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

[justin3am]

I spent time in Illustrator yesterday and while some things come back quickly, there are so many new tools for 1-click options. I don’t know if RX is there yet, but I’m hoping there’s something useful and quick.

iZotope RX? For quick-n-dirty clean-up of the usual suspects, even the 'Standard' edition is fine, but the "cool-kids" (in the know) have pretty-much moved over to Steinberg Spectralayers. Real 'updates' that matter, and added 'features' that work, and are of value, unlike the hype surrounding RX 'updates', which I quit doing (annually) @ v.7. I've had and used both since they came out, and Spectralayers is hands-down the real deal as far as versatility/flexibility/potentiality... (just sayin')

lol, I'm also still on RX v7 and have been thinking about switching over to Spectralayers. RX 7 still does what I need it to do and runs okay in Rosetta on my Mac Studio. I'm loath to learn a new tool, so I'll keep using it until the wheels fall off.

[vurt]

I have a cracked Tres guitar that I’m going to tune up and use later today. I’m hoping to get some nice results especially that it’s acoustic.

I used ferrous with the Wildkat, safe distance from pickups, and it was interesting. I was getting good results until I decided to record. It’s was crap at that point and I was too tired to keep going.

Today is that different day to explore more!

don't forget!!! 30 seconds of noises!!!

I really really wanted to do this, but became oblivious to times passage, as I got sucked into an "Ooh LOOK!... something shiny!" vortex of acquisition ever since that vid came out. Hopefully it will be an ongoing thing.

Are you sure you are going to pass? It's just 30 seconds.

I just sent mine off. Started super dark with morphagene set to slow & low, but my submission is glittery and cheery. I'm happy I resisted turning this into a drum loop... though I might need to try that now.

Yeah, well... Thanks for the reality-check. I stayed up most of the night to work through the hour and a half of 30-second 'variations' I'd done, and sent one off.

Posted a half dozen or so slapped together as one file, here:

https://soundcloud.com/obsidiananvil/ma ... ing-guitar

My toying with the Make Noise Morphagene reel by Walker, for the "continuing iterative music project", featured in the video "12-String Guitar Drones" on the Make Noise YouTube channel:

cool stuff
im guessing you got in, these were posted long before i got my notification id made it
i usually miss deadlines for these, so im happy to have made it this time!
i can do the noise making, its then the editing and finding the right 30 seconds

i wont post here, but my first forays are on my youtube "chronocide" 1 and 2 both use this reel

[seafire]

Bought another AM5 buffered multiple. Have one already for CV, got this one for gates, just because.

My dual filter and dual envs arrived today, very nice.

[FranklyFlawless]

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.

After some deliberation, I have decided to shift priorities around to acquire the Desiderata Systems Seven Limit Mosaichord by the end of next month instead.

[elxsound]

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.

After some deliberation, I have decided to shift priorities around to acquire the Desiderata Systems Seven Limit Mosaichord by the end of next month instead.

That is a very interesting controller.

What are these going for? There’s no price listed, no web store and just the contact us to order message. Super mysterious.

I would love to see how you get on with one of these!

[FranklyFlawless]

After some deliberation, I have decided to shift priorities around to acquire the Desiderata Systems Seven Limit Mosaichord by the end of next month instead.

That is a very interesting controller.

What are these going for? There’s no price listed, no web store and just the contact us to order message. Super mysterious.

I would love to see how you get on with one of these!

$800 USD, which is roughly $1,100 CAD at the moment. Video recording equipment is out of my budget scope and priority list for a few years or more, but I can at least capture a photo of the controller when it is in my possession in the near future. The Erica Synths Steampipe can then follow shortly afterwards (within two-three months) as an MPE hardware synthesizer for both MPE hardware controllers.

[elxsound]

After some deliberation, I have decided to shift priorities around to acquire the Desiderata Systems Seven Limit Mosaichord by the end of next month instead.

That is a very interesting controller.

What are these going for? There’s no price listed, no web store and just the contact us to order message. Super mysterious.

I would love to see how you get on with one of these!

$800 USD, which is roughly $1,100 CAD at the moment. Video recording equipment is out of my budget scope and priority list for a few years or more, but I can at least capture a photo of the controller when it is in my possession in the near future. The Erica Synths Steampipe can then follow shortly afterwards (within two-three months) as an MPE hardware synthesizer for both MPE hardware controllers.

No worries. I am just very curious to see it in action. I don’t see any user content online about it yet, but it looks super interesting.

[ghettosynth]

After some deliberation, I have decided to shift priorities around to acquire the Desiderata Systems Seven Limit Mosaichord by the end of next month instead.

That is a very interesting controller.

What are these going for? There’s no price listed, no web store and just the contact us to order message. Super mysterious.

I would love to see how you get on with one of these!

$800 USD, which is roughly $1,100 CAD at the moment. Video recording equipment is out of my budget scope and priority list for a few years or more, but I can at least capture a photo of the controller when it is in my possession in the near future. The Erica Synths Steampipe can then follow shortly afterwards (within two-three months) as an MPE hardware synthesizer for both MPE hardware controllers.

No worries. I am just very curious to see it in action. I don’t see any user content online about it yet, but it looks super interesting.

There is a video of his prototype on the development webpage.

https://jsnow.bootlegether.net/jik/keyboard.html



It's a quirky design for sure. If you download the manual he's using a CAN interface for hopeful future expansion.

[Constructed Identity]

Now that it is available as a module, I have the difficult choice of deciding between a TEO-5 and a Dreadbox Artemis.

[cryophonik]

Now that it is available as a module, I have the difficult choice of deciding between a TEO-5 and a Dreadbox Artemis.

For me, that choice was pretty easy. I had a TEO-5 (keyboard) and it really is an amazing synth, but I found that I didn't actually use or like it as much as my OB-X8. I knew I was going to buy an Artemis on the day it was first announced back in early November and bought one the day it was released. It still needs that first firmware update to be fully functional, but it's already become one of my go-to synths and made the decision to sell my TEO-5 pretty easy. That said, if you really want that modern Obie sound, the Artemis obviously isn't going to satisfy you and the TEO-5 is a lot of synth for the money.

[2NDMOUSE]

got a Presonus Faderport 16, and an SSL 2 mk2 interface in the last few weeks, and then a Polyend Play which should be arriving tomorrow. Plenty to get my teeth into. Really looking forward to the standalone portability of the Polyend. Tons of plugins too....ProQ 4 upgrade and Cenezoix being 2 that spring to mind.

[elxsound]

Now that it is available as a module, I have the difficult choice of deciding between a TEO-5 and a Dreadbox Artemis.

For me, that choice was pretty easy. I had a TEO-5 (keyboard) and it really is an amazing synth, but I found that I didn't actually use or like it as much as my OB-X8. I knew I was going to buy an Artemis on the day it was first announced back in early November and bought one the day it was released. It still needs that first firmware update to be fully functional, but it's already become one of my go-to synths and made the decision to sell my TEO-5 pretty easy. That said, if you really want that modern Obie sound, the Artemis obviously isn't going to satisfy you and the TEO-5 is a lot of synth for the money.

Now I think I need to try these out. I didn’t think the TEO-5 module would be as lowly priced as it is. Liking Artemis more has me very curious.

[2NDMOUSE]

now i want a zither!

Many times I've entertained the thought of buying a hammered dulcimer. Maybe it'll even happen. I wonder if the anticipation of owning one is better than the reality of "actually" owning one and it just sitting in a corner collecting dust along with the guitars I bought, that I still can't contort my hand to play a chord on......

[FranklyFlawless]

After some deliberation, I have decided to shift priorities around to acquire the Desiderata Systems Seven Limit Mosaichord by the end of next month instead.

That is a very interesting controller.

What are these going for? There’s no price listed, no web store and just the contact us to order message. Super mysterious.

I would love to see how you get on with one of these!

$800 USD, which is roughly $1,100 CAD at the moment. Video recording equipment is out of my budget scope and priority list for a few years or more, but I can at least capture a photo of the controller when it is in my possession in the near future. The Erica Synths Steampipe can then follow shortly afterwards (within two-three months) as an MPE hardware synthesizer for both MPE hardware controllers.

No worries. I am just very curious to see it in action. I don’t see any user content online about it yet, but it looks super interesting.

Other than the YouTube link already posted, you can also see additional videos linked from the official Mastodon account:

• Jim Snow (@DesiderataSystems@mastodon.social) - Mastodon

However, it does not showcase the very recent implementation of the built-in synthesizer, and as a result, the product page and user manual are slightly outdated. Jim is prioritizing hand-assembly of a Mosaichord for me while balancing these updates, among other tasks, so eventually this information will be corrected.

[elxsound]

After some deliberation, I have decided to shift priorities around to acquire the Desiderata Systems Seven Limit Mosaichord by the end of next month instead.

That is a very interesting controller.

What are these going for? There’s no price listed, no web store and just the contact us to order message. Super mysterious.

I would love to see how you get on with one of these!

$800 USD, which is roughly $1,100 CAD at the moment. Video recording equipment is out of my budget scope and priority list for a few years or more, but I can at least capture a photo of the controller when it is in my possession in the near future. The Erica Synths Steampipe can then follow shortly afterwards (within two-three months) as an MPE hardware synthesizer for both MPE hardware controllers.

No worries. I am just very curious to see it in action. I don’t see any user content online about it yet, but it looks super interesting.

Other than the YouTube link already posted, you can also see additional videos linked from the official Mastodon account:

• Jim Snow (@DesiderataSystems@mastodon.social) - Mastodon

However, it does not showcase the very recent implementation of the built-in synthesizer, and as a result, the product page and user manual are slightly outdated. Jim is prioritizing hand-assembly of a Mosaichord for me while balancing these updates, among other tasks, so eventually this information will be corrected.

Very interesting. As much as I’m guessing the built-in-synth is not the main point, I am curious what that’ll sound like.

Congrats on the purchase. Sounds like each one is a one-of-a-kind build.