the watmm GAS thread

[ZoeB]

 

Snare drum patches.  (Almost) everything else, 6U of modular's probably enough.  A few esoteric patches, OK, another 6U.  Another for the vocoder.  And then I start getting into wiring up snare drum sounds, only idiosyncratic ones.  Velocity sensitive.  With sort-of-not-quite-gated spring reverb.  Now I need more decays.  I need more VCAs.  Oh, and for the filters that only have one scalable from-the-defined-elsewhere-default-value (not from-zero) cutoff point CV input, a linear mixer, so I can sweep it with a decay for each note while also making it respond to velocity.  So there's that...

 

On the other hand, I'm selling a bunch of other modules, so it's a net loss.  I guess that's something.

exactly why i never want to dip my toe into modular

 

Nonsense!  Just check out this quirky snare drum!  Now I merely have to work out how on Earth I made it, and make it velocity sensitive.

[juiceciuj]

lol

cute track btw

[Nil]

 

Demo starts at ~3'. Can't wait to have one, it's going to be an amazing combo with my Roli Rise (which I enjoy tremendously). I'm an extremely happy ITB guy, limiting myself to a few carefully chosen plugins and a couple of controllers. The U-He synths I already own (GASing for Zebra 3 though) and this bad boys are the only thing I really need to make music and to have fun doing so.

I'm extremely impatient to upgrade my monitors though. Even if the ones I own are pretty great, I'm super lucky to soon upgrade to a set of Amphion One15.

[ZoeB]

lol

cute track btw

Thanks!

[Guest Chesney]

yeah I remember that touche, Totally forgot about it. I'd def want to try one out.

[acid1]

After bad mouthing it for years, I want an Elektron Octatrack.

 

I've recently fallen in love with Elektron gear and I'm sick of DAWs.

[Bubba69]

Do it acid1! It's like a tracker but in hardware form! I dropped all computers after getting mine (was not planned, just happened).

[sweepstakes]

After bad mouthing it for years, I want an Elektron Octatrack.

 

I've recently fallen in love with Elektron gear and I'm sick of DAWs.

Not to flare up your own GAS but that was what I was referring to earlier in the thread when I mentioned the thing that I came back to that gave me anti-GAS ;) It's endless...

[acid1]

Aw man, thanks bubba and sweepstakes, thank goodness Octactacks seem to be universally sold out in everywhere but Japan atm

[modey]

Someone local is selling a good condition JX-8P plus hardcase for $650AU and it is very tempting. I've been using the free PG-8x VST in the demo tracks for my new album and it sounds lush as fuck. On one hand I'm satisfied with that plugin, and if I get the JX it'll never leave the studio due to its weight, but on the other hand it'd probably be very nice to have something I can just play, without needing to launch Reaper and add a VST instrument to a new track just so I can get some cosmic chords going.. then again maybe I'm being silly.

Edited November 18, 2016 by modey

[Bubba69]

Aw man, thanks bubba and sweepstakes, thank goodness Octactacks seem to be universally sold out in everywhere but Japan atm

I'm sure you can find one. I got mine off craigslist for like $900. Check ebay. I know a local store (portland OR) that has them in stock too.

[kausto]

I had no GAS for 1,5 years since birth of my son. I have barely 1-2 hours a day for music making. Furthermore since the end of last winter i had to put major part of my gear into the big ikea box because that configuration had enormous amount of overhanging wires here and there. Kid could overturn my table one day (nowadays he would do this immediately). Also dozens of power supplies were lying on the floor so i had to free up some space on the table for them. 

 

Nevertheless i start to experience some sparks of GAS from time to time:

Audiothingies Micromonsta

and Elektron A4

 

But then i realize that i have no money due to nowadays exchange rate + lack of time and i stop GASing (i wouldn't mind to have micromonsta though lol).

Also i made most compact, flexible and all-sufficient (to me) configuration for today. Thanks to OT and it's posibilities.

 

Behold

 

 

 

Edit:

I'd also like to get Eventide DSP4000 or H8000 and mess with it via VSig 

Edited November 18, 2016 by telefunken

[sweepstakes]

Jeez I didn't realize there were so many OT owners on WATMM... I guess that makes at least 3 of us? Not to turn this into an OT thread (if this discussion continues it might be good to move it to one), but it's a badass machine... I think it came at a time (2010, right?) when IDM was kind of dormant and the wave of kids getting into electronic music at the time were mostly into dubstep and didn't really give a shit about gear, so it was pretty slept on. Plus, it definitely has a learning curve, moreso than other Elektrons.
 
But it's a dream machine... I mean, I literally dreamt about a sampler like this since at least the mid 2000s from working with trackers, especially with that Wave Recorder module in Buzz. The OT is very close to the hardware version of what I had in mind (minus some really nerdy shit I was obsessed with that any designer/engineer/architect in her right mind would nuke from project scope ASAP, with great prejudice), something I never dreamed of being implemented, let alone in a hardware box. It really blew my mind when I learned what it could do, and when I could finally afford an Elektron I knew it had to be my first one. 

A few years later I find myself simultaneously still liking it quite a bit and using it more than any of my other gear, but also really wanting to "open it up" with the MIDI control. Now that topic -definitely- doesn't belong in this thread, but just serves as evidence that gearlust can never be satisfied. There is no perfect machine just like there is no perfect music or perfect humans, and all you can hope to do is make as many mistakes as you possibly fucking can with the time and tools you have, and learn (mutate -> evolve) from them. 
 

Paperts says that children are small theory builders, they have lots of models in their heads for how the the world fit together. He mentions that many children when asked “who creates the wind?” says “the trees”. That absolutely makes sense, they can wave their arms and feel the wind, why wouldn’t the wind be created by the trees? I asked my three year old son that question and sure enough; the answer was the wind. When I asked him: where to the seeds come from that turns into plants, he answered: “the earthworms put them there, they have a large supply and they transport them through small ducts”. It makes me wonder: what’s more important, to be correct or to be able to create many theories?

http://dannas.github.io/2016/08/27/review-of-seymor-paperts-mindstorms.html

 

Also I think the treatment (not necessarily cure, heh) for GAS is, like, the Ikea effect, putting your own effort into it, whatever that means for you. If that means modding your gear or building your gear or coding your gear or anything that gets you to focus what you have instead of going shopping. Satisfaction from gear only comes from having a relationship with it. Maybe that relationship is about developing virtuosity (not me), using it to make lots of tracks (not me either), or poring over the manuals, running little tests, and learning every last architectural detail you can possibly absorb in an effort to make up for your lack of talent a little bit, try to understand the design decisions, and just amuse yourself and get some kind of perverse, arcane satisfaction (me).

[modey]

Yeah, very good points. I should be just digging deep into the monomachine/machinedrum (and even the circuit!) instead of lusting over the jx. I spent over an hour tonight trying to use the ctrlr panel to program my jv1010, and while it worked, it's buggy to the point of not being able to save patches to the unit itself.. I was hoping to get some jx-ish sounds out of it, and I almost got there but a combination of frustration over the sheer amount of waveform options and the buggy ctrlr panel made me give up :/

Think I might institute a gear in, gear out policy though. Might sell my PO-12 and QY70 and a couple other pieces that are lying dormant and just get a fkn nice playable polysynth. And if I don't like it I'll just sell it and get something else :P

[QQQ]

i kinda justify my gear purchases because if needs be they can be easily sold for a small loss (if new) or for the same amount/potentially more (if 2nd hand).

 

i kinda like the idea of buying gear without knowing a massive amount about it and just kinda exploring and seeing how it fits into my sound. to this effect i've just ordered a Roland R5 (drum machine) from eBay for no real reason. hopefully i can get some good stuff from it but if not i recon i can flip it for more than i brought it for anyway.

[modey]

Nice! I've been tempted by the Roland R-5 and R-8 on several occasions. I have too many drum machines though :P

[Guest Chesney]

I have an Octatrack too haha. MD,MnM,A4,OT :O

 

The Octa is the least used for me. It's an incredible machine, I am yet to find a use for it in my music past an elaborate sequenced effects box but I will never get rid because I know it will come into it's own when I start playing live again.

 

I try and play with it every once in a while and have great fun but I can't seem to get anything useful out of it for my projects bar a few silly tracks I did to take the piss. I have yet to save anything on there so just keep rewriting over the same project.

[flacid]

Sold my Octatrack. Regret it... 

[modey]

I have no real use for an octatrack but I have had the desire to give it a try a few times.

 

btw, I'm picking up the JX-8P tomorrow :P

[Guest bitroast]

i have no real desire for anything new i'd like to think i have my GAS under control :^) 

 

*** sees sonicstate OB-6 Desktop review *** :^( !!!

[TubularCorporation]

Ignoring all of the unreasonable stuff like a serviced Arp 2600 or a fully loaded synclavier II system or something, I'd really like to pick up and build a Serpent Audio SB4000 this winter. Looks like the easiest way to build a Gyraf SSL clone with all of the mods and it's not TOO expensive considering.

[TubularCorporation]

 

 

Nevertheless i start to experience some sparks of GAS from time to time:

Audiothingies Micromonsta

 

 

In the spirit of not helping, I built a P6 a few years ago and it is pretty great so I bet the Micromonsta is fantastic.

[acid1]

(minus some really nerdy shit I was obsessed with that any designer/engineer/architect in her right mind would nuke from project scope ASAP, with great prejudice)

 

 

I'd actually love for you to elaborate on this, potentially in a spoiler tag :) I used to be a heavy user of Buzz and Renoise.

[pcock]

im thinking of selling my prophet 08 and scraping up the extra cash for a pro2. it looks sensual, and we have a prophet 06 and an oB6 in the studio so it would complete the DSI fanboi club. 

[modey]

maaan, I watched that OB-6 sonicstate review and it sounds LUSH..

 

.. but I can't justify spending *that* much on a synth. Maybe if I somehow win the lottery or get a high paying job (both equally low chances).