2024 Hardware Synth of the Year

[elxsound]

I don’t think I’ve got a nominee… I think as a way for budget management I purposely didn’t watch videos on the new releases!

Polybrute looks crazy drool worthy, so I can get down with that one.

I added 2 noisemakers this year, just the Legio and Moog Labrynth. Oh, and Moog Spectavox but none would get my vote. I still like my choices but can’t imagine those with top billing

I do enjoy Ableton’s Move, but it’s another imperfect, but perfect for me kind of box.

[zerocrossing]

Good thing, as we just shipped our game and I got a ship bonus... and laid off!

Awwww, no way, that sucks! At least you got the bonus!

It’s typical game business. Kind of like working on a movie, but there’s no union. You work like hell on something for a number of years and then at the point you’re supposed to be happy that it’s out the door, they’re calling that “meeting.” The lead producer mentioned that she’s been laid off 8 times so far in the game industry. But a lot of games never see the light of day. I worked on a game for 2 years that had already been in production for 2 years when I started and as it was about to go into beta, they pulled the plug. Needless to say, I think it’s time for me to move to something else. I’m getting too old for this b.s.

[Constructed Identity]

Don't know what the synth of the year is...
I might stop by Perfect Circuit next week when I'm in Los Angeles and then make my decision.

[foosnark]

Needless to say, I think it’s time for me to move to something else. I’m getting too old for this b.s.

Leaving the game industry was the best career move I ever made.

I was depressed as hell for the first few weeks because it was such a quiet, buttoned-up, conservative workplace compared to a game company, and I didn't feel like I was among my people anymore. And honestly, after 11 years I still don't really have any work friends. But:

I am paid much better and the checks are always on time.
Never had projects cancelled.
Never once been asked to put in any overtime, much less 27 10+ hour days in a single month with no OT pay and no clear goal, or a 19-hour day "on call" at the office on a Saturday while the boss was at a trade show.
Never had long-approved vacations cancelled due to manufactured "emergencies."
Never been yelled at for disagreeing with a stupid suggestion.
Never had a boss claim credit for a design I came up with, and publish it in a book without mentioning me at all.
Never had a boss pick up my nice fountain pen and carry it off to his own desk (I recovered it later).
Never had an MP3 player stolen from my desk (I really suspect my boss did it, not a janitor).
Never had managers known for sexually harassing employees and visitors.
Never had a coworker sleeping on a couch in the break room because they couldn't afford rent, while a boss parked his stoopid $100K+ sportscar outside across three parking spaces.

[cryophonik]

That sounds like an awful industry to me! Yeah, I'd be looking at a different path as well.

I do enjoy Ableton’s Move, but it’s another imperfect, but perfect for me kind of box.

Move looks pretty enticing, but I think I'm over the small hardware form factor groovebox, drum machine etc. approach. I sold off all of them except my Analog RYTM mk2, Digitakt 2, and Maschine+, all of which I still do use in my songs. Also, I'm not an Ableton power user and use it only a fraction of the time that I use Logic and PT, so I'm not sure that I'd get the full benefit of it. But, every time I see a Move demo it gets my GAS going...

[elxsound]

That sounds like an awful industry to me! Yeah, I'd be looking at a different path as well.

I do enjoy Ableton’s Move, but it’s another imperfect, but perfect for me kind of box.

Move looks pretty enticing, but I think I'm over the small hardware form factor groovebox, drum machine etc. approach. I sold off all of them except my Analog RYTM mk2, Digitakt 2, and Maschine+, all of which I still do use in my songs. Also, I'm not an Ableton power user and use it only a fraction of the time that I use Logic and PT, so I'm not sure that I'd get the full benefit of it. But, every time I see a Move demo it gets my GAS going...

Makes perfect sense. For me with Push 3 Standalone and as a longtime Ableton Live user, it sits perfectly in the middle of things. The place that makes me love it is the super quick sampling feature which works nicely with the modular setup that is not in a fixed location.

So portable modular rack (heavy, but moves around) and the nicely sized Move works amazing for playing things quickly and the best part is moving into Live effortlessly. No stem recordings in real time, or shuffling around recorded WAV files… just save to the cloud, open in Live and then save locally.

It’s crazy quick! But obviously, hard to benefit from those quality of life workflows if you’re not on Live.

[gullfo]

... But:

I am paid much better and the checks are always on time.
Never had projects cancelled.
Never once been asked to put in any overtime, much less 27 10+ hour days in a single month with no OT pay and no clear goal, or a 19-hour day "on call" at the office on a Saturday while the boss was at a trade show.
Never had long-approved vacations cancelled due to manufactured "emergencies."
Never been yelled at for disagreeing with a stupid suggestion.
Never had a boss claim credit for a design I came up with, and publish it in a book without mentioning me at all.
Never had a boss pick up my nice fountain pen and carry it off to his own desk (I recovered it later).
Never had an MP3 player stolen from my desk (I really suspect my boss did it, not a janitor).
Never had managers known for sexually harassing employees and visitors.
Never had a coworker sleeping on a couch in the break room because they couldn't afford rent, while a boss parked his stoopid $100K+ sportscar outside across three parking spaces.

oh, you must never have worked for a "real" giant evil corporation where there are a lot of examples of the opposite to your experience happening - and never mind the boss, the co-workers trying to outdo each other to claim credit or backstab makes most bosses seem nice... LOL

[foosnark]

In case I wasn't clear, my "never" list was things that did happen while I was working for a small game development company, but don't where I work now.

I've never had the misfortune of working for a big corporation. I've always worked at places where there was no ambition or politicking among the rank and file.

[justin3am]

I have a difficult time picking one. I tend to kind of run them into each other and use them as one big synth.
I think when I got the Arp 2600 back in 2020 that was definitely a big deal but when I built the Serge modular it was more about how I used it wit other stuff. Same with the Buchla clone system.

Last week I was running my Prophet 6 through a pair of ResEQs and it was such a glorious sound! Last night I tried using the the Serge Frequency Shifter and Blacet Time Machine in the Pro3's feedback loop. That was also very satisfying!

I think my synth of the year for 2024 is my whole studio. The more I think about it, it is just one big instrument with a lot of different ways of playing it.

[foosnark]

I think my synth of the year for 2024 is my whole studio.

Best answer.

[lfm]

I would make all synths that were released 2024 as synth of the year
- it's quite an undertaking making a hardware synth
- soft synth you can make in your basement, but a lot involved in hardware

So thanks to all hardware makers to having stuff out for us to pick from!!!

A favorite would be TEO-5
- sound, format and price
- release date here seems to be postponed so far 4-5 times since sept
- last was yesterday, and today it says contact us for delivery date
- places in germany is 5-7 weeks or so still, end of feb 2025 one place

Not sure if there are shortage of some circuits still or something.

But Moog Muse seems really nice for sure.
- according to SonicLab review Moog One is out of production already
- Moog seems to do things backwards
- first making a bauta poly Moog One with no experience of polysynths basically
- why not start with smaller poly first one wonders?
- from the sound I heard it should do well if it works well

[zerocrossing]

Needless to say, I think it’s time for me to move to something else. I’m getting too old for this b.s.

Leaving the game industry was the best career move I ever made.

I was depressed as hell for the first few weeks because it was such a quiet, buttoned-up, conservative workplace compared to a game company, and I didn't feel like I was among my people anymore. And honestly, after 11 years I still don't really have any work friends. But:

I am paid much better and the checks are always on time.
Never had projects cancelled.
Never once been asked to put in any overtime, much less 27 10+ hour days in a single month with no OT pay and no clear goal, or a 19-hour day "on call" at the office on a Saturday while the boss was at a trade show.
Never had long-approved vacations cancelled due to manufactured "emergencies."
Never been yelled at for disagreeing with a stupid suggestion.
Never had a boss claim credit for a design I came up with, and publish it in a book without mentioning me at all.
Never had a boss pick up my nice fountain pen and carry it off to his own desk (I recovered it later).
Never had an MP3 player stolen from my desk (I really suspect my boss did it, not a janitor).
Never had managers known for sexually harassing employees and visitors.
Never had a coworker sleeping on a couch in the break room because they couldn't afford rent, while a boss parked his stoopid $100K+ sportscar outside across three parking spaces.

Yeah, at the risk of further veering off into OT land, I’d say that the best thing about the game industry is (often) the people, and on some level, the kind of work that I get to do. That said, before I started working in games, I used to joke about the idea that we must have had a line item in the budget for the CEO’s sexual harassment lawsuits.

I think all businesses can have their own issues. I’d say that nearly 100% of the issues can stem directly from the Dunning Kruger effect, where leadership is great at something and then just decides that they’re great at everything. A truly great leader is someone who picks good employees and then lets them have domain over their jobs, while also acknowledging that good ideas can come from anywhere.

[vitocorleone123]

Best synth released in 2024: TEO-5 (unless the Bree-6 comes out by the 31st)

Zerocrossing: that really f-ing sucks. While not working at quite as volatile of companies as you, I got tired of the same bs at different companies and different people when helping deliver products and services in tech after 20+ years, so I moved to UX operations in a tech org at a huge non-tech company with an HQ in another part of the country that's less passive-aggressive. Best mental health and job stability move I've ever made. More time to mess with music, too.

[morphex]

My Waldorf Quantum MK2 has just about everything that I could want in a synth. It took forever to save up for, but it was worth it. And although this next piece isn't a synth, the MIO XL MIDI interface by iConnectivity is just what I needed to bring my hardware synths out of storage and back into my system. It's been very reliable so far.

[_leras]

Best synth released in 2024: TEO-5 (unless the Bree-6 comes out by the 31st)

The TEO sounds incredible and has a lot of hands on for a small synth.

I think the Moog Muse is a pretty big deal. Dual filtered Moog poly, relatively affordable.

That said, I'm sat on savings for polysynth and have been for ages, but nothing has been a clear must get. The little dreadbox nymphes has maybe come closest as it just has great tone, but of course, it's not that flexible in the scheme of things.