2025: A Year in Gear (What You've Bought or Want to Buy in 2025)

[McLilith]

...this is a want, not a need

Well, you're certainly posting in an appropriate thread!

[McLilith]

The newest member of my synth family is on it's way...

I'm looking forward to finally having a synth with polyphonic aftertouch, even if it does have mini-keys.

[justin3am]

A rare and wonderful filter/low pass gate.

frac_borg.jpg

It sounds quite a bit different from the eurorack version I used to have. More of a dense/wooly sound than the clearer sound I got from the Malekko version. It really locks in on harmonics when resonance is set at certain positions.

[vurt]

nice.
i have the malekko, which i like, but it can squeal a bit at some freqs

[justin3am]

nice.
i have the malekko, which i like, but it can squeal a bit at some freqs

Yeah, this one can squeal too (as with the euro module, there is a jumper on the back to make the resonance even more out of control) but the Frac version seems to be a lot more likely to lock to harmonics of the signal being filtered, which is something I love about the Serge VCFQ.

[dark water]

https://reverb.com/uk/item/90568639-rox ... -bluetooth

Yep I know it's 'just a tape recorder', and I'm definitely not using it for any 'professional-sounding analogue tape' delusions...
But for experiments and tape FX which remind me of my childhood (when our family boombox had a double-speed recording function, which I used to to record my piano at half-speeds and playing different octaves etc), this will do nicely with its varispeed and USB stereo functions amongst other things.
I've actually bought 2 of them for extra creativity.

Curiously, the company who makes them is fairly well respected in terms of its other products such as pre-amps and transistors, so hopefully their tape recorder should last a bit longer than some of the other modded tape recorders which are currently available for a similar price.

[McLilith]

https://reverb.com/uk/item/90568639-rox ... -bluetooth

Yep I know it's 'just a tape recorder', and I'm definitely not using it for any 'professional-sounding analogue tape' delusions...
But for experiments and tape FX which remind me of my childhood (when our family boombox had a double-speed recording function, which I used to to record my piano at half-speeds and playing different octaves etc), this will do nicely with its varispeed and USB stereo functions amongst other things.
I've actually bought 2 of them for extra creativity.

Curiously, the company who makes them is fairly well respected in terms of its other products such as pre-amps and transistors, so hopefully their tape recorder should last a bit longer than some of the other modded tape recorders which are currently available for a similar price.

That's a funky little recorder, and I mean that in a very good way!

[dark water]

^^ absolutely
I was tempted to buy some more of the RoXdon items (mostly a transistor and a tape splicing set) but managed to hold off for now.

Their mixers look like very good value - even 'suspiciously' cheap - the only downside being who know's how reliable they actually are?

Maybe I've stumbled across a 'goldmine'...


https://reverb.com/uk/shop/roxdon-audio

[vurt]

^^ absolutely
I was tempted to buy some more of the RoXdon items (mostly a transistor and a tape splicing set) but managed to hold off for now.

Their mixers look like very good value - even 'suspiciously' cheap - the only downside being who know's how reliable they actually are?

Maybe I've stumbled across a 'goldmine'...


https://reverb.com/uk/shop/roxdon-audio

nice! i like the bottom tape deck

btw "roxxon" is the big energy company in the marvel universe

[McLilith]

Yeah, that bottom tape deck looks awesome!

[resynthesis]

I think some of the Roxdon stuff (not the tape decks) looks like the usual rebadged Chinese mass market stuff. I think I've seen the interface with umpteen different names on it and a quick image search on the mixer shows a similar story.

[Constructed Identity]

Speaking of tapes, I am temped to buy one of these:

Because of a video with one and my Metal Fetishist.

the vid -

[foosnark]

Yep I know it's 'just a tape recorder', and I'm definitely not using it for any 'professional-sounding analogue tape' delusions...

Big nostalgia hit there... it looks physically a lot like the GE-branded tape recorder I had when I was a kid. Obviously that didn't have Bluetooth and USB though and wasn't varispeed either.

[McLilith]

My orange Hydrasynth arrived today!

It sounds great, looks cool, and I think I'll love having a polyphonic aftertouch controller.

Now, I just need to find space for it.

At this point, I may need to completely rearrange the entire room.

.

[McLilith]

I'm actually considering getting a small 25-key MIDI controller, just for the purpose of triggering the lowest MIDI "notes" in Kontakt instruments, which are often used for selecting different instrument articulations, and not really used for playing actual audible notes. I tend to mostly use 61-note keyboards, and I don't want to sacrifice any of that playable range for mere "control switches". So, maybe I should just get a small used MIDI controller for just the bottom 2 octaves of the MIDI range?

Does that sound like a crazy idea?