bklyn's Reviews

Classic FM Synth!

Most people know the TX81z for the Lately Bass patch that Teddy Riley, Dave Hall, Eddie F, and Kyle West made famous on all their hit records. There's another dope preset on this synth that sounds incredible when you edit it a bit, but I'm not gonna share that for personal reasons, but my point is you don't have to rely on the presets, this is a great sound design instrument and I absolutely love my TX81z for the way it sounds and performs!

One of the coolest synths gifted to me...

Drew Cady from Subatomic Audio knows I'm a synth nut and gave the TX7 (which is an expansion engine for the DX7) to me. I also own a Yamaha TX81z which is apart of the DX family of synths and when I use them together I get some really cool sounding stacks. If you come across one of these, you might want to consider getting one...

A must have synth for your collection!

Listen if you don't have a Casio CZ series synth in your collection, you're not about that synth life. Every producer should have a phase distortion synthesizer in their studio. Obviously I love my CZ-5000, what is there not to love? Beautiful big-sounding tones that are distinct to the '80s but timeless no matter what era...

A dope fun, and easy to use synth, but why only 1 MIDI Channel?

I bought my Korg MS-20 Mini because I liked the way it sounds. It's lots of fun to create sounds with and it's playable, but this thing only has 1 MIDI channel. Why Korg? Why? I barely use it since I got my Behringer K-2 which not only sounds just like it, but performs a lot better and best of all has 16 MIDI channels. I don't know what Korg was thinking, but it made me apprehensive about buying their ARP Odessy and I'm glad I did because I have the Behringer Odessy and it turned out to be great. MIDI channels matter...

I literally make up excuses to use this synth on almost every song!

I love, love, love my Arturia MiniBrute. It's brash, warm, punchy, bold, and just straight-up dope! I don't understand how it's so underappreciated by the synth community, this thing is dope!

Make a great controller for Roland Cloud instruments...

I don't use this synth as much as I used to when I first got it. At first I was super excited for this, but then Aaron '25-Keyz' Wilfork introduced me to Roland Cloud and then I realized that the System-1 is basically a physical plugin. All the plugouts for this synth is in Roland Cloud and sound exactly the same. I'm basically using this as a controller for my Roland Cloud instruments, so it's not a total waste, but it's kinda a disappointment after the placebo effect wears off...

One of the most underrated samplers ever!

When it comes to sampling kicks, snares, hats, etc, the Casio RZ-1 is one of my secret weapons to get that authentic lo-fi drum sound. I bought this when it first came out in 1985 along with my Casio SK-1, I was 15 years old then and I produced my first record Choce M.C. "Let's Make Some Noise" on idlers/Warlock Records with it.

Lots of people don't know that I still use it to this day and it hasn't let me down, especially since I found a certain sweet spot on the RZ-1 that gives my drums it's own distinct flavor that's unique to my sound.

This sampler gave me a 35 year career...

In 1985 I was 15 years old and I produced the A-Side of my very first vinyl release Choice M.C. "Let's Make Some Noise" on Idlers/Warlock Records with the Casio SK-1 and Casio RZ-1. It's not the greatest sounding sampler, but it has its own character and I used it again on the sequel record "Let's Make Some Noise Part 2" released by 12-Bit Records. This sampler some consider a toy has blown up in the circuit bending movement, and strangely enough a few boom bap producers reached out to me to ask if I really used this on my earlier records and my answer to them is often "I still use it"...

This 8-Bit sampler will change your life!

A few years ago I was browsing Craigslist and this bad boy popped up for $50, the original owner was moving to Canada and was selling all the gear that he wasn't using anymore for dirt cheap. This was a very lucky buy and this sampler has a sweet 8-bit crunch that's perfect for drum breaks and dark jazz piano loops from the vinyl collection.

Hands down the world's greatest sampler ever!

I was first introduced to Ensoniq Samplers back in the '90s through my friend Eric Roache who owned an EPS-16+ a couple of years later the ASR-10 arrived and I bought one of the first ones that arrived at Manny's Music in New York City and it's been a magical love affair ever since.

A slept on classic!

Ensoniq samplers have a certain sound that you can't get anywhere else especially when it comes to sampling from your vinyl collection. Programming on this is a lot of fun and chopping up your samples is actually easy. I also own the ASR-X-Pro as well the ASR-10 Rack and the Mirage, it's all about the sound for me and Ensoniq always delivers what I want...

THe ASR-X-Pro is an underappreciated classic!

I still sample with my ASR-X-Pro but I'm mostly using it for its onboard synthesizer these days. The synth engine has always been slept on for some reason, which is insane because the way it sounds is beautiful.

One of the things I never liked about the beatmaking community is the fact that cats flock to the SP-1200, and the MPC because of whoever their favorite producer is used that gear on a record or two they liked, so they are greatly ignorant to the power of the ASR-X-Pro which is one of the dopest samplers ever created.

I also own the ASR-X so there's a lot of history for me with these samplers. But if you come across any of these joints, don't hesitate, get it!

A certified classic!!!

Most are seeking the S-950, because of the time stretch feature, but what they don't know is the S900 is a secret weapon itself with it's digitally controlled analog filter. It also has an uncanny sound that works perfectly for drum and percussive sounds. I still use my S900 to give certain types of samples that dry 12-Bit grit. This is one sampler I will never let go...

Very dope for it's era!

After a long hiatus from all things MPC, I came back after becoming greatly frustrated with Maschine. This was about MPC 1.8 and after I realizing how I missed working with an actual MPC there was no going backward. My Renaissance stays in its original box nowadays since I have my MPC X to work with but every now and then I bring it out for a little fun.

The greatest MPC of all time

Back in the '90s, I used the MPC-60, MPC-3000, and MPC 2000 and the MPC X is hands down my very favorite. It sounds great and I never grown tired of it as it continues to get better with every firmware update. The MPC workflow has always been my favorite way of creating music and the MPC X never disappoints...

A great disappointment of unrealized potential.

I got on board with Maschine at 1.7 when Native Instruments were making all sorts of promises, Nearly a decade later and Maschine is still usable, but not inspiring enough to work with on a daily basis due to its clumsy workflow and lack of features. I still use it as a virtual instrument within my MPC X's software, but my controller is in a box.