So sweet!
The Hardware Megathread
Auto-meh-geddon
#3287
This is after only 1 day with the OPSIX, I programmed all sounds, not a single preset. I just wanted to understand how can I bend it to my will.
Quite a lot I guess…
No other effects, apart from some sidechain.
relic
#3288
damn dude, dat kick has punch! I like all the sounds here. The midrange/bass sound just has this nice even harmonic texture. All the atmo stuff is beautiful. I really need to break myself out of simple subtractive synthesis.
I am an absolute beginner at FM. I shouldn’t even say that. I can’t even tweak a preset w/o turning it into garbage.
relic
#3289
Not sure anyone cares but we recaptured the stray cat we took to the vet. He got free from his big cage in my studio and held himself hostage until he got too hungry and was fooled by the live trap we set. Resting comfortably again after being neutered and having his injured toe amputated. He even got some fresh cooked chicken after being a jerk face and running all over my studio lol.
Auto-meh-geddon
#3293
Had it been a pure FM synth, I wouldn’t have gone for it, but
A- it has more accessible interface and workflow
B- It can be used as a very digital virtual analog
For example this wanna be reese/hoover sound is not FM at all:
@canecreek my reese skills don’t match yours I bet.
relic
#3294
The OP Six might be a contender for my setup. From everything I’ve heard it’ll lend a very different sound to what I have now. I love the clean, sparking modern high end on it. I like that it is FM for dummies and feels like a subtractive. That’s what I need to learn I think.
Auto-meh-geddon
#3295
Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t the kind of synth that you would easily program on the fly, it requires planning and menu diving, but it is really well thought in terms of interface which helps a lot.
Also, I think I found a bug, assigning an lfo to the distortion drive amount doesn seem to work.
Creepr
#3297
So what with taxes and all and a bit less OT that planned, I am going to have to aim lower than the perfourmer for my GAS orgy next month. Ah well. I got thinking about what I could really use in my budding HW studio and a bigger sequencer than is in the OG Circuit is definitely missing, so I went back to some old ideas, and re-discovered the MPC One. Taking a serious look at it again. the Live II does have so much more eagle, but then again, it does not come in gold…
I never thought I would find a synth to match my gold Monologue…but now is my chance. 
Also, I am gassing for a bigger reverb pedal. bigger as in longer decay and such for more ambient stuffs. the Bluesky is on my radar, I like the big knobs…any other secret ambient weapons you guys could recommend, that come in under say 350?
That aside though…that gold MPC is the shiz is it not?
Auto-meh-geddon
#3298
Despite the colour the new MPCs are awesome.
The Live mkii Retro is fantastic.
And they are actually great hardware too.
The reverb on the MPC is not bad at all, not big sky or pedal quality but nicely tweakable, and you can have a nice send chain with delay into a reverb into a lo-fi and ending with an eq.
Creepr
#3299
yeah, the retro looked pretty cool too, but if I went with a Live, I would probably go with a V1 anyway due to the price, and it is dull black.
A thought just struck me…you know how they use vinyl wraps for cars? Why not for Synths? You can even peel the vinyl off later…I will have to check Amazon, I bet they have some.
relic
#3301
Cool. That is good to know. I’ll have to watch a proper walkthrough when it comes time to think about another synth : )
White_Noise
#3302
This is something I’ve been looking at for a while, here are the Strymon contenders that stuck in my mind after watching all the demos:
Boss RV-500 - Sound quality overall on par with the strymon (some algorithms sound better to me, some worse), a bit more menu divey, but can run two reverbs at once in series or in (mono) parallel. All those menus also let you tweak a lot more stuff like filtering, frequency multipliers, etc. IIRC, it also has a basic delay built in (or Boss’ DD-500 also has a basic reverb, I don’t remember). I’ve seen these in the mid to high 200 range used, but you can definitely find one under 350.
Eventide Space or H9 - For the price of a Space, I’d just go ahead and pick up an H9. By far the most expensive -even used units will come in north of 400- but Eventide sounds the best IMO. If you go H9 you lose a lot of the hands-on control, but you get a bunch more effects to choose from. And if you don’t mind an app then it still has a lot of control. I don’t know why anyone releases an app that isn’t web-based these days. I do not want to buy an ipad just to run music apps, would much rather control it from the laptop I already have without worrying about windows updates breaking anything.
Ventris Dual Reverb - kinda like a boss RV-500 without the menu diving and easier access to the dual reverb functions. Can be under 350 used.
Empress Reverb - also very expensive. Even used this one will run you almost 400. Also sounds very good, goes surprisingly deep for not having a menu, but you’re going to need to memorize what’s going on inside the pedal. I’d rather have a menu at that point.
Zoom MS-70-CDR - The little pedal that can. Should run you around $100. I’ve heard it do pretty good things for the price. No, it is not on the level of the others, but as a fan of the plasticy 80s guitar tone, I think this sounds great. The interface isn’t going to be as nice as any of the others, BUT, it’s less than half the cost of any other option here on their cheapest days. It also runs like 6 effects at once, and I think there’s an app to make effect editing less painful (I won’t even complain if I have to run it on my tiny old iphone at this price). The CDR stands for Chorus, Delay, and Reverb, but I think they added a bunch more effects later on so you have drives and stuff too. If I could try pedals again, I’d start here and think about what I really want before spending major money.
The one I was closest to pulling the trigger on was the RV-500 myself, but I’m holding off on further purchases while I get to know the Super 6 and get the most out of that before adding more complexity to my hardware setup.
relic
#3303
The CDR 70 is amazing for the price point. Really accurate review here.
I know it is crazy money but if you are going to go Strymon I’d seriously consider the BigSky or NightSky (I know…I all most shat myself when I paid $300 for the El Capistan but then it arrived and I had absolutely no regrets). If I get another Strymon pedal I am going to save up for one of the big ones instead. There is so much more functionality for the money. I don’t have the El Capistan anymore but based on using it I would not be afraid to invest in a Strymon pedal.
The NightSky seems perfect for ambient as it lets you do a bit of sound design onboard.