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

[Constructed Identity]

These came today :

Now I can start to defend the Pro 3 from rack spaghetti attack. Thanks for the link
Also ordered a SOMA Cosmos drifting memory station which should arrive tomorrow.

What sold it was the option to install an alternate OS so I can have a regular looper.

[gaf_thit]

Cosmos seems amazing. Enjoy

[elxsound]

I keep telling myself I don’t need one of those, but I’ve wanted one I think since vurt got his?

I love that green too.

Maybe 2026 me will “need” that.

[elxsound]

Eh, I caved and ordered a Ferrous.

Almost bought one last week, but then I couldn’t remember what it was called. Then MN put up this video, so I’m pretending it was a sign pointing me in the right direction.

[ghettosynth]

Eh, I caved and ordered a Ferrous.

Almost bought one last week, but then I couldn’t remember what it was called. Then MN put up this video, so I’m pretending it was a sign pointing me in the right direction.

Ooh, I think I need that more than I need a few Benjamins. Here the word "need" is being abused, but pay no attention to that.

[ghettosynth]

I keep telling myself I don’t need one of those, but I’ve wanted one I think since vurt got his?

I love that green too.

Maybe 2026 me will “need” that.

Yeah, I feel this. What stops me is that it is the kind of thing that one can spend a small amount of time to get similar results in something like Reaktor mapped to a controller, or, build in Bebo. Loopop did this and obtained good results. In fact, his video convinced me not to get a Cosmos. I get that there's definitely something to having it dedicated in a piece of equipment, but at the same time, I also get that it's not dissimilar to PaulStretch in that it has an appealing characteristic sound, but that isn't fundamental. When I think about paying for it, I think that I'd rather have a TipTop 259t in my rack.

[Shabdahbriah]

Eh, I caved and ordered a Ferrous.

Almost bought one last week, but then I couldn’t remember what it was called. Then MN put up this video, so I’m pretending it was a sign pointing me in the right direction.

... Its aesthetic appeals to me, as it looks like something one would have found while exploring the awesome looking steam-punkerish ship in Stargate Universe.

[foosnark]

I have a Ferrous and it's gotten very little use, tbh.

I was expecting something a bit more eBow-like in behavior, but the speed of rotation needs to match a resonant mode of whatever you're holding it over. Depending on what that object is, it might be easy or difficult to get it going and keep it going (without the magnets pulling it in and colliding).

[vurt]

I keep telling myself I don’t need one of those, but I’ve wanted one I think since vurt got his?

I love that green too.

Maybe 2026 me will “need” that.

will be awesome with the ferrous...

[justin3am]

I have a Ferrous and it's gotten very little use, tbh.

I was expecting something a bit more eBow-like in behavior, but the speed of rotation needs to match a resonant mode of whatever you're holding it over. Depending on what that object is, it might be easy or difficult to get it going and keep it going (without the magnets pulling it in and colliding).

I also have a Ferrous and I can totally understand where you are coming from.
I've used mine on a couple of tracks and sound design projects. My favorite things to use it with are my Waterphone, cymbals, and a kalimba with decently long tines. I don't find it very useful with guitar. I get the most useful results by mounting it to a mic stand and then mounting the thing I'm exciting, such that I can gently move it closer and further away from the Ferrous (rather than moving the Ferrous). Using my fingertip to dampen the excited surface can be really expressive in that case. I haven't gotten a hang of using it as a hand-held but I feel like it's something I can learn.

If you put it near pickups, you'll get more of the sound of the spinning magnets than the strings themselves. Using Ferrous on the neck mitigates that a bit but then it's not as easy to play the instrument. I've used Ferrous with an acoustic and a Variax with it's magnetic pickups disabled. It works okay in those situations but I didn't feel like I had a lot of expressive control. Ebow is still my prefered way to play guitar, lol.

[ghettosynth]

I have a Ferrous and it's gotten very little use, tbh.

I was expecting something a bit more eBow-like in behavior, but the speed of rotation needs to match a resonant mode of whatever you're holding it over. Depending on what that object is, it might be easy or difficult to get it going and keep it going (without the magnets pulling it in and colliding).

I also have a Ferrous and I can totally understand where you are coming from.
I've used mine on a couple of tracks and sound design projects. My favorite things to use it with are my Waterphone, cymbals, and a kalimba with decently long tines. I don't find it very useful with guitar. I get the most useful results by mounting it to a mic stand and then mounting the thing I'm exciting, such that I can gently move it closer and further away from the Ferrous (rather than moving the Ferrous). Using my fingertip to dampen the excited surface can be really expressive in that case. I haven't gotten a hang of using it as a hand-held but I feel like it's something I can learn.

If you put it near pickups, you'll get more of the sound of the spinning magnets than the strings themselves. Using Ferrous on the neck mitigates that a bit but then it's not as easy to play the instrument. I've used Ferrous with an acoustic and a Variax with it's magnetic pickups disabled. It works okay in those situations but I didn't feel like I had a lot of expressive control. Ebow is still my prefered way to play guitar, lol.

So then, mounting it to a gimbal above a wall mounted guitar in an open tuning sounds like the way to go!

[elxsound]

Great info! Probably a great time to explore getting a Kalimba (with long tines), but I’ll wait until it arrives.

[justin3am]

So then, mounting it to a gimbal above a wall mounted guitar in an open tuning sounds like the way to go!

Yeah for sure! Especially if you can control the speed via CV. You can also set a guitar on a table and set the Ferrous with the feet between strings (back the screws for the feet out a bit to change the height where it sits).

[foosnark]

I also have a Ferrous and I can totally understand where you are coming from.
I've used mine on a couple of tracks and sound design projects. My favorite things to use it with are my Waterphone, cymbals, and a kalimba with decently long tines. I don't find it very useful with guitar. I get the most useful results by mounting it to a mic stand and then mounting the thing I'm exciting, such that I can gently move it closer and further away from the Ferrous (rather than moving the Ferrous).

I had some luck with a kalimba, but I could definitely see how mounting both the Ferrous and the kalimba on something would help.

I did feel like acoustic guitars/mandolin worked better than electric, due to that pickup issue. I didn't much luck with a small gong, a thunder drum, small hand cymbals or even a steel tongue drum. Or an ocean drum, because it turns out that's not steel shot in it after all I guess.

[FranklyFlawless]

It is still realistically possible to acquire the Erica Synths Steampipe this year.

I am likely going to order an Erica Synths Steampipe by the end of this month through Nightlife Electronics, although the item itself is currently out of stock.