This is real cool a real hot tip.
pulled the trigger on a volca sample! once I get reimbursed for a track I composed I will probably grab a beatstep pro and the retrokits cable and I’ll be g2g
I just got tipped off to this thing: http://noise.kitchen/shop/bastl/kastle-synth/
I’m not sure if the exchange rate took a shit since I first found it last week though.
I finally got around to playing a Minilogue, at Guitar Center yesterday for half an hour or so. Sounds and feels real good in person, what a dope machine. Made the $3500 Model D reissue sitting next to it seem silly.
Has anyone picked up any of the Pocket Operators?
yes, i have the first 3 (rhythm, sub, factory)
For me, they are incredibly awesome because i can pick one up and mess around with it, without having to unpck a box and plug something in. Like, i have one by the computer and pick it up when things are loading. Having a small electronic device which is as easy to start playing as a traditional instrument is really great for me and something i’d wanted for a long time.
There is a serious limitation with factory and sub in that you can only play notes in the key of C. There is an effect you can use to get sharp notes but you can only use that on entered sequences, and it replaces any other effect. Also you have to enter effects live whilst the sequence is playing back, so it can be hard to enter the effect you want at the right point. That gets easier with practice tho.
Another problem might be the size of the buttons, it’s ok for me but they are pretty small.
Sequencing is really easy (you just hold down the pattern button and press the numbers of the patterns you want in order, with a maximum sequence length of 16)
Sounds seem ok to me but i’m very far from an expert when it comes to synthesis. The speaker in them is very small, and sometimes if you plug headphones in it sounds pretty different.
I think they are awesome, i have more to say but my fingers are getting cold.
other things to say
I found the rhythm really easy to use, but it’s the first drum machine ive owned so i can’t really compare it with other things. At first i mainly used that, then when its batteries ran out i switched to the sub, (which i have used least), and then when the sub’s batteries ran out i switched to the factory. I’m now on my third set of batteries in the factory after just over a year of use. I guess i’ll maybe need to replace them every 2 or 3 months if i carry on using it every day.
I’ve stuck on the factory because you can do computer music type things (arpeggios?) by playing notes in quick succession, and it’s really fun to do. On the factory and the sub there’s 15 sounds + a basic drum kit, and you can adjust 2 of the sound’s parameters with the knobs. You can add one (of 16) effects and one (of 16) play styles over the pattern when you play it back. rhythm only has effects.
I got the silicone cases as they came with the set i got. I’m in two minds about them - they work fine for playing, but they don’t cover the back of the unit which has some exposed connections. Sometimes the sounds change whilst i’m playing, and it might be because i’m shorting the connections or maybe just because the knob moves slightly and it makes the machine re-evaluate what the sound is - it only does this when the knobs are moved so you can set up different parameters for different sounds and change between them.
Also the cases seem pretty expensive, and the factory one is starting to get worn in places where my nails have rubbed. I think i’d want the case on the synths for hitting notes quickly, ive left it off on the rhythm tho’ and it’s fine without it.
I havent synced them with other things so i can’t comment on that, but there is a setting for using them with volcas and probably other things too.
Anyway i think they are great, but i’m a beginner at electronic music machines. I guess i listed lots of things which are a bit wrong but the only half-annoying one is the fixed key. For me, the form factor and simplicity of use make up for it all, but probably others feel differently.
so teenage engineering is actually making a new Pocket Operator that’s a drum synth, and it’s going to be using their new plugin that lets you design sounds on a computer and then transfer them over to the PO itself:
shades of bangai-o spirits level transfer 
I’ve been intrigued by the POs for a minute! but it seems like in order to get maximum usability from them you need to get the case, and as nettle’s mentioned above, they’re basically as much as the POs themselves; that puts them closer to the volca series in price, and the volcas trade the form factor for better functionality. that said, that form factor is pretty dope! so it’s a bit of a tossup. I’d say that the volcas are way more powerful but they’re also very singularly focused, and you’d probably need at least one to do full tracks with just volcas, whereas POs get closer to that territory with just one. here’s 0f.digital doing some cool stuff with a PO and a gameboy running nanoloop:
unrelated: I’m SUPER SUPER excited for this tho:
Make your own VSTs, if you dare
I ended up biting on the Bastl Kastle mini semi modular. I’ve found some cool patches by trial and error but I don’t really understand it yet. It sounds rad though.
Got the PO Office super cheap too in a sale and it makes a lot of great weird sounds.
Picked up a Roland D-50 in good nick for I am some kind of person
Neat that desktop-based param editors exist for this thing because editing from the hardware is rather less than neat
Keys feel nice, said the non-keyboardist
Can’t really explain my interest in the unit beyond its Impact on Pop - any patch is just a layered couple of enveloped/lfo’d digital waves or samples via chorus and reverb, trivially easy to emulate in software (including the shit I help make for a living)
And yet
Nice! The missus has one, but rarely brings it out.
She’s jonesing for a Korg Minilogue. If she can wait long enough I’ve got xmas sorted.
every musician on instagram seems to have a minilogue now and I’m jelly!
I’ve been trying to nail down my workflow for the electribe – been going back and forth between using it as a synth box controlled by ableton (sync issues bah) and using it in a minimal setup with the volca sample
in my endless quest for the perfect sequencer/sampler combo I’ve mostly settled on the digitakt as the Thing That Will Complete My Dream Setup but I’ve been entertaining the idea of just getting an electribe sampler ack
I picked up a Roland SP-404 recently–the old model that takes compact flash cards.
It’s super useful. I’d been using my SK-1 for limited live sampling and looping, and this really opens things up. The vocal effects are fun too, but I probably won’t put a mic anywhere near my mouth in public any time soon.
Hey do y’all have any recommendations for two-tier keyboard stands that you like?
The missus has a bday coming up and most of the stands I’ve looked at have reviews ranging from mediocre to awful.
I want a digitakt ugh
As soon as I saw there was a new post, I knew it was going to be this.
Since when was James this public?