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

[Shabdahbriah]

Purchased some new skins for the

• Behringer K-2
  Behringer Neutron
  Behringer Pro-1

Also the 3 tier rack from Juno UK, spent the morning applying the face covers and mounting in the rack. I think they look nice in there.

Those look great! I was really impressed with these overlays when they were being developed, and watched with great interest. Very clever solution/alternative to stock panels.

[Shabdahbriah]

This one looks best value

https://www.dv247.com/en_GB/GBP/Jaspers ... 005121-000

That looks pretty sturdy actually. And not too intrusive into the floor space, unlike those which I have. Nice for some shelves to, where applicable.

[elxsound]

Just ordered Qu-bit’s Cascade. I still want to pick up the micro dual doepfer ADSR, but I was hoping to get the vintage version that I can’t find anywhere.

This is a very interesting module and definitely falls into the “does more than one thing” that Shabdahbriah mentioned.

Im hoping everything gets here during the week.

The big omission from the holiday shopping is a new midi keyboard. I’ve had the same CME UF8 for 15 years. I took off the housing when I got my desk, but it’s finally starting to fail with some key registering with higher velocity then actually applied. It’s slight, but noticeable.

Thankfully we have July 4th coming up and then Labor Day for more sales. Shopping for a new keyboard is never easy.

[vurt]

arturia keylab
midi plus cv? any good for you?

[elxsound]

arturia keylab
midi plus cv? any good for you?

I was actually looking at something more basic and budget friendly like a Korg B2. I honestly just want the keys and it seems not much has changed where the keybed doesn’t seem to get drastically better without going above 1k and I’m not good enough to justify it.

I do want to get my hands on an Arturia just to try but the pads, faders and other features would be a waste.

[WatchTheGuitar]

The big omission from the holiday shopping is a new midi keyboard. I’ve had the same CME UF8 for 15 years. I took off the housing when I got my desk, but it’s finally starting to fail with some key registering with higher velocity then actually applied. It’s slight, but noticeable.

Thankfully we have July 4th coming up and then Labor Day for more sales. Shopping for a new keyboard is never easy.

I got a Nektar Impact LX88+ for £207 from Andertons, seems a bit of a bargain so far.

It's semi weighted rather than hammer action, but as I've never been a piano player it's nothing I miss from the Keylab 88 that carked it last year, actually an improvement as it took way too much effort to play.

[elxsound]

The big omission from the holiday shopping is a new midi keyboard. I’ve had the same CME UF8 for 15 years. I took off the housing when I got my desk, but it’s finally starting to fail with some key registering with higher velocity then actually applied. It’s slight, but noticeable.

Thankfully we have July 4th coming up and then Labor Day for more sales. Shopping for a new keyboard is never easy.

I got a Nektar Impact LX88+ for £207 from Andertons, seems a bit of a bargain so far.

It's semi weighted rather than hammer action, but as I've never been a piano player it's nothing I miss from the Keylab 88 that carked it last year, actually an improvement as it took way too much effort to play.

I need to get my hands on one. I’ve had weighted keys and I don’t know if I can get used to semi-weighted on 88 keys. I still have a few semi-weighted keyboards here that I like, but not more than 25 keys. Writing this, I’m sure it’s all psychological.

[vurt]

arturia keylab
midi plus cv? any good for you?

I was actually looking at something more basic and budget friendly like a Korg B2. I honestly just want the keys and it seems not much has changed where the keybed doesn’t seem to get drastically better without going above 1k and I’m not good enough to justify it.

I do want to get my hands on an Arturia just to try but the pads, faders and other features would be a waste.

the original keylab only has keys, pitch and mod wheels
mine was only £100 around xmas

keystep
again! sorry

[WatchTheGuitar]

The big omission from the holiday shopping is a new midi keyboard. I’ve had the same CME UF8 for 15 years. I took off the housing when I got my desk, but it’s finally starting to fail with some key registering with higher velocity then actually applied. It’s slight, but noticeable.

Thankfully we have July 4th coming up and then Labor Day for more sales. Shopping for a new keyboard is never easy.

I got a Nektar Impact LX88+ for £207 from Andertons, seems a bit of a bargain so far.

It's semi weighted rather than hammer action, but as I've never been a piano player it's nothing I miss from the Keylab 88 that carked it last year, actually an improvement as it took way too much effort to play.

I need to get my hands on one. I’ve had weighted keys and I don’t know if I can get used to semi-weighted on 88 keys. I still have a few semi-weighted keyboards here that I like, but not more than 25 keys. Writing this, I’m sure it’s all psychological.

Touch wise they’re good enough to be able to ‘feel’ the velocity difference between playing softly for a gentle pad and harder for stabs. There are 2 things that may be of concern that aren’t for me, the keys are a little louder and clackier to play than something like a hammer Keylab, but at most I’d only be recording with a mic while doing a guide vocal that I’m later going to scrub so no issue for me, second thing is no aftertouch at all. Not fussed as I have Poly AT on my Hydrasynth if I want it.

[elxsound]

The big omission from the holiday shopping is a new midi keyboard. I’ve had the same CME UF8 for 15 years. I took off the housing when I got my desk, but it’s finally starting to fail with some key registering with higher velocity then actually applied. It’s slight, but noticeable.

Thankfully we have July 4th coming up and then Labor Day for more sales. Shopping for a new keyboard is never easy.

I got a Nektar Impact LX88+ for £207 from Andertons, seems a bit of a bargain so far.

It's semi weighted rather than hammer action, but as I've never been a piano player it's nothing I miss from the Keylab 88 that carked it last year, actually an improvement as it took way too much effort to play.

I need to get my hands on one. I’ve had weighted keys and I don’t know if I can get used to semi-weighted on 88 keys. I still have a few semi-weighted keyboards here that I like, but not more than 25 keys. Writing this, I’m sure it’s all psychological.

Touch wise they’re good enough to be able to ‘feel’ the velocity difference between playing softly for a gentle pad and harder for stabs. There are 2 things that may be of concern that aren’t for me, the keys are a little louder and clackier to play than something like a hammer Keylab, but at most I’d only be recording with a mic while doing a guide vocal that I’m later going to scrub so no issue for me, second thing is no aftertouch at all. Not fussed as I have Poly AT on my Hydrasynth if I want it.

I can’t imagine it being louder than CME UF80. They’re notoriously noisy. I’m definitely used to it.

I’ve learned that for me I don’t need AT or poly AT when it comes to a full size keyboard. For that I use Push 2 or will switch the Roli Seaboard Block. I wish I could say Hydrasynth too, but that’ll be the desktop version once I get it (after the current eurorack dive).

I think having different tools works better than an all-in-one. It’s like the multi-fx pedals where you always find at least one thing you don’t like and up buying a dedicated effect later.

[pekbro]

Hmm, I couldn't decide on anything from the holiday sale at PC, so I bought a Cioks DC8. Now I just need to get some pedals for it. Mostly I got it for the ZOIA which I didn't get yet. No hurry as
it is price locked and I didn't want to have to buy them at the same time.

[WatchTheGuitar]

It’s like the multi-fx pedals where you always find at least one thing you don’t like and up buying a dedicated effect later.

well I’ve only ever owned two and one of them was the Zoom 505 where I struggled to find a single thing I liked about it other than the £99 release price.
Got nothing but praise for my Pod HD though, it still sounds great nearly 10 years on.

[justin3am]

I think having different tools works better than an all-in-one. It’s like the multi-fx pedals where you always find at least one thing you don’t like and up buying a dedicated effect later.

That's an interesting perspective. I've come feel the same way about a lot of eurorack modules. I've recently ditched a lot of my multi-function modules. I think it's good to be a little picky about what you use.

When it comes to rack effects and pedals, I tend to like multi-functional units but it depends. Zoia, Helix, Fireworx and H9000 just kinda naturally fit into my workflow, so I started turning to them more as I'm working. When it comes to preamps, dynamics processors, EQs and such, I really want all that stuff separate.

[elxsound]

I think having different tools works better than an all-in-one. It’s like the multi-fx pedals where you always find at least one thing you don’t like and up buying a dedicated effect later.

That's an interesting perspective. I've come feel the same way about a lot of eurorack modules. I've recently ditched a lot of my multi-function modules. I think it's good to be a little picky about what you use.

When it comes to rack effects and pedals, I tend to like multi-functional units but it depends. Zoia, Helix, Fireworx and H9000 just kinda naturally fit into my workflow, so I started turning to them more as I'm working. When it comes to preamps, dynamics processors, EQs and such, I really want all that stuff separate.

Everything definitely has its place. I know some of my choices for modules now will likely change as it's based on limited spacing.

I should add that I definitely miswrote, writing multi-fx pedals when I was specifically thinking of my search for multi-algo reverb and modulation pedals, pitting some of the Strymon stuff against Wampler and others against dedicated FX units.
I kept finding there'd always be one or two algorithms that were just not great, making it hard to justify a purchase. I can't say anything bad about the others you and WatchTheGuitar mentioned.

Things like Zoia, or for me with Beebo are just something different entirely. While they can be configured to be used like traditional pedals, the initial setup is part of the fun as much as the idea that you can use it for more than just a pedal.

The multi-fx pedals (this time I'm writing it correctly) that I'm keeping are Dark Side and Monterrey. Dark Side to me was done very well!

[justin3am]

I can totally identify with that. But I do have a few things where I only ever use one of the available modes/algorithms.
I think this happens for me with effects and modules which can do a lot of different things but they can only do one of those things at a time. It seems like a good use of space but then I want to be able to use two functions at once, so I end up getting a second one, which is not a great use of space, lol.