modey

I'm starting to cool on the gearlust. I do have occasional cravings (I'm pretty sure I'll end up getting one of the first batch of trash80's M8 units) but I'm beginning to think I've got too much stuff and it's hindering me a bit.

Ha yeah, I definitely didn't imagine him looking like that. This all still rubs me the wrong way, along with that stuff with Robin Whittle around the same time (I think? It's hard to keep track of time lately). Every time I think about buying a Behringer synth clone I remember that stuff and quickly change my mind lol.

Definitely. I hate "pure experimental" gigs for this reason. For years I've wanted to get on the bill at one of those shows and just play a straight pop set or something.

Yeah same. Something about it really inspires me. Probably just how close it sounds to nanoloop 2 tbh ? I'm glad it's working out for you!

Damn that's gorgeous! I've been messing with the Pyramid a bit but generally feeling a bit uninspired. It's definitely a crazy deep sequencer, but I haven't been able to gel with it yet. That said, I'm still in the mode of trying to use too much at once on it, and some of the things I'm trying to control (qy70, nords) just don't cope well with tons of MIDI information being thrown around. Shame, because there's tons of wacky CC stuff I want to do with my latest Nord Modular patch, and it just goes kinda wonky when I try to shove 4 channels of 18 MIDI CC messages into it (plus super fast notes) at once. I'm gonna try it with my Monomachine next, maybe I'll have more luck with that. They both support Turbo MIDI, so I wonder if that'll help. It seemed to work really well with the Cycles, getting to almost audio rate triggering of the tracks!

There are two save levels. Temp save and save to project. I think they have different buffers as well? So if you reload in the settings menu, you'll get different data to pressing the temp reload shortcut. Also yeah the pads are terrible. I just put them on fixed velocity. I think they're trying to work on a solution though? I think I remember Ess saying something like that on Elektronauts.

Got any MODs you can share? Would love to hear them ?

Yeah I helped film it*, and I was the "hand model" for a few of the closeups ? * only in the sense that I was there to press record and do a tiny bit of direction.

Yeah, I'm getting used to it, and as mentioned I've come up with a fix that is at least temporary (and keeps my hands nice and soft ?), but yeah, coming from Elektron devices, even the Model series have better trig buttons. They'd be alright if they were just those no-travel pads like on the Circuit etc. Maybe there's a way to mod it lol But damn, I've had the thing on all day while idly working through the manual and trying things out, and it's really got a lot of features I'll use. Some things I haven't even seen in videos yet, like being able to select a region of a pattern and shift just those notes back and forth (or transpose them, or offset MIDI CC). Plus.. TRIG MUTES YES FINALLY

You've got a 707 though yeah? Couldn't you just load the 727 samples into a sampler and trigger it from the 707?

lol I fixed the sticky buttons with moisturiser.. wonder if it'll last

Yeah I'm like this sometimes as well. Sometimes I'm just more in a tinkering mood than a creative mood. I bought a Pyramid btw. It's very nice, though the pad buttons are some of the worst I've seen/used, especially for a device of this price range. It's made worse that it's a second-hand unit in kinda dodgy condition, because some of the pads get slightly stuck in the enclosure when pressed. It's not a showstopper, as the pads still trigger properly, but they don't feel great. As a sequencer though, it's a lot more modular than I expected, and I can imagine I'll eventually get to a point with it where I can bang out sequences very quickly.

Haha, that's how I feel about my Nord Lead, and possibly the Digitone as well. I don't make many tracks with either, because when I sit down with them, I just get lost in making and playing lush patches. I guess that's kinda nice though ?

I very nearly bought an mpc1000 as a few have popped up on gumtree/facebook in the past couple of days. I think I've decided on a Squarp Pyramid though. I haven't been too inspired controlling my Nords and other non-sequenced devices using Elektron gear, so maybe the Pyramid will help me to use them a bit more..

edit: @sheatheman Quaristice and Untilted, then back to Max after that. Nord Lead is basically my favourite synth ever, sounds great even dry.

They only used the monomachine on two albums. I think most of their FM stuff came from either the Nord Lead or DX100. Nord Lead FM is amazing btw! Only 2op but it has a really unique character.

What? There are still tons of artists doing super precise, clean digital stuff. Ryoji Ikeda and Mark Fell, for example..

Is that similar to the qy70 in terms of sequencer? I should actually learn how to use the qy70. The chord transposition is pretty amazing, it does a good job of re-scaling things.

Ooh, I've got my dad's HR-16 (with homemade memory expansion!), haha I'll never sell it though, even though I don't use it.

I think I'm gonna have to attempt a Subharmonicon clone on my Nord Modular, it's the most interested I've ever been in a Moog product. I don't have the money to buy one at the moment, and won't, unless I sell off what remains of my Eurorack lol

Might be worth asking on chipmusic.org, someone there surely has it!

Haha, I agree. So many people complain about the enclosures of Elektron's Model boxes being white/grey, but for me they really do evoke that late 80s-early 90s sampler/computer/game console feel.

haha, it was so hard to keep it secret. I did tell some of my chip friends about it at a bar a few days before it was announced, and then a few people went and bought one after hearing my comparisons to nanoloop 2, which was nice ? Also it's a *lot* easier to get a good sound out of than the monomachine, but somewhat similar in that you can dig a bit deeper and get some unique sounds out of it. Not nearly as deep as the monomachine, but I think that's a positive point. Like I've said a few times, I could take it to a gig with nothing prepared, and improvise a whole set on the spot. Actually that's what I've done in my streams with it. It was certainly the highlight of my year last year. Being recognised by a company whose gear I really get along with is pretty huge for me.

Ha, I had a disting mk3 for a few months, but ultimately the interface frustrated me, especially since putting any wav files on the sd card corrupts the "display" and makes it super hard to even figure out where you are in the menus, let alone which mode is selected. Would the QY70 be considered a rompler? Sounds aren't very editable, but it can get very lush.

I had a dream about owning a reissue of an EMS Synthi AKS.. turns out I miss the one my friend used to have (and I borrowed for a few months). I doubt I'll ever have one unless b*hringer gets that clone going and I lower my standards.. or I sell alp my other gear haha