the watmm GAS thread

  On 7/4/2021 at 4:00 AM, TubularCorporation said:

I've been really enjoying the 8bit Warps (even though I've mostly used it for the surprisingly lifelike tanpura sounds that I wasn't trying expecting to get out of it).

The sign of a truly good chiptune synth is its ability to go beyond typical chip sounds. I'm glad it's capable of stuff like that. So many of us chip musicians are trying to push the boundaries of what's possible on the hardware, meanwhile tons of synth companies come out with shitty "8bit" products that are only capable of the stereotypical bleep bloop sounds (e.g. TE's PO-20).

I have GAS for a lofi looper that's noisy and unpredictable. I don't know if it will be annoying to work with or whether it will be fun and quirky. 

  On 7/4/2021 at 7:40 AM, modey said:

The sign of a truly good chiptune synth is its ability to go beyond typical chip sounds. I'm glad it's capable of stuff like that. So many of us chip musicians are trying to push the boundaries of what's possible on the hardware, meanwhile tons of synth companies come out with shitty "8bit" products that are only capable of the stereotypical bleep bloop sounds (e.g. TE's PO-20).

I honestly haven't even tried to make typical chiptune sounds or sequences on it yet.  I'm using it for mostly for drones and running an early 90s Yamaha drum brain through its input because I was out of inputs on the Octatrack.  It would be great to be able to use the looper to sample the Yamaha but I haven't tried it because the way I'm set up I can't easily reach one from the other.

Anyhow, on the GAS front I just ordered myself a couple sets of Monel alloy guitar strings (Pyramid).  I haven't been happy with a set of strings since Snake Oil Brand imploded about a decade ago and have been stuck with DR Pure nickel strings since they're good enough and inexpensive. Hopefully these will finally fill the really-good-pre-1967-style strings void for me.

If they sound as good and last as long as they're supposed to, maybe I can justify some flatwound 12 string sets some day (even in regular steel, a decent flat wound 12 string set is like $25)

This could potentially be very cool

EDIT: Great, I dont' think the video works. Oh well.

  On 7/4/2021 at 7:40 AM, modey said:

The sign of a truly good chiptune synth is its ability to go beyond typical chip sounds. I'm glad it's capable of stuff like that. So many of us chip musicians are trying to push the boundaries of what's possible on the hardware, meanwhile tons of synth companies come out with shitty "8bit" products that are only capable of the stereotypical bleep bloop sounds (e.g. TE's PO-20).

Yeah I think the chiptune tonal palette is largely (and weirdly) untapped territory. People like little-scale and cTrix have done fucking amazing shit with the old hardware. And there's chip-based stuff, especially from the first Eurorack boom ~10 years ago, that's kind of forgotten now but is particularly for things like drone, really aggressive basses or brittle pads, harsh percussion, etc.

  On 7/4/2021 at 6:18 PM, sweepstakes said:

People like little-scale and cTrix have done fucking amazing shit with the old hardware.

Yeah, I've noticed it's mostly Australian people who are really pushing it in more innovative directions, unless I just don't get to see the innovative stuff that people from other countries are putting out.

Two more Australian ones for your collection, while we're on that subject:

https://dotay.bandcamp.com/album/you-re-better-at-this-than-you-think

LSDJ tracked out to tape, mixed and mastered at a 100% analog studio. Dot.AY is someone who I see as at the forefront of electronic music genre diversity, mostly from his radio shows where he manages to find some incredible micro-genres. He really has a great ear for consolidating a ton of different styles into a unique sound, something I aspire to.

https://theythemmusic.bandcamp.com/album/flat-moon-society

My collaborator in Nanoloop2 duo THE GOTH"S. Claire is one of the few people who is on my level when it comes to messing with audiences not through overwhelming them (as is the usual case with chip music), but through minimalism. This album was made with Nanoloop Mono and is almost SND-like in terms of how much space there is.

(I've probably mentioned both of these here before but they deserve all of the reposts)

  On 7/4/2021 at 10:04 AM, Soloman Tump said:

I have GAS for a lofi looper that's noisy and unpredictable. I don't know if it will be annoying to work with or whether it will be fun and quirky. 

I don’t really know all the features of this but essentially a huge memory with asynchronous repetitions and modulated playheads/fx. Iunno. 

What the fuck is up with Casio SK-1 prices on Reverb?  I mean, I figured maybe $100-$120 would be a dumb but not shocking, inflated Covid price, but I'm seeing them sold for $200-$400 USD consistently, I don't even know what to think.  My current one was free, in the box. In fact I've had at least three and I've never paid for one, and I think only one person I know has paid for one (and that was something like $30 for the boxed one he gave to me when he got bored with it).

II don't even know anymore.

Used gear prices have gone crazy over the pandemic, pretty much pointless to buy right now (though maybe things will also get much worse haha..)

There's a few bits now and then which make be GAS a bit, wouldn't mind that TD3-MO but also really don't need it or anything and should mainly be looking at selling some stuff like my Tracker and surplus Blokas Midihub.. all my gear will be useless if I don't have a place to keep it or food to sustain me using it 

  On 7/10/2021 at 2:51 PM, Petajaja said:

Used gear prices have gone crazy over the pandemic, pretty much pointless to buy right now (though maybe things will also get much worse haha..)

I know, but the SK-1 inflation is way out of proportion with the other stuff I've seen, plus it looks like they're almost as expensive as an SK-5, and that's a much rarer and better version.

ah right, yeah I remember looking at an SK-1 here in the UK a few years back and the prices were already well over £100 then but to hear it go that high is mental.. I guess it has some hipster appeal (seen a few indieish bands using them) and they tend to have a lot to spend.

  On 7/10/2021 at 4:25 PM, Petajaja said:

ah right, yeah I remember looking at an SK-1 here in the UK a few years back and the prices were already well over £100 then but to hear it go that high is mental.. I guess it has some hipster appeal (seen a few indieish bands using them) and they tend to have a lot to spend.

I remember them being near $100 USD for a while in the late 2000s and thinking it was crazy, but I decided not to sell mine and then when I checked again a few years later they'd gone back down again and they were all selling in the $20-$50 range unless they were practically unused with the boxes and manuals and everything, those might have been pushing $100 or so.  I assumed they had gone back up but not that much.

CZ101 too.  I check those once or twice a year because if they went up it would make me feel a little less silly for overpaying for mine $220 or so in 2015, but it's in really good shape.  I checked in early spring this year and they'd only gone up a little, to where what I paid was low average rather than near the top end, but now a few months later they're pushing $500.  I thought the bubble was going to at least slow down once people could go outside more.

Even though I don't sell used gear unless I absolutely have to get rid of something (and then I try to sell it undervalue to friends unless I specifically need to raise money to get some other piece of gear or parts, or if it's something nobody I know will take even for free) I've been around people who buy and sell used stuff for most of my adult life, either friends or coworkers, so I find the whole thing interesting, whether it's stuff I care about or not - I had a friend who used to deal antique marbles and I don't give a single shit about marbles but the antique marble dealing business was super interesting.  Or, like, apparently in the early 2000s there was huge drama in the antique bottle dealing world because someone discovered that if you take any old clear bottle, fill it with beach sand and microwave it for a minute or two it causes a chemical reaction that turns it a specific shade of purple that only the rarest and most valuable bottles developed naturally.  Or, a few years back someone told me about how a local collector discovered an unopened case of some of the rarest clay poker chips in the poker chip collecting world, the kind of thing where it was better than finding a box of cash because the chips would sell for hundreds of dollars each.  And then he bragged about it, word got out and the market for those chips crashed - now they're worth a few dollars.  I couldn't care less about any of those things but the world surrounding them is always interesting.  I want to learn more about the people who buy and sell top-price rare soda cans, the stuff that goes for 6 or 7 figure amounts, but that's probably hard because it almost has to be money laundering.

i've been gassing after a guitar pedal or two that will go unnamed and a Modor NF-1m even tho that synth overlaps almost entirely with basically all of my current synths 

also really hoping that Korg drumsynth is interesting if they ever follow up with more info and a release date one day

All the gear I ever purchased is already worthless or has lost most of it's value since I got it. Must be my lack of taste.

  On 7/10/2021 at 6:22 PM, thawkins said:

All the gear I ever purchased is already worthless or has lost most of it's value since I got it. Must be my lack of taste.

Give it another 10 years to ripen.

By that time we will have Buli Hehringer set up an AI to systematically detect which pieces of old junk are crossing the point of "worth a clone release".

Or we just have tech where you can put in the circuit board and a memory dump and every Raspberry Pi 7+ can be a fully functional Octatrack clone. Something like this is happening right now with old game consoles from the 90s and even up to the PlayStation I believe.

The United Nations building in NYC has about 30 EV 635a microphones for sale on eBay right now.  The prices are way too high - $150+ when a brand new one costs about $130 - but the UN mics have probably been used by actual war criminals so you could get a really good terror EBM vocal sound or something from them.

Those mics are bugged to hell and back probably, so CIA will steal your tunes.

That really says everything there is to say about global economy right now, that a multinational body is trying to nickel and dime people for $10-$20. Like what is that, maybe a $600 prophet, gross?

  On 7/12/2021 at 3:43 PM, sheatheman said:

That really says everything there is to say about global economy right now, that a multinational body is trying to nickel and dime people for $10-$20. Like what is that, maybe a $600 prophet, gross?

$600 is a good price for a prophet.  Synth or otherwise.

But seriously, their prices are kind of in line with what that mic goes for "vintage", whether an old one for $150 or $200 sounds different/better than a new one for $129 I don't know and never will. If I find a newer used one for $8 or so I might bite, because I think it would be good for micing an amp.

When your auto correct turns profit into prophet, that might mean you have a problem. 

  On 7/13/2021 at 6:28 AM, sheatheman said:

When your auto correct turns profit into prophet, that might mean you have a problem. 

What about when you read someone else's auto-corrected profit as prophet?

Sounds like you two might be able to make a mutually beneficial business deal, somehow. I'm just the idea guy.

I just wrapped up some music and have been enjoying a GAS free year thus far and then by accident I stumbled upon that Behringer TD-3-MO-AM.

I get it ... Behringer isn't the best company in the universe ethics wise, but the thought that I get to complete my teenage dream of having a Devilfish modded 303 with real analog circuitry for maybe half the cost of the Roland TB-03 is too much to pass up on.