the watmm GAS thread

[thawkins]

Roland A-33 has served me nicely for something like 4 years now. Doesn't studiologic offer some smaller and more weighted keys?

I kind of got over wanting to have MIDI sliders and knobs on the keyboard, because that gear is a pain to work with - you always depend on some crappy automap scripts and software (may be buggy, may install a lot of crap, may not be updated) and it's better to get a dedicated thing like Push that is designed to work with your software out of the box.

[TubularCorporation]

I suck at keyboard so I saved up all through 2018 and bought myself a Linnstrument in 2019.  If I HAVE to use a keyboard I've got a Korg 130 arranger keyboard that I found at a thrift shop for $50 years ago and it works pretty well.  Not much control (lots of faders but they only control the internal mix, no MIDI capability at all) but the keybed is pretty nice. 

[sheatheman]

Anyone ever used the behringer virtualizer? It looks pretty awesome 

[d-a-m-o]

 

[TubularCorporation]

https://capi-gear.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=87_89_182&products_id=568

[iococoi]

moog subharmonicon anyone?

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/moog-subharmonicon

Edited August 15, 2021 by iococoi

[auxien]

^ive considered grabbing the Subharmonicon a few times…i stop myself every time because most reviewers seem to be in consensus that a lot of the sounds end up pretty same-y. there’s a lot of room in the synth for experimentation with rhythmic weirdness and obv anything with CV modulation can get wild with the right setup to other gear, but on its own the tones of the Subharm seem nice, but not too varied. still got it in the back of my head as a maybe thing some day.

[Squee]

I've tried the Subharmonicon and was impossible for me to wrap my head around it.

[e-mertz]

On 8/2/2021 at 1:22 PM, thawkins said:

I am eyeing the K&M 26772 strictly because their [ shape means that I can put things under the monitors in a way.

My current setup is basically a desktop drawer unit with some books on top to get the speakers to the correct height. They take a lot of horizontal space that I would rather use for my keyboard.

I guess it would be possible to get a pair VESA mounts that I can attach to my desk and dangle the speakers on top like that, or maybe even some badass thing that carries speakers and my screen.

My screen is a Dell 25" and according official specs it weights like 3.5kg / 7.6lbs. The Neumann KH120As weigh 6.4kg / 14.2lbs each. So if I get a VESA mount, it better be some heavy duty thing so it can carry all that weight.

I'm also looking at the K&M's for the same reasons as you to have more deskspace. You use Neumann's I understand? I have Fostex PM-1's but looking to upgrade to Yamaha HS-8's. I wasn't sure if the K&M's are suited for monitors that big but yet have to do the measurements.

P.s. @TubularCorporation that TNT website is fantastic.

[thawkins]

20 hours ago, e-mertz said:

I'm also looking at the K&M's for the same reasons as you to have more deskspace. You use Neumann's I understand? I have Fostex PM-1's but looking to upgrade to Yamaha HS-8's. I wasn't sure if the K&M's are suited for monitors that big but yet have to do the measurements.

P.s. @TubularCorporation that TNT website is fantastic.

I have a pair of Neumann KH120A. I have had HS8s in the past and they are really huge in comparison. Yamaha specs page says one HS8 weighs 10.2kg and K&M 26772 specs say 15kg maximum load so you should be golden when it comes to sheer weight.

When it comes to horizontal footprint, the stand is 15x17cm and HS8 is 25x39cm which could be a bit icky if you want to stuff some sorbothane or other kind of isolation between the monitor and the stand, but should be fine really unless you live in earthquake country.

Or you want your dubstep loud.

[sweepstakes]

On 8/15/2021 at 6:11 AM, auxien said:

^ive considered grabbing the Subharmonicon a few times…i stop myself every time because most reviewers seem to be in consensus that a lot of the sounds end up pretty same-y. there’s a lot of room in the synth for experimentation with rhythmic weirdness and obv anything with CV modulation can get wild with the right setup to other gear, but on its own the tones of the Subharm seem nice, but not too varied. still got it in the back of my head as a maybe thing some day.

Yeah, I have a lot of fun with subharmonics in general but there's a million ways to do that with CV stuff - function generators, clock dividers, etc. You can get 2-3 rad eurorack modules that approximate the same type of stuff (depending on what you like about the Moog, of course) for that money (and less HP)... or back slowly away from the CV drugs and snag a desktop Hydrasynth for just a little bit more, which comparatively will take you to outer space. Come to think of it, the Hydrasynth has CV too...

Could even get an 0-Coast for less money and that thing can make awesome drums and pretty gnarly basses and leads as well as doing some subharmonic tricks, though there isn't much of a sequencer in it.

[e-mertz]

On 8/23/2021 at 6:50 PM, thawkins said:

I have a pair of Neumann KH120A. I have had HS8s in the past and they are really huge in comparison. Yamaha specs page says one HS8 weighs 10.2kg and K&M 26772 specs say 15kg maximum load so you should be golden when it comes to sheer weight.

When it comes to horizontal footprint, the stand is 15x17cm and HS8 is 25x39cm which could be a bit icky if you want to stuff some sorbothane or other kind of isolation between the monitor and the stand, but should be fine really unless you live in earthquake country.

Or you want your dubstep loud.

Thanks man, that's some stellar advice here! Think I'm gonna just get them and if it turns out to not work for my setup just sell em. They are quite decently priced anyway.

Edited August 27, 2021 by e-mertz

[TubularCorporation]

Got an 8gb Raspberry Pi 4b as a gift and I already have a Hifiberry DAC+ADC and one of those basic USB-MIDI interface cables, so I'm trying to figure out the absolute cheapest way to put together a reasonably usable Zynthian box.

 

Problem is there's also a new batch of replacement Space Echo heads coming soon (probably, they're being tested) and I missed them last time so I really need to save as much as possible so I can get a full set of four heads, which is going to be like $350 once you factor in tax and shipping.  I'm not even close.  The RE-150 was only $100 still works OK, but I want to get backups for all of the hard to source stuff that's inevitably going to die while it's actually possible so I can keep it going another 40 years. I only paid $100 for it back in 2006 or 7, so if I can get the money together I could throw about a month's rent into backup parts (heads, motor, trap coil) and still have gotten a good deal.  It's just a matter of actually getting the money in time.

Edited August 28, 2021 by TubularCorporation

[e-mertz]

I have a Zynthian...unfortunately the pi3 version which is considerably less powerful. Still a good investment and there's quite some development going on. There is even works going on for being able to run norns with the same hardware. 

That said, get rare materials while you can and the Zynthian is only gonna be even more developed if you get it later.

[modey]

Latest GAS is for a new studio computer.

Back in March I was experiencing some major crashes when streaming or editing video on my iMac, so I impulse purchased a PC, thinking enough is enough, I want an actual modular computer that I can repair / upgrade one part of and not have to throw the whole thing away / pay Apple to repair it for me. Turns out the PC was an endless source of frustration for me in terms of getting audio working to even close to the standard I expected from Apple computers, and then it started randomly freezing followed by blue screen errors that I couldn't diagnose after days of research.

Bottom line is I don't want a computer that I spend more time configuring / troubleshooting than actually making music / uni work with. So back to Apple I go. Don't care how much cheaper it is to get a PC, and before anyone recommends things like Voicemeeter or ASIO4all, yes I've tried all of that and various things about them frustrated me.

Anyone have experience with the new M1 range? Specifically the Mini? The only downside (apart from some software stuff) I've seen so far is that Bluetooth can be a bit flaky.

[thawkins]

6 hours ago, modey said:

Latest GAS is for a new studio computer.

Back in March I was experiencing some major crashes when streaming or editing video on my iMac, so I impulse purchased a PC, thinking enough is enough, I want an actual modular computer that I can repair / upgrade one part of and not have to throw the whole thing away / pay Apple to repair it for me. Turns out the PC was an endless source of frustration for me in terms of getting audio working to even close to the standard I expected from Apple computers, and then it started randomly freezing followed by blue screen errors that I couldn't diagnose after days of research.

Bottom line is I don't want a computer that I spend more time configuring / troubleshooting than actually making music / uni work with. So back to Apple I go. Don't care how much cheaper it is to get a PC, and before anyone recommends things like Voicemeeter or ASIO4all, yes I've tried all of that and various things about them frustrated me.

Anyone have experience with the new M1 range? Specifically the Mini? The only downside (apart from some software stuff) I've seen so far is that Bluetooth can be a bit flaky.

 

[TubularCorporation]

I haven't gotten a blue screen in nearly 10 years.

[thawkins]

Yeah, and I have poured something like 1000€ of total repairs into my Apple certified refurb Macbook Pro from 2016.

I too played myself.

[TubularCorporation]

The moral is all computers suck.

[modey]

7 hours ago, TubularCorporation said:

I haven't gotten a blue screen in nearly 10 years.

I'm getting them daily on the new PC, even after a reinstall of the OS. Something's definitely wrong with it. 

Even without the blue screens, I can't live with the way audio works in Windows. I've been spoiled by aggregate devices and native low latency in macOS. 

[psn]

7 hours ago, TubularCorporation said:

I haven't gotten a blue screen in nearly 10 years.

I think I had one when the drive failed ~5 years ago. 

[psn]

(That stupid smiley is "C colon". And god help us trying to edit on a phone.) 

[TubularCorporation]

59 minutes ago, modey said:

I'm getting them daily on the new PC, even after a reinstall of the OS. Something's definitely wrong with it. 

Even without the blue screens, I can't live with the way audio works in Windows. I've been spoiled by aggregate devices and native low latency in macOS. 

I've never noticed a big difference myself.  I'm using a computer from about 2010 and I can get 

 

I've never messed with aggregate devices because of the potential for clock issues but it's absolutely doable in Windows, with Jack or probably other systems.  I just used the money I saved by being able to replace my motherboard and both CPUs with significantly higher performance versions for about $175 instead of buying a whole new computer to get a bigger interface.

 

Anyway, Windows sucks too.  And the underlying hardware is the same, it's just that Macs are engineered to make repairs and upgrades a lot harder whereas PCs are (usually) designed to make it easy to upgrade just about everything and plunge yourself into a bottomless pit of device incompatibility. Horses for courses.

 

If you haven't sent the PC back yet, have you installed any cards or RAM in it?  If so, try reseating them.  The last time I had computer trouble (not counting the keys on laptop keyboards wearing out) was random freezes that I eventually tracked town to the video card getting nudged just a little bit when I installed a capture card next to it.  That tiny bit of sideways pressure was enough that it would unpredictably (probably something thermal) stop responding until I rebooted.  I thought it was the system freezing but it was probably just the video card freezing up and displaying a still of whatever was in the frame buffer even as the computer itself kept running fine.

 

In college my computer completely stopped booting after I installed a CD burner and it turned out to be a slightly loose connection between the audio output on the burner and the audio input header on my sound card (this was in like 2000 when you still had to physically connect the drive to the sound card for CD audio playback).  Couldn't even get BIOS to run until I reseated the cable.

 

 

Edited September 8, 2021 by TubularCorporation

[modey]

2 hours ago, TubularCorporation said:

it's absolutely doable in Windows, with Jack or probably other systems

I tried with Voicemeeter but had to run everything through it, including the internally generated audio, which resulted in latency from things like websites, which is a big nope for me, because I'm working on my browser based stuff and any latency keeps making me think there's something wrong with my code.

2 hours ago, TubularCorporation said:

And the underlying hardware is the same

Not anymore with the M1 architecture. I get what you're talking about but some things are just deal breakers for me, and I didn't realise until I tried to switch.

2 hours ago, TubularCorporation said:

bigger interface

Doesn't help if I want to plug multiple multi-track USB audio devices in at once that don't have individual analog outs.

2 hours ago, TubularCorporation said:

If you haven't sent the PC back yet, have you installed any cards or RAM in it?

Haven't touched it. It's stock. I did open it not long after I got it to try disconnecting the garish front panel light, but reconnected it again because it somehow removed all lighting options from the software. It worked fine until only recently though.

[TubularCorporation]

32 minutes ago, modey said:

I tried with Voicemeeter but had to run everything through it, including the internally generated audio, which resulted in latency from things like websites, which is a big nope for me, because I'm working on my browser based stuff and any latency keeps making me think there's something wrong with my code.

 

32 minutes ago, modey said:

Doesn't help if I want to plug multiple multi-track USB audio devices in at once that don't have individual analog outs.

These are why you use Jack (on MacOS, also)

 

Anyway, it sounds like we have different needs. i need something with a long lifespan that can be repaired, customized and upgraded easily with good backward compatibility, and Macs don't offer any of that in my experience. last time I tried to repair a Mac even a motherboard from the same model wasn't compatible unless it was manufactured in the same quarter! I'm mixing hardware and software that spans about a 20 year period with hardly any issues (my previous interface had too much latency - over 10ms - because the driver hadn't been updated since 2010 - the new interface has 4x the track count but only about 60% of the latency at a given buffer length - and it can run reliably at half the buffer length of the old one, so it's all but imperceptible).

 

I've heard some software runs a lot better on MacOS.

I've got no love for Windows but I rely on too much Windows-only plugins and programs to make the jump to Linux.

I forgot about M1. I've had good experiences with ARM so far, although I've mainly been using things like Raspberry Pi, so I imagine M1 is probably pretty decent.

Edited September 9, 2021 by TubularCorporation