2022: A Year in Gear (What You've Bought or Want to Buy in 2022)

[elxsound]

They’ve really taken Stella’s “Reassuringly expensive” ball and run with it.
Happy for anyone who loves their shtick, but I can’t stand anything to do with it.

I don’t like where they’re going with this and their tiny mixer. They just don’t add up in features to price. My OP-z, I picked up for about $400 and it’s pretty deep. I didn’t buy it for the sound of synth “engines” which sound more like looped samples but it’s very flexible (and not just a pun on the infamous banana bends). I continue to get my money’s worth from it.

OP-1 seemed liked a fun luxury item. OP-1 Field is in it’s own Magrathean world on price per function.

Can’t even begin on the mixer which is just dumb. I love the size of it and it’s on-board battery but again the price is just silly for its limitations.

There’s too much great gear coming out right now for these things to be taken seriously.

[elxsound]

Nice, the pizza is a normal 8 hp, rather than 7 or some other odd width. Seriously, that has put me off
of many of his modules.

Yes, the oddball sizes typically throw me off as well. Hmm, on second listen, it would probably sound kinda cool through this, which I've had on pre-order for over a year, and is apparently close to shipping.

Aurora is one that I wish I could try in person, or maybe just wait until there’s enough video demos. Some of the shimmery stuff is not for me, but then again having something for designing sounds and adding texture can easily become good reasons to purchase.

[foosnark]

OP-1 Field: LOL no.

Endorphin.es Ghost: it's not what I hoped, which was basically Intellijel Shapeshifter in a smaller and much friendlier module. Instead it's a multi-FX reverb/delay/distortion/filter/compressor. Maybe useful for live performers, not too exciting for studio nerds with DAWs.

Aurora: this could be potentially neat at times, but it's probably very easy to overdo it. E520 did some of this stuff, and Spec Ops can too, sort of. I've been disappointed with the Qu-Bit stuff I've tried so far for various reasons.

Misha: caught my interest at first, but watching the Superbooth demo of it, it's not my jam.

Still eagerly awaiting some Sofia demos...

[elxsound]

OP-1 Field: LOL no.

Endorphin.es Ghost: it's not what I hoped, which was basically Intellijel Shapeshifter in a smaller and much friendlier module. Instead it's a multi-FX reverb/delay/distortion/filter/compressor. Maybe useful for live performers, not too exciting for studio nerds with DAWs.

I missed the Ghost… Yeah, strange release. I’m guessing it’s all digital like their other modules. I have Squawk Dirty To Me and it doesn’t sound great but it’s useful. I have Milky-way too but again it’s just decent. I got them used from modwiggler pages at a decent price so I don’t mind keeping them around.

[justin3am]

I'm surprised to see Eventide announce a sequencer/compositional tool.

$599 RRP. Nope. Just seems to be a pointlessly wide unit that does some basic modulus based maths on scale intervals. Think I’ll have a go at knocking up something that does the same in VCV for free.

I'm pretty out of step with what most people want out of eurorack, these days.

[justin3am]

The Soundfreak VCS3 modules look gorgeous to me.

In the corner of that image you can see the modules in an Easel case and I think that would make an incredible instrument. Almost certainly very expensive but definitely more my speed.

[vurt]

The Soundfreak VCS3 modules look gorgeous to me.

In the corner of that image you can see the modules in an Easel case and I think that would make an incredible instrument. Almost certainly very expensive but definitely more my speed.

oh my!

[sprnva]

Just ordered one of those spiffy new Roland E-4 things. The email from Thomann says they're due in on the 20th.

Cue hyperpop phase...

[elxsound]

Just ordered one of those spiffy new Roland E-4 things. The email from Thomann says they're due in on the 20th.

Cue hyperpop phase...

I have to say that these 3 seem very well done. The E-4 is probably the best pick up at it’s price.

I’m considering the J-6 but I definitely don’t need it.

[pekbro]

The thing that bothers me about the mini Rolands is the internal battery. They don't say if it's user replaceable or replaceable at all. Even if the price is low, I would not want something that's only going to need replacement in a few years. Like my damn cell phone does.

[sprnva]

The internal battery is a (small) concern alright. But when it dies I can continue powering it over USB or try and replace it depending on how difficult it is to crack open the enclosure. All going well, that should be years away.

I was planning to pick up a loop pedal at some stage but figured for my needs the looper in this would be pretty good. Add onto that all the (vocal and anything else I jack into it) processing options and the fact there's nothing else close to this and it was an easy sell.

Another big plus this time around is Roland finally going with class-compliant USB. I'm always wary of potential points of failure down the line and while the internal battery could be one, proprietary USB drivers scare me more.

[elxsound]

The thing that bothers me about the mini Rolands is the internal battery. They don't say if it's user replaceable or replaceable at all. Even if the price is low, I would not want something that's only going to need replacement in a few years. Like my damn cell phone does.

I’m guessing there will be a tear down video soon enough. I’m curious about battery replacements although I don’t believe this will be as bad a phone battery. Still, it doesn’t last long on a single charge. As dumb as the OP-1 price is, they’ve got a 24 hour battery charge.

[pekbro]

The thing that bothers me about the mini Rolands is the internal battery. They don't say if it's user replaceable or replaceable at all. Even if the price is low, I would not want something that's only going to need replacement in a few years. Like my damn cell phone does.

I’m guessing there will be a tear down video soon enough. I’m curious about battery replacements although I don’t believe this will be as bad a phone battery. Still, it doesn’t last long on a single charge. As dumb as the OP-1 price is, they’ve got a 24 hour battery charge.

I'm just bitter when it comes to batteries , pretty sure I saw that they have already come
up with the tech for small batteries that will last a couple hundred years before degrading. Seemingly, we will never see them as some companies would stand to lose a lot of money.

[vurt]

They’ve really taken Stella’s “Reassuringly expensive” ball and run with it.
Happy for anyone who loves their shtick, but I can’t stand anything to do with it.

I don’t like where they’re going with this and their tiny mixer. They just don’t add up in features to price. My OP-z, I picked up for about $400 and it’s pretty deep. I didn’t buy it for the sound of synth “engines” which sound more like looped samples but it’s very flexible (and not just a pun on the infamous banana bends). I continue to get my money’s worth from it.

OP-1 seemed liked a fun luxury item. OP-1 Field is in it’s own Magrathean world on price per function.

Can’t even begin on the mixer which is just dumb. I love the size of it and it’s on-board battery but again the price is just silly for its limitations.

There’s too much great gear coming out right now for these things to be taken seriously.

bit off topic, but funko have released some animated spiderman pops.

Screenshot_2022-05-12-17-23-34-801.jpg

Screenshot_2022-05-12-17-23-43-052.jpg

.
not sure why two face is involved

[elxsound]

They’ve really taken Stella’s “Reassuringly expensive” ball and run with it.
Happy for anyone who loves their shtick, but I can’t stand anything to do with it.

I don’t like where they’re going with this and their tiny mixer. They just don’t add up in features to price. My OP-z, I picked up for about $400 and it’s pretty deep. I didn’t buy it for the sound of synth “engines” which sound more like looped samples but it’s very flexible (and not just a pun on the infamous banana bends). I continue to get my money’s worth from it.

OP-1 seemed liked a fun luxury item. OP-1 Field is in it’s own Magrathean world on price per function.

Can’t even begin on the mixer which is just dumb. I love the size of it and it’s on-board battery but again the price is just silly for its limitations.

There’s too much great gear coming out right now for these things to be taken seriously.

bit off topic, but funko have released some animated spiderman pops.

Screenshot_2022-05-12-17-23-34-801.jpg
Screenshot_2022-05-12-17-23-43-052.jpg

.
not sure why two face is involved

I think it can still be considered on topic so long as it’s not NFTs!

Will check it out. I gotta calm down on the pops though. They take up more space than the Hasbro Legends. And I just got 2 Boba Fett metal Pops including one Chase (but you have to open it all up to tell if it’s a Chase).