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

[vurt]

mopho is a sexy f**ker who ever made it

[foosnark]

4ms ENOSC is here! And it's pretty damned amazing. And I'm going to sit here and tweak it while I'm writing this... right now I've got weird vocal formant "yai yoi oay" stuff happening.

Also it's going to take me a while to get to know it, because it's a weird and unfamiliar beast. Pipe organs are kind of an easy default, but earlier I had some crazy FM horns with grace notes on the attacks going on without even modulating anything other than the Root pitch. And now in this sentence, it's 808 hi-hats.

Pitch sequencing can be weird with it -- there's a normal pitch V/OCT input, but also a root V/OCT input (which climbs up the selected scale, whatever it may be) and also CV for spreading the oscillator pitches or tilting the overall balance of oscillators according to pitch.

Now it's doing a rumbly bassline and some chord stabs with randomized inversions.

Those pitch controls affect the timbre, because this is a cluster of additive oscillators. And also, changing the relative intervals/ratios will affect the cross-FM. And some of the timbre controls will also affect the pitch -- FMing upwards from the root might pull the perceived pitch down, there's a Chebyshev folder that pushes the harmonics up the scale, etc.

And now I've got this wicked distorted FM percussion thing going...

One thing about it that I've noticed is it's prone to phase correlation issues. Even just running it in mono, sometimes it'll get louder if you plug in a dummy cable into the B output so it doesn't cancel. Something to really watch for when recording it.

And now it's doing robotic power chords that sound just a little like Karplus-Strong...

[pekbro]

I considered getting one of the Behringer desktop synths, but I found a nice deal on this little Mopho.

Nice, I always wanted a sequential synth as well also the Mopho specifically. I wound
up with the Pro 3 actually, a great synth in it's own right. They are also pretty cool
guys, you can talk to them over at GS as well as their own forums of course. They
are quite interested in user suggestions and whatnot.

[foosnark]

I wound up buying a used Phonogene. The varispeed tape loop thing it does can't quite be approached by E520, Clouds or Mimeophon. I think I will prefer the more lo-fi nature and simplicity of Phonogene over Morphagene, plus it costs half as much

But I decided against Waver. There's a wavefolder comparison video where it just doesn't sound that good to me, and it has some nasty clipping and jumps in level.

[vurt]

ive got morphagene, the extras are nice, but phonogene was a beast to begin with definitely a nice addition to any rig, few minutes of varispeed looping? yes please!!!

[McLilith]

I considered getting one of the Behringer desktop synths, but I found a nice deal on this little Mopho.

Nice, I always wanted a sequential synth as well also the Mopho specifically. I wound
up with the Pro 3 actually, a great synth in it's own right. They are also pretty cool
guys, you can talk to them over at GS as well as their own forums of course. They
are quite interested in user suggestions and whatnot.

Congrats! Just looking at the specs for the Pro 3, it seems like it should be a great monosynth.

Back in the 80s, I worked for a large music store, repairing all their electronic instruments. One day, while repairing a Prophet 5, I telephoned the factory tech-support line with a question. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was talking to Dave Smith himself.

A couple weeks later, our store's top keyboard salesman told me he was traveling and bumped into Dave Smith at an airport. When the salesman mentioned the name of our store, Dave Smith reportedly said something roughly like:

"Oh yeah, you have a great technician working for your store. I've spoken to him on the phone, and he's quite knowledgeable!"

I was stunned!

First, I was surprised I had actually spoken to Dave himself. Second, I was thankful I didn't say anything to embarrass myself. Third, I was surprised he would actually remember talking to me. I wasn't anyone famous or important. Fourth, I was very impressed that he took a moment to say something nice on my behalf! He certainly didn't have to do that, and it definitely made my day!

So yes, it's been my experience, the folks at Sequential are very cool indeed!

By the way, when you mentioned "GS" are you talking about GearSlutz?

(I'm vaguely aware of them, but I probably should check them out.)

.

[vitocorleone123]

Have to exchange my Acidbox3 as there's a strange and massive spike at 23khz even when the input is at minimum. Maybe the new one will also have a "quirk" and I can choose the least annoying one. At least at 23khz it's out of the usual spectrum, such that I can use ProQ3 and choose to brickwall at 21khz or so. But I'd rather not have to.

Also, I finally received my last bit of hardware for the foreseeable year or longer: Expert Sleepers USAMO. Took me 2 hours to get dialed in. It also has some quirks, even once set up. That said, it's definitely made a difference. I route MIDI out from my 4pre to the OB-6, where it goes Thru to the SE-02, which then triggers the tempo sync on the Acidbox3 via CV out.

[elxsound]

Just pre-ordered a MOOD that should come at the end of the month.

Every time they've been available to purchase it new, I was still undecided but as I've been working more with the Tensor and Microcosm, I see that the MOOD could fit in nicely.

I think I'll likely end up selling the Microcosm. Its very sensitive to the input sound source, requiring the sound to be sparse for most of the settings before any effect is applied. My hope was using it beyond guitars and even using (my own created) loops for further manipulation, but if the source is too dense, then no effect is applied.

I'm undecided about Blooper still. I know cptgone is using both of these and it just looks like a crazy creative tool but yeah... Still very much undecided. I figure I'll start with MOOD, likely sell the Microcosm and then maybe jump in on the Blooper bandwagon.

Right now I'm still figuring out a workflow. I bought a 4-switch pedal for the Tensor that arrived on Saturday to keep Tenor at hand level while using the pedal, like a pedal.

I was able to get Tensor working with Touch OSC, but I'm redoing the Red Panda supplied template because why the f**k would you make an iPad template in portrait mode?

[cptgone]

I'm undecided about Blooper still. I know cptgone is using both of these and it just looks like a crazy creative tool but yeah... Still very much undecided.

Never mind that, I can't even compare to other creative loopers, like Boomerang. I'm just an old guy messing around, having fun. I've been around but in many ways, I'm such a noob. I bought my first pedal a year ago!

[elxsound]

I'm undecided about Blooper still. I know cptgone is using both of these and it just looks like a crazy creative tool but yeah... Still very much undecided.

Never mind that, I can't even compare to other creative loopers, like Boomerang. I'm just an old guy messing around, having fun. I've been around but in many ways, I'm such a noob. I bought my first pedal a year ago!

From one noob to the next!

Either way, that's what it should be! It should be fun.

I have so many tools for delivering very specific results, but its great to have a decent blend between on purpose and happy accidents especially when you can take it out the box. The more I read and watch what can be done with Blooper the more I'm excited by it, but I'm trying to tread carefully and not buy things that I won't use later on.

I took a chance with Tensor and I'm loving the simplicity of it. They've written that it'll support stereo in/out via firmware upgrade coming up so I feel like this was a great pick-up. It's also a microlooper with time stretching/tape style manipulation but falls somewhere in between MOOD and Blooper but of course MOOD and Blooper do much, much more.

I better hurry up and sell the microcosm. It'll make me feel better about buying Blooper in addition to MOOD right after getting Warped Vinyl HiFi (which is glorious).

[imrae]

Well, looks like the modular expansion is happening. Ordered more rails a couple of weeks ago, have now ordered lots of parts to build some new oscillators! Sourcing parts is educational, but can be a frustrating process...

[elxsound]

Thought about it more and decided it'll be better to use and compare Blooper before selling the Hologram Microcosm. Ideally the MOOD would be here too... Might have to cancel my pre-order and buy elsewhere since its in-stock at other sellers.

[elxsound]

Blooper is here!
Mood comes tomorrow or Monday (but I'm hoping tomorrow)

[cptgone]

Blooper is here!

You prolly already did, but just in case:
Be sure to update its firmware ASAP (one of the first updates cleared any recorded loops).

[elxsound]

Blooper is here!

You prolly already did, but just in case:
Be sure to update its firmware ASAP (one of the first updates cleared any recorded loops).

No, not yet so good to know! I had to put it back in the box because I can’t use it just yet.