2021: A Year in Gear (What You've Bought or Want to Buy in 2021)

[elxsound]

Some sexy utilities!

notice i also drop in a noisy fun bit too!
utilities are not sexy well ok they are, but i still don't like getting a whole parcel, that doesn't add "noisy stuff"

Sorry I got stuck on CVivilization and the mixer! I've been eyeing that mixer too.

But yeah... I'd say Nebulae can definitely make some noise! I started one video and then quickly turned it off (so as not to be tempted).

[pekbro]

checking the sound before you turn it up in the mix
useful for live stuff.

Ahh, the old in front of other people thing, yeah I've never done that with anything electrical.
Good to know.

or even just how we record, but take morphagene or now nebulae, both can contain quite a few samples, but who can remember them all? send them to a channel here, and you know which sample you have before you turn it up.

i did a lot of live sound when i was able too and some studio work, using mixers is a sort of second nature thing

and, they were out of stock of the mixer without anyway

Cool, someone did give me an old mixer recently and I am finding it pretty handy being able to use
everything at the same time. I should probably just settle on a better audio interface, but the
mixer is pretty cool. Still I am not super interested in having to buy a bunch of 1/8 to 1/4 TRS
cables. The Expert Sleepers lightpipe thing seems the way that would be the most convenient
for me to deal with the modular, but that's going to be a significant cost/hassle and I'm not looking
forward to it.

[vurt]

@ elxsound
yeah, very useful now feedback loops are becoming more a part of things, now ill have the matrix as well as mucorder modes running together on cvlization

i have just realised, there will be a pita move around today in the rack, as being lazy and putting the mixer at the top does not seem prudent!

[vurt]

checking the sound before you turn it up in the mix
useful for live stuff.

Ahh, the old in front of other people thing, yeah I've never done that with anything electrical.
Good to know.

or even just how we record, but take morphagene or now nebulae, both can contain quite a few samples, but who can remember them all? send them to a channel here, and you know which sample you have before you turn it up.

i did a lot of live sound when i was able too and some studio work, using mixers is a sort of second nature thing

and, they were out of stock of the mixer without anyway

Cool, someone did give me an old mixer recently and I am finding it pretty handy being able to use
everything at the same time. I should probably just settle on a better audio interface, but the
mixer is pretty cool. Still I am not super interested in having to buy a bunch of 1/8 to 1/4 TRS
cables. The Expert Sleepers lightpipe thing seems the way that would be the most convenient
for me to deal with the modular, but that's going to be a significant cost/hassle and I'm not looking
forward to it.

it's all so expensive

and only going to get worse here, from july, hence today's blowout before then.

if things go as bad as some say, ill be hard pushed to even afford to buy behringer
or power what i already have

[elxsound]

I know you're dealing with the dread "b" but I'm getting messages from two separate retailer reps saying to "buy now" because prices are going up in July (due to manufacturing and distribution cost increases).

Still, my buying is on hold no matter what until after the missus' birthday.

[vurt]

yeah, that too won't help
i wish it was just modular gear going up here though

but im reasonably happy with the set up as is now, not like im missing anything important.
so i can keep on playing at least while i watch it all go to hell

[WatchTheGuitar]

My next big purchase is likely a new computer and interface, but I’m waiting on the next batch of Mac Minis so guess will have to pay the idiot country tax no matter what. If I’m not using a wheelbarrow full of cash to town to buy bread instead.

[foosnark]

Does anyone have input on DPO vs Instruo Cs-L vs something different?

I've been watching videos and the big question I have is if either of these two is overkill, or does building around one of them make sense.

I'm kind of into this style of complex oscillator I would say generally, no, it's not overkill at all.

I tried the DPO for a while, respect it immensely and love what other people have done with it, but in practice it's not the right one for me. (Without going into too much exposition: my first exposure to the complex oscillator concept was with TZFM and I prefer it over standard linear FM; also the specific sound of Make Noise's wavefolders doesn't seem to sit right with the music I want to make.)

Cs-L has a reputation for being kind of harsh and clinical, and while I've only tried it in VCV Rack and heard a few demos I kind of agree with that. More features, but probably more work to get a nice sound out of it.

My personal favorite complex oscillators have been:

- Hertz Donut mk2. Has a reputation for being "extreme" but honestly, when you get to know it it can be gorgeous or harsh depending on what you ask it for. I like it more than the mk3 because it's simpler to work with and very hands-on (no menus, knob-per-function with a couple of really simple and logical button combos) and a little more "open" in its patchability; also I like the waveshapers in the mk2 a bit more. If I were building "Aalto but in hardware" the oscillator section would be an HDmk2 -- it's not identical but pretty similar.

- Shapeshifter. Pretty much the ultimate digital complex oscillator, with many different dimensions of timbre, and yet once you learn the UI it's still pretty easy to navigate. If you keep things very simple it pretty much can be a drop-in replacement for the HDmk2, but it will go way beyond that.

- Double Helix. My favorite analog complex oscillator, despite some weird design quirks and technical... hauntings. There is an extra LFO and noise source, a built-in wavefolder (which sound great) and LPG, and a very cool dual mod bus. (which also sounds great even if the fake vactrol impulse thing never really rang out very long on my unit). There is no linking the second oscillator's frequency to the first, there's no sync, the impulse input on the LPG never made mine ring out very much (but it's fine with CV), there's weird crosstalk and behavior that changes for unknown reasons, and pitch tracking is not the best. It demands a lot from the power supply. But the sound was lovely and organic and alive, and I wish I'd managed to keep it somehow.

Special bonus: Warps + another oscillator (I like pairing it with Tides). Warps' internal oscillator, with sine selected, does TZFM. And you can do that along with wavefolding. Add another oscillator to it and you've basically got a complex oscillator... plus you can use it for all the other Warps stuff (crossfade, ringmod, bit mangling, vocoder etc., and use the Parasites firmware for more including a nice tape delay).

Extra special bonus: Blades. It's a dual filter, but they oscillate nicely with the resonance cranked, the drive sections have a wavefolding option, and you can even phase-modulate it thanks to CV control over filter mode. But last I heard, a second production run is probably not going to be done until maybe 2022.

[vurt]

new mindphaser (preorder) looks pretty cool for complex oscillators!

[elxsound]

@Foosnark, thank you!! Well, I've definitely got my homework to do. Just a quick once over on the product pages (no real searching yet) I think Double Helix fits most of what I want (and now I have to check out Mindphaser too as it looks crazy cool).

I'd like to keep the oscillators analog and then supplementing as I go along. Nothing against digital, but I have Plaits to cover that for now. There are some noises I'm after that seem to be in the analog realm more than digital from what I've heard so far.

I love the range on the Double Helix oscillators. It should be very flexible which is one of the big draws of DPO (since Shabdabriah suggested this to me earlier with STO).

I definitely want to add in Warps (which is on a shortlist for phase 2 of the desk/pods rack combo). I'm not familiar with Tides other than seeing it often... and of course the elusive Blades. I am actually happy that there is a second run. I was getting worried seeing on Perfect Circuit no option to pre-order. Financially I like 2022 for adding another filter (or 2)!

[vurt]

i need to spend more time with tides. tend to just use it in cycle mode, cvs, not so much as an oscillator or with triggers yet. but i did like the sound of the quick test i did when it arrived

[vurt]

My next big purchase is likely a new computer and interface, but I’m waiting on the next batch of Mac Minis so guess will have to pay the idiot country tax no matter what. If I’m not using a wheelbarrow full of cash to town to buy bread instead.

i was lucky enough my old pc died last black friday not that i managed to get a good deal as i was in "it's close to xmas, all money is for gifts now" zone, which was shit!

and, while trying to sort out a new pc, dropped my phone...

fingers crossed im ok on those 2 for a while
although, the phone is a bag of shite. but it was the only one available for delivery, near here, within six weeks as everything else had sold out because black friday

[vurt]

nebulae and mixer despatched!!
here tomorrow
w00t!

[D-Fusion]

I am getting tired of this build back better bullshit and a possible future of Renting software and crappy copy protections that hurts legit owners of licenses + endless updates so i am going back to HW.
So tomorrow i will get my first hw synth after i sold everything last year and it is a Roland JX-03 that i managed to get for $276 USD.

They Sell for insane prices these days and i missed the one i had when the boutiques arrived on the market so the price was to good to pass on

[toonertik]

Does anyone have input on DPO vs Instruo Cs-L vs something different?

First up... I've been backtracking and..

Welcome to the wonderful world of modular... looks like you spent some time researching what you want.. Looks cool.

I don't know either the DPO or Cs-L..certainly the Cs-L has been on my maybe list, along with many many other complex/modern OSCs (modern.. I have the Scippmann Omega_Phi and Generate3.. not classic complex OSCs.. but modern/complex IMO).
A couple of weeks ago, first one then a second guy were both offering up to 1,000 Euros for an Omegas-Phi, either Mrk1 or 2 (I have a 3rd hand Mrk1).. That would fund a Mindphaser and leave a profit for.. yup, more modules (like.. for free )..
Like an old lover.. O-P and me had to communicate.. justify staying in my rig... this is what came about.. just 6 outputs from the O-P.. and some utilities (I love utilities.. they bring MY rig to life and make it very playable.. for me) .. Im doing the same now (one OSC pieces) with Qu-Bit Chord2 and then Generate3... and then Mindphaser...
My takeaway... these modern OSCs can do so much.. which one to buy, that's the dilemma...

Anyway.. the Omega_Phi earning it's permanent place in my rig... from my dead hands only

https://soundcloud.com/toonertik/just-omega-phi