the watmm GAS thread

[modey]

Oh yeah, I meant literally storing pattern data as pixel colours. PNG is lossless so converting pixel colour and position into pattern data wouldn't be too hard. Max and Processing together should be able to do something like that.

[auxien]

 

 

kept my gas under control for about 6 months but after making some money this summer is coming back.. I'm thinking of the thyme and I'm thinking of the sh01..

The thyme sure looks interesting and weird but after watching a bit of stuff with it I'm just not sure how much most people would ever use it. Obviously for some music it would be perfect but it's pretty wild, just not what I usually use or want from my delays/effects.

aye, that's fair.

 

I suppose what I enjoy w hardware is really to get the weird stuff and see what comes out..

Definitely possible with a Thyme and literally anything else from what I can tell. :)

 

If you're thinking of the blofeld but have a better budget, look for a Microwave Xt. other than that, the A4 is amazing! although I never think of it as a polysynth, it's a one stop shop for anything.

I know a guy who has a Microwave XT and played around with it a few minutes one night, was pretty interesting but I certainly didn't fall in love immediately or anything. Could definitely seeing there being a lot of depth to it, but the prices on it are maybe a touch high for the sounds I got out of it (and what I've heard from it elsewhere). More specifically, if I was going to spend ~1k on a poly I'd go with a Nord Lead Rack in great condition or something newer like a DSI poly or a Novation Peak even. Doesn't seem quite as versatile for the cost...but I've only partly looked into it before. Will have to find some demos online and try and see if it's capable of more that I think. Thanks for the reminder about it :)

[TubularCorporation]

I was just looking at the Sonicstate preview of the Prophet X and if money were no object that seems like one of the most exciting new polysynths in a long time.

[modey]

More specifically, if I was going to spend ~1k on a poly I'd go with a Nord Lead Rack in great condition or something

 

You could easily get a Nord Rack 2 or even 2X for way under 1k. I frequently see them on facebook/gumtree/ebay for ~$600-700AUD and am very tempted to get one, even though I already have the first gen Nord Lead.

[modey]

Nord Lead 2 + Digitone would be a pretty fkn amazing synthesis combination tbh. I haven't used my DN with my Nord yet but I really should soon.

 

OR.. NL2's four outputs -> four OT inputs.. Nord in multi mode with each part going to a separate mono out (or even in the 2x stereo mode) = synthesis bliss.

 

I remain convinced that the Nord Lead is the best synth ever made. I've never had such an immediate but long lasting connection with a synth. Every time I turn it on I surprise myself at how quickly I can come up with something unique.

[auxien]

 

More specifically, if I was going to spend ~1k on a poly I'd go with a Nord Lead Rack in great condition or something

 

You could easily get a Nord Rack 2 or even 2X for way under 1k. I frequently see them on facebook/gumtree/ebay for ~$600-700AUD and am very tempted to get one, even though I already have the first gen Nord Lead.

Yeah, I've seen some going for about the same here, I was thinking some have some expansion cards don't they? They may cost a touch more for those bells and whistles. (not too sure about the details on those, haven't dug in as I'm not buying anything right now anyway). Or just cheaper. :)

Multi mode on blofeld is a bit annoying but obv has a much larger sonic footprint than the A4. A4 tho multiple lanes is pretty awesome though if that's what ur wanting . For the price of a second hand A4 mk1 you could get a blofeld and a dirty little mono too. Can't really comment on the Nord apart from the fact I'd love one

 

Ps. Digitone new over A4 any day

Haven't looked into the multimode, will hunt down some info on that. A4 is definitely a serious contender of course :) Dark Trinity eventually perhaps....

 

 

OR.. NL2's four outputs -> four OT inputs.. Nord in multi mode with each part going to a separate mono out (or even in the 2x stereo mode) = synthesis bliss.

 

I remain convinced that the Nord Lead is the best synth ever made. I've never had such an immediate but long lasting connection with a synth. Every time I turn it on I surprise myself at how quickly I can come up with something unique.

Now we're talking....NL outputs into OT for maximum destruction/lush

[modey]

Yeah, the 1 has the optional polyphony expansion that adds a card slot; the 2 has the card slot built in, and the 2X doesn't have a card slot but has more internal preset storage.

 

I think for the 2, the case is the same for the 1, in which adding a card allows you to save drumkit patches, as well as the additional melodic patch storage. For some reason, without the card, you can't save drumkits.

[thawkins]

Oh yeah, I meant literally storing pattern data as pixel colours. PNG is lossless so converting pixel colour and position into pattern data wouldn't be too hard. Max and Processing together should be able to do something like that.

 

That's what I meant too. Basically it seems that you can just read the BMP straight into some array like it was plain text, so it would make it more easy in Max/Pd - otherwise you'd need a library to uncompress & read the PNG or have some other rube goldberg process to read the colors into your sequence.

 

That's what I'd do anyway. For bonus points if the sequencer is clever, you can load any picture into the thing and just have fun like that.

[modey]

Ah yeah true. I did think of it more as a max object that loads whatever image format, displays it and then reads the pixels from that displayed object. Like the LCD object for example, I haven't quite gone deep with the tutorials yet but one of my ideas was to be able to load a file and then draw on it to affect the sequence.

 

And yeah, a good use of it would be to just load any image, have it translated to fit the dimensions of a pattern and then used as pattern data. Using live webcam data would be amazing; getting to Nintendo Labo levels of being able to draw a pattern on a piece of paper and hold it up to a camera :D I really need to make this happen now!

[thawkins]

You can treat any image as a 3-channel 8bit waveform as well (or a mono 24-bit one). :) I also feel I need to make this happen.

[YEK]

are there any affordable used romplers i can look out for? when i bought my mophatt 5 or so years ago they were a lot cheaper. 

[Nil]

Thanks for the advice/tips everyone re:trackers! Already watched many vids and RTFMed, thanks again.

Funny how it seemed alien to me when an old friend of mine told me about trackers 15 years ago or so... and how logical it feels now jamming with it. I've always been quite anal when it comes to sequencing and automations, and writing-in values directly is such a huge relief. It really is! It's so much more flexible than what I first thought, I'm trying to transpose parts of my workflow and it's quite effortless. I suppose I'm going to use Doofers, Instruments Automations and LFOs a lot :)

[Guest]

Dunno what daw you used before / are still using, but if total conversion to the tracker paradigm proofs to be too hard, check out redux. It basically is Renoises sampler/instrument editor/phrase editor in vsti format. That way you can integrate tracking in a more traditional 'piano roll' workflow, 

[Nil]

A combo of Numerology and Live. Actually, as long as I can set my own macros I’m all set. Meta Devices are exactly what I need.

 

The super-fast super-precise KB driven workflow ; the fact that you can see, sequence and edit everything on the same page and navigate between tracks with the KB arrows ; the overall streamlined interface / workflow and its ineherent set of limitations... are so appealing to me. For some reasons I’ve tried to bend my previous tools to my needs and kept hitting walls... while trackers seem to be exactly what I need to finish tunes. A much better set of compromises than when using piano rolls.

 

I was seriously investigating harware sequencers (Squarp, Circlon, Elektron, QY700...) prior to having that eureka moment, and I dunno, trackers feel like the closest thing to those self-contained, music dedicated machines. I might sound a tad over-zealous here, though I’m pretty sure I,ve found the right tool for me. And I’m happy to learn new things, to break the studio routine I’ve slowly built over most of the last two decades.

[TubularCorporation]

If you ever do go to hardware, I'd look at the Elektron stuff if you like trackers, because the Elektron sequencer is very tracker-like, more than any other I've used.

 

People like to compare the Octatrack to "Live in a box" but it would be more helpfulto compare it to Octamed Studio.

[sheatheman]

man. i want an octatrack again. and a 6u modular. and a couple more synths like an electron plus a nice one knob func one, and a rack of fx, and a pedal board for my guitar, and maybe an upgrade from the pro40, and to sort my DAW/hardware mixing situation, and a push 2, and a se electronics voodoo ribbon mic for all my acoustics.

[YEK]

man. i want an octatrack again. and a 6u modular. and a couple more synths like an electron plus a nice one knob func one, and a rack of fx, and a pedal board for my guitar, and maybe an upgrade from the pro40, and to sort my DAW/hardware mixing situation, and a push 2, and a se electronics voodoo ribbon mic for all my acoustics.

Gonna have to get signed and make a successful record first before you can afford that

 

Am I right ? ;)

[acid1]

 

man. i want an octatrack again. and a 6u modular. and a couple more synths like an electron plus a nice one knob func one, and a rack of fx, and a pedal board for my guitar, and maybe an upgrade from the pro40, and to sort my DAW/hardware mixing situation, and a push 2, and a se electronics voodoo ribbon mic for all my acoustics.

Gonna have to get signed and make a successful record first before you can afford that

 

Am I right ? ;)

 

Or have a decent job and be shit at music like me.

[YEK]

 

 

man. i want an octatrack again. and a 6u modular. and a couple more synths like an electron plus a nice one knob func one, and a rack of fx, and a pedal board for my guitar, and maybe an upgrade from the pro40, and to sort my DAW/hardware mixing situation, and a push 2, and a se electronics voodoo ribbon mic for all my acoustics.

Gonna have to get signed and make a successful record first before you can afford that

 

Am I right ? ;)

 

Or have a decent job and be shit at music like me.

 

jobs are overrated 

[YEK]

is the sp303 worth picking up just for the effects?

[modey]

Yeah I have to say I made the right decision to update my laptop. I haven't been making much music lately but it's very comfortable for couch programming—it's nice to have actual battery life.

[Bubba69]

anyone here use a digital mixer like the behringer X32? Even though I like analog mixers, the greater routing flexibility and ability to automate with a digital mixer really appeals to me. I don't like being limited to 4 aux sends, I want more. And I also like the idea of having better integrated fx per track, like a digital parametric EQ per track. I feel a bit limited by my allen+heath mixer and the EQs on it are not super flexible. I dunno. I guess this is what I get from moving away from computers.

 

Opinions? What sucks about using digital mixers? Can you tell there is latency?

Edited August 22, 2018 by Bubba69

[thawkins]

Speaking of laptops, my 2016 MBP just went in for repairs - the keyboards acting up for the second time now and the screen is fucked and not covered by warranty so I am out $800. Meanwhile my 2009 MBP is still in working shape after all these years. When the new lappy works it is pretty fantastic but I think considering the price, I would rather have bought a used older model and save half the cash god dammit.

 

[thawkins]

You would think that having a metal chassis would make the thing a bit more resilient. I think what did my screen in was that I happened to close the lid with the power cable somehow getting stuck between the closing lid exactly next to the screen joints and then something acted as a lever, bending the aluminum.

 

Also I could care less about the thickness race to the bottom and the touchbar, but at the time it did not make financial sense for me to buy anything else but a refurb 2016 model.

[pcock]

ive been left with the simplest GAS of my life. i just want colour coded cables, stands for all my stuff to expand desk space, everything neatly patched into my patch bay, and a master power button so i dont have to individually slip 10 switches every time i sit down to produce. I feel like apart from that my setup is complete. maybe some characterful analog distortion. thats it though.