Your favorite, most used piece of gear over the past five years?

[RABid]

Not the instrument that you wanted most, or the most expensive, or, well, it does not really have to be a basic instrument. What have you found yourself using the most. Whether it is a guitar or a pedal, hardware or software, a microphone or an amp, or even computer or software. What is the most frequent thing you grab when you want to make music?

 

For me it is a bit of a surprise. I saved up and bought a Fantom 7 (the expensive version) as my forever keyboard. I bought a MacBookPro and Komplete, and found myself playing drums at church, but the thing I grab most often for making music is the Elektron Syntakt. When I first bought it I did not care for the sound. It took some time for me to learn how to tame the aggressive nature and pull it into my preferred mellow, old school analog sound pallet. It is small, has a great sequencer, and a nice variety of sound, all menu diving is logical. I've had a lot of groove boxes over the years but this is the first one since the Emu XL-7 that I really connected with. And the Syntakt has a much better sequencer. It just fits me like a favorite guitar. 

[Bill Heins]

No matter what I'm going to write or record I religiously grab my doubleneck electric guitar...it keeps me amused while the PC and Nuendo load up

 

Unfortunately I can't work on anything other than what I just came up with on the guitar

[mpn_user7629]

[harmonizer]

I play in a 7-person covers band, in which 6 of us sing at various times, two of us play horns and keys, and all of us play instruments at various times. So we need a lot of inputs. I am so incredibly pleased with the Zoom L-20 I bought in 2021/2022. It serves as both our live mixing board and multitrack recorder, and does well with both. It has 18 completely independent inputs. It has 6 completely independent monitor sends, each of which can have their own separate mix, which allows us to start moving toward in-ear monitors.

[Notes_Norton]

In this order.

 

1) Sennheiser MD421 mic - since I use it for both sax and vocals.

2) Yamaha YTS-52 sax

3) Yamaha WX5 wind MIDI controller

4) Parker DF522NN guitar (NN for Notes Norton model)

 

I gig for a living.

[David Emm]

Logic's Sampler above all, but that's a bit of a cheat. It holds a mass of E-Mu Proteus, Korg and D-50 samples, plus a cross-section of quirky fringe & freeware sounds. Then there are Logic's own pianos, synths and orchestral sets, which earn their places. Sampler is my home base.    

 

That aside, I'm a Mellotron fan, so M-Tron Pro is a regular player. Its great for adding heft to a layered sound. Some cleaner, more useful sounds bat well above their basic weight class. There are the famous grainy sounds and then higher-end things like Chamberlin strings.

 

Cherry Audio's ELKA-X and Memorymode are my go-to polys. I already knew the Moog Way, but the Synthex has a unique appeal that draws me in. If I layer strings from that with Moog strings, I can open a wormhole, yikes.

 

Chromaphone 3 gets the bulk of my actual programming time. Its a physical modeler, but part of the GUI feels subtractive, so its easy to stretch things, to see where they go.    

 

I sniff new things like anyone else, but the more I comprehend what I have, the less new gear I seem to need. Blasphemous, ain't it?

[Anderton]

Most used is Studio One. All the music involves that at some point. 

Helix Native is my go-to amp sim because of all the customized presets I can't do with anything else. Sweetwater even asked me to write an article on why I use it. Honorable mention goes to AmpliTube, which I use mostly for solos.

For electric bass, it's the CWITEC TX16Wx sampler in just about everything. This is because I sampled every bass I could get my hands on while at Gibson, so I have a ton of bass instrument sounds I like. 

For keyboards, I like to program my own sounds. My mainstays are, believe it or not, the bundled instruments in Studio One. They're simple and fast to program. Next up is Kontakt, the Korg Collection, SampleTank, and whichever Cherry Audio synth is most appropriate for the desired sound.

My default guitar is a 2014 Gibson Les Paul with the robot tuning. Laugh if you want, but I pick up the guitar, it's tuned in a few seconds, and I start playing. So there. For single coil I have a gorgeous black Fender Player Telecaster and a Gibson Melody Maker. When I want to really lean into the guitar, it's a PRS. 

[Dave Bryce]

Over the past five years, it'd be hard to say whether it continues to be my K. Kawai grand piano or one of my guitars - probably either my Fender Telecaster or Gibson SG.

 

dB

[Chip McDonald]

Blackmagic ATEM Mini video switcher came out just in time for when I switched my lesson business to online in 2020.  

 

Accepts any HDMI combinations with no fuss.  Good hardware chromakey functionality.  Quick source switching.  Well thought out layout, HDMI preview output, USB streaming camera source implementation. 

 

4 years of daily operation, almost flawless.  Pretty optimal for the cost, only just now finding competition.  

 

Yamaha THR 10 as a runner up for size vs. utility, combination use as a USB interface, straightforward interface implementation, sound.  ASIO drivers being cross compatible with the Steinberg interfaces is convenient, and they're very reliable and hassle free, low latency and resource-light.

 

 

[Anderton]

Hope you weren't too impacted by Helene...

[David Emm]

On 9/30/2024 at 1:08 PM, Anderton said:

Most used is Studio One. All the music involves that at some point. 

... For keyboards, I like to program my own sounds. My mainstays are, believe it or not, the bundled instruments in Studio One. They're simple and fast to program. Next up is Kontakt, the Korg Collection, SampleTank, and whichever Cherry Audio synth is most appropriate for the desired sound.

 

I used to have a heady circle of keys and winnowed it down to 98% Logic. I always approached things with a tad of frustration, wanting it all in front of me like a piano. I've mostly achieved that, although it took X amount of mental heavy-lifting to develop the required discipline. When you speak of Studio One, I get it. Logic's bundled instruments are sometimes too vanilla for my goals, but the solid ones win big. 

 

Some of my gear is within the OP's 5-year arena, but its gratifying that some is not. Nothing rocks like known tools you've learned to grab by instinct.

 

[David Emm]

23 hours ago, Dave Bryce said:

Over the past five years, it'd be hard to say whether it continues to be my K. Kawai grand piano or one of my guitars - probably either my Fender Telecaster or Gibson SG.

 

I'll always wax philosophical over Kawai. I had limited access to two of them while in school and they felt like they offered the best of both Yamaha and Baldwin. Like synths, the small touches can feel wonderfully defining. When you look up and realize you've been playing for two hours, that's a keeper. 

[dmitch57]

Amplitube. No matter what guitar or bass I'm playing, and whether I'm recording, writing, or performing, everything goes through Amplitube 5. I don't even think of it as an amp sim any more. It's a guitar processor.

[cphollis]

I splurged on a nice acoustic grand years ago (Bosie 200), and it's been my go-to for practice, composition and relaxation.  Doesn't get to gigs much though  

[EscapeRocks]

My most used and favorite piece of gear would be my Radial Pro D2   DI box.

I've had this one for 12 years.

It's rock solid.  It's been rained on, stepped on, used as a door stop while loading in, kicked numerous time, and even run over.  Yet it always works.  So how ever many gigs I've played over these 12 years, this is the one constant.

[Jwave]

Received my Kurzweil PC4 (with Purgatory Creek Vintage Keyboard Collection) exactly five years ago. I’ve used it for 99% of my playing since then, in tandem with two iPads (with headphone outputs) running mostly forScore, OnSong, Symphony Pro and Amazing Slow Downer.

[Nowarezman]

Nothing too fancy - my Pavan TP-30 classical guitar is always in reach, ready to go.  Cedar top.  Every song I've written in the last 20 years, give or take, I wrote with the Pavan.  I'm actually more skilled with keys than guitars.  But the feel and expressive of guitars...that wakes up the musician in me. 

 

nat

 

[Sundown]

Hi RABid,

 

With hardware, I’d be pressed to name something other than my Samson S-Patch patchbay. As a home studio rat being able to quickly patch any instrument or device anywhere is priceless. I like to record synths directly into my RME A/D, so being able to instantly skip the mixer with nothing but a pair of balanced patch cables is gold. It’s well built, flexible, and affordable.

 

With software, it’s gotta be UAD’s Manley Massive Passive EQ. Bar none, it truly is the one plugin that makes any audio sound better. It’s always in my mastering/finalizing chain. The SSL G buss compressor (UAD) is also a mainstay.

 

For instruments, my used Kurzweil PC361 is probably outside the 5-year window, but there isn’t a composition or recording that doesn’t feature a part or two from it. And it’s a phenomenal 61-key MIDI controller. For such a limited ROM, the orchestral sounds are still a standout and the other sounds are quite good too (very usable in compositions). I haven’t found any modern hardware instruments that I’m willing to part cash with, that would actually help me finish projects.

 

And last but certainly not least, my room. I built a home recording studio in my basement in late 2022, and while it’s not perfect by any stretch, the isolation is stunning. I can crank 90 dB out of the monitors at any time of day, and no one will hear it in the house (my real listening level is 70-75 dB). There’s simply no replacement for having a workspace that you can use at any hour of the day, with speakers. It’s not cheap, but for a home studio guy, it’s the cat’s meow.

 

Todd

[Chip McDonald]

On 10/1/2024 at 2:20 AM, Anderton said:

Hope you weren't too impacted by Helene...

Well... Our shop/outbuilding was impacted, but our house wasn't.  It could be worse. 

 

(...long.  I've got nothing better to do in this circumstance, save to document ...)

 

Worse: my wife and I decided  to get "a non-specific covid like respiratory illness" the middle of last week, so we've been really, really sick.   

 

I've been sitting in the dark, 83 degrees+ humidity.  Water finally showed up at a Publix yesterday.  We've  got running water but it's of sketchy quality. The Georgia side of town has no running water.  We put a generator on credit, so tonight our portable A/C has the room down to a luxurious 74 degrees!

 

Effectively every house has a tree on it. We were lucky in that none were close enough to hit the house, but our property is back in the woods and we were stuck back here, trees blocking  us in for a few days until we got someone to cut us out.  

 

 Lots of blocks locked in by trees across the roads.  Power lines down everywhere.  My father's subdivision in Martinez over the river looks like a pine tree logging camp.  Literally.

 

 Bottled water showing up yesterday was big, and there is finally gas.  We couldn't get out of our driveway until Saturday, but ... it's like Mad Max Walking Dead Lite.  Zombie shell-shocked people converging on gas stations, carrying gas cans.  Cars out of gas on the road all over, people walking in the middle of stalled traffic with "need water" signs.

 

 Lots of agitation.  Backed up traffic everywhere, saw a guy get out of his car sitting in traffic and started pointing at cars and screaming.  Where there had been gas, the lines stretch for over a mile: saw a fist fight from afar at a gas station.   Lots of yelling.  Lines to get in grocery stores: while waiting to get in Publix had a lady in front of me take a swing at an employee that was taking her cart inside.   Frenzy at the pallett of water, but they had power yesterday and AIR CONDITIONING....

 

 The sirens have been 24/7 until yesterday.  I realized this after getting home from the Hunt For Water, and thinking I was hearing sirens (hmmm... It's weird, it's kind of like even now I think I hear them in the distance?) and I realized I wasn't, I was imagining it.  It's exactly like if you've been in the ocean for awhile, then you go inside and it feels like you're still being bobbled around... It was constant sirens, more than even 2020, ... Weird, it's not like tinnitus, it's like I'm half asleep and thinking I'm hearing the TV in the adjacent room, but it's off.  I thought that had gone away, strange...

 

 They turned the power on the street a block over.  And also the drop that goes to our out, *whose line is laying on the ground under a tree, across our fence and backyard*.  So while I'm glad I can use my phone longer now by charging it in there, and my CPAP battery - 5 hours of sleep last night - *I've got to be hyper vigilant about walking my dog outside*, he's accustomed to opening the door when he wants and going out there.  I've told Dominion power and they're like "we're busy".  They still have it listed as out, like our house, but... I noticed a light was on.  

 

 The lines are down everywhere, across streets, blocking streets.  People drive over them, walk next to them.  How many are energized like the one in my yard?  

 

 I'd already canceled lessons last week because I was sick (still sick), now another week, probably another after this week... I'm broke.  A perfect storm.

 

 I'm not sure how they got the forecast so wrong.  I have students in Atlanta, "the lights didn't even flicker".  The eastern side of the wall has the most power; whoever decided it was a "tropical storm", just because hurricanes didn't used to keep going over land, is maybe to blame.  It was a hurricane with tornados for 5+ hours non-stop.  Giant trees and their root balls scooped up and blown across yards, cars moved around, houses disappeared, trees lopped off the top with the bark shaved off...  With the treeline gone everything looks different.  

 

 Thankfully it's only been in the mid-80s to 90, no power for weeks in 100 degrees would be unbearable with sickness.  Not that it's not miserable now.  I'm not sure why we had gas stations closed immediately.  Lowes managed to get pallets of gas cans and generators in, but Publix, Kroger and Walmart couldn't get water here?  Some companies  contracted  gas tankers to come in for their employees.  In prior emergencies I've seen the Guard out directing traffic (another thing: no traffic lights until some places today.  A LIGHT OUT IS A 4 WAY STOP.  Not "all ways green")... Oh yeah, we've been getting useful EBS messages like "the 911 service is not operable.  Please seek alternative ways to contact 911"

 

What....?

 

No infrastructure.  Almost a week without water, gas shortage?  We're going to have these storms more and more often, and more powerful.  Pro tip:

 

Just buy a 5,000+ watt generator now.   You need one.  You do.

 

Buy at least 2 battery packs with charge controllers and solar panels to easily charge 2 phones.  Just do it now.

 

Have a separate solar/battery set up for a fan, and one lamp.  

 

 Have a cistern and a propane grill to boil water.  Don't count on having water.

 

 Solar powered radio.  The phones aren't working well, not at all on the west side of town, and data doesn't work during the day really.  You'll want alternative means of getting information.

 

*Everyone will eventually have all of those things*.  Absolutely.  100 Year Storms coming every year, every where. 

 

*Ice cap/glacial water can go in the air, not just the oceans*.  Look at the news, floods everywhere, constantly.  If the U.S. doesn't implement some sort of New Deal/CCC plan to refurbish infrastructure, make roads and buildings capable of handling climate change, the U.S. will degenerate into a pseudo third world situation, 10 years tops.  We've made this bed, to sleep in it will be tough.  

 

 

[Nowarezman]

21 minutes ago, Chip McDonald said:

It could be worse sitting in the dark, 83 degrees+ humidity We've  got running water but it's of sketchy quality a generator on credit every house has a tree on it blocking  us in for a few someone to cut us out Power lines down everywhere finally gas people converging on gas stations, carrying gas cans Lots of agitation.  Backed up traffic a fist fight from afar at a gas station sirens 24/7 exactly like if you've been in the ocean for awhile, then you go inside and it feels like you're still being bobbled around I'm half asleep and thinking I'm hearing the TV in the adjacent room, but it's off.  I thought that had gone away, strange... The lines are down everywhere, across streets, blocking streets.  People drive over them, walk next to them.  How many are energized like the one in my yard? I'm broke.  A perfect storm Giant trees and their root balls scooped up and blown across yards, cars moved around, houses disappeared, trees lopped off the top with the bark shaved off... we had gas stations closed immediately No infrastructure.  Almost a week without water, gas shortage?  We're going to have these storms more and more often, and more powerful. 

I hear you.  It's bad.  The worst thing going on are politics where doing nothing means saving money and cutting taxes and getting votes while the quality of life goes shit-sour.  But we still have voices, votes, and moxie.  Up with People.  All People.  Basics.  Give, Love, Work.  Nothing else overcomes.

 

nat

 

[analogika]

On 9/29/2024 at 3:21 AM, mpn_user7629 said:

 

NORD FLUTE!

[KenElevenShadows]

On 9/28/2024 at 2:27 PM, RABid said:

Not the instrument that you wanted most, or the most expensive, or, well, it does not really have to be a basic instrument. What have you found yourself using the most. Whether it is a guitar or a pedal, hardware or software, a microphone or an amp, or even computer or software. What is the most frequent thing you grab when you want to make music?

 

This depends on what I am doing.

 

Keyboards: I play the Korg MS-20 patchbay analog synth most often, followed by a Teenage Engineering OP-1.

 

Computer: I am still using the same ancient computer, a Mac Pro 1,1 (2006). This isn't so much because I'm a Luddite. It's more because it works great and is inexpensive (no subscriptions, no having to continually re-purchase plugins, and having ample, fast storage, no updating anything not having to purchase a modern computer). 

 

Guitar: Girlbrand Kanji Girl guitar.

 

Guitar amp: Carr Rambler amplifier

[Greg Mein]

For me it would likely be the Taylor T5 I bought at Gearfest in 2018. Around that time my wife and I had decided to form our own duo and this guitar had the range of tone that worked great for that; classic rock to acoustic while the playability was nearly as good as any of my electrics.