, sounds great to me. I have big fingers and I know a lot complain about the knob size and spacing between the knobs but that does not bother me.
The main reason other than sound I’m keeping this over the Neutron is I need presets. I am not that good yet at synthesis and If I find a sound I love I need to be able to save and recall. I can take a pic or try and memorize but I just would rather have a bunch of ready to go presets until I’m more experienced.
Winner: SE-02. To sell: barely used Neutron.
I am keeping the CMS also as I just enjoy playing around with the sequencer built into it so that will be on my Play Around With It table.
