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

[Shabdahbriah]

Well, this arrived today:



Yes, I paid too much to get the little scope. I have a much (much) better scope in my shop, but that isn't what this is about, so, I paid for the scope.



Need is a heavy word here. I have all of this stuff in my shop. I have been using breadboards for decades and have signal generators and all of the toys. However, what I like about this is that I can take a simple design and bring the whole thing out of my shop, sit it in front of my modular and work with it. I like that you get a temporary panel with controls and jacks solidly mounted. If you've ever experimented with this sort of thing you know what a pain it is to either 1) deal with jacks and controls on short pigtails, or 2) have jacks and controls on small boards take up too much space on your breadboard.

Of course I didn't need the extra parts kit, nothing new there for me, but I got it anyways because that's what was available. Shout out to Analog Haven for super fast shipping. The price wasn't great and I don't know if that's just the way it is in the U.S. or what, but, I didn't want to deal with international shipping and they had both parts in stock.

I've got a question for you. My board came today, but one SMD Capacitor in the power supply is hanging on from glue? and there's a deep gouge on the board.

Is the SMD capacitor an easy enough fix, or is there more to consider? And the gouge is seemingly harmless, but seems like a b-stock one made it to the regular stock pile.


IMG_2025-09-06-000652.jpg
IMG_2025-09-06-000616.png

It is a reasonable fix if you have SMD soldering skills/tools. You could just tack on a through hole part for testing. The gouge probably doesn't cut traces, but it might.

Here's the thing tough, doing that means that you're taking on risks. I wouldn't attempt to fix that, I would return it. If it were used, old, unobtanium, then I would give it a go.

I would send that back, it's either been used or damaged in manufacture/transit.

It sucks, but ^^^ that ^^^

[elxsound]

Well, this arrived today:



Yes, I paid too much to get the little scope. I have a much (much) better scope in my shop, but that isn't what this is about, so, I paid for the scope.



Need is a heavy word here. I have all of this stuff in my shop. I have been using breadboards for decades and have signal generators and all of the toys. However, what I like about this is that I can take a simple design and bring the whole thing out of my shop, sit it in front of my modular and work with it. I like that you get a temporary panel with controls and jacks solidly mounted. If you've ever experimented with this sort of thing you know what a pain it is to either 1) deal with jacks and controls on short pigtails, or 2) have jacks and controls on small boards take up too much space on your breadboard.

Of course I didn't need the extra parts kit, nothing new there for me, but I got it anyways because that's what was available. Shout out to Analog Haven for super fast shipping. The price wasn't great and I don't know if that's just the way it is in the U.S. or what, but, I didn't want to deal with international shipping and they had both parts in stock.

I've got a question for you. My board came today, but one SMD Capacitor in the power supply is hanging on from glue? and there's a deep gouge on the board.

Is the SMD capacitor an easy enough fix, or is there more to consider? And the gouge is seemingly harmless, but seems like a b-stock one made it to the regular stock pile.


IMG_2025-09-06-000652.jpg
IMG_2025-09-06-000616.png

It is a reasonable fix if you have SMD soldering skills/tools. You could just tack on a through hole part for testing. The gouge probably doesn't cut traces, but it might.

Here's the thing though, doing that means that you're taking on risks. I wouldn't attempt to fix that, I would return it. If it were used, old, unobtanium, then I would give it a go.

I would send that back, it's either been used or damaged in manufacture/transit.

Yeah no SMD soldering skills.

I wanted to ask because I wasn’t sure if it was silly to send back a DIY project/product.

Doesn’t suck to send back. I still haven’t carved out the 1-2 hours of soldering to build it yet and I’ve got it nicely packed. I’ll reach out to Detroit Modular.

Maybe they can open the replacement up first to check for issues.

[Shabdahbriah]

Yeah no SMD soldering skills.

I wanted to ask because I wasn’t sure if it was silly to send back a DIY project/product.

Doesn’t suck to send back. I still haven’t carved out the 1-2 hours of soldering to build it yet and I’ve got it nicely packed. I’ll reach out to Detroit Modular.

Maybe they can open the replacement up first to check for issues.

Sorry... the defect, wonky SMD Capacitor, and inconvenience sucks. That scratch (at the very least) should have been caught, unless it occurred during shipping via some loose screw/bracket or something. I've had that happen once.

[elxsound]

Yeah no SMD soldering skills.

I wanted to ask because I wasn’t sure if it was silly to send back a DIY project/product.

Doesn’t suck to send back. I still haven’t carved out the 1-2 hours of soldering to build it yet and I’ve got it nicely packed. I’ll reach out to Detroit Modular.

Maybe they can open the replacement up first to check for issues.

Sorry... the defect, wonky SMD Capacitor, and inconvenience sucks. That scratch (at the very least) should have been caught, unless it occurred during shipping via some loose screw/bracket or something. I've had that happen once.

Definitely. I'm surprised about the scratch. Nothing could have caused that in shipping. No loose parts and covered too.

I'm hoping tomorrow I find out how to get the replacement.

[ghettosynth]

Well, this arrived today:



Yes, I paid too much to get the little scope. I have a much (much) better scope in my shop, but that isn't what this is about, so, I paid for the scope.



Need is a heavy word here. I have all of this stuff in my shop. I have been using breadboards for decades and have signal generators and all of the toys. However, what I like about this is that I can take a simple design and bring the whole thing out of my shop, sit it in front of my modular and work with it. I like that you get a temporary panel with controls and jacks solidly mounted. If you've ever experimented with this sort of thing you know what a pain it is to either 1) deal with jacks and controls on short pigtails, or 2) have jacks and controls on small boards take up too much space on your breadboard.

Of course I didn't need the extra parts kit, nothing new there for me, but I got it anyways because that's what was available. Shout out to Analog Haven for super fast shipping. The price wasn't great and I don't know if that's just the way it is in the U.S. or what, but, I didn't want to deal with international shipping and they had both parts in stock.

I've got a question for you. My board came today, but one SMD Capacitor in the power supply is hanging on from glue? and there's a deep gouge on the board.

Is the SMD capacitor an easy enough fix, or is there more to consider? And the gouge is seemingly harmless, but seems like a b-stock one made it to the regular stock pile.


IMG_2025-09-06-000652.jpg
IMG_2025-09-06-000616.png

It is a reasonable fix if you have SMD soldering skills/tools. You could just tack on a through hole part for testing. The gouge probably doesn't cut traces, but it might.

Here's the thing though, doing that means that you're taking on risks. I wouldn't attempt to fix that, I would return it. If it were used, old, unobtanium, then I would give it a go.

I would send that back, it's either been used or damaged in manufacture/transit.

Yeah no SMD soldering skills.

I wanted to ask because I wasn’t sure if it was silly to send back a DIY project/product.

Doesn’t suck to send back. I still haven’t carved out the 1-2 hours of soldering to build it yet and I’ve got it nicely packed. I’ll reach out to Detroit Modular.

Maybe they can open the replacement up first to check for issues.

So, yes, for future reference, DIY doesn't mean that you're responsible for unreasonable manufacturer/shipper defects. If parts are missing damaged then it's reasonable to expect them to be replaced. I wouldn't send a kit back for a missing or wrong valued passive part, but that's more a factor of cost vs effort than it is a buyer responsibility.

In today's semi-kit world, which has become quite common with the major PCB houses offering SMD assembly, the SMD parts need to come as if they were brand new and assembled. Fixing those is not your responsibility at all.

It's something of an apocryphal story, but, it's been conjectured that the DIY advice from the tube kit days to ensure a strong mechanical connection by wrapping the part wire around the tube socket strip eye, was invented by Heathkit to minimize post kit build servicing problems. That is, a soldered connection is just as good electrically without all of that wrapping. What the wrapping does do is make it more likely that the kit will work when complete if the builder forgot to solder some connections. This helped to minimize post-kit service issues. And yes, customers expected Heathkit to provide some post kit build servicing. For the record, most experienced builders knew that you should, at best, make a small hook with the wire so that it would stay put while soldering. Wrapping the wire around the eye makes it much more difficult to replace parts.

In any case, that's just a fun bit to cement some history and perspective in this. When you receive defective DIY stuff, which is rare, but does happen, it's not on you to just make it work just because it's DIY.

[McLilith]

New interface came today ...

Updated the firmware and set it as default. Here is an interesting feature, you can set what resistance your headphones are.

Choices are < 50 Ohm, 50-150 Ohm, >150 Ohm
I also like mirrored outputs on the front for effects loopback.

So, how do you like the new interface?

I might eventually get one of those. My old MOTU interface hasn't been very stable with my new Windows 11 computer. (It wasn't perfectly flawless on the old Windows 10 machine, but it's much worse now.)

[Constructed Identity]

New interface came today ...

Updated the firmware and set it as default. Here is an interesting feature, you can set what resistance your headphones are.

Choices are < 50 Ohm, 50-150 Ohm, >150 Ohm
I also like mirrored outputs on the front for effects loopback.

So, how do you like the new interface?

I might eventually get one of those. My old MOTU interface hasn't been very stable with my new Windows 11 computer. (It wasn't perfectly flawless on the old Windows 10 machine, but it's much worse now.)

It's been great. I have unused inputs!
Plus, I got it on sale and then could get ...

one of these

[Constructed Identity]

For the last couple of years I've wanted a polyvox synth, but they are big, and old, and a lot of times not in the best condition. I found out Elta makes a smaller, modern version, but those were manufactured in Russia so are unavailable now. Luckily they also make just a module with the filter and I finally got one.

[Shabdahbriah]

^^^ COOL!!! ^^^

[DrGonzo]

For the last couple of years I've wanted a polyvox synth, but they are big, and old, and a lot of times not in the best condition. I found out Elta makes a smaller, modern version, but those were manufactured in Russia so are unavailable now. Luckily they also make just a module with the filter and I finally got one.

And there GAS went from 0 to 11. How is it?

[seafire]

[Constructed Identity]

For the last couple of years I've wanted a polyvox synth, but they are big, and old, and a lot of times not in the best condition. I found out Elta makes a smaller, modern version, but those were manufactured in Russia so are unavailable now. Luckily they also make just a module with the filter and I finally got one.

And there GAS went from 0 to 11. How is it?

I had a great time with it last night… Subtle differences between two filters in parallel stereo is great. Have not checked running in sequence yet as it was suddenly 11:00pm and I have to work.

[McLilith]

New interface came today ...

Updated the firmware and set it as default. Here is an interesting feature, you can set what resistance your headphones are.

Choices are < 50 Ohm, 50-150 Ohm, >150 Ohm
I also like mirrored outputs on the front for effects loopback.

So, how do you like the new interface?

I might eventually get one of those. My old MOTU interface hasn't been very stable with my new Windows 11 computer. (It wasn't perfectly flawless on the old Windows 10 machine, but it's much worse now.)

It's been great. I have unused inputs!
Plus, I got it on sale and then could get ...

one of these

Oh, how I wish I had more inputs than signal sources!

I saw a video on YouTube that rated several interfaces for latency, and the Arturia was one of the best. In another video, a prominent music YouTuber did a tier list of every piece of gear in his studio. He put his Arturia interface in the very top tier. Another YouTuber, who is hypercritical of every piece of studio gear he mentions, and seldom likes much of anything, said the Arturia was great for "synth people". Coupled with the fact he had nothing negative to nitpick about the Arturia, that's high praise coming from that fellow. So far, everyone seems to like this interface, and no one has any complaints with it.

It's a bit pricey for my budget, but I think it's only a matter of time till I get one for myself.

[ghettosynth]

Well, this showed up this morning.



Wow, what can I say. When I first saw these I didn't realize exactly how it worked and so I rejected it as being too fussy/hidden/cultish for me. I did not realize that it was basically a mini polyphonic quasi-orthogonal pressure instrument and that when you weren't programming the sounds or patterns that the entire surface was a pressure based poly input device with one voice per column.

It's very much an ambient instrument, but, the pressure surface generates poly pressure over midi. I was looking for something small to sit in front of my DAW.

That said, this thing is an anxiety reducer on steroids. I can just sit and drone with subtle pressure making drones for way, I mean really way, too long. I don't always like that kind of accidental ambient. I've stopped making it because it's often too easy to just create things without intent that sound cool. Nothing wrong with that, but it just feels less like mine than it feels like a lucky lotto number. However, as an active music participation tool, as opposed to a pseudo-composition tool, I see nothing wrong with it. It's the ambient equivalent of sitting on the couch and noodling blues riffs on my guitar. I'm not going to record it necessarily and I'm certainly not going to stress out about not recording it, but it's fun and relaxing nonetheless.

My left brain thinks that it was too expensive. My right brain thinks, so f**king what. I bought the midi expander so that it can go in Eurorack. But, for a few days, it will just sit on my desk.

[vurt]

Well, this showed up this morning.



Wow, what can I say. When I first saw these I didn't realize exactly how it worked and so I rejected it as being too fussy/hidden/cultish for me. I did not realize that it was basically a mini polyphonic quasi-orthogonal pressure instrument and that when you weren't programming the sounds or patterns that the entire surface was a pressure based poly input device with one voice per column.

It's very much an ambient instrument, but, the pressure surface generates poly pressure over midi. I was looking for something small to sit in front of my DAW.

That said, this thing is an anxiety reducer on steroids. I can just sit and drone with subtle pressure making drones for way, I mean really way, too long. I don't always like that kind of accidental ambient. I've stopped making it because it's often too easy to just create things without intent that sound cool. Nothing wrong with that, but it just feels less like mine than it feels like a lucky lotto number. However, as an active music participation tool, as opposed to a pseudo-composition tool, I see nothing wrong with it. It's the ambient equivalent of sitting on the couch and noodling blues riffs on my guitar. I'm not going to record it necessarily and I'm certainly not going to stress out about not recording it, but it's fun and relaxing nonetheless.

My left brain thinks that it was too expensive. My right brain thinks, so f**king what. I bought the midi expander so that it can go in Eurorack. But, for a few days, it will just sit on my desk.

thats quite beautiful!