What new piece of gear have you got that has...

[fragments]

I use to have the same mindset that everything needed to be quantized. But once I started using my ipad synths I didn't have much of an option seeing as it's just recorded audio. Personally I think it sounds better now. Having things just a little off time really makes the track feel less sterile.

Also this...MIDI drift is a god send compared to a rigid software setup

[3rdeye]

Virus TI Snow for me, within a couple of hours it became indispensable. Although I've got a fair bit of hardware, I'm terribly lazy with it, so the TI is perfect for my workflow.

[cyclopian]

MicroBrute: Honestly, everyone should own one of these. I don't like it for bass, but it's great for leads and sound FX and even percussion. If you want to get into layering and resampling (which I am guessing most around here would) you can pretty much do anything with it. I love just turning it on and noodling away for both melodies and patches. Its so immediate! I do think it needs a nice chorus, delay or reverb for it to sit right because it has that dry, dusty analog sound. It's internal sequencer is pretty inspirational as well. It also uses 1/8th inch modular I/O so the potential to integrate it in various ways with other gear is present.

Could you, in detail, explain what makes this better/more useful than a midi keyboard and a synth plugin? Not critical, just interested, because clearly stuff like this is something that many want... hm?

Personally I find MIDI controllers fiddly and have always ended up having to fine tune my knob adjustments with a mouse or entering values with a keyboard. Also, I have to turn on my computer, load my DAW, blah blah blah. I can flip on the Brute, plug in my headphones or plug it into the mixer and get to work. It is that immediate tactile experience. You can rely on the MicroBrute as an instrument. There are some many things involved in a MIDI controller and VST working correctly. Also, I love the sound--but let me say immediately that I think most high quality VST instruments all have a unique sound based on their features, as do all digital and analog synthesizers. MIDI controller + VST doesn't feel like a instrument to me. It feels like a too-complex amalgamation of separate tools that kinda sorta work together. I find the entire DAW environment uninspiring and more geared toward mixing and fine tuning arrangements. While I can flip some switches with my hardware setup and more or less start jamming away w/o worrying about a computer at all. Also in this vein...how many MIDI controllers and how much processing power would one need to have a control for all parameters just a hand-gesture away? I can immediately access 95% of my controls, parameters etc with hardware. Most MIDI controllers don't give you that...(Maschine and Push come close).

I'm also very interested in doing live dubs, live PA, live takes etc...whatever the heck ya want to call it. I prefer recording 4 tracks live off my interface until I hit the sweet spot with everything, then mixing it later.

So I guess the benefits I see in it might diminish if one was working mostly in the box. But I would still argue you could sit with the Brute in your recliner wrecking noises with yer headphones on and that is something you really can't quite do with software.

I mean...for 300 bucks you could buy a nice VST and decent controller...or you could try a cool hardware synth : ) I guess that is the heart of what I am getting at. Give it a shot, see where it takes you. Fuck, you can probably sell it for 260ish used easily. So, you got to rent and try an awesome analog mono for 40 dollars ;p

Edit: just to be clear, I'm only saying I hardware is better for me. DAWs feel like programming a database to me. My hardware setup feels like playing this customizable modular instrument.

That sounds great, now that you say it that way dude. This would have convinced me - but what puts me off is that it's recorded as audio. If this was a hardware synth that controlled a plugin and the stuff you played would be recorded as midi it would be sick, but now it's all audio and thats not always what you want, at least I like to keep my stuff midi. How do you deal with that? (quantizing etc)?

The microbrute actually has a usb connection that allows you control the synth via your daw, and write midi patterns into your DAW from the microbrute. It has worked seamlessly with Ableton so far for me.

(also nice because it can be used as a midi controller for other VSTs, only the keys though, the knobs/sliders dont send out any midi info as far as I'm aware)

The only problem after that is that you cant save 'presets'. I've just been taking photos of the knob positions with my phone though so I can recall a 'preset' that way if need be.

Overall, the microbrute has become one of my personal favorite pieces of gear. Like Bouncingfish said, Its just so fun to turn the power switch on a start fiddling. Its quite a simple synth in terms of its singnal flow, but overall its still very flexible.

I actually just got done with a 3 hour session running my microbrute into Korg's super shitty monotron delay unit and into my DAW; endless hours of fun to be had IMO

[knobgoblin]

For me it was the elektron machinedrum. It was my first bit of hardware and it totally changed the way I made music. Each time I get an elektron instrument I get further and further away from the computer, to the point now where I usually only use my daw as a two track recorder and do minimal eq and limiting. I am much more comfortable expressing my ideas on elektrons sequencers than on a piano grid. I actually feel totally lost nowadays when I try to write sequences in ableton...
Their workflow just clicked for me.

[fragments]

For me it was the elektron machinedrum. It was my first bit of hardware and it totally changed the way I made music. Each time I get an elektron instrument I get further and further away from the computer, to the point now where I usually only use my daw as a two track recorder and do minimal eq and limiting. I am much more comfortable expressing my ideas on elektrons sequencers than on a piano grid. I actually feel totally lost nowadays when I try to write sequences in ableton...
Their workflow just clicked for me.

I didnt really vibe with the sound of the Monomachine, but the Elektron workflow is very inspiring. I taught myself to use the Monomachine in a few sessions of just noodling around. Of course somethings I had to look up, but they are very intuitive. Also the Korg Electribes. The Volcas are cool, but I think it is a real shame they didnt continue to develop the Electribe line. I would have liked to see a final box that combnied the ESX and EMX.

[knobgoblin]

the monomachine is definitely their quirkiest box. Not very accessible, years long learning curve to really make it sound "good". To get the best out of it, you really need to learn the gain staging (and all the multiple ways you can overdrive it along the way) and signal routing stuff. I use it just for the FM and wavetable machines pretty much. So many hidden little secretes in there, but I would agree that it is the hardest of their boxes to get into, all the others, with maybe the exception of the octatrack are just so immediate