I got rid of most of my hardware, just because of lack of space, and the cost of electricity in the UK is getting stupid!! (But that last one probably doesn’t mean much with regard to synths).
What I have left is a Yamaha AN1x and a x0xb0x. And even they might be replaced with a midi controller instead.
I did get a new laptop out of my gear sales though
Synths/Samplers
Korg MicroKorg
Korg MicroStation
Korg Electribe ESX-1
Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 08
Yamaha CS1X (not in use more than a decade)
Monitors/Headphones/Mic
Denon AH-D2000
Pioneer HDJ-1000
Beyerdynamic DT880
Adam A7 Nearfield-Monitors
Studio Projects C1 Condenser Mic
Behringer ECM8000 Measurement Mic
Planning to obtain a Virus TI or Radikal Technologies Spectralis 2.
I am personally just discovering synth hardware. For me it’s a great source of inspirataion currently and it’s kinda funny to explore what is possible with just a little 300 EUR synth like the microstation or the very limited ESX-1 sampler, for example.
i like having boundaries - always boosts creativity.
Probably i’ll even get a dedicated hardware sequencer in order to be able to write music without having to turn on a computer.
even though i could never live without renoise, i guess i’m a bit hardware-infected at the moment.
do you by any chance follow Chris Randall’s blog over at Analogue Industries? he has been doing quite a bit of these ‘no computer’ experiments lately, you might want to check some of that out if you haven’t already.
also, for a cheap and basic but hackable and open source synth, check out the MeeBlip. i have it, assembled it myself (not much effort at all), and it can do some pretty nice stuff. plus, they’ve recently upgraded it a bit as well so the new one can do even more. i believe the price is around EUR 150 or so, pretty cheap (ah, $139 for the Quick Build Kit).
i neither heard about Chris Randall nor the MeeBlip synth before, so thanks for sharing the info.
The meeblip certainly looks interesting. It’s a welcome fact that it’s quite compact as i’m running out of space on my desks already.
Got some investigations to do now
audio damage plugs are well known, but i didn’t know the man behind it so far.
currently listening to “smooth I” and i’m especially impressed by the detail and depth of the sound. he did an awesome job at creating a broad, broad stage with high transparency and clarity. pure quality and i’m really enjoying it.
reminds a lot of the early aphex twin stuff, without blatently immitating, which is a plus as well.
@keith303: i figured you’d appreciate his stuff. i keep up with his blog because he has a writing style i like (rude, obnoxious and honest to death and knows (or at least seems to know) what he is talking about. plus, he’s always trying out new stuff, half of which i do not understand but find entertaining nonetheless.
Also, the less instruments piece of gears : computer, Presonus Firebox audio interface, Yamaha HS50 monitors, Beyerdynamic DT990 pro headphones, Behringer BCF2000 control surface
On the software side : Reaper running Renoise through Rewire + a bunch of free VST plugins (plus two D16 Group VSTs I bought).
I think that’s all so far. What I want to own now is a Roland Alpha Juno, but don’t found one yet.
edit : oh I also have a M-Audio Axiom 61 but don’t use it any more as I’m not really into finding melodies with a keyboard at the moment. That’s a shame because it costed me about 260€ and think I can’t even sell it because it appeared to have a problem about one week after it came back from the maintenance… too bad, the warranty is now gone
)