Gear Aquisition Zone [buy/sell/swaps]

[madfiddler]

VERY Nice!

[Portland]

Pimp, that's demanding to have a fine Ibanez product shoved through it...

[Governmentyard]

Been pulling a lot of overtime... Novation Mininova get.

[Zoot]

Akai Max 49. New house, new studio......... Bass Station II next methinks:

[RiK]

Been pulling a lot of overtime... Novation Mininova get.

Ooh nice. Lovely bit of kit

[Zoot]

Bass Station II arrived - bubble, squeek, wheeee!

[adam]

looks good, seems like an interesting time with computer or midi controlled analogue gear - the last of the last gen stuff was quite stable - cheetah who became novation did one with voice chips which is what enabled the stability: http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/ms6.php

i'm wondering now if korg or someone has made a new analogue voice chip - given what analogue used to cost - £1000 average maybe in the 95-10 era

[Governmentyard]

Been pulling a lot of overtime... Novation Mininova get.

Ooh nice. Lovely bit of kit

It's a bit of a marvel - room and money dictate that I was always going to get a smaller synth, and I felt the Minibrute and MS-20 Mini were a little overpriced given their limitations at this stage in my synth odyssey. I'll have one or both of them eventually. Thus it was between the Mininova and the Microkorg XL - and the Mininova won it in a three-round knockout...

1: Synth Engine - it's an Ultranova that doesn't take up your entire desk. It has the same very powerful (and somewhat badly coded/buggy) vst interface which means not only does it work via the same interface I'm used to for working on synths but it means I can use it as a channel in FLStudio and that really helps. Full depth is acessible via the unit, so I learn more with this unit.

2: The arp/tweak pads are a godsend, probably the main feature I was enticed by - I can immediately add a new level of depth nd expression to what I somewhat ambitiously refer to as my 'playing'. But really, it takes any aspect of tweaking and makes is fun as all fuck. I'm more creative for having this unit.

3: It's the most 'current' Synth going, apart from the minibrute imho. The Microkorg XL has some lovely sounds (better presets, if fewer, than the Mininova) but they tend to be 'old favourites'. The Mininova is a modern sounding beast and I like that there's a fat dial with 'dubstep' on it. Some say it will date the unit eventually but frankly patch leads and going out of tune date the MS-20.

[Governmentyard]

Bass Station II arrived - bubble, squeek, wheeee!

Well, there's one-upmanship for you!

*strokes Mininova gooseneck sadly*

[gribbles]

Been pulling a lot of overtime... Novation Mininova get.

Ooh nice. Lovely bit of kit

It's a bit of a marvel - room and money dictate that I was always going to get a smaller synth, and I felt the Minibrute and MS-20 Mini were a little overpriced given their limitations at this stage in my synth odyssey. I'll have one or both of them eventually. Thus it was between the Mininova and the Microkorg XL - and the Mininova won it in a three-round knockout...

1: Synth Engine - it's an Ultranova that doesn't take up your entire desk. It has the same very powerful (and somewhat badly coded/buggy) vst interface which means not only does it work via the same interface I'm used to for working on synths but it means I can use it as a channel in FLStudio and that really helps. Full depth is acessible via the unit, so I learn more with this unit.

2: The arp/tweak pads are a godsend, probably the main feature I was enticed by - I can immediately add a new level of depth nd expression to what I somewhat ambitiously refer to as my 'playing'. But really, it takes any aspect of tweaking and makes is fun as all fuck. I'm more creative for having this unit.

3: It's the most 'current' Synth going, apart from the minibrute imho. The Microkorg XL has some lovely sounds (better presets, if fewer, than the Mininova) but they tend to be 'old favourites'. The Mininova is a modern sounding beast and I like that there's a fat dial with 'dubstep' on it. Some say it will date the unit eventually but frankly patch leads and going out of tune date the MS-20.

Love my Nova II. Just like the sound of Novation stuff in general. Strange, though - I can sit for ages playing and fiddling with this keyboard, but have almost never recorded anything with it....

[Zoot]

Bass Station II arrived - bubble, squeek, wheeee!

Well, there's one-upmanship for you!

*strokes Mininova gooseneck sadly*

No bragging intended Mike - it's what you do with anything that makes the difference and, as I am about to start piano lessons, that should show my level of expertise (or lack thereof)!

We are moving home soon and I, being newly retired, am taking the opportunity to make my studio what I always wanted it to be

We're going to Snaith by the way - a bit nearer to you for visits!

[Governmentyard]

Oops, forgot a smiley:)

I've found the Piano for Dummies CD-Rom (mine was a tenner from PC World) is pretty well laid out for an absolute beginner. IIRC you read sheet music so you'll power through it compared to me.

[Kelloggs]

Delivered unto work yesterday was a quite-large box with "Roland" on the side... and so I now have a brand spanking new BK-9 keyboard to play with, which led to some surprise in the office when I fired it up - and a few comments that I looked happier when bashing out choons than they'd seen in a long time...

It's the first new keyboard I've had since the Yamaha CS1x in 1997, so I thought I'd treat myself. Also, I've been missing drums'n'stuff, which this has, so that's me sorted. (BK-9 is Backing Keyboard, which, for what I will be using it for, will be just perfect.)

All last night and all this morning so far I have been investigating its possibilities. And, except for the drawbars for the organ (which won't be seeing a lot of use) grinning like a loon at pretty much every one, not unlike this ->

That is all.

[Governmentyard]

I can't begin to imagine spending money like that on a keyboard without a synth in it but watching the videos for it, it's a lovely piece of kit. Some gorgeous sounds.

[Kelloggs]

There are editable bits, but they're more "tweakable" than "new sound from the ground up"... but, there's 1700+ sounds on it (not including drumkits) so just going though them may take a while. In any case, it's more for playing / performing than synthesis, so I'm happy. Also, phantom power on the XLR mic in, which may prove to be useful.

I've spent the last ten years or so playing, on and off, a Yamaha CVP-207 (Tyros 1 in a "proper" box, I believe) and it looks as if Roland have taken this as inspiration - it's pretty much identical but that the CVP has lots of effects (and vocal harmonies) on the mic channel and the BK-9 just has reverb... but the BK-9 has a USB memory slot, whereas the CVP has a floppy disk drive. I know which I'd prefer.

T'was quite spendy, but the pain was lessened slightly by adding a late birthday present and an early Christmas present into the pot. Looking at it another way, though, it's nearly three times the price of the CS1x, but far more than three times as capable.

Downside: 76 keys rather than 61. I'm gonna need a bigger bag...