The Ugly Gear Topic (Page 1 of 11)

Alesis Andromeda.

+1 for the Andromeda. Hideous piece of equipment.

I have something against these darth vader inspired pseudo futuristic looking synths...

and this stormtrooper paint job:

The 2 ugliest I have had in my collection:

Last edited by Brian Chinetti (2008-09-28 14:53:24)

And the Yamaha TQ-5 brings my symmetry-obsessed OCD brain dangerously close to exploding:

I too like the system buttons at an angle on the JD - it helps to visually separate them from the rest of the controls.   I can't handle the Yamaha thing though.  It looks a bit like a Roland MC-4 given a wacky early-90's makeover.   

I really like the look of the TQ-5.
if they weren't so rare, I'd have one.

@ brian: I'd never heard of the hound before! it sounds a bit like the specs of the ESQ-1. do you know what it sounds like compared to those?

+1 on the three SE versions of the mpc2000xl. ewwww.
here's the other two...

Last edited by no-fi (2008-09-29 00:05:03)

I had the Cirko Hound for about 9 months, but it had some voice and midi problems and it was send back for quite a long time, so effectively I only had it for a few months. Perhaps I didn't give it the time it deserved, but I just didn't like how it sounded.

There where different versions available of the Hound, but the only difference was the number of voices, ranging from 2 to 16. I had an 8 voice version. I don't know how many of which version where build but it can't be many because mine had serial number 16 and was already one of the last ones that was build. I don't think they sold more then 20. I bought it (unheard) because it had an analog filter, and because I was charmed by it's size and versatility:

8 voices, 16 parts
4 outputs
4 DCO's
3 LFO's
S&H
A lot of modulation capabilities, also FM and PWM
3 ADSR envelopes
24 dB VCF (with something Cirko called 'fatness', I would have called it 'timbre')
Patch memory for 124 patches, which could be stored and assigned to their outputs in 24 multi's. It came with a patch librarian for Windows 98. There was no editor and not every parameter could be edited by midi.

I always feel bad when I sell a synth and right now I'm again thinking 'maybe I should have kept it, maybe I didn't dive into it deep enough'... It was a pretty nice synth because it was very versatile, but it really wasn't what I had hoped for. I don't know the ESQ1 but it sounded a lot like a Matrix 1000, which wasn't very impressive or usable to me at that time so I got rid of it. I believe Danny borrowed it for a few weeks but wasn't quite impressed by it either.

Because it is so obscure I kept some files that came with the Cirko Hound, including the pdf manual and the awful mp3 demos (rar).

Last edited by Brian Chinetti (2008-09-29 10:43:05)

That was probably the most stupidest business venture ever, already to make an analog synthesizer in the late 90s like THAT (no external control whatso-ever) in a time when companies understood such a thing was mandatory...and not even a computer editor...

Nah be happy that you got rid of that thing. It probably can make some amazing sounds, but probably none of the 16 owners really tried...

the fizmo

always thought the JD-800 teetered somewhere between ugly and awesome

Last edited by Dez (2008-09-29 14:58:26)

Yeah...That blue/purple gradient is the definition of cool

Oh don't get me wrong, I still want one!...It would look great next to my A6!

if that mp7 could sample it be a whole lot less of a worthless piece of equipshit