the watmm GAS thread

[sweepstakes]

That TR6S is looking tasty to me. I've avoided new school Rolands for a long time, but models of all their classics, plus sample playback, FM, and a bunch of FX in a little battery powered package with what seems like a pretty decent drum sequencer, is hard to pass up. I might just sell my volcas, tt 606, and nord drum 2 to consolidate.

[thawkins]

9 hours ago, TubularCorporation said:

 

So I guess the plan is:

1. sell this to acid techno guys
2. watch them electrocute themselves instantly when they touch another piece of their gear
3. ???
4. cheap gear from estate sales

[Soloman Tump]

17 hours ago, xox said:

Too bad it’s mono

 

My home made noise spring devices are mono so i'm all good!

 

But yeah, could buy two of the bad boys.... or chain a flanger after it and use sparingly

[e-mertz]

On 11/20/2020 at 11:04 PM, Diurn said:

Just purchased a roland mc-707, haven't dived deep into it but looks promising. This is my first groovebox/sampler, which ones are your favourites? I Also bought a TE pocket operator, I already had one and is funny to catch some samples there.

Only had 1, the Yamaha Rm1x. Not sure I'm planning to buy a groove-box so soon again. Always felt I lacked a certain overview on things, would accidentally turn knobs on the wrong track etc. I heard the Deluge also suffers from that classic groove-box-phenomen of just being way too much things packed into one box.

The MC-707 looks like the best balance of features vs hands on in the whole evolution so far. Also interested in the polyend tracker, which has almost the feel of a hardware daw to it.

 

Edited November 26, 2020 by e-mertz

[auxien]

On 11/20/2020 at 4:04 PM, Diurn said:

Just purchased a roland mc-707, haven't dived deep into it but looks promising. This is my first groovebox/sampler, which ones are your favourites? I Also bought a TE pocket operator, I already had one and is funny to catch some samples there.

the live resampling sends/returns/effects looks really interesting to me. a bit like the Octatrack but maybe a less convoluted (i'm sure less powerful as well). 

5 hours ago, sweepstakes said:

That TR6S is looking tasty to me. I've avoided new school Rolands for a long time, but models of all their classics, plus sample playback, FM, and a bunch of FX in a little battery powered package with what seems like a pretty decent drum sequencer, is hard to pass up. I might just sell my volcas, tt 606, and nord drum 2 to consolidate.

not a bad price for what it is for sure, could see it being really useful in the right hands for sure 

[sheatheman]

What’s a good midi knobs controller? I’ve used the midi fighter twister for years and it’s pretty good in most ways, but it has its glitches, and today it won’t work at all. I’ve had problems with it before where I have to reinstall firmware, but this one seems worse.

anyways, I would get a faderfox but they are hard to find and usually cost $400+

[chim]

Bought a JV-1080 after long consideration. Price wasn't the best as all the genius domestic sellers are starting to use Reverb as a yardstick... but good condition & a seller with synth packaging experience is more important than counting marbles. There's been other candidates, Wavestation A/D and D-550 among others, but they just don't seem to have the versatility. I've all but given up on poly analogs, none of the interesting modules are available, I should probably just save up....

I've also wanted to start with wind instruments since forever and a cheapo tenor recorder from Thomann seems like a good deal!

Edited November 27, 2020 by chim

[sheatheman]

Yeah I got a trumpet 2 years ago and it’s been fun. Definitely the most physical instrument I’ve ever played.

i have been wanting a jv1080 for a long time. But I would equally want an emu proteus. Ideally both.

[chim]

7 minutes ago, sheatheman said:

Yeah I got a trumpet 2 years ago and it’s been fun. Definitely the most physical instrument I’ve ever played.

i have been wanting a jv1080 for a long time. But I would equally want an emu proteus. Ideally both.

The trumpet is such a fantastic instrument. I want to try a rotary valve one and add a Harmon or Balu mute but there just are no beginner versions, so I guess I'll be heading into a piston one some day. I made a bid on a Korg M1r earlier this year and instead got an offer on a Proteus 1, but it just struck me as too much of a preset machine. 

Edited November 27, 2020 by chim

[sweepstakes]

1 hour ago, sheatheman said:

What’s a good midi knobs controller? I’ve used the midi fighter twister for years and it’s pretty good in most ways, but it has its glitches, and today it won’t work at all. I’ve had problems with it before where I have to reinstall firmware, but this one seems worse.

anyways, I would get a faderfox but they are hard to find and usually cost $400+

I got a Faderfox UC4. I like it. I think it is going to be my last knobby controller, which I mean in both a good and bad way.

Edited November 27, 2020 by sweepstakes
Specificity. SPECIFICITY

[thawkins]

6 hours ago, sheatheman said:

What’s a good midi knobs controller? I’ve used the midi fighter twister for years and it’s pretty good in most ways, but it has its glitches, and today it won’t work at all. I’ve had problems with it before where I have to reinstall firmware, but this one seems worse.

anyways, I would get a faderfox but they are hard to find and usually cost $400+

Some years back I got a Livid Code v2, it looks nice from the pictures and videos, but I found the software to be shoddily written and the documentation a headache to make sense of. Also while it has endless encoders with visual feedback, you are essentially left to write the middleware by yourself.

That said when I got it I did not have M4L, I should try it again now with the Live Suite and all the original scripts it came with.

I am basically at the point where I keep it just because each time I think about getting rid of it, I start telling myself that "yeah any day now I will hack it and make it mine, make it do some blinky lights sequencer stuff yeah".

It basically feels like there is not much choice if you want a knobby controller that is all relatively cheap, has visual feedback, endless encoders, good software/documentation. I guess that is why monome stuff is priced in the stratosphere.

[auxien]

11 hours ago, sheatheman said:

anyways, I would get a faderfox but they are hard to find and usually cost $400+

the huge knobby beast, the PC12, is ~ $400. not hard to find, it's available directly from the manufacturer.

there's the UC4 (like sweepstakes rec'd and i can back up, good little controller) and the PC4 available on Reverb and brand new directly from the manufacturer, UC4 is a bit over $200, PC4 is right at or under perhaps. neither hard to find, prices are reasonable (tho obv you could get some cheaper things).

[sheatheman]

1 hour ago, auxien said:

the huge knobby beast, the PC12, is ~ $400. not hard to find, it's available directly from the manufacturer.

there's the UC4 (like sweepstakes rec'd and i can back up, good little controller) and the PC4 available on Reverb and brand new directly from the manufacturer, UC4 is a bit over $200, PC4 is right at or under perhaps. neither hard to find, prices are reasonable (tho obv you could get some cheaper things).

Do you have a different internet? None of what you said is true according to my searches.

[auxien]

54 minutes ago, sheatheman said:

Do you have a different internet?

yes

[sheatheman]

The uc4 is the one I want. I haven’t found one for $200 though. 

[Taupe Beats]

Unfortunately Bastl only did 1 limited run on these:

https://bastl-instruments.com/instruments/60knobs#diy

I swear by my Evolution uc-33a

[TubularCorporation]

1 hour ago, Taupe Beats said:

Unfortunately Bastl only did 1 limited run on these:

https://bastl-instruments.com/instruments/60knobs#diy

I swear by my Evolution uc-33a

Yeah, I was really close to buying a kit for my TX802 but I didn't, and I kind of regret it now, especially since they were only about $110USD when I was looking at them.

 

Fortunately, the Highly Liquid MIDI CPU is open source, so you can buy them new for under $50USD on eBay, and they look like a really good platform for building a custom controller - you pretty much just wire up power supply, pots and switches and then configure it via sysex.

[YEK]

20 hours ago, sheatheman said:

What’s a good midi knobs controller? I’ve used the midi fighter twister for years and it’s pretty good in most ways, but it has its glitches, and today it won’t work at all. I’ve had problems with it before where I have to reinstall firmware, but this one seems worse.

anyways, I would get a faderfox but they are hard to find and usually cost $400+

What about those old behringer knob boxes. They made one model with knobs and one with faders 

[auxien]

2 hours ago, sheatheman said:

The uc4 is the one I want. I haven’t found one for $200 though. 

on a computer, not the app:

reverb.com

search faderfox UC4 

bottom left, Show Only: select Sold Listings

there you go.

they don't always sell for close to $200, but sometimes they do.

[sheatheman]

2 hours ago, Taupe Beats said:

Unfortunately Bastl only did 1 limited run on these:

https://bastl-instruments.com/instruments/60knobs#diy

I swear by my Evolution uc-33a

What are all the buttons on the uc-33 for?

what about the novation launch control xl? Seems like a good one.

i don’t need custom scripts, I just need something freely-mappable, because whenever I’m using knobs, it’s usually a case by case scenario, so I can record automation across multiple devices and tracks at once , which isn’t so easy on push. 

[TubularCorporation]

58 minutes ago, yekker said:

What about those old behringer knob boxes. They made one model with knobs and one with faders 

I remember hearing lots of good stuff about the knob one and lots of bad stuff about the fader one, apparently you can't cut corners on motorized faders as successfully as you can on encoders.  The only reason I never got a knob one myself is the size.

[Taupe Beats]

29 minutes ago, sheatheman said:

What are all the buttons on the uc-33 for?

They're intended for transport controls and numeric data entry/preset recalls. 14 of them can be reassigned as a cc or note. Any control (button, knob, fader) can let you set minimum/maximum values.

[sweepstakes]

6 hours ago, sheatheman said:

The uc4 is the one I want. I haven’t found one for $200 though. 

I paid $300 for mine, new. It seems expensive but it's a qualitative step above the other knobby controllers I have used, and I think it's priced just about right. The inertia alone is probably worth at least $50 of that - I have no desire to dial in 14-bit values in any other manner, short of typing them in with a computer keyboard. It's nice even for regular 7-bit CCs in some cases. And the size is just right for me. When you think about the evolution of that form factor over the last ~15 years it is kind of a bargain, really.

Speaking of monome, if I ever do get more knobs, they'll be in the form of an arc. That thing is expensive but so sexy. And I don't think it's overpriced, either.

[sheatheman]

What are the real differences between something like faderfox and novation stuff? Is novation just shit? My circuit seems to be a pretty quality thing. Got it for $200, and while I fully believe faderfox stuff is worth it, it’s just hard to justify. 

[sweepstakes]

15 minutes ago, sheatheman said:

What are the real differences between something like faderfox and novation stuff? Is novation just shit? My circuit seems to be a pretty quality thing. Got it for $200, and while I fully believe faderfox stuff is worth it, it’s just hard to justify. 

Which Novation? I have a Launchpad Mini mkI and it's fine, but there's not really any moving parts, and not much at all in the way of configurability. I had a Remote Zero SL mk2 before and it was nice and very configurable but too big for my taste. Also, the controls felt somewhat janky, but I got it used so it's not really a fair comparison. I've borrowed a Circuit from a friend and it seems quite good for what it is, but it's a totally different tool. Faderfoxes seem designed to be configurable to whatever MIDI purpose you need them for, shy of sending sysex or macros, and there might even be some of them that can do that. If that's not what you need, then by all means, stick with the Circuit. It sounds like Faderfox just isn't your style, and that's A-OK.