the watmm GAS thread

But even janky ones can sound rad. 

Rhodes mk1 especially are so amazing, I can't play for shit but I still want one.

I found that the reface CP is a great recreation of the sound, better than all the software ones I have heard. But obviously you don't get the playing experience.

Definitely true.

  On 6/7/2017 at 7:06 PM, Chesney said:

But even janky ones can sound rad. 

Yeah, good advice. Definitely gonna try before I buy. I don't mind getting a piano tuner in if required though.

As for rhodes, my dad repaired one back when I lived with my parents. Lovely instrument!

I remember a band from my hometown used to consist of two rhodes (+ synth) players and a drummer. Fkn amazing; they'd make the pianos feed back by putting them through tons of overdrive, and jumping on them/flipping them over.. come to think of it, it was probably one of theirs that my dad repaired lol

Having had to move an upright piano from one place to another, and also having many years of classical piano studies behind me..

It's true that a real piano is an awesome thing, even an old janky out of tune upright, BUT they're huge and heavy and it's so much room for only one instrument. Besides you can't really take it out for live performances or rehearsals, but that's maybe not a problem if you're a home tinkerer.

That said, I kind of wish I had this old-school studio room with a grand piano littered with pages of sheet music and a lush green tropical scene outside the window (and there's of course a balcony with a hammock) and digital stuff and monitors in one corner. Might as well change my name to Eno, Brian while at it..

Yeah, it'd be strictly for home use. I'd also go for something that would be good as a piece of furniture as well, matching the minimalist dark wood late 70s aesthetic of our house lol

I just learned about the Solton Ketron Programmer 24S but fortunately it's unattainably rare in this country so even if I had the money I wouldn't have to worry about it.

haha what! that sounds fkn incredible

One of those popped up on ebay (UK) sometime last year I'm sure of it. I remember looking it up.

Someone in this forum once mentioned the Faderfox UC4 (I guess in the studio pics thread) and I've been spending the whole week looking at it and thinking "why did I spend all that fucking time shittily soldering a Doepfer PE and hacking together a crappy Live remote script instead of just getting a UC4".

PS. does anyone else come to this thread, type up a longish GAS themed post, then feel conflicted about publicly admitting that they're once again lusting for gear they don't really need and close the window before hitting post? :)

Nah, let it all hang out, warts and all. Admit your crimes and take the punishment like a man. Being self aware is a good step to being great.

i ended up going for the pitchfactor. sounds amazing. been modulating it in tandem with the space with maths and the expression pedal inputs. 

  On 6/8/2017 at 10:45 AM, Chesney said:

One of those popped up on ebay (UK) sometime last year I'm sure of it. I remember looking it up.

Someone has the footpedal controller for one up on eBay US right now.

If I ever had one of those I'd spent a few months writing and the start playing shows with just that and a reverb unit.

  On 6/8/2017 at 6:40 AM, modey said:

haha what! that sounds fkn incredible

Apparently in that video the owner flashed new EPROMs for the drum samples, so it has some Linn samples or something in it, but still.

  On 6/8/2017 at 11:06 AM, thawkins said:

Someone in this forum once mentioned the Faderfox UC4 (I guess in the studio pics thread) and I've been spending the whole week looking at it and thinking "why did I spend all that fucking time shittily soldering a Doepfer PE and hacking together a crappy Live remote script instead of just getting a UC4".

 

PS. does anyone else come to this thread, type up a longish GAS themed post, then feel conflicted about publicly admitting that they're once again lusting for gear they don't really need and close the window before hitting post? :)

Probably me talking about the UC4. Not sure if there's many available second hand, but the new one was worth it (to me) for basically having Ableton macros for specific sets. I always know this fader does this, this button is mapped to this, etc., without having to hunt through effects sections in various tracks on Push. That sort of thing is integral to how I'm jamming right now, so well worth the price tag.

That said, I don't really use the default Ableton set up on the UC4...if that's all you're going to use it for I'd suggest just getting a Push or something cheaper unless space is at a premium. Hell, I might sell you my Push 1 if so... But If you're interested in having multiple setups of user-defined controls in a compact space on solid hardware, the UC4 is perfect. I ain't selling that, get your own    But they're all better options than building your own unless you're just into that sorta shit...but to be fair, any cheap MIDI controller can be mappable for basic controls, the Push and UC4 are sort of 'premium' in what you're spending. I certainly don't regret having either, I just use my Push less often lately.

Possibly slightly off-topic but:

Something that crops up a lot in this thread is the fact that certain bits of old gear are lustworthy/desirable not because they're really 'better' than, say, a soft synth or a sequencer in a DAW, but because by virtue of their isolation they force you into a different workflow/way of thinking. Old drum machines or hardware sequencers are a case in point.

Just wondering if there's a name or term, maybe from psychology, for this phenomenon of an isolated device being preferable to one that can do lots of things? I suspect not but worth a shout.

i dunno. what's the opposite of "option paralysis"?

Flow.

Got an eBay notification for this in my email today:

  Quote

Roland TR-707, as is. "Unit works perfectly but the output is a little unstable"

 

 

YAMAHA GX-1 FREE DELIVERY L@@K (SEE DESCRIPTION NO REFUNDS)

I think I'm going to watch it just to see how long they keep relisting it hoping some fool is going to drop $10k on a 707.

  On 6/8/2017 at 3:20 PM, auxien said:

 

  On 6/8/2017 at 11:06 AM, thawkins said:

Someone in this forum once mentioned the Faderfox UC4 (I guess in the studio pics thread) and I've been spending the whole week looking at it and thinking "why did I spend all that fucking time shittily soldering a Doepfer PE and hacking together a crappy Live remote script instead of just getting a UC4".

 

PS. does anyone else come to this thread, type up a longish GAS themed post, then feel conflicted about publicly admitting that they're once again lusting for gear they don't really need and close the window before hitting post? :)

Probably me talking about the UC4. Not sure if there's many available second hand, but the new one was worth it (to me) for basically having Ableton macros for specific sets. I always know this fader does this, this button is mapped to this, etc., without having to hunt through effects sections in various tracks on Push. That sort of thing is integral to how I'm jamming right now, so well worth the price tag.

 

That said, I don't really use the default Ableton set up on the UC4...if that's all you're going to use it for I'd suggest just getting a Push or something cheaper unless space is at a premium. Hell, I might sell you my Push 1 if so... But If you're interested in having multiple setups of user-defined controls in a compact space on solid hardware, the UC4 is perfect. I ain't selling that, get your own    But they're all better options than building your own unless you're just into that sorta shit...but to be fair, any cheap MIDI controller can be mappable for basic controls, the Push and UC4 are sort of 'premium' in what you're spending. I certainly don't regret having either, I just use my Push less often lately.

 

Thanks for the infos. I really like the compactness about the UC4, because I kind of have this philosophy that I want my gear to fit in my backpack and not require huge amounts of space when laid out. I've used the Push, and I don't really like it as it's too big and I don't really need all the menu-diving options because I will be having my laptop anyway to add effects and create tracks. I'm generally using Ableton for recording/starting/stopping MIDI and audio loops, and then fading them in/out. So in that respect, the UC4 seems nice and small (and also good for some laptop DJing, which is always nice). If I understand correctly, the LED screen on the UC4 also shows current parameter value, so dealing with knob takeover should be easier than looking at the yellow bar on the bottom of the Live screen. But triggering and recording clips seems not to be so straightforward as there's no button grid (like a launchpad).

I started building my own because it seemed cheap, I actually wanted to be into that sorta shit and I thought I was a good enough programmer to do it. Basically, getting parts for the Doepfer Pocket Electronics was cheap and soldering also turned out to be easy enough, and then I taped a USB numpad on top to use as buttons.. I also hacked together a Ableton Remote Script for mapping all the controls nicely, so basically combined with the Launchpad, I already have a weird Frankenpush. But I feel that maybe I wasted a lot of time and should just have got something that's already pre-mapped, less bulky and not shittily soldered.

Anyway, I expect my hots for the UC4 to go away as soon as I can sit down and jam on my current setup again. My GAS seems to flare up usually when it's been a long time since I played (like more than a week).

Selling stuff to buy a Rytm so I obviously bid and win an Analog Keys for £750... Guess I'll have to sell a bit more.

Wow, nice one, i'd love a keys version for the joystick. Hope you like it.

just some apropos of nothing musings: 

i find that no matter what gear i get, it's just a learning experience which i apply back to ableton. octatrack is a great live tool and groove box but it is pretty redundant trying to incorporate it into an ableton-based composition setup. with a little external effects, i can make ableton synths/samplers sound so organic and alive.

now, i can take just the OT and a couple midi implements with me and have a great jam with anyone, but once i'm back in the studio by myself, i have little use for it.

basically, i love learning gear and jamming and recording with it, but it all gets condensed into a very honed/minimal ableton practice. the process of trying to make things on gear makes me fully appreciate what software truly offers.

that's why you have all of this great music made during the golden era of warp. basically it was people who had started out struggling with hardware to make stuff, then DAWs come out and after severals years they master those DAWs and are completely untethered to make whatever they have always wanted to make. several years after you have a stagnant period, due in large part to people who were making stuff on DAW but had never used hardware. i don't think it's possible to fully appreciate ableton without going through lots of hardware trials.

Neither Autechre, Aphex or Squarepusher are heavy DAW users, though?