2023: A Year in Gear (What You've Bought or Want to Buy in 2023)

[ghettosynth]

A partner to the 0-Ctrl. Oddly I haven't used the 2S with 0-Ctrl that much, even though I keep thinking how much more I enjoy 0-Ctrl over the 2S's sequencer.

Doh, sorry, I read, and wrote 0-Ctrl but was thinking 0-Coast. That must be the aging process, I certainly can't blame a lack of coffee.

[elxsound]

Congrats. Was pleased to see that Erica Synths has picked up Hexinverter Électronique modules: Mutant Brain, Mindphaser and Mutant Machine, after the Hex dude (sadly) called it quits.

Same! I still toy with the idea of moving on from Hexinverter but I think moving it to a Pod is going to be much easier to use.

Now if I do sell, it’s nice to know it’ll be available again and not at some crazy price.

[elxsound]

Happy Birthday. I really want to like the Make Noise stuff more. That said, the XPO could be my path to that. I'm a big fan of working directly in stereo. I like the Udo Super-6 for this That said, $399 sigh. I have such a hard time convincing myself that any analog module is worth $400. The relatively new oscilloscope in my shop was less than that.

Also, I hate their font. Hate!

I did enjoy fiddling about with their little west-coast all in one at a friend's house for a few hours.

I'll just keep on being cheap for a while. I will read the manual though and see if I can take any inspiration from it, Behringer style.

Stereo is a big reason, then there’s some interesting modulation possibilities.

Plus I’ve enjoyed what Vurt and others have done with XPO. I was a fan from the beginning (my bias) so nothing really stood in the way of thinking it was worth it.

Still, if you do decide to get one, perfect circuit has been including the Make Noise stuff with 10% off holiday sales. It’s nothing drastic, but it makes it easier to buy one.

I’ve seen many posts about hating the Make Noise font and glyphs but I like them. Not sure if there are any in between??

[elxsound]

Got the West Pest…
- It doesn't like my USB power thingy, ah well.

Just in case…. It does work well with Cioks, easily swappable with 0-Coast, Strega, 0-Ctrl or the 4ms Pods.

[tapper mike]

I just ordered a Nektar Panorama T4. it will arrive tomorrow.

[justin3am]

I just ordered a Nektar Panorama T4. it will arrive tomorrow.

Thanks!

[foosnark]

Had more time to play with the West Pest, going through the manual and cross-patching with the MB2S. That opens things up a bit. Mixing WP's folded oscillator with 2S's folded oscillator and running through either the 2S filter or the WP's dynamics gate gives me a taste of the Taiga and where those super awesome sweet spots came from.

Release mod was an interesting choice to put on a synth with so many other limitations, and it invited some experiemntation. It occured to me I never modulated the decay time on Natural Gate to see what that does for me, and it turns out to be a really interesting thing to modulate at audio rates. :O

Patching WP's oscillator -> gate -> folder is properly dirty, too... the output is a bit noisy but given how much I love the Strega that's hardly going to slow me down any.

[pixel85]

Got Nano Modules Alt VCA, directly from the creator which lives nearby. Because I'm supporting the local market hehe.
This is exactly what I needed: 3 inputs for each filter + amp vca so I can do sidechain if I want, going to 4th input with final amp vca.

I must say that I like the design. It's very neat including the knobs. Prettiest module so far in my collection. Also knobs on top, connections at the bottom - as it always should be

Also got Harley Benton Ultimate Drive - which is great to drive TD-3. I like that it keeps a good low end and is 'warm'. It replaced a clone of a Rat for distortion tasks.

[cryophonik]

Just ordered a new Ferrofish Pulse 16 to replace my Focusrite Scarlett OctoPre and double up my ADAT inputs. I've got my UAD Twin X tethered to my X6, so I'll be able to run 8 channels AD to each UAD unit from the Pulse 16 for my hardware synths.

[ghettosynth]

Just ordered a new Ferrofish Pulse 16 to replace my Focusrite Scarlett OctoPre and double up my ADAT inputs. I've got my UAD Twin X tethered to my X6, so I'll be able to run 8 channels AD to each UAD unit from the Pulse 16 for my hardware synths.

Oh, nice. I've nearly ordered one of those more than once. It's a long story, don't ask.

[cryophonik]

Just ordered a new Ferrofish Pulse 16 to replace my Focusrite Scarlett OctoPre and double up my ADAT inputs. I've got my UAD Twin X tethered to my X6, so I'll be able to run 8 channels AD to each UAD unit from the Pulse 16 for my hardware synths.

Oh, nice. I've nearly ordered one of those more than once. It's a long story, don't ask.

Too late, you've already piqued my interest, so spill the beans.

[justin3am]

Just ordered a new Ferrofish Pulse 16 to replace my Focusrite Scarlett OctoPre and double up my ADAT inputs. I've got my UAD Twin X tethered to my X6, so I'll be able to run 8 channels AD to each UAD unit from the Pulse 16 for my hardware synths.

Nice! Did you get the CV version? Ferrofish make really nice stuff. I'm happy to see they are getting more recognition. I was using one of their Verto interfaces for a while (replaced with a Rednet 3 which integrates better with my other Rednet stuff).

[cryophonik]

Nice! Did you get the CV version? Ferrofish make really nice stuff. I'm happy to see they are getting more recognition. I was using one of their Verto interfaces for a while (replaced with a Rednet 3 which integrates better with my other Rednet stuff).

Thanks Justin! No, I just got the standard version. I was actually about to pull the trigger on a second OctoPre because I'm short on inputs, but I don't have any additional rack space available, so I started looking around for options and remembered hearing about the Pulse 16. I don't have a need for any of the features of the more expensive units (e.g., CV, MADI), so the basic version will get me the additional 8 inputs I need and replace the OctoPre. Another big selling feature is that all of the inputs are on the rear of the unit - I HATE that the OctoPre has a pair of inputs on the front of the unit (yes, I'm OCD in that regard ). I'm pretty excited about this, though. The reviews are all very positive and the high quality:price seems to be a common theme for the Ferrofish stuff.

[justin3am]

Another big selling feature is that all of the inputs are on the rear of the unit - I HATE that the OctoPre has a pair of inputs on the front of the unit (yes, I'm OCD in that regard ). I'm pretty excited about this, though. The reviews are all very positive and the high quality:price seems to be a common theme for the Ferrofish stuff.

I feel the same way! I generally don’t want any i/o on the front panel, since everything gets connected to patch bays. I make an exception for my 1073OPX, I don’t mind it so much since the inputs are mirrored on the back. More than audio interfaces… it bugs me to no end when rack mount MIDI interfaces have jacks on the front!

[cryophonik]

More than audio interfaces… it bugs me to no end when rack mount MIDI interfaces have jacks on the front!

OMG, yesss!!! That's the one main reason I can't force myself to swap out my MOTU for an iConnectivity MioXL - not only are too many of the ins/outs on the front, the USB DAW connection is on the front, too! There's actually a user rant on youtube about it!