2024: A Year in Gear (What You've Bought or Want to Buy in 2024)

[cryophonik]

(I'm posting this to get an actual completion time on this thing, go on, place your bets!)

7:35 PM EDT is my guess.

Do I need to specify the date, too?

The year should be close enough.

OK, I'll take 2027 for $300.

[ghettosynth]

(I'm posting this to get an actual completion time on this thing, go on, place your bets!)

7:35 PM EDT is my guess.

Do I need to specify the date, too?

The year should be close enough.

OK, I'll take 2027 for $300.

I'm totally inspired by your confidence.

[pdxindy]

I got an email saying the Anyma Omega development hit a snag and its delayed by 6 months minimum. Now it might be 2025 instead

[justin3am]

Looks like my Wellspring will arrive the second week of March. I'm really stoked.
But in the meantime, I've found someone who is selling a pristine Fostex 3180 at an insanely low price and I'm debating whether I should buy it.

A friend sent me a Technosaurus Cyclodon to repair... turns out there was nothing wrong with it. Friend was trying to sync it via MIDI but it's sync input receives DIN Sync, not MIDI. They said it was worthless to them and offered it to me for $20! I have a bunch of things which transmit DIN Sync so I reluctantly accepted.
The Cyclodon is pretty limited but having another CV sequencer with a built in clock divider and variable sequence length could be useful.

[elxsound]

Looks like my Wellspring will arrive the second week of March. I'm really stoked.
But in the meantime, I've found someone who is selling a pristine Fostex 3180 at an insanely low price and I'm debating whether I should buy it.

A friend sent me a Technosaurus Cyclodon to repair... turns out there was nothing wrong with it. Friend was trying to sync it via MIDI but it's sync input receives DIN Sync, not MIDI. They said it was worthless to them and offered it to me for $20! I have a bunch of things which transmit DIN Sync so I reluctantly accepted.
The Cyclodon is pretty limited but having another CV sequencer with a built in clock divider and variable sequence length could be useful.

Would one of these things work too? https://www.perfectcircuit.com/kenton-d ... erter.html

On back-order, but I’m guessing not bad if you don’t want to limit to working with only those things with DIN sync.

Otherwise, $20 for an extra sequencer?!?

[justin3am]

It certainly would. I made a breakout cable with 5-pin DIN on one side and 1/8" inputs for the Run/Stop, Reset and Clock pins, so I can clock it with other stuff. Of course it expects 24PPQN clock but most of my clock sources can handle that, so no biggie.

[elxsound]

It certainly would. I made a breakout cable with 5-pin DIN on one side and 1/8" inputs for the Run/Stop, Reset and Clock pins, so I can clock it with other stuff. Of course it expects 24PPQN clock but most of my clock sources can handle that, so no biggie.

Don’t know how I could forget your DIY and repair skills!

Speaking of that… something to possibly add on to the 2024 list…

Would you, whyterabbyt or anyone else recommend a moderately decent soldering iron? At minimum, I’d like to know the temperature (set the temperature).

I have some fun led projects in mind for action figures, displays and eventually lighting for my little shelf setup.

I just found out about led filaments, among some other fun things.

[justin3am]

Weller and Hakko both have a budget soldering station with digital temp read out.
https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-FX888D-23B ... 00ANZRT4M/
https://www.amazon.com/Weller-Digital-S ... 077JDGY1J/

Unfortunately, the budget Hakko and Weller irons aren't that reliable. I keep a really old Weller iron around because it's unkillable. The stations we use at work are fine but cable which connects the iron to the base starts to fail after a year or two (of course, we're using those irons very frequently, so it may not be a big deal).

[ghettosynth]

Weller and Hakko both have a budget soldering station with digital temp read out.
https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-FX888D-23B ... 00ANZRT4M/
https://www.amazon.com/Weller-Digital-S ... 077JDGY1J/

Unfortunately, the budget Hakko and Weller irons aren't that reliable. I keep a really old Weller iron around because it's unkillable. The stations we use at work are fine but cable which connects the iron to the base starts to fail after a year or two (of course, we're using those irons very frequently, so it may not be a big deal).

Yep, it's duty cycle or the tragedy of the commons. I've had Hakko irons/stations for over a decade and I'd wager that I solder WAY more than most people and they're still going strong with no problems. By budget I mean around $100 original price. I have an even cheaper tiny $25 Chinese station that also still works, admittedly, it gets little use. It took about that long to go though a
a Hakko desoldering gun though. It still works, but it's showing its age. I used to adopt the philosophy of buying decent to good tools up front but you waste a lot of money that way. Now I only take that approach when, based on my experience, that even if I only use it a few times that I'll be super annoyed with a cheap tool. If not, I buy the cheapest or next to cheapest version and use it until I know what annoys me or it breaks, whichever comes first. Then I replace it with something better. For most tools, the second part never happens, which is where you save money. I have a number of cheap Harbor Freight power tools that get used a few times a year, at most. I'll probably have those until I'm dead and I won't know the difference between the cheap tools and the more expensive tools.

OTOH, I thought that my aging precision multimeter had died some time back and it turned out to be a simple fix related to a problem in the power supply. There are still a couple of replacements in my Amazon cart that were between $750 and $1200. Should it finally die, it will get replaced with what I want, not what I need. I know from experience that I like having one really precise meter that I can rely on even though I don't really need it.

[whyterabbyt]

Would you, whyterabbyt or anyone else recommend a moderately decent soldering iron? At minimum, I’d like to know the temperature (set the temperature).

Hakko's the brand I see in all the pootube videos, though I hadnt heard of them till about ten years ago; Weller was the name I knew.
My own is neither of those, though; its a fairly-commonly rebranded one, an 8786D(*). Reasonably cheap, decent-qualilty 50w iron/hot air combo, in my case sold by a company called Circuit Specialists. Usage is fairly light, but its 7 years old now, and works just as well as ever.

[Shabdahbriah]

Would you, whyterabbyt or anyone else recommend a moderately decent soldering iron? At minimum, I’d like to know the temperature (set the temperature).

I have some fun led projects in mind for action figures, displays and eventually lighting for my little shelf setup.

I have a couple of cheap-ish Hakko knock-offs that work fine, but this would work well for the task you describe. Dials in the temp, comfortable to use for extended periods (IMHO). It's like holding a fat pen/Sharpie, and has become my 'go-to'.[2c]

UY CHAN Original TS101.png

https://www.amazon.com/UY-CHAN-Programm ... r=1-3&th=1

[elxsound]

Lovely!! Thank you justin3am, whyterabbyt, ghettosynth & shabdahbriah!

One set of search results follows you everywhere on the web, so this helps immensely!

[egbert101]

My new friend arrived (and it's not the fish). Nice!

IMG_20240218_133846.jpg

[WatchTheGuitar]

Bready or not I have a new (used) one of these inbound.

IMG_0340.jpeg

[foosnark]

Upcoming Polybrute 12 leaked

I want it. I don't have room, and I don't really need it, but I would play the hell out of this thing if I had one.