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

[justin3am]

Instead of picking a particular pad and then choosing which steps trigger it, it has you navigate to the step and then choose which pads are playing.

To me it makes sense. There are 12 pads rather than 16. You can change the time signature, record unquantized, punch in time correction and swing where you want it instead of applying them to the whole pattern, and freely nudge event times. All of that points toward not using an x0x style view. But yeah, I can see how some people would really prefer having it.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I've been considering one as a fun groovebox for the couch. That workflow sounds similar to the old DR-202 which was my first drum machine. I know the rollout has been rough but I'll see where things land as the dust settles.

[elxsound]

(There's been a lot of negative talk about the K.O. II due to the sliders getting damaged in transit and TE's reputation for not having the best build quality in the first place. And some people hate that it doesn't resample or that you can't save patterns/projects to a computer or do x0x style sequencing. And some people think you should just use a phone app for sampling (bleh). But for me it really hit the mark -- I feel like it's in the right place between simplicity and capability.)

On the Elektronauts boards a rep from TE says the fader issues was due to packaging and that they’re correcting this on the next batches sent out.

I got mine on Friday, but playing catchup with adulting, so haven’t had much hands on with it yet.

No fader issues and agree… fits nicely as an in between, fun groovebox.

[cryophonik]

I made a lot more moves in 2023 than I had planned to a year ago, but I've had a net reduction in gear overall. Major changes:

Added: OB-6 module, MatrixBrute, Analog Heat +FX, Eventide H9 Max, Behringer TD-3 MO, MPC Live 2

Sold: Subsequent 37, Slim Phatty, Minitaur, Jomox Alpha Base, Analog Four mk2, Novation Peak, Roland TR-6S, Roland SE-02

Bought and Sold in 2023: Squarp Pyramid, Behringer RD-8, RD-9 and TD-3 (replaced with MO), Korg Op-Six, Squarp Pyramid, NDLR, Midicake Arp, Analog Heat mk2 (replaced it with the Heat +FX a few weeks after buying it)

On the Horizon: add a Trigon 6 module, upgrade my standard Pro 3 to the SE version, replace my Virus Polar TI2 with the desktop module

[egbert101]

I don't think I would sell my Analog Four mkii. But an OB-6 and MatrixBrute are awesome. Also Trigon-6 is my dream vintage analog even though it's a new instrument.
Digitone and Take 5 are currently on my to buy list.

[cryophonik]

I don't think I would sell my Analog Four mkii. But an OB-6 and MatrixBrute are awesome. Also Trigon-6 is my dream vintage analog even though it's a new instrument.
Digitone and Take 5 are currently on my to buy list.

Honestly, selling the Analog Four mk2 was not the easiest decision, but I have every other current Elektron offering (except the Model-series) and that one got the least amount of use. The thing is, I didn't really use it like a 4-part groovebox like most people seem to do, rather as 4 individual mono synths. At the time, I was overloaded with analog monos, so I wanted to cut them down by selling the three Moogs, SE-02, and the A4 and sticking with my SE-1X, Pro 3, and replacing the Subsequent 37 with a MatrixBrute (something I now wish I had done a long time ago!). But, I also won't be surprised if I decide to buy an Analog Four mk2 again at a later date - I really do like that synth a lot! Who knows, maybe we'll see a mk3 next year?

[WatchTheGuitar]

I keep forgetting to put my Analog Four mk 2 up for sale, just not using it enough to justify the expense and I could use the money and space on my rack to get a Minilogue XD desktop which I could polymerge with my existing XD to get 8 voices and enough left over to put towards a nice effects unit like a Mood MKII or a Microcosm.

[WatchTheGuitar]

A module on my wanted list popped up along with its expander pretty cheap, a Shakmat Bard Quartet which is a quad quantizer that has some interesting arp and harmony options.

Will be nice to click in different scales and selected notes on a per input basis. My Tenderfoot one doesn’t do half what this one will and it even has a TRS MIDI input on the expander so I could use it for MIDI to CV.

[CoolColJ]

Added a 3rd Wave desktop to my setup.
Pic doesn't show my 3 tier keyboard stand behind the camera holding my SQ80, WSA1 and VL1

VL1 is listed for sale, but no bites so far.

Would like to move the SQ80 to my main stand so I can put her Poly AT to good use, but may replace her with a UBXa.... although she only cost me $300AUD
But I would need to sell one of those synths on there to do so... Andromeda and Matrixbrute are not moving
Prologue 16 also sounds so good, especially for the kind of Arps I like to make on her...
so I dunno....

[vurt]

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[elxsound]

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Endless spectral synthesis layered droning?

I won’t listen to demos until next year just to make sure not to buy. 16hp would also make that a complicated purchase.

I imagine this would be fun creating some unique textures.

[Shabdahbriah]

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I've been very consciously resisting this one... even though (or because) it would make several things I have (seemingly) redundant, and then I'd be tempted to sell them, and then I might regret that I sold them, as they DO afford me a higher degree of flexibility and complexity, including (but not limited to) 'drone' functions.

Congrats to you though.

[vurt]

Screenshot_20231207_161521_Samsung Internet.jpg

insert xmas gif!

Endless spectral synthesis layered droning?

I won’t listen to demos until next year just to make sure not to buy. 16hp would also make that a complicated purchase.

I imagine this would be fun creating some unique textures.

endless droning is what we are hoping for indeed
been on my radar for a while, but been enjoying previous purchases and making the most of those before getting round to it.

[vurt]

Screenshot_20231207_161521_Samsung Internet.jpg

insert xmas gif!

I've been very consciously resisting this one... even though (or because) it would make several things I have (seemingly) redundant, and then I'd be tempted to sell them, and then I might regret that I sold them, as they DO afford me a higher degree of flexibility and complexity, including (but not limited to) 'drone' functions.

Congrats to you though.

too lazy to deal with selling, so anything replaced ever, will always be in a drawer somewhere ready for mix and match patches in the future!!

[vurt]

ooh there's an expander coming, it adds pitch control and a few other goodies too

that and scrat will probably be my first of the new year, unless i decide to squeeze scrat in this year!

[Constructed Identity]

Just ordered a Neon Egg "Planetarium" as my Christmas gift to myself this year.
That will finish up 2023.