The Hello-Thread: Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself 👋

you didn't mention you played the bass too, cheers!

Another newb just saying hello here.

Born and raised in the UK, I was really into electronic music and synths as a teenager in the 80s. Ive tried my hand at learning violin, piano and guitar. Of course I couldn't afford to buy any electronic gear back then but I looked older than my years, old enough to score tickets to go to music industry trade fairs in London where I could get excited by the latest and greatest (I remember checking out the then new Fairlight with that cool light pen :-)

Taught myself programming and I forgot all about synths when I went to college in London (spent way too much time socializing and hanging in computer labs). I came to the States after graduating where Ive lived (mostly in NYC) for about 20+ years. Now that Im a seasoned software engineer, making a decent living, I have rediscovered my forgotten passion for synths and electronic gear and now I can actually afford to buy stuff to play with :-) Im also trying to learn bass.

Oh and I also collect retro computers and gaming hardware - I wish there was something like Equipboard for that stuff.

Oh and I also collect retro computers and gaming hardware - I wish there was something like Equipboard for that stuff.

Welcome! great bio :)

I'm a big retro game nerd myself, I worked in that industry for a few years (nothing exciting), and still have friends that are knee-deep in the retro gaming lifestyle. Question: to state the obvious, the musical instrument (MI) industry works a lot like the fashion industry: what successful/respected artists are known to use drives so much of the decision making, for better or worse.... but in the retrogaming world, there isn't the same dynamic, of course... one could log the gear Toby Fox used to make Undertale, or the dev kits used for Metal Gear Solid... but it's just not the same... the focus of a VG-hardware/software Equipboard would just be a different beast. Once a gamer has created their Equipboard, complete with gaming chair, monitor, MIB SNES Mini, copy of Earthbound, Atomiswave-modded Dreamcast, etc... then what? What else would there be to do? I'm not asking rhetorically, just trying to get the ball rolling...

You could say the same thing about music gear. Right now, I have so much gaming stuff I don't know exactly what I do and don't have so this would be a way to document what's in my collection so I know what Im doing when Im on eBay :-) Might be useful for insurance purposes or simply a way to be able to display your collection. But it would definitely need to be organized and displayed differently - having everything on one page simply wouldn't work, you would have to break it down into categories.

I wish I had worked in the gaming industry (though Im not sure I would be making as much money and be able to buy as much nice synth gear :-)

I wish I had worked in the gaming industry (though Im not sure I would be making as much money and be able to buy as much nice synth gear :-)

No you don't, for exactly the reason you just pointed out. Not once have I considered going back into the mainstream of that industry :)

I have a friend who worked for Nintendo on a major title who now lives in Kyoto. He was showing off his Pro 3 on FB... so now Im saving up for a PolyBrute :-)

I have a friend who worked for Nintendo on a major title who now lives in Kyoto. He was showing off his Pro 3 on FB... so now Im saving up for a PolyBrute :-)

Ha! Is that how that works? Does a PolyBrute trump a Pro3?

Do you use any DAWs ajaik, or are you pure hardware?

Well, maybe, the PolyBrute is definitely an original fresh take on a flagship polysynth - I think the multi-purpose mod matrix has more possibilities than most other synths and the morphing modulator control is a first on any synth.

I have a bit of a story about DAWs: I was very much into hardware as a kid in the 80s but dabbled with things like Steinberg Pro24 and still own two Atari STs (you may recall they came with MIDI ports :-) and trackers were very much a thing back then. But I mentioned in the bio above I went away to college for a few years in the early 90s and kinda lost track of what was happening in electronic music production, so I never really totally got into software synths or DAWs, and missed out on their evolution. Fast forward 20 years though, DAWs have become commonplace and very sophisticated (also expensive) and for awhile it felt like hardware was in decline and I wasn't interested in music software much. I still haven't taken the plunge (I know I will need to at some point), but the past few years we've come full circle because of the renaissance in synth hardware. Its kinda ironic to me that companies like Arturia now make hardware dontcha think ?

I just pre-ordered the Uno Synth Pro, again from a company that made a name for itself in software...

Ha! Is that how that works? Does a PolyBrute trump a Pro3?

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHGZsq10nFV-txtM5h1xZ8vynQwQR4QWE

I have a bit of a story about DAWs: I was very much into hardware as a kid in the 80s but dabbled with things like Steinberg Pro24 and still own two Atari STs (you may recall they came with MIDI ports :-)

MIDI ports wired directly to a realtime OS. I've logged a nauseating number of Atari ST users here on EB. I'm perhaps a bit obsessed with that era.

Fast forward 20 years though, DAWs have become commonplace and very sophisticated (also expensive) and for awhile it felt like hardware was in decline and I wasn't interested in music software much.

Ableton Live and Pro Tools cost a decent amount, yes, but I don't think FL Studio or Logic Pro are expensive by any measure... US$200 for a lifetime license is a screaming deal, especially compared to the hardware we're talking about here.

... but the past few years we've come full circle because of the renaissance in synth hardware. Its kinda ironic to me that companies like Arturia now make hardware dontcha think ?

I can see the irony angle, but I think Arturia's (and IK's, Ableton's, etc) hardware play has more to do with how difficult it is for companies in the MI space to grow past a certain size purely on software revenue streams. Once you've reached a certain market saturation point, selling the same customer base on expansion packs and upgrades every year only works so well... and we're probably 5-10 years away from paid subscriptions being the dominant form of software distribution in this market, if it ever really takes off.

To state the obvious, people currently value physical objects differently than software... A person who kicks and screams over a $150 DAW upgrade fee once every 3 years might gladly shell out $800-$1200 for a new piece of hardware from the very same company. They may see themselves as a broke musician being fleeced by a greedy corporation when they have to pay for something as essential as a codebase overhaul for 64-bit support, but offer the same person a box of flashing lights or a sacred configuration of transistors, and they'll suddenly scrounge up 10x's the money and race to the preorder list.Though, to Arturia's credit, the jump from vintage emulation VAs to original analog hardware was a lot bigger gamble when they first tested the waters with the Minibrute... that was a very bold move, and I'm happy to see that it paid off for them.

Ableton Live and Pro Tools cost a decent amount, yes, but I don't think FL Studio or Logic Pro are expensive by any measure... US$200 for a lifetime license is a screaming deal, especially compared to the hardware we're talking about here.

live's on sale now with a free upgrade to 11 when it comes out, protools is more of a subscription, renew as needed.... I only mix in PT if I have to, its only worth using for rock bands and really just as an HD system in a big control room.... for the midi junky, everything else is better in a home or project setting... once you sacrifice the zero latency stuff for complex parallel routings and hybrid mixingit doesn't have a lot to offer, all of its groundbreaking features are in every other DAW now and its midi implementation/UI sucks a rat. That said, I am happy to track and mix a rock band in a PTHD environment with a nice console and some esoteric outboard :-) Ask me about my rates LOL

At home I have Cubase (need to update to 11, begruding the fee LOL), FL studio 20, Live 10, protools and mixbus 32C.... I have a tendency to mix in mixbus for ITB and use whatever the project dictates for hybrid.... the mixing I was doing yesterday was MIDI heavy and not recorded to grid having been tracked live with an ancient Drum Kat as master clock to a squarp pyramid to everything else and live guitar/bass and shit too so I wound up in FL studio for its import friendly piano roll and of course the hand tuneable latency per track compesation on plugin chains... because I'm pumping out 16 channels of individual mono tracks and stereo sub groups (some in parallel) into an analog console with some parallel diode bridge compession on a bus, drums slamming another bus as a submix, kicking those opamps into submission, then summed @ the master and back out through my warm bus comp into the DAW's master with a little brickwall via BX limiter for safety and to allow me to record at -15RMS or thereabouts to get the msot from my high end ADCs. Fun. I recommend this approach but its expensive even with my mediocre hardware. This mix sounds noticeably better than my ITB pass, but maybe not thousands of dollars better. It was also fast, but no recall.... handwritten recall sheets for a lot of shit.

wait, what were we talking about?

WARNING! rambling addendum below:

I can see the irony angle, but I think Arturia's (and IK's, Ableton's, etc) hardware play has more to do with how difficult it is for companies in the MI space to grow past a certain size purely on software revenue streams.

THIS! also, in the ahrdware market, especially analog, it was all high end and korg until arturia stepped up, which kicked my boys at Novation back into gear, they hadn't done analog since the bass station (still have a BS rack).... Bob and Dave were back, Roland sold you plugins in a keyboard essentially.... ummm, you had your waldorfs and nords, nuff said about them. Every time I think I like a Nord this guy I know shows up to jam with his lead3 or whatever and while it has sound design potential he can't do it on the fly beyond bread and butter patches, menus you know.... then I fire up a vintage synth or soemthing new and lush like the prologue and I just swallow his sound completely with one note.... back to what i was saying. Apart from spurring novation I think Arturia spurred IK into the arena too and of course Behringer, would Uli be cloning if he hadn't seen Arturia go toe to toe with korg in the heap seats?! Arturia learned a lot about synths modelling classics assuming they're honest about their supposedly uber detailed component level modelling, withthe low end analog market totally dominated by the big K it was a great move to make the minibrute when they did. It blew them up as a company.... it was a great idea for them to make the spark itnerfaces too, I'm told they're major contenders against focusrite scarlet ad presonus in that class, particularly the 1u 8 pre format one....in bus powered stuff SSL has murdered everyone at that dabbler price point.... its sizable jump into UA, MOTU, Antelope etc and not all of them are bus powered if any (I'm not even sure) that sort of conversion horse power is hungry... but that arturia spark 8 preamp one should be kicking some ass. Probably is, I know people who have it an love it.... major contender there, build quality is supposed to be a cut above focusrite or those damned steinberg itnerfaces...

they are very wise business people at Arturia, they probably took a hefty loan and decided to apply their engineering skill to untapped markets while maintaining their stranglehold on planet plugin by expanding into FX.... another good move. I have their FX suite that just came out and it was well worth it. They ARE 'plugins I ACTUALLY use'.... mostly. The dbx 160 is very faithful and I prefer to the waves one, the otehr compressors keep up. The standalone synth filters are just smokin' I should use them more on live audio tracks.... the plate got me hooked when it was a freebie, its so right sounding in a mix... biphase sounds very close although its not incredibly useful.... the mxr flanger? yeah baby and the creme de la creme is their dimension C rack simulation.... although behringer makes a clone now and the admittedly digital waza craft pedal does pretty darn well in its rack and pedal modes if you don't mind printing it to the track. I digress, arturia knows what's up! I certainly want a polybrute and I'm sure I'll talk myself into it eventually when theyturn up used.... at the moment the prophet 10 is the enxt giant synth purchase, sorry new guys, its Dave. SO\ometimes I wish he was my dad...

dabbled with things like Steinberg Pro24 and still own two Atari STs (you may recall they came with MIDI ports :-) and trackers were very much a thing back then. But I mentioned in the bio above I went away to college for a few years in the early 90s and kinda lost track of what was happening in electronic music production, so I never really totally got into software synths or DAWs, and missed out on their evolution.

I miss my ST, creator, pro 24... stable as hell for midi... no PCIs like when I went PC.... none of these thunderbolt cables.... although reording audio? fire up the teac 8 track!

:idea: Maybe you could start EquipKeyboard @ajaik for all that retro comp & game gear. 😉

Cheers!

:idea: Maybe you could start EquipKeyboard @ajaik for all that retro comp & game gear. 😉

Don't think I haven't thought about it many times over the past decade :-)

And building APIs and web apps is my day job but Im no UX designer LOL

I miss my ST, creator, pro 24... stable as hell for midi... no PCIs like when I went PC.... none of these thunderbolt cables.... although reording audio? fire up the teac 8 track!

I don't have a lawn but the kids today are like "here's a video of me multi tracking to cassette on my retro 4-track" - I swear that showed up in my 'Tube feed the other day :-)

And building APIs

I know you're not talking about 500 series gear, but mmmm, API

live's on sale now with a free upgrade to 11 when it comes out

I saw that, but my priority right now is a mixer / audio interface. I like the Arturia gear but Ive been looking seriously at the Zoom LiveTrack 12 which can multitrack to an SD card or work with a DAW. Don't know how they compare to the new Onyx gear from Mackie... also need to get a new home laptop - Im waiting to see the M1 version of Apple MBPs or iMac (I'd probably want the M1 version of Ableton Live 11 when the time comes).

At home I have Cubase (need to update to 11, begruding the fee LOL),

Im happy to see Steinberg are still around even if its a totally different product. But you have to laugh when you see something like the PolyEnd Tracker or this thing.

Roland sold you plugins in a keyboard essentially....

Yeah they're riding on their past somewhat... not that their current line-up and the Boutiques are not nice (I have the SH-01A and plan to get more) but needing to use their cloud app to edit patches in software simply doesn't appeal.

I think Arturia spurred IK into the arena too and of course Behringer, would Uli be cloning if he hadn't seen Arturia go toe to toe with korg in the heap seats?!

Of course, people love to hate on Behringer but Im just happy they are making stuff we can afford that is very close to how vintage gear works / sounds. Still waiting to see how their OB-X and CS-80 clones stack up. Im also currently building with their cloned System 100m modules and mounting them in a 6U RackBrute (that's right, using Behringer modules in an Arturia rack to build a Roland modular, yeah :-)

I digress, arturia knows what's up! I certainly want a polybrute and I'm sure I'll talk myself into it eventually when theyturn up used.... at the moment the prophet 10 is the enxt giant synth purchase, sorry new guys, its Dave. SO\ometimes I wish he was my dad...

Arturia have been making all the right moves. I think Korg are doing good things too - the Volcas are an affordable way for kids to jam, not going to knock it and I have to applaud their ARP reissues, will probably get an Odyssey module eventually. The Prophet 10 is a beast but even more expensive than the PolyBrute. Just feel the PolyBrute brings so much new exciting stuff to the table - Marc Doty has made more videos on that one instrument than anything else so it must have struck a (ahem) chord :-D

Ha! Is that how that works? Does a PolyBrute trump a Pro3?

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHGZsq10nFV-txtM5h1xZ8vynQwQR4QWE

Remembering back to when buying an Alesis Andromeda was the only new analog poly on the market... what a glorious time for analog synths we currently live in! I'm sure I'll love the PolyBrute once I get a chance to actually play one. :)

• Im waiting to see the M1 version of Apple MBPs or iMac (I'd probably want the M1 version of Ableton Live 11 when the time comes).

I have very high hopes for the M1X MacBook Pros rumored for Q3. My current 2013 MBP is nearly unusable due to battery swelling and just plain old march of time... had to settle for a much more powerful (but still Intel) iMac as a stopgap. I know I pitched Logic and FL if cost is a concern (and I do own them and love them), but Live is where I spend most of my time these days. Hard to beat the Ableton community. I'm hopeful that native M1 support in Live happens faster than Retina display support took years back.

Im happy to see Steinberg are still around even if its a totally different product. But you have to laugh when you see something like the PolyEnd Tracker or this thing.

I would have laughed at dedicated hardware trackers a few years ago, but the tracker workflow does force/inspire a different compositional approach that can pay dividends for some. Also: Amiga jungle. After a lifetime of being a never-tracker DAW snob, I'm opening up to the benefits of different compositional constraints.

I miss my ST, creator, pro 24... stable as hell for midi... no PCIs like when I went PC.... none of these thunderbolt cables.... although reording audio? fire up the teac 8 track!

I don't have a lawn but the kids today are like "here's a video of me multi tracking to cassette on my retro 4-track" - I swear that showed up in my 'Tube feed the other day :-)

I still have a rackmount tascam cassette 8 track around that my old boss gave me... I seldom use it because you have to print a track of smpte timecode to sync it up. I sued to squeez extra tracks out of my adat system t ne time, also it sounded way cooler for drums than those alesis adats.... the adat is long gone, went out somewhere around the cubase SX2 on xp era....

so yeah, they can get off my lawn too.... or mow it for me, shit makes my eyes itch