Hardware Hardware Choices 2021

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I've been mulling over, and procrastinating buying some hardware ... But with a house move imminent, I'm considering re-opening that train of thought (Mainly because I'll have space to indulge a bit!!)
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I sold all my previous keyboard, synths, drum machines, etc about ...er....8 years ago)
... and now I miss them.
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I suspect an MPC is on my horizon.
As is Behringer "303" .... But Im curious what CURRENT stuff (from last 10 years), everyone else is using?
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Behringer seem to have gone nuts in the time I was away. As have Korg and Arturia?
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......where else should I be browsing for some inspiration? :Smile3:
 
Check out Synthstrom Deluge. Sequencer with MIDI and CV/gate outputs, multiple synths and samplers, audio recorder/looper/real-time pitch-shifter/mangler, all in a small, portable, battery powered box.
Not cheap, but worth every penny, imho.
I've had mine for three years, and am still amazed by it. And yes, it is inspirational. A great jamming tool...
 
Check out Synthstrom Deluge. Sequencer with MIDI and CV/gate outputs, multiple synths and samplers, audio recorder/looper/real-time pitch-shifter/mangler, all in a small, portable, battery powered box.
Not cheap, but worth every penny, imho.
I've had mine for three years, and am still amazed by it. And yes, it is inspirational. A great jamming tool...


Interesting! - Cheers for the link.

Do you own one? ...or played on one? (The first thing that struck me from a cursory scan of the video, was that the sequencer scroll ran right to left. Not sure I could cope with that, and would hope its adjustable!) :Smile3:
 
Interesting! - Cheers for the link.

Do you own one? ...or played on one? (The first thing that struck me from a cursory scan of the video, was that the sequencer scroll ran right to left. Not sure I could cope with that, and would hope its adjustable!) :Smile3:
Yes, I own one. I was a fairly early adopter, got it in Feb. 2018. It's had several major updates since then, and more on the way. It just keeps on giving.
Puzzled by the scroll thing, it goes the right way for me, from left to right. Which vid were you looking at? You can zoom into it, and scroll it forwards and backwards as you please, but it always plays left to right. (Although I believe reverse play may be in the next update, along with Euclidean sequencing, and lots of other good stuff)
I bought it for it's sequencing capabilities, but it does so much more than just that, now...
 
Yes, I own one. I was a fairly early adopter, got it in Feb. 2018. It's had several major updates since then, and more on the way. It just keeps on giving.
Puzzled by the scroll thing, it goes the right way for me, from left to right. Which vid were you looking at? You can zoom into it, and scroll it forwards and backwards as you please, but it always plays left to right. (Although I believe reverse play may be in the next update, along with Euclidean sequencing, and lots of other good stuff)
I bought it for it's sequencing capabilities, but it does so much more than just that, now...

Awesome... Thanks for the overview - Definite contender! :Smile3:
 
I am eyeing the Behringher ARP 2600. I can recommend the Arturia Microfreak though
 
Synth-wise this looks rather wholesome. Though with a price tag to boot but some nice new concepts on the synthesis front.
Not had a play just seen a few vids.
 
And of course, if you are talking just synth, you could still consider a Virus Ti. It may be quite old now, but it's still the dog's danglies, imho. (As long as you aren't using a Mac with a recent OS)...
 
And of course, if you are talking just synth, you could still consider a Virus Ti. It may be quite old now, but it's still the dog's danglies, imho. (As long as you aren't using a Mac with a recent OS)...

true! - Oldie but goldie!
 
And of course, if you are talking just synth, you could still consider a Virus Ti. It may be quite old now, but it's still the dog's danglies, imho. (As long as you aren't using a Mac with a recent OS)...
My TI Desktop is still my workhorse. Whenever I'm out of inspiration the massive preset banks always have something new I haven't heard I can use for inspiration. 12 years down the line and still getting software updates for the firmware and the OS drivers. It's well supported, at least on windows anyway.
 
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more hardware....no. No. nononono.
 
Whats the selection there? :Smile3:
Waldorf Microwave XT, Arturia keystep pro, presonus 1810c
Korg minilogue, moog dfam, analog rytm, analog four

other things have come and gone, but this lot are all keepers. Funny, I had a virus TI2 polar and I thought it was shit. I know a lot of people really rate it, but to me it sounded really digital and scratchy and the USB audio never ever worked properly. Sold it on for a huuuuge loss.
 
Waldorf Microwave XT, Arturia keystep pro, presonus 1810c
Korg minilogue, moog dfam, analog rytm, analog four

other things have come and gone, but this lot are all keepers. Funny, I had a virus TI2 polar and I thought it was shit. I know a lot of people really rate it, but to me it sounded really digital and scratchy and the USB audio never ever worked properly. Sold it on for a huuuuge loss.
Thanks for the insight dude!
 
I had a virus TI2 polar and I thought it was shit. I know a lot of people really rate it, but to me it sounded really digital and scratchy and the USB audio never ever worked properly. Sold it on for a huuuuge loss.

Virus TI 1 (which is what I have) is unfortunately USB-1, which was a huge mistake as it severely limited the number of instruments that could flow on VST mode (which is also temperamental indeed). 3 stereo channel tops IIRC as long as you disabled the USB audio input. More if some of your instruments are mono, and you also have an additional pair of stereo analog outs which I have leveraged into my audio interface via old skool cables. It also has a CPU budget you need to be aware of - depending on what your patch is modelling you might not be able to output all 4 or 5 or 10 (mono) instruments at the same time. You can use it as an audio interface though, which would further limit the number of synth audio channels that can travel through the USB connection back to the DAW.

TI2 has a number of improvements: more powerful CPU (=more simultaneous instruments and some more complex and analog sounding FX) and memory, and USB-2, but otherwise identical and indeed the control software is the same.

It can indeed be very digital sounding, which is a bit marmitey in that you either tolerate it or hate it. Successive firmware updates added more analog sounding waveforms and effects (some really good distortions on the last upgrade from a coupe of years back). I personally really like the way it sounds, but I can totally see why some wouldn't.

One of its main strengths is the VST interface. It does open up a ton of sound design possibilities that are pretty hard (but not impossible) to configure via using knobs and buttons. It's really very good. Comms with your computer can be temperamental - for instance you musn't share the same USB controller with anything else. I have a PCI card with USB2 connectors just for it and nothing else.

Edit: actually I was wrong on the TI2 and USB front. It still used USB-1 and it came out in a world where USB-2 was already everywhere. What a fuck up from Access on that one.
 
Virus TI 1 (which is what I have) is unfortunately USB-1, which was a huge mistake as it severely limited the number of instruments that could flow on VST mode (which is also temperamental indeed). 3 stereo channel tops IIRC as long as you disabled the USB audio input. More if some of your instruments are mono, and you also have an additional pair of stereo analog outs which I have leveraged into my audio interface via old skool cables. It also has a CPU budget you need to be aware of - depending on what your patch is modelling you might not be able to output all 4 or 5 or 10 (mono) instruments at the same time. You can use it as an audio interface though, which would further limit the number of synth audio channels that can travel through the USB connection back to the DAW.

TI2 has a number of improvements: more powerful CPU (=more simultaneous instruments and some more complex and analog sounding FX) and memory, and USB-2, but otherwise identical and indeed the control software is the same.

It can indeed be very digital sounding, which is a bit marmitey in that you either tolerate it or hate it. Successive firmware updates added more analog sounding waveforms and effects (some really good distortions on the last upgrade from a coupe of years back). I personally really like the way it sounds, but I can totally see why some wouldn't.

One of its main strengths is the VST interface. It does open up a ton of sound design possibilities that are pretty hard (but not impossible) to configure via using knobs and buttons. It's really very good. Comms with your computer can be temperamental - for instance you musn't share the same USB controller with anything else. I have a PCI card with USB2 connectors just for it and nothing else.

Edit: actually I was wrong on the TI2 and USB front. It still used USB-1 and it came out in a world where USB-2 was already everywhere. What a fuck up from Access on that one.
I sometimes think that if a synth is so complicated that you need a software editor then you may as well use a soft synth. I like quite simple hardware for that reason.
 
You don't need the software editor. You can do everything with knobs and buttons. But stuff like modulation is just far easier to do on an on-screen modulation matrix. It's not either-or. The VST also lets you manage audio banks and back your stuff up without requiring a floppy drive or some other storage mechanism.
 
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