Wow, Such Gear

My name is Devin. This is a list of all my studio equipment. Each tool serves a unique purpose within my creative environment. Please enjoy.

Synthesizers

Studiologic Sledge

An image of the Studiologic Sledge.

Digital polysynth. Think Blade Runner. It's got that digital resonance thing going on that makes everything sound like '80s sci-fi. Really fun!

Korg Minilogue

An image of the Korg Minilogue.

4-voice analog polysynth. Very popular due to its relatively low price in the analog polysynth realm, its versatility, and its unique sound. Simultaneously fun and professional sounding.

Korg Monologue

An image of the Korg Monologue.

The Minilogue's younger sibling. Monophonic with a more driven sound. The built-in drive circuit makes more compressed, harmonically-rich tones. Kind of an odd duck, but occasionally very useful.

Elektron Digitone

An image of the Elektron Digitone.

An unassuming beast. One of the most impressive feats of UI/UX I've seen in an instrument. Enables some really interesting and powerful options for modulation and performance. The step automation capability, in particular, delivers a sound I can't find elsewhere.

Minimoog Model D Reissue

An image of the Minimoog Model D Reissue.

An all time classic. Tons of modern synths take cues from the design language of the Model D. Has a very sweet and warm sound. It's also a visual treat.

Soma Synths Lyra 8

An image of the Soma Synths Lyra 8.

Weird. Unpredictable. Many, many, many knobs. What exactly they do? Not sure. Does it matter? No. Sounds neat. Makes noises. Good.

Outboard Hardware

Universal Audio 6176

An image of the Universal Audio 6176.

Classic preamp. Super smooth and warm, almost saccharine. Makes everything sound vintage. Has the ability to compress heavily, but still sound natural. Has a purple light.

API The Channel Strip

An image of the API The Channel Strip.

Have two because stereo! So unbelievably awesome. Makes anything you run through it sound Professionalâ„¢. Sometimes I'll run a drum buss through it and it just comes out sounding mixed.

Roland Space Echo

An image of the Roland Space Echo.

Needs no introduction. Sci-fi spacey tape delay. The best part is opening up the top and watching the tape move. Also, changing the repeat rate on the fly for tape slow-down effects!

Pedals

Chase Bliss Tonal Recall RKM

An image of the Chase Bliss Tonal Recall RKM.

A very guitar-y delay. Firm and tight BBD sound. I'll only use it on synths if I really want something syncopated. Overall a really special pedal for guitar.

Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl mkII

An image of the Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl mkII.

Gooey and warm, with some nice fuzzy noise on top if the high-pass is disengaged! Can make things sound just a tad different if that's what the part needs. Best on guitar, but also works great on synths.

Chase Bliss M O O D

An image of the Chase Bliss M O O D.

The bleep and bloop machine! Put a thing in and get a cooler thing out. Haven't had a ton of time to get into it, but it's really fun and has a sound I haven't heard elsewhere.

Chase Bliss Dark World

An image of the Chase Bliss Dark World.

Unique digital reverb with two channels: one named 'dark' and the other 'world'. Each side can be routed into the other or they can be played in parallel. Dark has weird, modulated, shimmery, noisy stuff going on. World has a standard plate, spring, and hall verb. A rather cold sound, but that's not a bad thing!

Chase Bliss Condor

An image of the Chase Bliss Condor.

Straight up analog preamp and EQ. This is an 'always-on' front-end pedal for me for guitar. Gives things a nice round tone going through the rest of the chain. Can be a bit much for synths, but occasionally really nice.

Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man

An image of the Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man.

Another BBD delay with a very different sound compared to the Tonal Recall. So good on flowy synth and guitar stuff. Combines the dry and wet signal really smoothly. The repeats also roll off so nicely. Seems like each repeat get a bit more saturated and loses some high-end.

Demedash T-120 Videotape Echo

An image of the Demedash T-120 Videotape Echo.

A very special delay. Wait list is really long for this friend. Has a character that's hard to explain. If I had to describe it, I would say it sounds like the '90s.

JHS Colour Box

An image of the JHS Colour Box.

Lundahl transformer. Supposed to sound like plugging directly into a Neve console. Haven't used it much, but most likely will for low-gain stuff! Adds a little something special.

Elektron Analog Drive

An image of the Elektron Analog Drive.

Super versatile drive pedal. I use it primarily for guitar on low gain settings. Really love the sound of this. Got it on sale for like $80 and it sounds amazing for that price.

Guitars

Fender Stratocaster

An image of the Fender Stratocaster.

Just your basic strat! Got it when I was like 15. Not much else to say. Sounds great!

Fender Mark Hoppus Signature Bass

An image of the Fender Mark Hoppus Signature Bass.

Got this because of the pickups it came with, but I also like the simplicity of just the volume knob. Has a nice chunky sound. I use flat-wound strings.

Epiphone Les Paul

An image of the Epiphone Les Paul.

Acquired this a few years ago, but honestly haven't really found a way to get it to sound how I want. It's got a very driven 'rock' type sound which doesn't feel too natural for me. Maybe I'll figure it out!

Vintage Epiphone Acoustic

An image of the Vintage Epiphone Acoustic.

Picked this up on the cheap because I wanted a J45, but didn't want to spend thousands of dollars. Sounds really nice!

Drum Machines

Alesis HR-16

An image of the Alesis HR-16.

Lol. Just ridiculously hard to program. But it has that retro, digital drum machine sound that you can't really capture in software. Must be the subpar D/A conversion.

Volca Beats

An image of the Volca Beats.

Suprisingly fun and nice sounding for its size. The stutter effect is my favorite part. If you use it on the 'global' setting and play with the time knob you get can some really cool choppy stuff.

Miscellaneous

Yamaha MSP7s

An image of the Yamaha MSP7s.

Bought these monitors when I was like 15. They were the floor models at Sam Ash, so a little beat up, but still sounded fantastic. They have a very open and wide sound. I don't have a treated room, so can't use them much for mixing, but they're still great.

Sennheiser HD650s

An image of the Sennheiser HD650s.

Studio monitors for mixing duty. Open back. Great sound stage. I use them with Sonarworks software to get them properly calibrated, which makes a huge difference.

Ableton Push 2

An image of the Ableton Push 2.

Really cool MIDI controller. Best part is that it can be used with Bitwig and even Reaper. I don't use Ableton much anymore, but the pads on this thing are really nice.

Apogee Quartet

An image of the Apogee Quartet.

Main I/O. Really clean preamps. I wanted to get something that would last a long time, but not break the bank, and this fit the bill.

Universal Audio Arrow

An image of the Universal Audio Arrow.

I use this purely for recording plugins out of my laptop and through hardware. It forces me to treat virtual instruments like real ones, which I prefer for workflow reasons.

Schiit Magni 2

An image of the Schiit Magni 2.

Headphone amp. Not too expensive and doesn't color the sound much. Drives the Sennheiser HD650s just fine.

Bitwig

An image of the Bitwig.

Digital audio workstation. I used to use Ableton, but it has a lot of performance issues when projects get really big. Bitwig is great for huge projects because it handles CPU usage in a much smarter smart way. For example, when tracks aren't playing any sound or are muted, the CPU usage goes to zero. Bitwig also has a UI that's very similar to Ableton so it wasn't hard to switch over.

Plugin Bundles

Slate Digital All Access Pass

An image of the Slate Digital All Access Pass.

I probably use Virtual Mix Rack in every individual track on any given project. Mostly FG-73 eq, FG-116 compressor, and FG-N preamp. I especially love the FG-116 compressor. It levels things out so smoothly. The All Access Pass includes a ton more though. Reverbs, instruments, buss compressors, etc. It's honestly an incredible value, highly recommend!

Softube Volume 3

An image of the Softube Volume 3.

Lots of cool stuff in this bundle. I don't use any of it super frequently, but it can be really useful when you need it.

Kush Plugins

An image of the Kush Plugins.

Novatron, UBK-1, and Omega N in particular each have a sound I haven't heard anywhere else. Really cool, very colorful stuff.

Arturia 3 Compressors

An image of the Arturia 3 Compressors.

Super useful. I use the tube compressor on a ton of stuff. Levels things out really nicely. Mostly use it on synth parts with lots of reverb to merge the wet and dry signal better.

Arturia 3 Preamps

An image of the Arturia 3 Preamps.

They just sound really nice. When I need a little extra something on a track, but I'm not sure what exactly, this can be a nice subtle boost.

Arturia 3 Delays

An image of the Arturia 3 Delays.

The BBD delay in particular really nails the sound!

Arturia V Collection

An image of the Arturia V Collection.

Great vintage synth emulations. The CS-80 is really good. Also love the Matrix-12 emulation.

Native Instruments Komplete

An image of the Native Instruments Komplete.

So so much in this bundle. Lots of useful stuff. Monark, Massive, Kontakt, etc.

Reverb Plugins

d16 Toraverb

An image of the d16 Toraverb.

Expansive, modulated, and at times unwieldy. Use it all the time. Love it.

Valhalla Shimmer

An image of the Valhalla Shimmer.

If you imagine what 'shimmer' might sound like, it does that. Usually use it on synths if I want them to sound more bright and airy.

Valhalla Vintageverb

An image of the Valhalla Vintageverb.

Full, round, deep, modulated, vintage-sounding reverb. Sounds great on everything.

Delay Plugins

d16 Repeater

An image of the d16 Repeater.

Reliable workhorse delay. It's the first one I reach for when I think 'needs delay'.

Valhalla Delay

An image of the Valhalla Delay.

Has an interesting way of making everything sound bigger and more expansive. Probably because of the diffusion control. Everything Valhalla puts out is gold.

u-he Colour Copy

An image of the u-he Colour Copy.

Really good for modulated delay. Also has a cool feedback colouration circuit for saturating the repeats in various ways.

Soundtoys Echoboy

An image of the Soundtoys Echoboy.

Indispensable delay. Sounds really smooth and blends with the source quite nicely. The Memory Man emulation is excellent.

Synth Plugins

d16 Lush-101

An image of the d16 Lush-101.

Really good. Sounds like an analog polysynth but with a ton of modulation options and controls and layers and all of those things.