the watmm GAS thread

I'm GASin' hard for the LZX Vidiot right now: https://www.lzxindustries.net/products/vidiot/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ua4zJd7-7o

Someone's selling a TR505 on Craigslist. I realise it's not some legendary techno thing but I was wondering if it's still a fun thing to play with even though I probably can't be arsed to circuit bend it. Mostly interested in it because of the cheesy sounds, step sequencer (videos seem to show one) and maybe some midi sequencing capatibilities so I could use it to drive some other things.

liking the digitone so much that im now gassing over a digitakt to go with it.

  On 3/26/2018 at 5:31 AM, thawkins said:

Someone's selling a TR505 on Craigslist. I realise it's not some legendary techno thing but I was wondering if it's still a fun thing to play with even though I probably can't be arsed to circuit bend it. Mostly interested in it because of the cheesy sounds, step sequencer (videos seem to show one) and maybe some midi sequencing capatibilities so I could use it to drive some other things.

They're really only good for circuit bending. There's basically no real-time control of anything and the sequencer is x0x 16-step but less fun because you can't mess with the sequences while it's playing and it's annoying to program. For that kind of a thing you'd be much better off with one of the Yamahas of that era.

I've got a D-50 in my living room that I'm going to be putting a new battery in for somebody this afternoon.

It's really got me wishing I had a D-50, but not at today's prices.

EDIT: the real tragedy is that the guy I'm working on it for has had it since the 90s but never programmed it and just plays the factory presets.

  On 3/26/2018 at 3:10 PM, RSP said:

I've got a D-50 in my living room that I'm going to be putting a new battery in for somebody this afternoon.

 

It's really got me wishing I had a D-50, but not at today's prices.

 

EDIT: the real tragedy is that the guy I'm working on it for has had it since the 90s but never programmed it and just plays the factory presets.

get a D-550 instead. just checked eBay and the prices are very reasonable.

  On 3/26/2018 at 3:10 PM, RSP said:

EDIT: the real tragedy is that the guy I'm working on it for has had it since the 90s but never programmed it and just plays the factory presets.

Gonna own up to my shame and admit that I've had a TG33 for over a month and haven't done anything except slightly edit a couple of presets. I'm a bad person.

  On 3/26/2018 at 8:23 PM, auxien said:

 

  On 3/26/2018 at 3:10 PM, RSP said:

EDIT: the real tragedy is that the guy I'm working on it for has had it since the 90s but never programmed it and just plays the factory presets.

Gonna own up to my shame and admit that I've had a TG33 for over a month and haven't done anything except slightly edit a couple of presets. I'm a bad person.

 

need i remind you?

As great as the D-50 sounds I'd definitely take a TG-33 over it any day.  The TG-33 sounds so ARCANE.

  On 3/26/2018 at 1:40 PM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 3/26/2018 at 5:31 AM, thawkins said:

Someone's selling a TR505 on Craigslist. I realise it's not some legendary techno thing but I was wondering if it's still a fun thing to play with even though I probably can't be arsed to circuit bend it. Mostly interested in it because of the cheesy sounds, step sequencer (videos seem to show one) and maybe some midi sequencing capatibilities so I could use it to drive some other things.

They're really only good for circuit bending. There's basically no real-time control of anything and the sequencer is x0x 16-step but less fun because you can't mess with the sequences while it's playing and it's annoying to program. For that kind of a thing you'd be much better off with one of the Yamahas of that era.

 

Thanks, I am no good at electronics so this means it's good to just leave the thing.

  On 3/26/2018 at 11:53 PM, thawkins said:

 

  On 3/26/2018 at 1:40 PM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 3/26/2018 at 5:31 AM, thawkins said:

Someone's selling a TR505 on Craigslist. I realise it's not some legendary techno thing but I was wondering if it's still a fun thing to play with even though I probably can't be arsed to circuit bend it. Mostly interested in it because of the cheesy sounds, step sequencer (videos seem to show one) and maybe some midi sequencing capatibilities so I could use it to drive some other things.

They're really only good for circuit bending. There's basically no real-time control of anything and the sequencer is x0x 16-step but less fun because you can't mess with the sequences while it's playing and it's annoying to program. For that kind of a thing you'd be much better off with one of the Yamahas of that era.

 

 

Thanks, I am no good at electronics so this means it's good to just leave the thing.

Good move. Aside from the MIDI outputs, the Teenage Engineering PO-12 has a very similar flavor, but more fun and interesting in every way.

Made the mistake of checking CL again today and god damn there's a Kastle and a Softpop and I don't have a thing that outputs CV either but 

Kastle is lots of fun. I really need to fix mine (my fault; probably dodgy soldering). It's like a mini 0-coast!

  On 3/27/2018 at 1:53 AM, modey said:

Kastle is lots of fun. I really need to fix mine (my fault; probably dodgy soldering). It's like a mini 0-coast!

I'm ready to let mine go lol. I can't figure out what to do with it, it just sounds like warbly mud all the time. 

I'll tell you what though, it's spooky as shit getting a good low drone going and watching it glow in a dark room. If I don't sell it I might have to mod it to replace it with a red LED for maximum creepiness.

Also it's fun to clock a PO with the LFO. OK, I'm talking myself back into it, lol.

How easy is it to "play" the thing? I am mostly interested in having it as a extra layer playing some loop or sequence that I can then tweak to make the bleeps and bloops, but the melody itself would be carried by something else. This probably requires some CV out which I don't currently have.. 

  On 3/27/2018 at 2:41 AM, thawkins said:

How easy is it to "play" the thing? I am mostly interested in having it as a extra layer playing some loop or sequence that I can then tweak to make the bleeps and bloops, but the melody itself would be carried by something else. This probably requires some CV out which I don't currently have.. 

Have you ever played with a volca? The knobs are about the same size. I think the fun is supposed to be in the patching. You can control pitch, waveform, LFO speed, that kind of thing. There's really not that much to it.

It does have, yeah, CV connectivity, both in and out, so you can use it as an oscillator, LFO, or primitive sequencer. 

It can definitely do some lo-fi bleeps and bloops. The best sounds I get out of it are those ominous growling drones. I can't imagine trying to make anything but noise with it. 

  On 3/27/2018 at 3:30 AM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 3/27/2018 at 2:41 AM, thawkins said:

How easy is it to "play" the thing? I am mostly interested in having it as a extra layer playing some loop or sequence that I can then tweak to make the bleeps and bloops, but the melody itself would be carried by something else. This probably requires some CV out which I don't currently have.. 

Have you ever played with a volca? The knobs are about the same size. I think the fun is supposed to be in the patching. You can control pitch, waveform, LFO speed, that kind of thing. There's really not that much to it.

 

It does have, yeah, CV connectivity, both in and out, so you can use it as an oscillator, LFO, or primitive sequencer. 

 

It can definitely do some lo-fi bleeps and bloops. The best sounds I get out of it are those ominous growling drones. I can't imagine trying to make anything but noise with it. 

 

Thought of something in the rehearsal last night... I would be really glad if some Kastle/Softpop owners could comment.

I have a Koma Field Kit and a bunch of contact/piezo mics which I have been planning to hook up to drums or whatever percussive things I can find. The Field Kit is basically meant for generating CV out of stuff like that, so now I was wondering if I could also hook the Kastle or the Softpop up in that setup and use it to generate some more wackier sounds out of the drum kit.

The signal flow would basically be drum - piezo - field kit - (optional env follower) - kastle - field kit - some efx pedal.

Basically I would want to trigger bleeps and bloops from the Kastle by playing an actual drum kit.

There are a few points on the Kastle that could take a trigger input, like the LFO reset. But yeah, having an envelope follower would expand it quite considerably, allowing for drums to control pitch, timbre, etc.

The Field Kit has an envelope follower, so this basically means I can hook it up to the Kastle and control it this way?

Yeah, I'd say so, especially if the envelope follower has some kind of slew or release function that can allow for a slow envelope with every hit.

  On 3/28/2018 at 1:10 AM, modey said:

Yeah, I'd say so, especially if the envelope follower has some kind of slew or release function that can allow for a slow envelope with every hit.

Thanks! Seems I can justify my GAS with this very well.

That TG33 video :wang:

I woke up today to an e-mail saying JUCE (the guys who make Roli blocks and the seaboard) are offering a free development kit of two blocks to anyone who will buy a subscription or something. I did some math and the cheapest subscription seems to be $420 so I am not really sure if this is a good deal or not. I have seen the blocks for sale in a shop for around $100 a piece which is kind of a nice price if the software stuff they have also makes it easy to make your own custom stuff.

The dev kit is 2 physical blocks and some software https://roli.com/products/blocks/developer-kit-a

This is probably more your thing if you are already interested in making music apps and I guess it's a publicity trick to get people to buy their hardware platform. Not sure if there are any amazing applications to the things yet.

Is there a term for something that's like GAS but isn't tied to a specific piece of gear?  Whatever you call it, I still want more kinds of reverb.  I don't have any particular in mind, jut more of them.  It's a good thing I don't make enough money to keep buying them.

I wish I'd gotten a Behringer V-Verb Pro back when they were under $50 USD and easy to find.

  On 3/28/2018 at 11:04 PM, thawkins said:

I woke up today to an e-mail saying JUCE (the guys who make Roli blocks and the seaboard) are offering a free development kit of two blocks to anyone who will buy a subscription or something. I did some math and the cheapest subscription seems to be $420 so I am not really sure if this is a good deal or not. I have seen the blocks for sale in a shop for around $100 a piece which is kind of a nice price if the software stuff they have also makes it easy to make your own custom stuff.

 

The dev kit is 2 physical blocks and some software https://roli.com/products/blocks/developer-kit-a

 

This is probably more your thing if you are already interested in making music apps and I guess it's a publicity trick to get people to buy their hardware platform. Not sure if there are any amazing applications to the things yet.

Yeah, I got the email too. Didn't really seem the great to me, but I am getting into development here and there. Kind of on the fence about it. JUCE uses C/C++ so it's applicable knowledge to anything else low level.