What's your funnest piece of gear?

Model:Samples is pure fun.

Coming in at a close second is any Korg Volca, they’re basically designed to be fun. But Bass, FM, and Sample were my special trinity for a while until I sold them all off.

And 3rd place goes to PO-33 KO

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Fretless electric guitar through distortion

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I have to be honest, this entire set up rocks my socks off!

I’m a knob per function junkie. Rythm is wild fun too.

The little Yamaha keyboard is also fun. Midi in controls panning, FX sends, notes, chords, etc.

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If I had to choose, probably the SP-404. I don’t have it anymore but I may get the new one some day.

It was the piece of equipment that immediately put smiles on faces. The first time I would show it to them (I got mine very early on) I think everyone was able to make something that would have them grinning like fools. Children, grownups with no musical experience, seasoned musicians, all of them had a blast the moment they touched it.

The equipment that gave me a moment of absolute fun: the EHX Microsynth. I plugged one in at the Hollywood Guitar Center, the world’s capital of wheedily-wheedily.

I had my head down with a guitar, the Microsynth and an amp just messing with it hard. Nothing that came out of that amp sounded anything like a guitar. After a few minutes I looked up and realized I was surrounded by onlookers. The looks of positive amusement was about equal to the looks of sheer disgust. I bought it on the spot.

Great pedal. If it had an LFO or ability to use an expression pedal I would have kept it.

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Any weird drum machines tbh. Split between Plumbutter & pulsar. I like that they can be used for stuff besides drums and don’t really encourage tonal music as stand-alone boxes.

Think I’d like to try a Metasonix d-2000 in the future

Rhythms are great encouragement for starting other musical ideas around too, can easily drop them in the computer or overdub with other hardware.

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For me the funniest is the rytm. I produce rhythm based music, so it always works.

“Funnest” synth to me is the peak, because I love the interface. And the sound.

For bass duties I love using the sub phatty. Its satisfying.

For the future I will be needing a hardware FM synth that will make this list. That one is still missing

For me, it’s currently the Prophet X - such a crazy interconnected package!

I mean, combining obscure sample foundations with Pro-12 styled oscs, 4 envelopes, 4 LFOs, extensive mod matrix, amazingly smooth analog stereo filter, osc panning, dual fx, arp/seq, sample bit adjustment, etc…just crazy!

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Drum kit, though I haven’t played in ten years and having it in storage isn’t fun.

After that, I love my P-Bass and Telecaster with a few pedals. I guess fun for me is indulging in the physical aspects of the rock music I grew up with.

On the electronic end, Digitakt is a blast for quick beats or jamming with people, and sounds great.

Finally I’ll say my MS-20 FS. It’s like the synth equivalent of my bass or guitar.

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A few that stuck out:

Matrixbrute : just sit at and go as deep as suits the occasion.
Nord Lead 3: Similar vibes but with 4 part layering for its magic.
Machinedrum: Still finding new magic after 12+ years of possession.
Analog Keys: Best interface for this engine. Always come out of a session with something decent.
Toraiz Squid: Even with its gimped bits, there is so often some trick available to twist sequences into something fresh.

Of the sold stuff, I would have to mention the old Electribes ES/ER and ESX. Ahead of their time in regards to their simplicity and creative potential.

The theme - intuitive interfacing the key to having fun and avoiding blockage.

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Bro get that kit out of storage. My Roland kit is my daily therapy in a high stress job. Am I chill today ? Play some jazz. Do I want to practice technique ? Play some classic rock? So I want to play big beat live? Play some electronic kits ? Bad day at work ? Play some metal.

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Made my day :joy:

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Me just 100% having fun? 2xXDJ 700 + Xone:43 DJ Mixer

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Mine is the black Pulsar 23 whitch is a real beast and great tool for drones and raw rythmics.

Let me know when you find it.

While the Digitakt is super powerful and fun, there’s just something so nice about turning the knobs on the Model:Cycles. And I mean that in the sounds they generate.

It’s just such a pleasing sound; really difficult to make it sound bad.

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I would say the Nord Micro Modular, following probably by the Monologue.

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I recently got the MKii and it is super fun. There is something about the workflow that makes it instantly playable and usb sampling is just great.

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Analog Rytm or my noise setup

Fun is actually the reason I make music and I not only genuinely enjoy composition and production but I also love learning new hardware to see how the design works. When a piece of gear allows for easy creative expression and is fun to use it is magic.

For me the most fun things I own are:

OP-1 field - after having an OG OP-1 for 6 year and using it consistently I upgraded and the field is awesome fun. I use it more than anything.

Pulsar 23 - pure fun as you ride its unpredictable wave of madness. Leave your plan at the door and watch something unexpected unfold every time you use it.

Hydrasynth Desktop - A wonderland of sound design with a fantastic UI w/ 5 envelopes & 5 LFOs plus poly aftertouch makes it so much fun. If I can imagine a sound I can pretty much create it on the HS.

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OP-1: I don’t actually use it much, but it’s definitely fun, and I could play with that arpeggiator for hours.

TR-06 + TB-03 combo: the enhanced sequencer and sound design features Roland added take these beyond the originals, and in the 03’s case, being able to manipulate the sequencer during playback allows for some great evolving patterns.

Syntrx: I often approach mine with a certain thing in mind, but then end up getting carried away in weird sound land. I really should play a noise gig with it sometime.

If including software:

Emission Control 2: I will never shut up about this. Incredible granular synthesis software that has a lot of great features. Fun to assign to the internal LFOs and/or MIDI controllers.

Borderlands iOS granular app: My second favourite granular software. Different flavour to EC2 but possibly the best use of a touchscreen interface I’ve seen for a music app.

Ruismaker Noir iOS app: Just got this lastnight but it is an instant win for me. Kinda like DFAM I guess in that it’s a monophonic drum synth/sequencer, but with lots of expression.

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