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
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.