#28

I didn’t attend, but as a Deluge owner, I’m super excited about firmware 2.0. Arranger mode seems ace.

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#29

I tried a Haken continuum for the first time, and was so wonderfully surprised by it - agreed for the resonators. The two I met from Haken were super friendly (and delighted to speak French for a change!)
It’s one of the things I enjoyed about Superbooth a lot - the opportunity to pay attention to companies or instruments that you’d never considered before and be pleasantly surprised by the discoveries!

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#30

I got a linnstrument a few weeks ago and did much of the same. I’m learning to play (and build) tenor guitars so I’ve mostly stuck to 5ths to match all the material I have on hand. Even being a guitar player most of my life, fifths just made way more sense the first time I picked up a mandolin.

I wish there were more MPE synths at superbooth. I didn’t see many mentions. I know the Kijimi from Black Corp. will support MPE but didn’t notice anything else.

#31

generally, best thing at SB for me was the meeting people and the music… rather than products.

but notable product highlights were:

ContinuumMini - whilst the ribbon is ‘limited’, it gives full access to the Eagen Matrix, an entry point into the Continuum…

Onde - sounded fantastic in the auditorium, definitely on my list.

Soundplane CV interface - only a prototype/work to do, but great to hear that Brian and Randy had pushed it forward so much. cant wait…

Bela Salt/Salt+ - very nice, will be installing mine in my case tomorrow - lots of plans, watch this space :slight_smile:

Leaf Audio Microphonic Soundbox - not new, but my first hands on and loved it, I went back a few times, sorely tempted to get this, or at leat motivate me to finish off something similar with the Koma Field Kit.

Deluge - I previously had no interest in this, but having tried it (and seen demo etc), the UI is much better thought out that Id imagined, and sounded great… and with battery power, definitely a fun device.

fun times all around.

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#32

I had a pretty great time meeting folks as well, though I wish I’d come across more lines folks.

For MPE, Peter from Sensel had one of the Snyderphonics Manta Mate modules, which looked like a reasonable way to get MPE into eurorack.

Besides meeting people, I think my biggest take-away is rather basic (especially considering this was my third superbooth, and I still don’t own any modular): modular is really complicated. Even though I didn’t hear much mention of it at the 'booth, I’ve decided to spend some time with VCV Rack to get an idea of what I might actually want before buying anything… I’m really grateful that’s a possibility now :slight_smile:

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#33

Hmm, maybe next year we should organise to meet up? I have no idea what most of you look like, although I think I spotted @Rodrigo.

There’s actually quite a couple of ways of doing this already. The Expert Sleepers FH-1 has support for the Roli keyboards, as has the Endorphines Shuttle Control.

#34

Sidenote: I’ve gotten increasingly interested the the Endorphines Shuttle system. It just seems like such a lovely instrument when you have all their modules together like that.

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#35

I should create a separate thread for it at some point, but can I add that the Sensel Morph was my favorite device at NAMM? I purchased one immediately after and haven’t regretted it. It’s been my travel companion for the last few months and will be my primary Norns MIDI/MPE generator, with future potential for OSC.

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#36

Their new Blck Noir module looks really promising.

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#37

Yep, though hands on I wasn’t entirely convinced, though with SB noise levels it’s hardly the ideal place to get a good demo. The utterly insane Erica’s drum case looked very tempting (or rather a subset) and I’m sold on the WMD Fracture.

#38

Blergh. I’m really not liking how someone from Xaoc has been answering people’s questions about the Zadar. I understand having a particular design vision, and limiting the scope of a module (when there is a good reason for it anyway) but being condescending toward potential customers about it is just not a great move.

It helped me decide that not only do I not need a Zadar, I don’t need an Odessa either.

Looking forward to some details about the Klavis Quadigy…

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#39

I love the concept for this synth, but it is way out of my price league at the moment. It reminds me a lot of the Nord Wave (which I own and think is awesome), but adds a lot of features I wish the Wave had when it came to sample manipulation.

#40

I saw the mw thread. Someone telling them their module ‘needs to go back to R&D’ and is a ‘control forge for kids’ was pretty insulting.

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#41

I’ve come to appreciate that the XAOC crew brings a certain sensibility to their responses. I’m entirely OK with how they’re going about dealing with challenging MW types, myself included, as I’ve been complaining about the 3HP POTI for years now, only to find that Their New Thing will … wait for it … have a 3HP expander.

Their wonderful products speak for themselves. Talk about a design language!

It’s interesting to think about … with a finite set of customization dimensions available to use against a finite set of waveforms, you may not be able to achieve an infinite set of outputs, but you can achieve some subset of those a whole lot faster.

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#43

One of my favorite sort of incidental aspects of boutique ‘manufacturers’ (aka a few people, if that many, making and sharing their passion) is that the personality of those people is more evident and that some of them don’t give a damn about typical sales and customer service bullshit. This is often more about art than money, and I’m grateful.

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#44

+1
It’s also really refreshing to see a manufacturer with an idea that isn’t super concerned about what the “community” clamors for. The community on mw is far from everyone that uses these devices, and they should not have some greater input priority over vision and direction. “Here is a totally new tool from our brains” vs “here is the thing you’ve been asking for” seems to bring much more interesting and idiosyncratic tools into the world.

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#45

In theory, I agree with those statements. In practice, being the subject of that “personality”'s apparent contempt or dismissal doesn’t feel good.

i also recognize that I’m not in a great emotional state today and probably took it more personally than it was meant. And that there was some miscommunication going on there, and a couple of other posts probably put the Xaoc person on the defensive a bit.

Based on the initial information we were given, I had a prediction for what the module could do – both in terms of exciting original concepts and features, and replacing older designs.

In my head, I figured out how I’d implement such a thing. And it was awesome. It had most of the features I wanted in that physical layout, and was easy to use. I could save 10HP and have more, cooler, better envelopes in the bargain.

And then it turns out there’s one limitation of the module that prevents it from replacing older designs as well as holding back its potential for the new stuff. It seemed like arbitrary stubbornness on the designer’s part. Sure that’s their prerogative, but it felt like they had designed this awesome new car but it can only drive backwards.

And then: posts that were dismissive of ADSRs for being “crude” and outdated (implying there was something wrong with people preferring those), that sustained envelopes were “against the main concept”, and comparing wanting to replace modules to “war”.

So, yeah. It wasn’t a happy day, and felt like an extra slap when people applauded them for that.

#46

Sorry to hear that. I would submit that it’s risky to get too fixated on a module without understanding it fully. That’s why all the gearhead posts sort of alienate me and bum me out (and more are popping up on this forum) because a lot of it comes across as excitement without understanding - so it must boil down to some degree to sheer consumerist tendencies.

I also agree that the language barrier doesn’t help either with some manufacturers.

But, I love the artists who happen to share their creations more than the businesses that are sharing their products primarily to profit.

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#48

You’re smart, you’re creative, you’re passionate, you’re my kind of person. Here’s to tomorrows.

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#49

With a little bit of distance from it, I’d say I just took things too personally. I also got too caught up in GAS generally, and my own idea of what the module was.

I kind of need to take a step back and sort out what really works for my music-making and what just seems really cool. I’m about 94% happy with my setup right now anyway.

Sorry for kind of derailing the discussion there. :slight_smile:

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