Gear Obsession

megamarkd

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #60 on: July 19, 2018, 09:55:35 PM »
Sometimes I think a decision should be passion, sometimes ration. Who's up?

Searching for modules for my eurorack, I find I'm torn between a passionate want and a rational need.  I have this list of wants and some of them crossover into needs, heheh.  I am of the opinion that one can never have too many percussion sources so I tend to buy them with a passion.  I am also a big advocate of MIDI routers and have meticulously research most that were ever produced so as to know which is best for what purposes and acquisitions are decided using rational (if anyone spots a Mondovox or an MX-8 for sale, please let me know).

Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #61 on: July 20, 2018, 03:42:33 PM »
*there are 6 listings for the MX-8 on reverb.com and 5 listings on eBay right now.
SEQUENTIAL | OBERHEIM

megamarkd

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #62 on: July 20, 2018, 08:58:36 PM »
*there are 6 listings for the MX-8 on reverb.com and 5 listings on eBay right now.

Cheers for the heads-up.  If only a Mondovox would appear (I think they were in production for all of 6mths, I saw them on the FR site, collected the money for one and then they were discontinued!)
Ebay? Must not be all available to Aus as I have an alert on that product and only three are showing for me, two of which are that seller in France (both are $300+aud incl.p&h is way too much for it, they generally go for about ~120+50usd shipping when I haven't the money to grab ::) ).
Reverb sellers tend to take the mickey at times with international shipping.  Of the six you mentioned, only two are shipping to Australia, with one charging 85aud p&h and the other 282aud p&h, bringing both into the 400+ field making them not worth the cost, I'll grab a MIDIGal before I pay that much which is only really worth the cost for the diy kit, just can't find 3 components needed for it here!.  MIDI delay and chord splitting are the functions I'm after, which MIDIGal provides though @ $200aud+ assembled, I'd like more than a single MIDI in and out.

GAS, it can be done rationally....heheh.

Razmo

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #63 on: September 21, 2019, 02:57:47 AM »

Anyway, it's not a synth that will fall into my current cattegory, so I'll take it pretty calm whatever it is... I'm not a Sequential user anymore, and I doubt I ever will be again for several reasons.

I'll give that about 1-2 months before we see another page on your thread ;) with something Sequential.

Well, it would not be fair to blame anyone from thinking that, but I hardly doubt it ;D

I take too long with designing sounds on these very deep engine synths, and there are not enough presets in my style that I could buy to complement my own sounds. Designing sounds while composing would be very unintuitive and lenghthy, so it is not really an option... This is the main reason I give up on the deep engine synths.

Another reason is that I have always worked best under limitations where I could really squeeze the lemon... I did this with my REV2 bank as well, but with so deep machines it takes a loong time... I tweak sounds for hours and ever... This is why the hands on limitation of semi modular synthd appeal to me... Trying to get the most of them.

Then there is the editor thing... Tired of making them, tired of the MIDI quirks that is allways present in some way or another, tired of bugs never getting fixed on these deep synths and the deafening silence to suggested feature requests, the joy of being able to shelve SoundDiver. On the semi modulars the editor is on the device in full, and I like that, and they work plus I do not need to worry about OS bugs, low profile/visibillity bugs never getting fixed etc. I am sick and tired of many companies OS maintenance policies, and that not only goes for Sequential, but other companies as well... The PX sample import is a prime example of what I am talking about.

And then of course the sound itself... Having heard the Grandmother, you just know that sound will not come from anything digitally controlled... That oldschool analog tone is what really resonates with me and the sound I am after... Sure, the modulation is a longshot away from what you can do with a REV2, but I learned that you can dp a lot with just the standard subtractive analogue synthesis and their basic waveforms with just a bit of modulation and some FM of a filter or oscillator... It is more than enough.

I just ordered a Neutron which I am enjoying at the moment, and a Microvolt 3900 is on its way as well. This also leads me to another advantage which is the price... Most semi modulars are in a more affordable pricerange... I am a little fed up with the seemingly constant rise in price of Sequential products, and also that they completely dropped making smaller affordable synths like they did with the Mopho, Tetra etc.

But if DSI would make a few cool desktop semi modular synths with all parameters on the interface, I would not hesitate buying Sequential gear again... I just do not see this happening... But I love to be surprised... The marked in semi modulars could really benefit from 100% hands on synths that has a digital front end or other inovative synthesis methods. Dave would no doubt be the man to pull these things off, he just has to try and forget about his beloved presets for once, and do a direct discrete synthesizer like this that actually invite you to experiment with sound synthesis directly where both composing and sound design becomes a joint venture... This means really thinking out the limited parameters well which is crucial as you cannot have hubdreds of parameters. A synth that really resonates with you now and there when you use it... If acoustic instruments had 300 controllers, i hardly think they would have their emediateness that they do, and I feel this is what many synthesizers lack when they get too complicated to use in the creative composive process... The Grandmother is a perfect example of just this approach... Yes it is limited, but boy does it sound good, and dialing in parameters is straightforward and very intuitive.
« Last Edit: September 21, 2019, 03:17:21 AM by Razmo »
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LoboLives

Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #64 on: September 21, 2019, 11:36:43 AM »
Bizarre to be so active on a Sequential form while having that mindset.

OceanMachine

Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #65 on: September 21, 2019, 12:15:14 PM »
I've read Razmo's 180° turn of a post several times now and I'm still trying to decide if it's funnier when read in jest or straight-faced... Pure comedic gold, I tells ya.

Edit: In all seriousness, I for one am glad Razmo finally found his true path. May he never stray from it!




...At least until tomorrow. 
« Last Edit: September 21, 2019, 01:11:45 PM by A Thousand Eyes »

Razmo

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #66 on: September 21, 2019, 02:08:13 PM »
Bizarre to be so active on a Sequential form while having that mindset.

Things change... It is a recent decission, but it took many years to get there... Besides I won't be that active here anymore, except for in debates like this that is about future instruments, and synth philosophy in general... Also I still have a REV2 soundbank that users sometimes contact me about, so have to take care of that here too  ;)

Besides, synth technology interrest me, even if the current Sequential lineup do not gel with my current goals... I fully understand why others want what Sequential is offering... I just fancied a change away from all the hazzles of complex synths. Or rather I want to start making actual music... The complexity has kept me going for almost 30 years, all the technical jargon etc... And I really never got to the music making which seriously irritates me... And I came to the conclusion it is exactly because of all the complexity... I have read that if you keep doing the same over and over again, and nothing seems to work, then maybe you should try something different... That is what I am doing now...

Sequential synths are cool synths, but they keep me nerding instead of making actual music... That is the problem in a nutshell.

But still... Would love to see some semi modular synths from Dave... I think they already did try to mess with it sort of.. The modular lineup they did are what should have been cooked together as semi modular synths instead of single eurorack modules...
« Last Edit: September 21, 2019, 02:17:06 PM by Razmo »
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Shaw

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #67 on: September 21, 2019, 02:10:12 PM »
Bizarre to be so active on a Sequential form while having that mindset.

Things change... It is a recent decission, but it took many years to get there... Besides I won't be that active here anymore, except for in debates like this that is about future instruments, and synth philosophy in general... Also I still have a REV2 soundbank that users sometimes contact me about, so have to take care of that here too  ;)

Besides, synth technology interrest me, even if the current Sequential lineup do not gel with my current goals... I fully understand why others want what Sequential is offering... I just fancied a change away from all the hazzles of complex synths.


... not to mention you've been here so long that you're "grandfathered in" !!!!
 :)
"Classical musicians go to the conservatories, rock´n roll musicians go to the garages." --- Frank Zappa
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OceanMachine

Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #68 on: September 21, 2019, 02:15:01 PM »
Meh, he'll be back to posting per usual when he realizes having no patch memory is a massive pain in the arse, which should be in no time.

Shaw

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #69 on: September 21, 2019, 02:17:56 PM »
Meh, he'll be back to posting per usual when he realizes having no patch memory is a massive pain in the arse, which should be in no time.
Oh wait... @Razmo, you're going 100% semi/modular?  Oh yeah... you'll be back soon. Might as well go ahead and list that Behringer on Reverb.


 ;D
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Razmo

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #70 on: September 21, 2019, 02:24:51 PM »
Bizarre to be so active on a Sequential form while having that mindset.

Things change... It is a recent decission, but it took many years to get there... Besides I won't be that active here anymore, except for in debates like this that is about future instruments, and synth philosophy in general... Also I still have a REV2 soundbank that users sometimes contact me about, so have to take care of that here too  ;)

Besides, synth technology interrest me, even if the current Sequential lineup do not gel with my current goals... I fully understand why others want what Sequential is offering... I just fancied a change away from all the hazzles of complex synths.


... not to mention you've been here so long that you're "grandfathered in" !!!!
 :)

Yes ha ha... I know a lot of users here, and that is also what lures me in here... I can also help people out from time to time as I know many of the synths in depth... I do not need to be a user to enjoy the conversations  ;)

And also, i tend to complain less about bugs if I do not have any of the synths... So much less Sequential bashing... I am certain they will love that  ;D

And sure I will feel the GAS when something new pops up, but I just have to see it as a love that would never work.
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Razmo

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #71 on: September 21, 2019, 02:42:20 PM »
Meh, he'll be back to posting per usual when he realizes having no patch memory is a massive pain in the arse, which should be in no time.

I actually believe that there are both advantages and disadvantages to both situations... It is nice to have loads of presets available to browse when making music... If there is enough of these that is, and you do not have to create all by yourself... Another advantage is that you only need to make small adjustments when composing, keeping most of your fokus on the actual music making. Also the sounds can be extremely complex as hours was spend in creating the sounds in advance... But the disadvantage is that creating sounds take too long, and you tend to make your music with presets being almost like sound patchwork.

Using non presets have the disadvantage that it will require you to create every single sound from scratch, which takes longer than just browsing presets... But with semi modulars the limitations also shorten the time it takes, and sound design becomes part of the creative process... You end up playing short sequences and then tweak the sound to not only fit itself, but also the music sequence as well... This gives you unique sounds in every musical piece because the sounddesign was tailores as much to the music phrase as itself... A preset was never tailored to a specific music piece, the piece is often tailored around the preset instead...

I wont judge what is best... Thats a personal opinion, I just want to try the other way now... What matters to me now is that I create music... Not just nerd about.
If you need me, follow the shadows...

Shaw

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #72 on: September 21, 2019, 02:44:10 PM »
Yes ha ha... I know a lot of users here, and that is also what lures me in here... I can also help people out from time to time as I know many of the synths in depth... I do not need to be a user to enjoy the conversations  ;)
True... most of us would like lurk around here even if we owned no Sequential gear for the simple fact that this community is on the whole much more positive and helpful than what you find on other, more populated, forums.  We joke, and poke fun at each other from time to time, but at the end of the day, it's almost entirely in good fun and in the spirit of camaraderie...
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Razmo

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #73 on: September 21, 2019, 03:08:25 PM »
One area of the simple hands on with no presets where I could really see Dave use his talents would be in simple polyphonic synths with maybe 4 voices, a bit like what Dreadbox did with the Abyss. It is not even a problem with DCOs or digital control... What matters is that the synths is 100% hands on, with no preset memory and no menu diving... That is what makes them more intuitive to use.

I would not hesitate buying a 4 voice such synth based around the Curtis chip. A patching area is probably not possible with more than with monosynths but thats fine... It could even be more voices... The point is one knob per function and unique ways in which the signal path has and its associated parameters.

I would say that the P6 and OB6 is closest to what I am talking about... And if i cannot find any stereo polysynths that are hands on, I might end up with an OB6 one day, but only to use it as if it had no presets. My next purchase is a Vermona Perfourmer though, which is polyphonic... If I ever see an Abyss V2 I would get that too... I hope to see like synths from Sequential, but I would like the price considderably lower than that of the P6 or OB6.
If you need me, follow the shadows...

OceanMachine

Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #74 on: September 21, 2019, 05:38:22 PM »
Or you might be over analyzing your setup. You kinda sound like a junkie who says they're going to quit whatever cold turkey, but then ends up overcorrecting. Thus instead of giving up one addiction they end up with another. Then they get fed-up with that and end up right back where they started. It's a vicious cycle that you must first be aware of to break. If you're having trouble finding the motivation to write music, the best thing is to not overanalyze your setup otherwise you're going to keep saying to yourself, "if I only had such and such piece of gear, then I could write music." The happy medium I'd suggest finding a piece of gear that you can learn like the back of your hand to where it becomes second nature. Learn to live with its inevitable shortcomings and most importantly stick to it! That doesn't come at the exclusion of all other gear, just don't obsess about other stuff. If you like the raw sound of the Matriarch or Grandmother, then keep one of those as the base and don't waver because it sounds like you have an addictive personality.

For me that piece of gear is my P6, which I have the opposite complaint about as you. I wish there was categories so that I could easily sort through whatever particular type of sound I need in the spur of the moment. I can think of very little more practical features than the ability to sort through my own meticulously crafted patches intuitively. Of course there are ways around this "fault", but nothing that's not a major pain in the backside. But alas, I've learned to live with that... 

Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #75 on: September 21, 2019, 06:07:59 PM »
Going in with the expectation that I'll get to know a piece of gear inside and out definitely helps spread out purchases, and as a pleasant side effect it also helps teach me more about what I will appreciate most in my next addition.  It doesn't, however, necessarily address the concern that I can spend a lot of time tweaking and not much making music.  That's one of my bigger concerns with dipping my toe in modular waters - I expect it would take even more discipline to stay focused on a piece of music as a whole rather than getting lost in minutiae.

It's one of the reasons I return to my piano when I need to work through an idea with a focus on harmony, melody, and rhythm before going back to thinking about sonic texture and expressive performance aspects.

Shaw

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #76 on: September 21, 2019, 06:48:48 PM »
If I ever go full modular, y’all will know I’ve lost my senses.  Or I won the lottery and have more disposable funds and time than I know what to do with...
"Classical musicians go to the conservatories, rock´n roll musicians go to the garages." --- Frank Zappa
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OceanMachine

Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #77 on: September 21, 2019, 07:08:06 PM »
Going in with the expectation that I'll get to know a piece of gear inside and out definitely helps spread out purchases, and as a pleasant side effect it also helps teach me more about what I will appreciate most in my next addition.  It doesn't, however, necessarily address the concern that I can spend a lot of time tweaking and not much making music.  That's one of my bigger concerns with dipping my toe in modular waters - I expect it would take even more discipline to stay focused on a piece of music as a whole rather than getting lost in minutiae.

It's one of the reasons I return to my piano when I need to work through an idea with a focus on harmony, melody, and rhythm before going back to thinking about sonic texture and expressive performance aspects.

Getting to know a piece of gear inside and out definitely helps facilitate getting from A to B with less extraneous effort. You should be able to know where every knob is even in the dark and know exactly what said knob does. Obviously I don't personally recommend anything without patch memory (in fact, I think it's pure insanity in this day and age), but at bare minimum one has to find the raw sound of the instrument pleasing/inspiring. So if that's the Grandmother to Razmo, then great, stick to that; although he'd better be darn sufficient on it considering its nature, which is never going to happen with anything so long as he keeps waffling on exactly what an instrument has to be.

Razmo

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #78 on: September 21, 2019, 07:11:33 PM »
Or you might be over analyzing your setup. You kinda sound like a junkie who says they're going to quit whatever cold turkey, but then ends up overcorrecting. Thus instead of giving up one addiction they end up with another. Then they get fed-up with that and end up right back where they started. It's a vicious cycle that you must first be aware of to break. If you're having trouble finding the motivation to write music, the best thing is to not overanalyze your setup otherwise you're going to keep saying to yourself, "if I only had such and such piece of gear, then I could write music." The happy medium I'd suggest finding a piece of gear that you can learn like the back of your hand to where it becomes second nature. Learn to live with its inevitable shortcomings and most importantly stick to it! That doesn't come at the exclusion of all other gear, just don't obsess about other stuff. If you like the raw sound of the Matriarch or Grandmother, then keep one of those as the base and don't waver because it sounds like you have an addictive personality.

For me that piece of gear is my P6, which I have the opposite complaint about as you. I wish there was categories so that I could easily sort through whatever particular type of sound I need in the spur of the moment. I can think of very little more practical features than the ability to sort through my own meticulously crafted patches intuitively. Of course there are ways around this "fault", but nothing that's not a major pain in the backside. But alas, I've learned to live with that...

It is no secret, that I have an addiction problem, I have more or less admitted to this for the last 5 years... It would not serve anything to deny this, it is easilly seen when I look at the list of gear I have had over the last 30 years. Where you are wrong though is in insinuating that I should not be aware of this... It became rather apparent to me about 5 years ago, and as a result, I have been on a journey these 5 years, trying to fix it with exactly a very limited setup that will allow me to do what I really want, and still keep me motivated to do it.

Being an aware drug or alcohol addict do not automatically mean that you can just change your habbits overnight the minute you become aware and accept that you have an addiction, things take time, and even stupid relapses... This I go thru as well, but everytime I get a bit closer to figuring out what works and what do not... The latest being that creating all those presets simply drain my motivation, and that when I finally have one bank finished for one instrument, I am so overbored with the sounds they no longer motivate me... Just the sheer thought of having to spend half a year on creating sounds for other machines is mind numbing... And I WILL have to because I cannot find third party sounds that fit my style, and I cannot come to terms doing harddisk recording of just a single synth... I have limited myself down to an 8 track setup with live MIDI tracking, but that requires 8 synths before I have the number of tracks needed to put something together... I thought that 8 high end synths with presets would be the way to go, but I realize now this is not the case... So I try 8 semi modulars instead, hoping this will be the "getting clean" setup... I hope this is the end of my 30 year journey... If not, I will just have to keep looking... But certainly I am aware...
« Last Edit: September 21, 2019, 07:20:30 PM by Razmo »
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Shaw

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Re: Gear Obsession
« Reply #79 on: September 21, 2019, 07:16:27 PM »
We need to start a group...
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"Classical musicians go to the conservatories, rock´n roll musicians go to the garages." --- Frank Zappa
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