The "studio". Compact and bijou, Mostyn. Compact and bijou.
Synths & noise boxes | |
| Waldorf Microwave XT It's funky and orange. Synths from the late lamented Waldorf just ooze class and this is a wonderfully deep machine; a digital wavetable unit with a unique sound and a vast range of modulation possibilities. Plus loads of lovely knobs. |  |
| Waldorf Micro Q Keyboard It's not orange but it's still funky. Great little all rounder; sort of a virtual analogue but a bit more sophisticated than that description might suggest. Sound wise it's capable of all sorts of odd noises as well as the more traditional 'synth' sounds. You can get some very nice percussion noises out of it too. All this and a nice compact 3 octave keyboard to finish off with. |  |
| Music from Outer Space WSG Odd, with a hint of wierd. I've built a pair of these now ("Bleep & Booster") - one of which doesn't work quite as intended (but hey, my first attempt at using a soldering iron - some might say "cack-handed soldering"; I prefer the term "inadvertent circuit-bending") - it makes a slightly more distorted filtered noise which makes for a great drone machine. The other I like to filter through the Micro Q for some rhythmic sequncing controlled by the P3. Great fun little toys and very simple to make. |  |
| The Cheesebox A DIY percussion synthesizer, which I've not quite finished building yet. Remember those little boxes you could buy in the 70's, attach to a drum and then when you hit the drum it would make a rather cheesy "peow" sound? Well, a rather clever chap by the name of Marc Bareille built a clone of one called the DS7, and of another called the DS8 which is the same thing but with a noise generator and a CV in port. So I bought two PCBs of each, did some soldering and am now going to stick them all in a box and sequence them from the Regelwerk. It's rather cool. | |
Sequencers | |
| Sequentix P3 Sequencer Sequencing with knobs on. Really, this machine is beyond cool - it's inventor, Colin Fraser, is a genius. At it's simplest it's a step sequencer, but with so many fascinating features that description doesn't do it justice - the aux events can be pretty mind boggling. Absolutely inspirational unit, I can't recommend this highly enough. Without doubt the most enjoyable piece of music equipment I've ever encountered. |  |
| Doepfer Regelwerk Sequencing with erm, faders on. Useful little device; the sequencer is, erm, limited (but hey! I have a P3!) but it does have CV/Gate so is very handy for driving my little percussion synth and is useful on those rare occassions I run out of tracks on the P3. Plus it's a MIDI faderbox, so great for real time control of various parameters on the Micro Q. |  |
Other bits | |
| Fostex 2016, Lexicon MPX100, Zoom 1204, Alesis 3630, Samson 1701 - necessary, but not very interesting. | |