the watmm GAS thread

I just want a better MIDI router, a modest control surface like the Behringer X-Touch Compact, and some acoustic panels.

Maybe a hydrasynth some day, but I've already got more than enough instruments.

Wait, I take that back.

  On 4/17/2023 at 6:08 PM, TubularCorporation said:

but I've already got more than enough instruments.

BLASPHEMY. APOSTASY. HERESY.

BÉBÉ CHÉRIE – Oto Machines

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Bébé Chérie is a 6-channel stereo analog mixer with a one-knob compressor and a Bliss enhancer on the master bus.

The first 4 channels offer a variable input gain (up to 34 dB) with an asymmetrical diode clipper for smooth and musical distortion.

the only thing more offensive than the manual's color scheme is that this is 3.5mm jack only for some fuckin' reason

That thing would be great if it had 8 tracks instead of 6.  And pan controls (although since it doesn't really seem to be designed for actualy performing a mix so much as simple summing, and it at least has soe stereo inputs, so its feature set does seen well thought out for the purose and if I had the income or it I'd probably get one).

The Bam is one of the best pieces of gear I've ever owned, though, so I'm sure this thing sounds great and is well built even if it does have 1/8" jacks (1/8" jacks on anything should count as a war crime).

I'd definitely take it over that Teenage Engineering thing any day.

EDIT: I just looked at their site and noticed it has Mackie-style alternate output, that's more important than any of the things i would miss from a conventional mixer.  Mute-to-alt-out is REALLY handy and every mixer should have it.  So handy it makes me actually use Mackies pretty regularly, even though they've been cconsistently unreliable, bland sounding and awkward to work on.  That alt out makes up for it.

I've been on yet another spending spree due to some seriously affordable second hand units in EX condition coming to my attention, got my hands on a ASM Hydrasynth desktop and Behringer Deepmind 12D for 40 % off each (compared to retail price at Thomann), and a Waldorf Blofeld desktop for 55 % off. I also found a pair of Arturia Rackbrute 6Us for almost 50 % off, so now I'm installing my semimodulars in them, making electricity easier to manage (two wall plugs instead of 10). I'm already friends with the Deepmind, but the Hydrasynth requires a bit of intense exploration.

If the Hydrasynth doesn't click with you then you can give it to me...

Sick firmware update for the Microfreak.

Steampipe's a curiosity. Need a deeper demo.

  On 5/11/2023 at 5:49 PM, Taupe Beats said:

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This would be really exciting if it had at least 4 more channels!  

  On 5/11/2023 at 6:17 PM, TubularCorporation said:

This would be really exciting if it had at least 4 more channels!  

Eh I think as-is there's 2 ways this thing would immediately be incomparable:

1. A sub-mixer for synths (or drums, but esp. synths). Returning tracks in on themselves and then lfo'ing it for chorus'ing or whatever. I could only imagine what could be achieved.

2. A bus-mixer off a larger desk. So almost use this like a rotary dj mixer and think of your own tracks as stems. But with a ton of wacky modulation/efx send options.

  On 5/11/2023 at 6:23 PM, Taupe Beats said:

Eh I think as-is there's 2 ways this thing would immediately be incomparable:

1. A sub-mixer for synths (or drums, but esp. synths). Returning tracks in on themselves and then lfo'ing it for chorus'ing or whatever. I could only imagine what could be achieved.

2. A bus-mixer off a larger desk. So almost use this like a rotary dj mixer and think of your own tracks as stems. But with a ton of wacky modulation/efx send options.

4 tracks isn't that many for either of these, though.

Not saying you couldn't do a lot of stuff with it as-is, but it would be nice if it had 8 channels.

Roland AIRA Compact S-1, a handheld SH-101 w/ various expanded features.

Sonicware Liven Texture Lab, sampler/granular synth/effects processor.

That SH-1 looks amazing. The depth of that synth is crazy (waveform drawing, for one).

Also, the new Make Noise Oscillator sounds incredible:

The bell tones he gets at random were lovely.

  On 5/11/2023 at 11:29 PM, TubularCorporation said:

4 tracks isn't that many for either of these, though.

 

Not saying you couldn't do a lot of stuff with it as-is, but it would be nice if it had 8 channels.

I'm not disagreeing that 4-channels is limited. I would disagree it isn't many for a synth sub-mixer though.

A bus-submix maybe a bit more, but I'd also challenge that more than 4 busses is itself almost overkill.

What I am saying is this mixer has modulation options that are unique enough where I think it compensates in unexpected ways, esp. if you are using it to mix synths. 

  On 5/12/2023 at 2:11 PM, Taupe Beats said:

What I am saying is this mixer has modulation options that are unique enough where I think it compensates in unexpected ways, esp. if you are using it to mix synths. 

And I agreed!

That thing is pretty cool.

I pulled a 70s Wurlitzer out fo the trash years ago (not joking) and I finally added an insert to it. Using filters and reverb on the signal to pull out harmonics and extend them BEFORE they reaches the speaker (so that so that the whole thing can acoustically feed back when the damper is up, which it doesn't do stock but does easily and pretty controllably once you start inserting effects) gets into similar territory, but this thing looks a lot more flexible and practical (can't comment on the sound since my Wurlitzer is about 30 years overdue for a recap and doesn't ahve as much hihg end as it used to, even when I got it back around '99).

What I can't tell from this demo is:

1) Does it create sustain electromechanically with a driver of some kind, or is it doing it digitally?  At 3:58 that sounds like it's digital, done with some kind of microlooping, which makes it less exciting because you can't physicaly manipulate the tines while they're ringing if it's done that way. Hopefully what sounds like a loop is actually acoustic beating from the way the two branches of the tines are tuned or something, and it really is using some flavor of transducer/driver combo to feed the tine back into itself electromagnetically, like an e-bow.  I've been playing around with ideas for an instrument similar to this for years and that always seemed like the best way to me, so I hope it's how they did it.

2) It sounds like it emphasizes and de-emphasizes harmonics by using a comb filter tuned to the tine's first few overtones.  But is there a single comb filter thatgets retuned on the fly according to which button you press (making it paraphonic), or do they actually have comb filters per tine?  My money is on per-tine comb filters, but they're digital to save money and simplify the design a lot.

However it works, it's pretty cool to see somethig like this being developed by a company as big as Korg. If I had the money I might even buy one, but I don't.

  On 5/13/2023 at 3:37 PM, TubularCorporation said:

That thing is pretty cool.

 

I pulled a 70s Wurlitzer out fo the trash years ago (not joking) and I finally added an insert to it. Using filters and reverb on the signal to pull out harmonics and extend them BEFORE they reaches the speaker (so that so that the whole thing can acoustically feed back when the damper is up, which it doesn't do stock but does easily and pretty controllably once you start inserting effects) gets into similar territory, but this thing looks a lot more flexible and practical (can't comment on the sound since my Wurlitzer is about 30 years overdue for a recap and doesn't ahve as much hihg end as it used to, even when I got it back around '99).

If I had the money I might even buy one, but I don't.

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That's just a prototype though, don't think you can buy it even if you had the dough

  On 5/12/2023 at 9:18 PM, d-a-m-o said:

 

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this is pretty fucking brilliant

tl;dw it's miniature controllable guitar feedback (but with tines not strings)

  On 5/13/2023 at 5:51 PM, auxien said:

this is pretty fucking brilliant

tl;dw it's miniature controllable guitar feedback (but with tines not strings)

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Brillant indeed, good to see something fresh, can't wait to see the final form of this thing !

I finally pulled the trigger on a hammer action Studiologic SL88, but UPS is acting like they do not know how to deliver it to my place.