I’m a fan of grooveboxes and other do-it-all gear. It gets me away from the computer and lets me focus on just making music, and typically there’s some kind of limitation to force creativity.
Here’s what I’ve got.
- Roland Verselab MV-1
- Akai Force
- Synthstrom Deluge
- Sonicware SmplTrek
- Roland SH-4d (though I technically use this one solely as a synth module, but still)
Bonus points if you’ve got tracks you want to share! Like I made this track on a Maschine+ and then mixed in post in Logic. https://soundcloud.com/ndguardian/dreams-of-loss
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I’ve spent probably a few hundred hours with the OP-Z! Back in 2019 I composed and recorded an album while traveling. I like pairing it with the Korg mini kaoss pad 2S for effects… I usually record straight into my phone via USB, or into the SD card of the Korg.
I also have a Deluge, and I’m slowly trying to get used it… I also like playing guitar, and the Deluge is interesting because I can use it as a looper. But I’m still warming up to it.
Nice! The OP-Z is such a fun piece of gear once you figure it out. Only thing I wasn’t a fan of was the case warping issue that led to double triggers and stuff.
As a guitar player, what do you think of the isomorphic keyboard on the Deluge? I’m not a guitar player, but I always hear that guitar players tend to like it because it’s similar to a guitar layout. I know I personally enjoy it.
Yeah, I have 2 OP-Zs… the first one is warped and the second one has popping encoders and double triggers. And both make a click-click-click noise every few minutes. But I still love them, and I have used them to perform live, regardless of all the quality issues.
I like the isomorphic keyboard layout, it’s definitely easier coming from guitar! Lately I’ve been using a Linnstrument as my main controller, and it feels natural to play when I use the guitar tuning. Earlier this year I used it with the Surge XT synth for a song, and it was a lot of fun.
I love grooveboxes. I’ve got:
- Synthstrom Deluge
- Dirtywave M8 – a tracker, but is insanely feature rich, so I’m counting it :)
- Elektron Syntakt
- Elektron Model:Cycles
They all have their strengths but my favorite right now might be the Model:Cycles! The combination of simplicity and immediacy is hard to beat, and I love all of the fun FM sounds I can get out of it.
I’m jealous about the M8. I’ve been interested in getting one but haven’t quite pulled the trigger on getting one yet. Just ordered the Tracker Mini though so we’ll see how it goes!
Try out a headless M8! That’s what I did before getting the standalone unit, and it’s a way smaller investment to still get the full M8 software experience.
Right now I have an MPC Live and a PO-33.
The MPC gets a lot of use while I’m creating something new but the projects is moved into the DAW as soon as it’s time to expand on it.
The PO-33 I have because it looked like for for portable lo-fi fun.
