Latest gear you've acquired.....

[CraigS63]

Pawnshop score: mini USB keyboard - Akai LPK25. Mini sized keys with springy action. Suitable for couch noodling (sits over MBP keyboard without touching its QWERTY keys). Also shown - Slipdrive pocket with Crucial SSD 4TB.

mini kb.jpg

When I first saw this photo it looked like a merged keyboard and MacBook. And also I’m just like, that would be such a cool hack, with like a little wide screen above the keyboard.
I actually saw someone’s pro hack like this on Craigslist several years ago, but it was a large keyboard with an integrated power Mac G5 or something.

Here is how it fits on the 16" 2023 MBP. It's velocity sensitive too, and has some weird appegiator built in. I need to get a better cable vs. using a USB A to C adapter . Works with (USB C) iPad as well - someone should make a tablet folio/case with a keyboard like this.

kb on mac.jpg (126.81 KiB) Viewed 1035 times

[CraigS63]

Black Friday discount on Arturia plugins - I got the V Collection 9 for about 1/3 regular price with prior purchase credit:

https://www.arturia.com/products/softwa ... n/overview

33 soft synths (or 32 plus an 'all in one'). I will still be struggling to play a scale or most chords.

[vvv]

In the last cuppla-3 months:

Wampler Reflector - one of the best spring reverb pedals - just replaced my Wampler Faux Spring. I really like Wampler pedals.

CMC Green Russian: made by a guy on Reverb, it's like the perfect modded Green Russian, really good on guitar and bass, lotsa options.

Aguilar Fuzzistor: I like the Agro better as this is kinda one sound, but the blend is cool, and it is a pretty unique sound in being like a guitar fuzz that works well on bass, not at all Muffy.

Ashdown Double-Shot: a very cool drive pedal, bass or guitar, this is gonna be on a bass board for sure - it's really good, flexible, and unknown. Coffee-themed.

DemonFX Harmonic Booster: kinda a clone of the Darkglass, I was curious and the price was right. It's really like a glorified EQ pedal to be used with other dirt pedals. I can see it's usability but likely won't need it - I just grab a different dirt pedal, me.

MXR Studio Compressor: same as (except black) the LED bass compressor, replaces mine which broke, as they seem to do (that one passes signal but does nuthin').

[digitaldrummer]

picked up one of the United Technologies Twin87's (on sale for a really good price right now). Got here just in time for a session today - going to use it for vocals. Probably start in "vintage" mode but who knows where we'll end up.

btw, if you don't know, apparently United Technologies is co-owned by one of the designers (Chad Kelly) that used to work at Warm Audio and he split so he could design mics that had less compromises (ok, he might say no compromises, but that's never true at these kind of prices... still nice mics). Chad also runs Signal Art Electronics, which does mods, but also makes some sweet U47/U48 style mics (and have done very well in some comparisons). Would love to have one of those but a little too much $$$ for me still...

[trodden]

picked up one of the United Technologies Twin87's (on sale for a really good price right now). Got here just in time for a session today - going to use it for vocals. Probably start in "vintage" mode but who knows where we'll end up.

btw, if you don't know, apparently United Technologies is co-owned by one of the designers (Chad Kelly) that used to work at Warm Audio and he split so he could design mics that had less compromises (ok, he might say no compromises, but that's never true at these kind of prices... still nice mics). Chad also runs Signal Art Electronics, which does mods, but also makes some sweet U47/U48 style mics (and have done very well in some comparisons). Would love to have one of those but a little too much $$$ for me still...

Interesting. Their FET 47 has been on my interested list for a few months. The only thing throwing me off was the cheap price! One of those "too good to be true" gut feelings, primarily brought on by mixed reviews of so much WARM gear. It was between the Heiserman H47 and the United UT FET, a $600 difference!!! So something felt fishy.

[trodden]

picked up one of the United Technologies Twin87's (on sale for a really good price right now). Got here just in time for a session today - going to use it for vocals. Probably start in "vintage" mode but who knows where we'll end up.

btw, if you don't know, apparently United Technologies is co-owned by one of the designers (Chad Kelly) that used to work at Warm Audio and he split so he could design mics that had less compromises (ok, he might say no compromises, but that's never true at these kind of prices... still nice mics). Chad also runs Signal Art Electronics, which does mods, but also makes some sweet U47/U48 style mics (and have done very well in some comparisons). Would love to have one of those but a little too much $$$ for me still...

Interesting. Their FET 47 has been on my interested list for a few months. The only thing throwing me off was the cheap price! One of those "too good to be true" gut feelings, primarily brought on by mixed reviews of so much WARM gear. It was between the Heiserman H47 and the United UT FET, a $600 difference!!! So something felt fishy.

From their website. This is nice to read actually. Because, yeah, seems this way...

"Though he was very happy with his own creations, it was not these builds at all that drove him to co-found United — it was the growing plethora of cheaper "knockoffs."

"They look a bit like the originals, but internally they often have less in common with the original designs," says Chad Kelly. "There were plenty of high-dollar recreations that were excellent, but many of the more affordable versions tended to be poor — yet they were the ones that were really selling well. We knew that we could do better — to give people something closer to the real McCoy... 'Buyer's Remorse' is a real thing and something we think about a lot — so are first impressions, and this drives our obsession over details and QC. Our goal is to absolutely amaze people with the level of quality that they are getting for their money — not to merely be 'good enough.' We are trying to build gear that lasts a career, and that people will not grow tired of using."

"

[digitaldrummer]

I only sat and hit record and haven't had time to really mix yet (tomorrow...) but my first take on the Twin87 is that it is definitely more "modern" sounding, even on the "vintage" setting. The band was doing a bunch of country covers (old and new) and the last time I had the singer use the SM7B through a LA610. This time it was the Twin87 through an AML 5003D (1073 clone) and a Lindell Lin2A (LA-2A clone). Brighter for sure. The Lin2A may add some of that. I noticed a bit of sibilance but only a couple times and I like the tone of this way better than the Wa-87's I used to have. I never liked them on vocals and though they just sounded congested. the SM7B is kinda forgiving but I think this one is going to work too.

[roscoenyc]

This is a very aggressive 1176!

[vvv]

... and a Lindell Lin2A (LA-2A clone). Brighter for sure. The Lin2A may add some of that.

How you like that as a LA-2A?

[trodden]

... and a Lindell Lin2A (LA-2A clone). Brighter for sure. The Lin2A may add some of that.

How you like that as a LA-2A?

Interested as well.

[digitaldrummer]

I like it. I've got the Lin76 too.
I know sometimes these get skipped over, but...
https://tapeop.com/reviews/gear/156/lin ... amplifier/

I use it for tracking mostly - like the session the other day, I was hitting the Lin2A pretty hard (or at least the needle was moving pretty good - probably 5-6dB compression - and it was just keeping it in check, even though the singer was not especially experienced on working a mic. they moved around a lot, and there was level changes. So this helped it not overshoot and overload my converters going in. In the final mix I will probably put a UAD LA-2A (gray) on it too, but with very very light compression as its mostly for color. I like how it thickens up a vocal.

I've got a Klark-Teknik 2A-KT (which is the same as the KT-2A afaik - must have been lawyers involved...). I replaced the optical module with a Kenetek but still has the same stock tubes in it. It's similar but maybe a little fuzzier - well not really fuzzy, but I think the Lin-2A has a bit more "presence" or shine, especially on vocals. The 2A-KT just doesn't feel as shiny but I need to try it more. It might have actually worked better on this last session to tame back the brighter Twin87 a bit? next time I'll test that theory...

I mostly use the Lin76 for the same - tracking mostly. Not sure which I like better to be honest. The 76 can grab a little quicker but only if you have it set to. It's useful if you are going for a blown-out distorted thing too. I can drive the preamp hard and the Lin76 makes sure it never overloads the converters and probably adds a little grit to it too.

in fact most all of my outboard compressors see mostly tracking duties. I'm much too lazy to patch in a comp later for mixing - and why when I have a crapload of compressor plugins...

[vvv]

After askin' about the Lin I found a OK price on the Klark and ordered it.

I been wanting to play with a LA2 because I like the software ones I fooled with

but I like outboard

I have a few 'pressors, including a nice 1176 clone I bought here

unless a VLA2 qualifies, I have nothin' like a LA2

I may have to pull sompin' from my full rack if the KT is good

I want it for vocals, mostly, altho' I read it's good on bass, as well

[roscoenyc]

My partner bought a Klark Teknik tube EQ a while back.
It doesn't have the sound of our Mercury tube eq (it's fraction of the cost). We thought about getting some mods done on it as it was so cheap.
Our tech had made us a little passive "transformer box" a while back and when we were re-setting up the studio he suggested we put those transformers inline on the way in and the way out (box has 2 channels) and that definitely gave it some more sonic 'size'.

[trodden]

I like it. I've got the Lin76 too.
I know sometimes these get skipped over, but...
https://tapeop.com/reviews/gear/156/lin ... amplifier/

I use it for tracking mostly -
in fact most all of my outboard compressors see mostly tracking duties. I'm much too lazy to patch in a comp later for mixing - and why when I have a crapload of compressor plugins...

Same here. I've got the WARM WA-76, which I use for pretty much everything when tracking/overdubbing, along with a pair of DBX 160XT's (kick, snare, vox, bass), ART VLA (synths), Symetrix 501 (drums/bass), and Ashly CL-52e (anything and everything). I'd love to have something La2a flavor to track with as well. The only compressor I have that I use for mixing (and pretty much only mixing) is the first version of the Overstayer stereo FET (legacy version), which is always on one of my drum busses. Now that I'm moving to mixing more in the box, I'll have to make a decision to use it as an insert in PT or just use a plug(s) instead as well as using it more in tracking.

https://www.overstayeraudio.com/stereo-compressor

[winky dinglehoffer]

Picked up a Focusrite 18i8, as recommended by CraigS63. It seems to be just what I was looking for, and at a reasonable price. Put a Fralin humbucker-sized P90 in the neck pickup position of that ugly Les Paul copy I posted a while back. Finally got a suitable set of strings for that short scale yellow Japanese bass that I (also) posted a pic of a while back. Setup is still not perfect, but it plays pretty well and sounds awesome.