Regarding batteries, this is a thing with older game consoles and games too. Not always an option, but where possible I replace with rechargeable cells that charge as the device is on. I’m sure they’ll go flat eventually but with the power draw we’re talking about and the stakes (my high scores in Tony Hawk?) I think they’re good for my lifetime. I wouldn’t want to screw up and wipe a RAM cart though.
The Hardware Megathread
Koldunya
#4798
This looks handy. I might could get out my K5000S and just wheel it out of the way when I need/want to…
RFJ
#4799
Really looking forward to grabbing these and checking them out. HW thread comes through once again…
Thanks!
misterjones313
#4800
So I went ahead and bought this today. Didn’t realize it was an SP404A, just thought it was the OG 404. Pawn shop had it for $350, I talked him down to $300. They sell for nearly $500 on ebay and reverb so I think I made out on this one. It’ll be a nice sample mutilation companion to my MPC500.
Now I gotta get a small mixer to use as a submixer, I’m out of inputs and I’m recklessly eyeballing a Yamaha AN200 along with a Novation Nova.
Koldunya
#4801
I spent all this time cataloging my gear on a spreadsheet, what I might sell and what for, and Reverb has all that built-in, along with selling it right from the collection 
(apparently it’s actually a ‘new’ feature, at least…)
chasedobson
#4802
Back to WMD.
Picked up a case of eurorack test equipment, a strobe tuner, a oscilloscope and a boatload of analog oscillators to test waveshapes, voltage output, and to calibrate them to volt per octave.
Roo_Stercogburn
#4803
This proper made me chuckle. That’s some real nerdy shit right there. Loved it 
Auto-meh-geddon
#4804
There’s an Hakai Facebook group where you can get the firmware to run the Force OD on the Mpc, just a simple choice on startup. Despite having a Force I might try this over the weekend as I’d love a PortaForce
Roo_Stercogburn
#4805
PortaForce sounds like a laxative. I may have said this before. As soon as I wrote this down it sounded familiar.
Auto-meh-geddon
#4806
I was more thinking of PortaLoos. I see we both think it would be a shit idea…
Koldunya
#4807
I tried to think of a poop joke to continue the chain, but it ended up going down the drain.
But I’m reminded of my thoughts/wants/desires for something like a MPC or Maschine with a hybrid 4x4 and 8x8 matrix like the Quneo has. You can use the 16 pads like a 4x4, or you can use the corners with their own LEDs as a 8x8 launchpad-like affair
Sadly there has not been an RGB replacement for the Quneo, it’s just red, green, and yellow. Even when they updated it this year for MPE, they kept that tired ass coloring XD It still does more than any other pad controller to this day, though.
Mine is on a shelf with a Qunexus XD But I fear that rubberized coating that was used on those is going to start turning sticky any day now, as that material often does after several years… could be why the update uses a polycarbonate enclosure, now.
Auto-meh-geddon
#4808
On a side note, I feel bad for spending more time with Cyberpunk than my music….
White_Noise
#4810
It didn’t happen for a long time while I was learning music, but the last year or two I find that I sometimes take a break for a while. I might still noodle at a synth for a bit now and then. Judging by the last modified projects in my folder I didn’t do any serious work for almost two months until I got ideas again this week. In the meantime I read, played games, watched some movies I’ve been meaning to get to…
Didn’t feel like a waste by any means and I feel like my ideas and mixing are great right now. Mastering I can flip like a light switch I hope as I’ve had some work come in on that front I intend to bring my A-game to, and I haven’t done any serious mastering for anyone else in 6 months.
chasedobson
#4811
contrarily - if i’m home i write every day, whether or not i see an idea to fruition.
i don’t game, not since PS2, i only read non-fiction when i find a subject im obsessed with and figure… ive spent this much on tools over the years i had better use them. use them daily.
that said im also probably overly work motivated, when im not on tour i juggle mixing producing and mastering for clients, building eurorack modules for myself, testing for my local eurorack manufacturer/job, writing my own tracks… lets just say i put all my “eggs in one basket”
relic
#4812
I really need to start either turning on and using a piece of gear for 20 mins every day or mixing records 20 mins a day.
White_Noise
#4813
You know, as I think about it, the longest break I’d taken up until last year was a week, and that was because my PC died and I had to get and set up a new one - all in my last month of college. I remember now, I used to block out 10 minutes minimum before I left for work to either make some moves on a mix or work on a new song section, whatever. That quit when I started working from home. At first, my schedule felt so messed up I could barely get anything done. Then as I settled in I realize now like I feel like there’ll always be more time to work on music, so I spend less time doing it - block out less of my day. Thankfully, I can still produce like crazy for the occasional hour I sit down and really dig into this stuff, so my overall output is about the same. But I’m doing that with less actual production time than ever. Guess I need to tighten up time management a bit.
Know what else? I haven’t written myself a to-do list that wasn’t for my day job in… 6 months? I used to make a to-do list for myself at the office throughout the day that was everything I wanted to get done before I came in the next day - musically and otherwise. I would make myself fill at least one post-it note - anything from “fix snare in track 2” to “master IDMf 062 second half”. I heard writing something down makes you 50% more likely to do it, so that was my trick to forcing myself to do more.
Auto-meh-geddon
#4814
I think this is the key difference. I do not see this as my work, nor I see how my music stuff could be a source of income.
Which is why I find it overly odd when I feel guilty for not making music.
In general I do turn on my gear or design patches at least once a day, except when overly focused on a game or on making a videogame.
chasedobson
#4815
I get that!
Since so much of my work is audio related I end up getting inspired by a thing and it usually side tracks me for a bit, i’ll get an idea down or create a patch and save up so I can get back to it later.
a few days ago I was doing some mixing for a client and had an idea for a sub37 patch, i dialed it up, recorded a bit of audio saved the patch and moved back into “work work” as i refer it.
Sub37 patch. (Can’t wait to work this into a tune.)