opinions please?

[mattb]

I'm getting ready to purchase a whole slew of new kit, as I'm bored with my current rig, and I'd love to get some opinions on my selections. This is my "short list" and I'm 89% sure on these items but thought I'd query the collective genius of the board. If you have any firsthand knowledge of any of these, I'd love to hear it. and nobody tell me "VST's are cheaper, save your money" sorry not my style. I'm buying all this stuff second hand or used. thanks for the input.

Oberheim matrix 1000 - this is in every trance producers gear list. I don't do trance but I understand it is a reliable sound source. and it's cheap right now.

BBE Sonic Maximizer 882i - useful studio tool, if there's a better replacement, i'd love to know. don't want to spend too much on this one.

dbx 166xl Compressor/limiter/gate - another studio tool, any alternatives? again, it's cheap right now, and i know there are $$$$ units that do the same thing.

Korg MicroKorg - Pharell of the Neptune's secret weapon, and again it's a bargain. plus it runs on batteries, for portable programming.

Roland SH-32 - Even with the step filter problem, I'm willing to take a chance on this one.

E-MU XL-7 Command Station - I love working with the groove box style sequencers, and this unit has the same engine as the very well received extreme lead sound module.

Jomox Airbase 99 - This drum unit is killer I hear, some say it makes snare sounds better than a TR-808, and it's half the price. we shall see.

Clavia Nord Micro Modular - a quirky little VA unit with the same guts as the nord lead series, and you can edit patches on a PC. not quite sure on it though..

Thanks!!

[buzzboy]

Korg MicroKorg - Pharell of the Neptune's secret weapon, and again it's a bargain. plus it runs on batteries, for portable programming.
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i've wanted one of those for a lil while but i never seem to have enough cash lately, i just dont like how small the keys are.

[Milkman John]

i would go with the jomox piece and the nord modular...the modular is sick. don't waste your money on the nord micro modular though, get the big daddy. Another idea is to get a seperate comp and BUY a copy of reaktor and a 24 bit sound card with reliable a/d converters...there are enough pre-made synths for reaktor that it's nuts...

but stick with modular pieces or virtual analog...otherwise your shit will begin to sound stale using the same presets, just like everyone elses regurgitated crap...

also for drums and such, if you can't afford a hardware sampler, go for NI's kontakt or intakt....very usefull and really nice filters and effects....

shit, just buy a bad ass comp and go all out with NI stuff....and save your money for tube pre-amps, levelers and compressors(like universal audio junk) and a nice pair of reference monitors....

(oh, and vst's may be cheaper, but ya know, to get good sound from hardware, you aren't gonna get it from pieces under 800 bucks, you gotta spend some money...like at these places :

http://www.bigcitymusic.com/

http://www.novamusik.com/

[the sex molesters]

i want a microkorg! and an 808 and a 303. that's all i would need i think.

[psion's gate]

I'd suggest the Nord. Honestly though, check ebay for old Yamahas...they made some really great sounding keyboards, and they don't go for much more than $150. Get a bunch of cheap keyboards, and just process the shit out of them. Make sure you have a damn good compressor though. BBE or Alesis are great for the price.

[psion's gate]

I'd suggest the Nord. Honestly though, check ebay for old Yamahas...they made some really great sounding keyboards, and they don't go for much more than $150. Get a bunch of cheap keyboards, and just process the shit out of them. Make sure you have a damn good compressor though. BBE or Alesis are great for the price.

[Tails]

The Modular is nice; Nord recently announced a new G2 Modular at Musickmesse so I'd expect the prices to have recently dropped -- you should insist that you're not paying full price for a piece of kit that was "recently outdated."

The Sonic Maximizer is good stuff.

No Access Virus on the list? I'm a little suprised there, though I suppose it depends on the style of music.

I read what you said about VSTi's, but you'd be insane not to use a software sampler these days, IMO..

[EL Nemo]

for an affordable compressor check out the focusrite compounder, it does wonders on the low end of your mix and you can get one used for about $400, also if your looking for an fx processor check out the ensoniq dp 4, it has 4 processors in one box that you can chain for around $350 used, and it sounds sick, I have both of these in my setup and could not imagine working without them, i was also surprized to see no virus or andromeda on the list

[swiff]

Roland mc909!

[psion's gate]

no virus or andromeda because they are generally expensive...I just chose to list cheap stuff...

[PYVND]

The SH-32 is ok because it has a nice arp and the 808/909 drum kits. It is not, however DSP based. All of the sounds of wave forms. It sounds ok, but the oscillators do not have a lot of sonic complexity. If you are trying to get VA on the cheap, you could maybe do better with an AN1x or AN200. I can tell you right now that the AN200 sounds much fatter than the SH-32, but the SH-32 has lots of extra and useful features.

I have had a crush on the Emu PX-7 for months now and have heard nothing but good things. Sure, it's sample-based, but the modulation capabilities and those Emu filters will take you far. I don't like the color of the XL-7 myself, and you can always buy the XL-7 ROM and put it in the PX-7. If the PX hit $399 I'd buy it in a heart beat. Or maybe not, I have too much gear and not enough time as it is. The drum sounds of the PX-7 are beautiful and not the same old analog drum sounds. Real drums are the new and next thing.

You should also consider the Emulator X Studio package. All that nice recording hardware and ease of software sampling in one box. And then add a nice VA or real afforable analog (Dave Smith Evolver is another crush for me) and you're good to go for a while.

[nickn]

i've wanted one of those for a lil while but i never seem to have enough cash lately, i just dont like how small the keys are.

you should check out the ms2000. it's the synth they based the micro off of which itself is based off the ms20 - classic korg warmness.

[PYVND]

I saw Thievery using the MS2000. Another option is the Alesis Ion which I have heard great things about (good review in EM a few months back). I would wait for a rack version of the Ion however, as the keyboard is not very good.

[nickn]

yeah i'm waitin on the rack ion too

[the sex molesters]

this thread just convinced my friend to buy the microkorg. :D

....i'm just waiting for him to get it, so i can gank it from him for a couple of my songs. hehehe

[Elektronkind]

You guys should really check out the Moog and Yamaha CS-80 VST/AU plugins from Arturia.

/ek

[mojojones]

Originally posted by ecolonsmak


dbx 166xl Compressor/limiter/gate - another studio tool, any alternatives? again, it's cheap right now, and i know there are $$$$ units that do the same thing.

Korg MicroKorg - Pharell of the Neptune's secret weapon, and again it's a bargain. plus it runs on batteries, for portable programming.



Thanks!! [/B]

wanna buy an Alesis 3630 compressor/limiter/gate, its kind of similar to the dbx, cheap . . . PM me

Korg MicroKorg is the shit! its the same sound source as a Korg MS2000, but the small keys are kinda annoying, the vocoder is cool too

[obsol33t]

i need hardware.

[lofreakuenc']

The MicroKorg or the MicroKontroller? Both are the shit... Plus, they are cheap considering the prices for all the competitor's products.

[mattb]

I keep hearing really BAD things about the Roland sh-32, so im not going to mess with it. Has anybody used any Red Sound products at all? I'm interested in the Elevata and the Dark Star XP2.

I’m dropping the korg and the jomox drum machine as well, to possibly make room for a Virus Classic Rack.

The nord micro modular is being discontinued by clavia and as a result it's on sale at <A HREF=http://www.novamusik.com/search.asp?type=Manufacturer&page=1&keyword=27>novamusik.com</A> for 299$ i can’t pass that up.

I'm trying to find a deal on a Waldorf Micro q KB. Has anybody used Waldorf's synthesizers before?

[PYVND]

Avoid Red Sound--all of it. The Micro Q I have heard good things about. They are a little bit of a kept secret and you hunt around long enough you may find a clean one cheap. Word on Waldorf is that they are going out of business so beware.

The SH-32 is not BAD. It is ok and it has extras that may help you. It is good for that midrange stuff, but not good for heavy bass sounds. The best thing about it, is that it makes it easy to understand subtractive synthesis, so if you are new to that, then it is a worthwhile thing at $200 new. You can always dump it later (which is what I may do with mine at some point). It is fun, that's what I can say, but the Yamaha virtual analog stuff sounds much better.

[mattb]

about the SH-32 I heard the OS wasn't super stable, patches changing memory locations randomly, that kind of thing. come to think about it my mc-303 does all of that at times, so I guess that's just normal roland behavior?

How worth it is that Alesis Ion? I'm trying to create bangin' techno.

[nickn]

I've played with the ion in the store and it sounds pretty dope especially for the $$s. The keys are flimsy but it's the sound that counts. It's also got nice rubbery nobs.

[Tails]

The Ion is probably the best sounding hardware synth that you'll find at that price point... it sounds wonderful, never read a bad review, etc. etc.

If you want hard/gritty/strange material, don't discount the Virus yet. It's popular for *very* good reason!

[PYVND]

Just a heads up for the person having probs with the SH-32. You may want to make sure it has the latest OS (1.06). I bought mine late on blow out and it had the latest in it already. If yours does not, download and install from Roland's site.

My vote again on the Ion. Bad keyboard, great sounds. I read that the knobs sometimes jump around and stuff, but that is not yet confirmed. Still, it may be best to wait for the rack. What are the new Electribes like by the way? The cheapo second generation boxes--more specifically, the drum box.

[mattb]

thanks for all the input everybody. I got everything in last week and haven't been sleeping very much! I feel pretty confident that I have a good sound palette, now to get creative.

The xl-7, ugly yellow case non-withstanding, and I can always get more ROM's to continue to expand the sound set. The ability to sequence across 32 midi channels is awesome, this is the centerpiece of my setup. the pads on the front of it are very expressive, it's easy to get a quite sound just tap, tap, on them, or mash em down to make it yelp out loud. punching in and out of record mode is a breeze, although I wish it was possible to have a one measure count each time the pattern loops during record mode, it'll give you a count in measure, but wont continue. the menus for editing sys params kind of sucks though, I'm constantly going back through the manual to track down settings and such, and there are many, many pages in the menus that aren't even mentioned in the manual. On the whole the unit is designed really intelligently though. the 16 knobs act as volume and pan controls for each track, or midi channels in the sequencer, tap a button and the knobs are midi assignable controllers, so you can see how it's setup for live performance. The drum sounds that came with it are all right, not great. I'm going to try and find a PX-7 ROM for it. The touch strip will wear out your fingers if you try to go crazy with it, might make em bleed if you kept it up long enough. lol. The basses in the factory presets are really thunderous!

I went with every bodies suggestion and got an Access Virus. Just scrolling through the presets I heard many sounds used in dnb tracks, it's going to be fun shaping and playing with these sounds. It was a bitch to get it's controls mapped out to the XL-7, the controller values on the XL-7 only go up to 127, the default values on the virus go up past it, and some critical controllers, i.e. filter cutoff, is above this range, so you have to setup custom mappings, and the access manual is pretty damn worthless imo. It's still not all mapped yet. This is the Rack Classic, a rack mounted access b engine. so editing sounds via the buttons on the front panel can be pretty tedious, but I appreciate the capability this monster processes. Still haven't checked out Sound Diver yet.

The waldorf micro q in comparison was easy to setup to be controlled by the XL-7, within minutes of connecting them together I could play notes and surprisingly all 16 knobs on the XL-7 were controlling parameters. To describe this synth I would have to say "spacey". but I think that's just the presets. it's capable of deep, gut wrenching bass wrapped around beautiful sweeping pad sounds, and I really like the drum sounds it came with, real techy, right up my sonic alley. Editing patches is awesome! The front panel is laid out in such a way that you can access any parameter just by toggling a hat switch and then adjusting a knob, very nice. There is a patch randomize feature that provides some crazy results. Oh and to boot the manual is really intelligent, read it from cover to cover in one sitting, and have only had to look up a couple of specific things so far, but there is no index!!

so far so good!

[djgalbis]

I'm considering getting a microKorg myself, heard pretty good things about it, its also an affordable piece of hardware.

[gintonicd3monic]

i own a microkorg. its a lovely little machine. alot of nice bass sounds if you dont wanna go analog. yes it does have small keys, and for some this may be a hinderence. also if you love to tweak while playin it is alittle difficult with the limit of nobs; if this sounds like you then def go with the big brother ms2000 er whatnot. and it is only 4 voice polyphonic. altoghether it is a great machine though, and so tiny and can be used with batteries. so i woould recomend getting one, especially at its price; i think you'd find it a nice addition to your setup.

[djgalbis]

hmm, i was thinking about that. I have a very limited budget so I thought the microKorg would be the best thing for me. THough many of the tracks I've already written with VST synths have 16-polyphonic voices, I'm curious how the Korg will stand up.