2021: A Year in Gear (What You've Bought or Want to Buy in 2021)

[pekbro]

What a beautiful instrument. Can't wait to hook it up to my Hydrasynth later.

Cool, I've thought long and hard about those. The idea of alternative key boards and articulations
don't overly appeal to me for some reason. Now if it could program it as a sequencer I would be
into it. Still it seems fun, I would probably go for it just for that if not for the cost.

[vurt]

What a beautiful instrument. Can't wait to hook it up to my Hydrasynth later.

ooh nice!
hard to believe they can fit them in an envelope like that. modern stuff eh! it's brilliant!

[justin3am]

Cool, I've thought long and hard about those. The idea of alternative key boards and articulations
don't overly appeal to me for some reason. Now if it could program it as a sequencer I would be
into it. Still it seems fun, I would probably go for it just for that if not for the cost.

There is a sequencer mode but I haven't read much about it yet. I'll get there eventually.
I don't get on well with keys. I can get by but I prefer to play guitar, which I'm also bad at. I loved the fretboard layout for the Hydrasynths pads, so I want to try a bigger version of that. Just hooked it up to my work PC for a few minutes, playing Aalto in Bitwig. I'll need to get used to it but it feels fun to play.

[justin3am]

ooh nice!
hard to believe they can fit them in an envelope like that. modern stuff eh! it's brilliant!

You should see what else he fit in there! It's like the Tardis inside!

[pekbro]

There is a sequencer mode but I haven't read much about it yet. I'll get there eventually.
I don't get on well with keys. I can get by but I prefer to play guitar, which I'm also bad at. I loved the fretboard layout for the Hydrasynths pads, so I want to try a bigger version of that. Just hooked it up to my work PC for a few minutes, playing Aalto in Bitwig. I'll need to get used to it but it feels fun to play.

Cool, can't wait to see what you get up to with it. For me there isn't much difference between
using keys or frets. It's controllers like this that are different. btw: it's interesting that you don't
get on with keys when you work for a keyboard manufacturer

[pekbro]

Rarewaves Grendel Drone Commander-2 eurorack (black)...

http://rarewaves.net/products/dc2/

DC2-silver-and-black.1458bb.jpg

[goldenanalog]

I'm planning on purchasing a Korg wavestate SE even tho it looks like just a package upgrade to the original 3-octave wavestate. That's a little disappointing, because with the 5 octave keyboard casing you likely have room to add a DSP board like what Korg did with their M3 (Radias-R card)

Why not have the core of their upcoming modwave (wavetable) in expansion board form? Imagine having both their 2020 Wavestation and 2021 Wavetable content 'mix and match'-able in one box?

[vurt]

Rarewaves Grendel Drone Commander-2 eurorack (black)...

http://rarewaves.net/products/dc2/

DC2-silver-and-black.1458bb.jpg

those knobs are lovely!
that's a sexy looking piece of machine right there!

[Kalamata Kid]

NM

[pekbro]

Rarewaves Grendel Drone Commander-2 eurorack (black)...

http://rarewaves.net/products/dc2/

DC2-silver-and-black.1458bb.jpg

those knobs are lovely!
that's a sexy looking piece of machine right there!

Its pretty cool, i guess you can make drones with it and stuff. It's kindof an old module being re-released with some monior updates, brought back by popular demand.

I have his formant synth which i like a lot, so...

[justin3am]

Drone Commanders are great. I had one of the originals in an ammo box for a while and it made such a huge dense sound. I was looking for more modular stuff at the time so I sold it on but I'm kicking myself now. I've considered the DC-2 a few times, or maybe the pedal version, but I have a lot of that territory covered.

[pekbro]

heh, I was gonna say, justin3am probably knows more about it.

[codec_spurt]

jkl;

[kritikon]

As for a new analog. There's too many good things from Behringer to consider them all, unless you have the space (and the cash). The Crave is a great little unit. Incredibly solid build to it. Takes a while to learn it though. It's about as small as you can get. Built around the same concept as the Moog Mother 32, if you didn't know. I'd love to get the MonoPoly myself, but not enough cash, or space. If you go for the Odyssey you'll need a serious bit of space and a serious stand. It's like a tank. Inbetween the two is the MS-1, also a very solid build.

Being a GForce man yourself you might be considering the Oddy. It's why I did. All I can say is that I never thought I'd get my hands on a real analog synth like that in my life. It exceeds all expectations. It just oozes analog warmth and fatness and it's raspy and has bite. You can wire the Crave up to the back of it for extra functionality. It's why I bought the Crave in fact. It takes the Oddy to the next level again. I'd like to get the new 2600 as well, but really the Oddy is more than enough to be going on with. I only have so much space for so many synths.

I wouldn't discount the MS-1 either. Probably need to do a few of those Maffez mods to get the best out of it. But worth it and doable. https://maffez.com/?page_id=674

I'll be attempting some myself. Who knows if Behringer will sort out the Portamento issue, which is prolly the biggest bugbear for most. I think his mods go some way to addressing that, not sure. Some say it takes the machine to another level again. It's just a great sounding little unit. Compact and weighty. They are pretty reasonably priced.

But yeah, that MonoPoly. One day I'd like one of them too. It would probably be my choice out of all the other Behringer synths. I don't even know how much it costs. I don't want to know!

Yeah - Odyssey is on my radar - I think I'd probably go for the Korg one though - obvs more expensive, but general opinion seems to be it's more faithful to the original. MS1 - I still have a MC202, so don't really want one of those - though must admit having a proper midi controlled 101 would be nice - controlling a 202 by clock and having to program it the old fashioned way is...tedious to say the least. The price is so cheap though...you never know.

Crave is prolly top of my list - cheap, cheerful but seems versatile. Pleased to hear you say it's got good build quality - TBH I always thought Behringer stuff was well built despite their bad press in some quarters. It's easy to get gear lust for reissues of old classics, but the nice thing about Crave is that it is it's own synth. But...still want a MonoPoly (actually really like the Korg s/w, but I neeeeeed a h/w one). Will probably have to buy both.

2600. Oh yeah, I hear you. I just can't get that one past the missus, but maybe one day.

I might even consider starting up a Behringer modular - that way becomes madness and a bottomless pit though.

[elxsound]

I just ordered one of these. I'm sure the Bluebox will follow, but for now, I think the Blackbox makes more sense for my uses.