Your Latest Purchase (music related)

[KuruPrionz]

You are still working on your First Ten guitars, right? Give it time...

Depends on what you call a guitar;

 

I have five electrics, three acoustics (four if you include the acoustic Variax) and four basses....so, nine guitars if you don't count the basses, thirteen if you do.

 

dB

 

They are all "Bass Guitars", no? Your first baker's dozen!!!!

 

I'm at 15 strung, tuned and fully functional - not including one banjo. There's at least 3-4 in the works, all the parts are here and waiting. Y'all are legit

 

Try though I may, I can still only play one at a time...

[Konnector]

"Try though I may, I can still only play one at a time..."

 

 

Then you need one of these.....

[Stokely]

I'm in "buy plugins" mode, it's that time of year. Do I NEED more plugins? Some would say "no" I don't see any need to buy any hardware any time soon as my band is pretty much dead in the water. Actually one of the better gigging clubs in the area FINALLY is letting us play there after 7 years of trying (you know how club booking people can be, if they take a dislike to a band for whatever reason...)--and I won't be doing the gig. The singer hasn't even brought it up to me as she likely knows I won't do it...it's an indoor club so that's right out. Probably means I'll be replaced, I don't blame them but I also don't have any regrets not doing it. Anywho....

 

Just picked up my first "channel strip" plugin on a whim. It's a Neve one from Plugin Alliance--psa, they have a deal going where almost any of their plugins can be had for 29 bucks. I almost bought Thorn (a synth) because I have the CM version--but I also know the CM version is not much cut down from the regular Thorn. I also have a strict 'no new synths' edict that came down from my center of better judgement, which I thought had closed for business. I first learned mixing on a Neve at school so it was a bit of nostalgia, but forums had good things to say and the demos sounded fantastic.

 

Previously, I had picked up a Theremin instrument for 9 bucks as I actually needed one for a project! Also a strange-instrument percussive thing that beggars description. Kontakt is EXTREMELY hazardous to your no-new-plugins lifestyle if you actually embark on such a thing.

 

I'm on the lookout for a dedicated plate reverb plugin--Valhalla is always there for 50 bucks but I may go for something else if it goes on sale. I've always loved plates, again maybe because I learned on a real one (it was basically the only reverb in the first studio I was in.) Waves abbey roads plates are supposed to be nice, Denise perfect plate etc etc. Again do I need more reverb that would make a difference in my mixes? Do I even have constant mixing material? NO!

[Pigmeat]

Sold a few things and got a MicroFreak Vocoder Edition and a Positive Grid Spark guitar amp. Enjoying both so far.

[nursers]

Took delivery of my Summit this week as pictured. I also have a near disaster story to go with it.

 

I moved the DX7 to the top tier of the stand to make room for the Summit. Had to go do some stuff so didn't put the Summit on the stand that evening. The next morning while at work I get a call from a family member saying 'one of your keyboards has fallen off your keyboard stand'. The DX had fallen from that top tier, somehow MISSED the Kronos on the bottom tier (which was poking out further that it is pictured now) but managed to tear the Kronos cloth cover on the way down. The DX hit the floor on a corner, tour a hole in my carpet etc. And still works fine If it had wiped out the Kronos on the way down I may have had a nervous breakdown. And very thankful I hadn't put the Summit on the stand because could have taken it out as well. The MODX also wasn't on the stand at time of the fall so feel very lucky. Fun times

[Doerfler]

I also have a near disaster story to go with it.

It's Halloween.

[Michael Wright]

[KuruPrionz]

Just installed IK Multimedia Alternate Keys. They had it on sale for $19.99, with Jam Points it was $13.99.

 

Some great sounds, a few are possibly unintentional. Playing the harpsichord down low creates a punchy bass sound with a nice taste of distortion to it.

There are some nice reed sounds - melodica, accordion and chord organ.

The toy piano sounds are fun, especially the spacey ones.

 

It is different than all the other sounds I have so I'm good with it. That said, I needed another plugin like a hole in the head.

 

I've accepted that plugins are like guitars only worse. So it goes...

[Tom Williams]

Three goodies to augment my new Covid-inspired recording hobby:

• Packing quilts to hang in my music room. Of course, the Harbor Freight store put them on sale 25% off the morning after I bought them.
  
• Grommets to make the packing quilts hang-able.
  
• SSD 5.5 Drum plugin -- looks like it will require the entire night to download, some 17 GB. They were on sale this week.
  

[Legatoboy]

DrumGenius

[BluMunk]

I just ordered a Stream Deck. I'm on zoom all the time for work, and have started giving online piano lessons with a two-camera setup. I'm looking forward to not have to go to the keyboard/mouse/screen every time I want to switch camera views. And, having a separate input device for macros for notation software and Logic feels like it'll open up a lot of great workflows.

 

Plus, pretty customizable light-up buttons. Can't go wrong with that, right?

[ProfD]

Last week, I picked up a Yamaha Reface DX. It satisfies my FM fix.

[Mykhailo]

Refurbished Kurzweil PC 88MX.

[NewImprov]

Got frustrated with my recorded Rhodes sound being noisy, so I did a serious upgrade to the signal chain. First was this:

 

I know it's really nerdy to get excited by a DI, but, wow! The Rhodes just through this, no processing or EFX, is amazing. I can hear the different overtones on each bass note, I can tell whatever inconsistencies are there from note to note. And the character of the instrument is just gorgeous, I've always had a kind of mid-range tubbiness in the signal with other DI's, even my good Radials, this sounds completely clear up and down the instrument. I guess the RN in RNDI stands for Real Nice?

 

Also added this to the power the effects I run through in my way in to the DI:

 

The FX chain I have been running is Rhodes -> Voodoo Labs Giggity preamp/EQ pedal -> custom Rat Clone -> Moog MiniFooger Ring Mod -> Keely Phaser -> Eventide H9. The PowerMini cleans up a significant amount of the noise I was getting, and the RNDI sounds so good, I may no longer need the Giggity in the signal chain. Anyway, I just patched all this together and spent the last 2 hours playing Rhodes through the studio monitors, and it just sounds great! Really happy with the results of this upgrade.

[KuruPrionz]

Got frustrated with my recorded Rhodes sound being noisy, so I did a serious upgrade to the signal chain. First was this:

 

I know it's really nerdy to get excited by a DI, but, wow! The Rhodes just through this, no processing or EFX, is amazing. I can hear the different overtones on each bass note, I can tell whatever inconsistencies are there from note to note. And the character of the instrument is just gorgeous, I've always had a kind of mid-range tubbiness in the signal with other DI's, even my good Radials, this sounds completely clear up and down the instrument. I guess the RN in RNDI stands for Real Nice?

 

Also added this to the power the effects I run through in my way in to the DI:

 

The FX chain I have been running is Rhodes -> Voodoo Labs Giggity preamp/EQ pedal -> custom Rat Clone -> Moog MiniFooger Ring Mod -> Keely Phaser -> Eventide H9. The PowerMini cleans up a significant amount of the noise I was getting, and the RNDI sounds so good, I may no longer need the Giggity in the signal chain. Anyway, I just patched all this together and spent the last 2 hours playing Rhodes through the studio monitors, and it just sounds great! Really happy with the results of this upgrade.

 

 

Those are beautiful toys!!!!!

[Rusty Mike]

Been a little spendy lately, pretty much centered around home studio improvements,

 

• Pair of Presonus Eris E5 monitors for truer sound compared to my older Gemini M808-v2's
  
• Monitor stands and isolation pads for the E5's
  
• iMac 27" 5K, 6-core i5, 24GB RAM and 1TB SSD. It replaces my mid-2011 iMac 21" as my music workstation
  
• Arturia Keylab 61 mkII controller keyboard. Included Analog Lab, B3-V, Mini-V, Stage 73-V and Piano-V software licenses. I needed a synth action with aftertouch. It serves as a control surface for Cubase as well as an upper tier controller for my Nord Stage 2EX should we ever start gigging again. Added Roland EV-5 and OnStage sustain pedals to it as well.
  
• Casiotone CT-S300. With both my wife and I recently retired, we had plans to travel a whole lot more in 2020. The keyboard was going to travel with me. Travel plans obviously put on hold, but the Casio is great for hanging outside and playing stuff. Keyboard feel is much better than expected for the price point.
  
• 2020 iPad Pro 11" 256GB. Used for soft instruments, some production and is always with me
  
• The Famous E Electric Piano. The sound I've always wanted. For me, nothing else comes close. Works with the Kontakt Player I already own.
  
• Various software expansions to Groove Agent, Analog Lab and VST plugins for Cubase to broaden the palette
  

 

 

Most of this stuff has really helped me make better quality mixes of the virtual big band tracks. I plan to do a lot more home studio stuff now.

[clusterchord]

last few months:

 

• Yamaha CS50 - rare mint cond w shiny tolex. sounds wonderful, have been jamming on it ever since..
   
  
• MXR Phase 100 script logo. i was looking for the phaser used on wind and wuthering for yrs, but didn't know what i was, and then..
   
  
• Oberheim Matrix 6R - havent had dco synths in years. but kept coming back to its ambient/idm-ish demos.. something special about it
  

 

 

[The Real MC]

Latest restored project: Leslie 760 rescued from years of storage in a barn. Needed new belts, new bass driver, electronics restored. The original tolex would no longer adhere to the cabinet so I stripped it and had it painted black. The black finish needed something so I added the Marshall logo... really messes with guitar gearspotters you would not believe how many do a double take when they see this thing. Now gigging the 760 with my XK3 in the band, it sounds great and the band loves it.

 

http://analoguediehard.com/tour/leslie-760/leslie-marshall.jpg

[Dave Bryce]

Electric guitar #6 - the American Stratocaster.

 

 

I'm starting to feel like maybe this guitar thing could be getting out of hand.

 

dB

[KuruPrionz]

Real MC - that's awesome!!! Just sold a bunch of pointy Peavey logos, I would have given you one if I'd known, that would really bend some brains!!!

 

@ Sir Dave B: Y'all just getting started! Plus you choose pretty ones so flipping them later if you decide to will go well. Gotta love the maple necks!!!

 

Oh and a Blue Encore 300 should arrive today. Nice live vocal mic, will be fun to try it for recording as well. $60 delivered, grabbed it. If it holds up like I remember these it will be a safe choice for gigs, something I won't worry about. Having had mics stolen off the stage (once and never again!!), I get a bit twitchy using my Shure KSM8 - not cheap and it shouldn't be. Love singing through it but I can settle for peace of mind...

[MAJUSCULE]

Just pulled the trigger on a new interface - an Antelope Zen Tour. Not the current Synergy Core version, an open box model of the original. Kind of an impulse buy as I probably have other things that needed to be taken care of, but the deal was just too good to pass up. Thought about it for a few days and it was still sitting there so I went for it. I'm moving my studio into a slightly bigger room at the end of the month and will be needing monitor stands, a power conditioner, maybe a patch bay, some wall treatment, amp repairs, etc. But this was just under $1400 CDN shipped to my door. Plenty of I/O, interesting looking FPGA/DSP processing stuff, looks pretty slick.

 

Looking forward to trying it out!

[The Real MC]

Real MC - that's awesome!!! Just sold a bunch of pointy Peavey logos, I would have given you one if I'd known, that would really bend some brains!!!

 

Oh I got Peavey badges... Behringer badges... John Deere...

 

There's an annual get-together where synthheads bring their analog synth toys... I brought my Oberheim FVS and taped the Behringer badge on it. That got some laughs

[KuruPrionz]

Real MC - that's awesome!!! Just sold a bunch of pointy Peavey logos, I would have given you one if I'd known, that would really bend some brains!!!

 

Oh I got Peavey badges... Behringer badges... John Deere...

 

There's an annual get-together where synthheads bring their analog synth toys... I brought my Oberheim FVS and taped the Behringer badge on it. That got some laughs

 

 

Nice! My all time favorite brand badge is now on the front of my clone AC-15 Top Cut amp. I got it from my Dad's shop, an ancient portable swamp cooler. Porta-Kool!

See attached photos.

[mate stubb]

Pontiac Firebird speaker.

 

http://hotrodmotm.com/images/misc/mixx_rig.jpg

[Markyboard]

Won"t be able to use these until I can hold a COVID safe MAKCFH.

 

 

http://mobileimages.lowes.com/product/converted/043168/043168449298.jpg

[Threadslayer]

How many KCF members does it take to ...

Oops! Wrong thread.

[Mighty Motif Max]

Cubase Pro 10.5.

 

 

I started with AI 8 five years ago, updated to AI 9.5, and eventually went to Elements 9.5. Updated to Elements 10, and I've been on that and more recently Elements 10.5 for the last two years or so.

[UnderGroundGr]

Arturia FX Collection

 

iZotope Holiday Bundle

[Sam CA]

Arturia FX Collection

 

iZotope Holiday Bundle

 

The element series bundle?

[brenner13]

After a two-month wait...the thing is genius! Digit by Poly Effects.