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

[foosnark]

Maybe I'll just get a west pest. I assume that you can use LPG in and take the output from output?

Yep, that works. What I'm calling "BrutePest Patch 69" is a folded triangle from Minibrute 2S through WP's LPG while the Fold Out from WP is going into MB2S' Ext input and using its filter

[ghettosynth]

On my wish list is Ornament and Crime. Does anyone have an opinion/experience with the different variants? The micro-models seem to be missing the scaling pots on the inputs. I'm trying to decide if I should save money and just buy/(make) more attenuverters with the difference?

Tiny attenuators are horrible anyway from my experience. I have a couple of the micro style O_c modules, an After Later using standard firmware and an Antumbra one on Hemispheres. Both excellent.

Ok, thanks for that. I picked up some Befaco attenuverter kits. Because, well attenuverters are easy to build and Befaco stuff looks and feels kickass.

So, because, well, instant gratification combined with "oh look, second hand O&C," I have an O&C. It's not a micro model but it also doesn't have the attenuators. Whatever, it was a bargain and it's mine now.

The standard firmware seems to have some nice apps, in particular Acid Curds, that would pair well in my sequencer row. That said, the Hemisphere looks easier to use and more flexible as a swiss army knife of modules. That it has quantizer apps may give it enough as a complement to my manual sequencers, at least for now. I'm not sure how attached I am to programming chord sequencers. I have a keystep pro that will sequence chords that I play, in step mode even. At any rate, how do you rate the two, or any other alternatives, in terms of daily use?

[WatchTheGuitar]

The reason I like having two is that original firmware has both the quad ADSR envelope mode which is really useful for polyphonic modules and quad quantiser if my Tenderfoot Quad Quantizer isn’t sufficient. The hemispheres I mainly use as a true utility, so many useful things like Enigma (simple Turing Machine), voltages for creating set voltages (used it yesterday to output 1v and 3v to calibrate by Behringer Brains), Brancher (Bernoulli Gate) etc.

For fun, if you point an LFO outputting a sine or triangle signal at the O&c in quantiser mode set to a scale you’ll realise it can basically work as an arpeggiator. Now if you run two LFOs into Maths, or anything that can sum audio signals, you can get a way more complex arpeggiator. Run those LFOs through attenuverters and/or voltage offset modules you get more control over the pattern. Fun really begins when you sum one LFO with a sample and held noise source as you get a repeating pattern with randomness added.

Obviously the quantiser output is a 1v/Oct signal you can pass to a VCO etc.
The reason I tend to prefer my dedicated quantiser over the O&c one is that it has an output per channel sending out a gate each time the output note changes so you don’t get that weird note bending sound where a note changes over the same gate, unless that sounds an effect you are after.

[ghettosynth]

The reason I like having two is that original firmware has both the quad ADSR envelope mode which is really useful for polyphonic modules and quad quantiser if my Tenderfoot Quad Quantizer isn’t sufficient. The hemispheres I mainly use as a true utility, so many useful things like Enigma (simple Turing Machine), voltages for creating set voltages (used it yesterday to output 1v and 3v to calibrate by Behringer Brains), Brancher (Bernoulli Gate) etc.

So, then, correct me if I'm wrong, but, what I'm hearing here is that you're saying that I, not only have permission, but am basically required to buy a second one, no?

I think that I'll go with the alternative firmware for a bit and see how that works out. The only other quantizer that I have currently is in the disting, but, even though I have some poly stuff, I don't have enough to take it seriously at the moment. Also, the disting (ex) tends to get a lot of use for its sample and effects modules and is rarely free to use in the single modes.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Yeah, you certainly get a lot more usable apps with hemispheres. The stock firmware only has about three or four apps that I understand, no idea how all the other stuff really works, I checked out after A level maths.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Something I’d had on my list for a long while popped up cheap so I’ve ordered this.

I like how flexible it is and I’ve wanted syncable LFOs in the rack for ages for driving parameters of BIA etc. Actually I had already got them in Pam’s but I prefer seeing LEDs blinking in time to them.

Think that’s me done on gear for the month and I only made it to the 4th

[foosnark]

Went ahead and bought a Befaco A*B+C for the BrutePest. The tipping point was realizing that the West Pest's main output is somewhat quiet and the Ext input on the Minibrute 2 is also a little quiet, so it needs a gain boost to keep up. A*B+C can do that, along with the other VCA/ringmod/crossfade/atteunvert/offset/mix stuff.

[cryophonik]

I think I’m the only person in this thread who hasn’t fallen victim to the modular plague.

Anyway, I started my day having never even really considered the Opsix,… but then a good deal came along, a couple of hours watching YouTube reviews, and next thing you know…

983405A6-1131-4553-AF1F-C2C9F34D77FB.jpeg

[McLilith]

I think I’m the only person in this thread who hasn’t fallen victim to the modular plague.

No, you're not the only one. The closest to modular I've gotten is my Behringer Neutron and my Arturia MiniBrute 2S. They both have patchbays, but I have no external modules.

Congrats, on getting an Opsix!

[cryophonik]

I think I’m the only person in this thread who hasn’t fallen victim to the modular plague.

No, you're not the only one. The closest to modular I've gotten is my Behringer Neutron and my Arturia MiniBrute 2S. They both have patchbays, but I have no external modules.

Congrats, on getting an Opsix!

Thanks! How do you like your Neutron? I've had my eye on synth that for a while.

[McLilith]

I think I’m the only person in this thread who hasn’t fallen victim to the modular plague.

No, you're not the only one. The closest to modular I've gotten is my Behringer Neutron and my Arturia MiniBrute 2S. They both have patchbays, but I have no external modules.

Congrats, on getting an Opsix!

Thanks! How do you like your Neutron? I've had my eye on synth that for a while.

I definitely like my Neutron. It sounds nice, and the patchbay makes it very versatile. There's plenty of options to explore. I got the optional rackmount ears for mine and put it into a desktop rack, along with some other rackmount synth and effects gear. Whenever Behringer eventually starts shipping their Proton synth, I'll be tempted to get that as a companion for the Neutron and put it in the same rack.

[ghettosynth]

I think I’m the only person in this thread who hasn’t fallen victim to the modular plague.

No, you're not the only one. The closest to modular I've gotten is my Behringer Neutron and my Arturia MiniBrute 2S. They both have patchbays, but I have no external modules.

Congrats, on getting an Opsix!

Thanks! How do you like your Neutron? I've had my eye on synth that for a while.

It's a gateway drug. The filter is great in the Neutron. Yeah, I know you're not asking me, but I have an opinion, ok? Another cool feature is that you can set one or both oscillators to morph between waves, or not. That's nice because it's sometimes cool to get the dramatic sound of the change in wave and sometimes cool to morph. I usually set the first oscillator to fixed, and the second to morph.

There are a few things that I'm not a fan of on the Neutron:

1) The envelope times are too short. It's a "bass" synth I suppose, but they're not pad EGs.
2) The tuning knob is too coarse. I would prefer that it was on a Vernier dial, but that costs $.
3) You can't use the 1/4" output and bypass the delay. Not a big deal if it's in a rack, but the delay is a bit weak IMO.
4) The panel graphics and color aren't easy to read, especially on the patch bay. This slows things down quite a bit.

Most things are fully patchable though, so it's a cheap way to get some basic modules to pair with other things. I'm personally not interested in the Proton, I don't think that they're going in the right direction with that. I hate the really small knobs. MiniBrute 2/2S is a great partner for the neutron. I almost bought one some time back, but decided against the arrangement for layout/mechanical reasons.

[vurt]

I think I’m the only person in this thread who hasn’t fallen victim to the modular plague.

No, you're not the only one. The closest to modular I've gotten is my Behringer Neutron and my Arturia MiniBrute 2S. They both have patchbays, but I have no external modules.

Congrats, on getting an Opsix!

you use cables, youre one of us!

you sound like my cousin who doesn't smoke weed
what he means is, he doesn't buy it, he smokes mine

[classic]

I bought a wonderfull Arturia Keylab 88 essential and love it, at first for the fact, that it has 88 keys.
For a piano player a must have. And it feels good.

Second I bought Cubase 12 Pro. Found greate tuts in the web that makes it easy to get used to its deeper features.

Next I want a good simple drum plugin with a large library for cinematic and unusual stuff. See what it will be.

[ghettosynth]

Weirdly, or not, this is hardware that I actually want. I actually have a broken smallstone, they're worthless for resale. I think that I'll fix it and stuff it in my Eurorack. I sent the Behringer System 100 phasor back as the mediocrity to dollar ratio was too damned high.