help me first gear to buy

[steevio]

for me, it's a sherman, evolver and eventide H8000, and acidlab bassline2
that are still on my list, but after that, I don't think I'll ever need any more hardware.

haha bro, i dont know how many times ive said that

the sherman is ace mate, i ve had a FB 2 since they came out, i pretty much used it on every track in the last 7 or 8 years.

Herman is the man ! what a dude.

havent got an evolver, but i've got the prophet 8, sounds so much sweeter than the A6, i know its more limited modulation wise, but the interface is really nice and intuitive, and they now do the potentiometer model, wish i'd waited for that to come out.

[tone-def]

i got the desktop evolver and really enjoying it. i can't see myself selling it unless i can afford a poly evolver one day. it's so flexible and a lot easier to use than it looks. even though it's 8 encoders and buttons everything is in front of you clearly. they should have made the mopho like this...

i want to get the software editor so i can draw my own wavetables.

[Hades]

for me, it's a sherman, evolver and eventide H8000, and acidlab bassline2
that are still on my list, but after that, I don't think I'll ever need any more hardware.

haha bro, i dont know how many times ive said that

the sherman is ace mate, i ve had a FB 2 since they came out, i pretty much used it on every track in the last 7 or 8 years.

Herman is the man ! what a dude.

havent got an evolver, but i've got the prophet 8, sounds so much sweeter than the A6, i know its more limited modulation wise, but the interface is really nice and intuitive, and they now do the potentiometer model, wish i'd waited for that to come out.

I know I know,
I've said that many times too,
and the mrs rolls her big blue eyes every time I say this.
but I do mean this. Or otherwise I'll just be selling other synths if I'd get something more.
you get to a point where you feel it's overkill.

you know what I like about people like Herman and Dave Smith ?
The reply to you in person (or otherwise it's an extremely skilled person responding in their name, you never know of course)

If you wanna buy a Sherman, you can just pass by his place and have him give a demonstration for you.
I once drove to Roland Belgium to pick up my JX10 that was in for repair. Some sex-bomb of a secretary was making me wait for ages (while she had nothing to do) and looked at me as if I was from Jupiter when I used the word "synth".

If you get an evolver from ebay and it needs new knobs, you can send Dave a mail and he'll ship new knobs to you for free !
How cool is that ?


I still have to check out the Prophet 8.
And I'm happy I still haven't got an evolver uptill now, so I can have one with the superb new knobs.

But honestly, just getting the H8000 will set me back for sooooo long it's really gonna hurt. So most of that will have to wait. Except for the Sherman perhaps....

[Hades]

i got the desktop evolver and really enjoying it. i can't see myself selling it unless i can afford a poly evolver one day. it's so flexible and a lot easier to use than it looks. even though it's 8 encoders and buttons everything is in front of you clearly. they should have made the mopho like this...

i want to get the software editor so i can draw my own wavetables.

I'm still doubting whether I shouldn't be getting the desktop instead of the keyboard.
More than enough keys here, but it's the extra knobs that I'd like, and it's after all not that expensive for a keyboard version if you think of what you get for the package.

btw, did you ever consider making your own wavetables with an audio editor ?
I did this a few months ago, and the result was a lot of fun. Felt really artisanal, you know, kind of like making your own bread.
Just record some really short snippets of sound here and there, and import them into something like Audacity. Then zoom in and cut up really small parts that have approx. the same volume (or at least end or begin at approx the same level), then paste them together and import them into a sampler that lets you modulate the begin and end points, and voilà !
the result isn't breath-taking, but it's a lot of fun.
(and admit it : how many chaps can say they made their own wavetables ? at least you now you'll really have an interesting story to tell the grandchildren )

[Spurn]

wow. havent checked the thread in some time.
definitely a lot of info/advice given, esp. by you Hades, so thanks.

but yeah steevio thats pretty much what i thought.
i asked the question because i want to get an analog mixer and do mix downs out of the box and like many of us i want an allen and heath zed r16 and its not so much that i cant afford it (they dropped in price a bit recently and also i can get one from a site where i make payments, though it still would be a stretch) but moreso the question i have to pose myself is if this something i really NEED at the moment? ive only been "producing" (if i could even consider myself a producer) for only about 7-8 months now. i have so SO MUCH to learn and while it would be nice to have the high end stuff i know i would want in the future i wonder to myself if id even know what to do with it. but then also its like well ok once i DO know how to use it id already have that high end sh*t id want.

i can often be incredibly indecisive

anyway, yeah, as a rule i always make informed choices. i research the sh*t out of anything id potentially want to buy. i spent an entire month doing nothing but researching synths before i ever bought my first one. at first i was going to buy a few cheaper ones since i dont know much about synthesis and i just wanted to start learning but in the end i ended up finding a sweet deal on a prophet 08. in doing my research this was kind of like a dream synth for me and i never thought id own one for some time but i was rly happy to get it even though i dont know how to use it all that well yet. but if theres anything ive learned from reading these boards its to learn your gear in and out. so yeah, im learning

in any case i dont even think there is room in my bedroom studio to fit the zed, lol. its really cramped atm as it is. so for the time being the decision of whether or not to go for one is out of my hands. i should be moving within the next few months to a bigger apt so i think i'll just learn to mix in the box for now and once i can afford and have space for an outboard analog mixer i will treat myself to it.

[Spurn]

Hades, you are an interesting man, to say the least.

Steevio, can't you do the upgrade to the pot version for the prophet 08?
ive thought a little about doing this myself, mine suffers from the jumpy encoder problem.
also, sorry to hijack the thread a bit, but have you had any kind of problems with yours? about a week or so ago 2 of my voices died. i thought it was a fluke and researched it and read its fairly common with prophet 08s.

[tone-def]

but yeah steevio thats pretty much what i thought.
i asked the question because i want to get an analog mixer and do mix downs out of the box and like many of us i want an allen and heath zed r16 and its not so much that i cant afford it (they dropped in price a bit recently and also i can get one from a site where i make payments, though it still would be a stretch) but moreso the question i have to pose myself is if this something i really NEED at the moment? ive only been "producing" (if i could even consider myself a producer) for only about 7-8 months now. i have so SO MUCH to learn and while it would be nice to have the high end stuff i know i would want in the future i wonder to myself if id even know what to do with it. but then also its like well ok once i DO know how to use it id already have that high end sh*t id want.

imo the zed r16 is more a luxury than something you really need. your only just got your first synth so why do you need 16 inputs? there are plenty of other things for that money that will have a much bigger impact on your music. i was considering it for a while and decided there are too many good things about mixing ITB (total recall, more channels, better routing, faster workflow, takes up less space). i'm much rather spend all my money on synths and analog filters. much more fun!

[steevio]

@spurn

i havent checked for the rackmount model which is what ive got, but you can on the keyboard.

its a lot of money when youve only just bought it new anyway though.

no i havent had any problems with the encoders or the voices on mine.

you do know that the encoders have accelerators dont you ?
at first i thought mine were faulty till i sussed it out.

not good news that its a common problem about the voices.
are you 100% sure theyve died mate ?