Gear Acquisition Syndrome….

I remember on a thread a few years back there were a surprising amount of synth nerds on the forum. So what have you picked up recently and what’s giving you an itchy trigger finger? Share your tunes and your setup.

My last purchase was an Elektron Digitone and a Jupiter 6 filter for my ever expanding rack. I’m excited by all of Behringer clones but I really want another Dave Smith Prophet for some snappy/sharp sort of Rival Consoles or Barker style sounds. I had a desktop 08 years ago but found it needed too much menu diving.

Still loving my KORG Minilogue.

Sound is such a science and the KORG is a great little laboratory.

The new Minilogue XD with a Mutable Instruments Plaits oscillator looks interesting, as does the Arturia Microfreak which looks like a great little creative tool.

I really want another Dave Smith Prophet

Used to have the 08 and have the 6 now. It’s a much better sounding synth IMO.

Currently got GAS for expensive outboard. Really want a Thermionic Culture Phoenix and Culture Vulture, but they’re a serious investment!

last year saw my first decent music purchases since the 90s, as i now have a job instead of being a skint musician or a student etc 😀

OP, what do you make of the Digitone? I’d always been skeptical of Elektron because they have a notoriously steep learning curve and I am lazy, but last year I picked up a 2nd hand Digitakt and I completely love it. Easy to use, great as a live tool, I started bringing it to DJ gigs within a few months – so much fun!

Also grabbed an Erebus v3 which is just lovely sounding.

Agree with others here on the Prophet 08 – my mate’s got one and I can’t get into it. It’s not fun to use and something about the sound just doesn’t click with me.

He’s also got the Behringer Moog model D clone and – i kind of hate to say this because I do think it’s pretty snide, but – it’s brilliant. Sounds great. For £250 it’s unbelievably good value!

The Behringer Neutron is awesome as well. I too feel guilty for supporting them, but I can’t wait for the SH101 and Pro 1 clones too.

Not really synth butI like a bit of beatboxing and vocal looping similar to Dub FX and Beardyman.
I have a Boss 505 loop station which I coordinate with a cajon with Roland cajon Mic and processor.
I then use Reaper DAW to try to build up songs with the individual tracks.
The FX options on the Boss 505 are great but slightly limited. I would ultimately like to increase FX with something like a Boss GT-8.

I’m currently working with a circuit, Mininova, Korg Volca Sample and a couple of pocket operators which all sync nicely. Monitored through a brace of HS5s via a wee and ancient Beringer mixer. I’m lusting after that new Akai studio in a box thing. Largely for the sequencing and editing capability.

Used to have the 08 and have the 6 now. It’s a much better sounding synth IMO.

Not too badly priced either, I just need to decide if 6 voices are enough or go for the 12, have got a 106 I use for most things poly at the moment and do sometimes find myself running out.

OP, what do you make of the Digitone? I’d always been skeptical of Elektron because they have a notoriously steep learning curve and I am lazy, but last year I picked up a 2nd hand Digitakt and I completely love it. Easy to use, great as a live tool, I started bringing it to DJ gigs within a few months – so much fun!

I’ve really not had it long and only just starting to scratch the surface, I’ve fancied an Elektron since the Monomachine but chickened out because of the workflow, decided I might as well have a bash.

Also grabbed an Erebus v3 which is just lovely sounding.

Nice I love Dreadbox stuff. I’ve recently sold my Hades as there just we’re enough modulation points, have still got the Splash reverb which is the same as the Nyx.

I’ve got a Model D and personally think it’s great what they’re doing, will definitely grab a 909 and a 303, and a Pro 1, oh and the ARP is pretty damn nice too. arrrggh….I’ve got an Intellijel Atlantis so don’t need a 101, fortunately….

Athgray I’m guessing you’ve seen Marc Rebillet’s stuff?

Just got round to doing my free upgrade to Ableton 10. Been using it in various versions since about 2003, and it’s so good 😎 got the full suite now with all the bells and whistles.
Max live us great too.

Been doing a lot of in the box looping with beats, voice and guitar using a Livid guitar wing and a live control. That plus my homebuilt midi foot controller I recently rebuilt.

I love my venerable old Microkorg, but some of the Behringer clones they’re releasing atm are definitely giving me GAS!

Oh, and as above….Marc Rebillet is fudging brilliant!

Having only just bought a Minilogue the arrival of the XD was a bit of a wounder, I’m hoping that the Minilogue might get some new firmware in the future to update the sequencer on the Minilogue ( possibly wishful thinking there )

Currently I have the Minilogue, Monilogue, Volca Sample and FM with some FX pedals,

Things that have piqued my interest are the Digitone and Volca Drum, the Behringer Crave looks a bit of a steal at the price though I have the Monologue so it’s a little lower down the list.

am not a musician but would love to get the new minilogue xd as i love synths and electronic music. the xd looks a great synth for a novice like myself to start learning about synths. also i love the knobs and buttons and lcd screens that are hands on as opposed to programming as i would be lost with programming tbh.

either that or a new guitar is my plan

Just reinstalled reason, going to try to finish a song I started about 5 years ago!

I’m loving patching with my Neutron and am definitely gonna get a Crave for it to plug into.

I’m still really enjoying my Make Noise 0-Coast.
I’ve also got 104hp of mostly Make Noise modules but I keep returning to the 0-Coast as it’s such a well designed, self contained instrument.
I’ve recently been been having lots of fun designing effects for it in Reaktor and self-patching the 0-Coast to do some drones / generative stuff without a sequencer or DAW.
Fun! I might even record some of it. 🙂

I am no Synth Nerd, but am loving this thread. My son is mad keen on this stuff, and has some sort of symbiotic relationship with his Minilogue. I am seriously impressed with the tunes he creates with, essentially just Guitars/amp, a Focusrite interface thing, The Minilogue and his iPad.

There are plans afoot for much acquisition of extra kit, but he understands that A Levels are to be obtained before the various stuff he wants will be forthcoming.

So, those who know, what do you think is the best thing to add next? Bear in mind there’s not a load of room or cash available. Something like a Launchpad? A more advanced Synth? Laptop or desktop for better recording features?

Advice gladly accepted.

Do any of you use out of the box recorders? I’m DAWless these days and want to stay that way. I was thinking of a Roland Go mixer which would suit the compact nature of my gear.

Following the thread with interest. I use Ableton and reaper and have a few midi controllers etc. I’m mainly a guitarist but seem to create mainly electronic music. I’ve made transatlantic flights seem like no time at all with just a laptop. I try to write, produce, mix and render a track fully as usually I start stuff and never finish it. GAS wise I could list a few DAW plugins I’d like but does that count? HW wise a new set of drums or triggers would be nice.

I’m mainly a guitarist but seem to create mainly electronic music.

Similar to me….have seen/played with the Livid guitar wing?
Great piece of kit – fully assignable, wireless midi controller that fits on your guitar. Simple idea, that’s well executed.

@ajantom I also have a home made midi foot controller…. Well I say that….I have all the parts but it’s not built yet. I use a midi kick drum pedal to control the mobius looper plugin (free, but powerful)

seadog101

I think it depends what he’s interested in achieving. Modular has opened up a whole new world for me (and a financial vortex) and for hands on sound design there’s nothing quite like it. Rather than using my rack for standalone “DAWless jams” I use it for creating sounds, loops and sequences to use in my production. A good way into that world be a self patchable semi modular like a Crave, Neutron, Mother, DFAM or 0-Coast(lots of fun as said above). Or DIY modular is another avenue I really enjoy, nothing as satisfying as soldering together your own synths and modules. I think the other sensible option would be an Elektron Digtakt which would allow him to pretty much do everything with hardware and sequence other gear like the Minilogue.

So, those who know, what do you think is the best thing to add next? Bear in mind there’s not a load of room or cash available. Something like a Launchpad? A more advanced Synth? Laptop or desktop for better recording features?

it really depends on where he’s headed musically!

A laptop with Logic or Ableton (or even Fruityloops etc I guess) would be an obvious option; you can get seriously into mixing and editing your stuff, get loads of plugins/FX, extra software synths, yak yak. I don’t know how how much you can do with Garageband on an iPad these days – I guess quite a lot – but a laptop would still open up a lot of possibilities. And he can take it to uni, do homework, watch porn on it etc etc

A digitakt or similar would be a good option – it’s a sampler so you can use it for drums, looping up the guitar, or just sample some crap off youtube and mess around with that. (The volca sample is a tolerable option on a tight budget – sounds pretty lo-fi but it’s still fun to muck about with).

Other options to consider – guitar pedals? You could get half a dozen for the price of pretty much anything else on your list. A microphone to record vocals and bits of percussion? A Zoom recorder to go out and record some found sounds / environmental noises / conversations and stuff?

Personally I’d be hesitant to go deeper on synths and controllers until you know what he’s interested in. Something like a 0-Coast synth mentioned above has a fair old learning curve, so if he’s not a synth nerd (yet!) he might find it annoying or hard work. I don’t know if a Launchpad would add much to the current setup either – it’s more of a performance tool really. But it might fit in if he wants to start doing gigs? Also on the live option – a loop pedal box thing might be fun (another reason to check out Marc Rebillet who uses one very effectively)

🙂

Eurorack keeps me up at night, I know I don’t need a setup, but my god do I want one. Although my marriage may take a massive hit when OCD kicks in and we can’t afford the roof above our heads due to another VCO being bought……..so, i’m looking at the Neutron and Moog Mother 32.

Interested in what people think of the Minilogue though, that new XD is rather tasty

Blimey! GAS! Haven’t heard that since the days of the Future Music Guitar forum.

Currently debating a version of Live. I mainly play with GuitarRig and Garageband these days but Live (which I’ve not owned since 4 or maybe 5) was always my default back then with GuitarRig as a plug in.

Made this on flights to/from Toronto recently using Ableton. It certainly makes long haul flights go a LOT quicker. Feel free to rip it to bits (secretly hoping for a sympathetic audience!)

Good effort AT. I listened to whole track so something kept me interested. Cool that you did that on a plane.

Is Ableton Live Intro worth the money or is it VERY limited? It’s £110…

a cursory attempt from 8 years ago (mostly Garage Band samples during a brief flirtation with Apple stuff), taking the mick out of startup culture. Not much musically compared to what you guys are doing but I was kind of pleased 🙂

Edit: nothing to do with GAS.

I’ve recently picked up Ableton Live Lite, and it’s fantastic. I’ve spent years aimlessly noodling on the guitar and doing a bit of bass in bands, but after getting a Tascam 8-track to record song ideas onto, I quickly decided the additional flexibility and scope of a DAW would be worth trying.

As well as doing my own stuff at home, Live works really well with the band. Being without a drummer since the last one spontaneously combusted, we’re using it for that, plus pre-recorded bass/keys parts, and the flexibility is great.

The one drawback is the additional scope for GAS. Along with weighing up the upgrade to Standard or Suite, I’m looking at the XLN XO drum suite, which looks mega. Has anyone used it?

There are also, mercifully, lots of free resources, so I’m about to go down an EQ plug-in rabbithole as my ‘job for the weekend’.

Here’s a recent effort, I’d love to know what you think. If my attempt to post the link works!

https://soundcloud.com/user-905271283/keys