2020 a year in gear (what have you/are you bought/buying?)

[idfpower]

Well, after a few years break from buying hardware, 2020 brought in 2 little synths: Uno and Craft 2 Small and fun And the most important thing (to me): it's very cheap hardware (since most of my work happens ITB, any hardware gear must come at toy level price to justify getting it).

[elxsound]

Well, after a few years break from buying hardware, 2020 brought in 2 little synths: Uno and Craft 2 Small and fun And the most important thing (to me): it's very cheap hardware (since most of my work happens ITB, any hardware gear must come at toy level price to justify getting it).

The Craft 2 looks like fun!

With the Uno, how far can you get without connecting it to a computer?

I always wanted to get my hands on one to see for myself how useable they are because the look of them reminds me of the old Speak & Spell toys (which wore out with abuse over time). Even watching this old commercial reminds of how hard you had to press sometimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL2k1Gp8ywE

[pekbro]

There are some really cool affordable synths out there definitely. My liven 8bit warps wasn’t even $200, I can’t wait to get it, and the ELZ_1 I got for 50% off to go with it.

[AdvancedFollower]

With the Uno, how far can you get without connecting it to a computer?

I always wanted to get my hands on one to see for myself how useable they are because the look of them reminds me of the old Speak & Spell toys (which wore out with abuse over time). Even watching this old commercial reminds of how hard you had to press sometimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL2k1Gp8ywE

I also have the UNO Synth. Most of the basic synth parameters are available from the panel. Some features are inaccessible, like PWM, keyboard, velocity and mod wheel mod destinations and some other things. If you don't want to use the computer or iPad editor, you can use a MIDI controller, since everything can be controlled via MIDI (the CC's are listed in the PDF manual).

The buttons are capacitive, so it feels more like using a modern touch screen than an old membrane keyboard. They're very responsive.

[idfpower]

Yeah, Craft 2 is fun It has a character of its own - since I have no experience with other Modal stuff I can't tell if it's a brand thing or particular to this unit, but it's capable of some cool eerie sounds and overall it does sounds like a good quality synth - there's definitively nothing toyish coming out of it. The only downside: the knobs feel flimsy & wobble a bit. And you do need a keyboard to play it properly.

As for UNO, you can get a lot of work OTB - most parameters are accesible via knobs and the overall layout is easy to grasp - pretty much self explanatory. Even for an unexperienced user (like me), it takes just a few minutes to get it up & tweaking. Seems like a basic synth, but once you bring in the sequencer, things really start cooking and you may discover that it's capable of making a lot of sounds with a lot of movement; IMO its forte = basses (you can get some really nasty aggressive basses out of it).
The tactile surface is VERY responsive, you won't need to press too hard - in fact, it's quite the opposite It's very light, but feels sturdy.

[elxsound]

With the Uno, how far can you get without connecting it to a computer?

I always wanted to get my hands on one to see for myself how useable they are because the look of them reminds me of the old Speak & Spell toys (which wore out with abuse over time). Even watching this old commercial reminds of how hard you had to press sometimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL2k1Gp8ywE

I also have the UNO Synth. Most of the basic synth parameters are available from the panel. Some features are inaccessible, like PWM, keyboard, velocity and mod wheel mod destinations and some other things. If you don't want to use the computer or iPad editor, you can use a MIDI controller, since everything can be controlled via MIDI (the CC's are listed in the PDF manual).

The buttons are capacitive, so it feels more like using a modern touch screen than an old membrane keyboard. They're very responsive.

So pretty much sound design (or "deeper" sound design) while connected to the editor, and then can play freely. Some of things things seem like they could have been added some deeper menu diving but I'm okay with everything not being the same.

Good to know about the responsiveness. I watched a couple videos again and its very quick.

The one I'd be interested in is the Uno Drum, but the price is close enough to the Arturia DrumBrute Impact. I can't see passing up a DrumBrute for an Uno Drum even with the current sale on the Uno.

[vurt]

3rd mantis, wasp, polivoks, sem filters and 2 vclfos inbound...

[foosnark]

3rd mantis, wasp, polivoks, sem filters and 2 vclfos inbound...

I got my Synthwerks MG-1 the other day. The arcade button is satisfying, but of course it's pretty deep on the back and almost doesn't fit in my top row. The mult is just a passive and kind of a waste of space; a second button with just the gate out could have fit there, or a knob to set the voltage reference instead of +12V. But like I said before, it was cheap!

I ordered some Befaco Bananuts for my Mimeophon, mostly to make it clear at a glance which jack on the bottom left is the clock input and which is the output, because I keep getting it wrong. Cheaper than getting a Grayscale faceplate instead.

[vurt]

still looking at the mutable bits too
also, while rooting, come across "joyrec" looks like my kind of fun! love the joystick on the bug, but this records and loops
not a bad price either, and is "modulation" so fits the overall remit of this case.

(the filters will swap with other lfo/envelopes, then all the modulation stuff will be on the flat mantis on the table, for easy tweaking.) (if i can be arsed swapping stuff around )

[Daimonicon]

LTD deluxe ET. My second evertune guitar.

[djstatix]

Bought - Hydrasynth, Sequential Pro 3, Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid C-7

Buying - Faderport 16, Keylab 61, New audio card( undecided UAD Quad?), Softube Console 1, Behringer Neutron, Novation Summit or Prophet 6/ Rev2 or OB-6( Undecided). Maybe a deepmind 12 for my kid.

[toonertik]

3rd mantis, wasp, polivoks, sem filters and 2 vclfos inbound...

hope they filter out the virus

[vurt]

3rd mantis, wasp, polivoks, sem filters and 2 vclfos inbound...

hope they filter out the virus

me too. i dont do tarnce.

[toonertik]

3rd mantis, wasp, polivoks, sem filters and 2 vclfos inbound...

hope they filter out the virus

me too. i dont do tarnce.

nor BASSLINES...

[vurt]

i do bass lines!!!!
then i f**k em up.