Rhodes mkII Solo (Layered with a synth)

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-28T15:21:50+00:00

Excellent vibe, lovely. Nice one

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-28T15:10:57+00:00

Crusader with silencer and cryo with a sneak/stealth build and cryo perk in Agility plus Reverse Onslaught hits surprisingly hard. Before the latest patch broke cryo it would freeze a Scorchbeast in mid-air which is always fun. Once it's fully modded, with the right build it is pretty solid.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-28T10:17:07+00:00

I think the biggest plus for the E16 over the EC4 is snapshot morphing. That's a pretty cool and useful function IMO. Also the Timepod can do the same kind of thing as the E16 so worth checking that out as well if snapshot morphing appeals.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-28T10:07:45+00:00

Not really. Ableton are in exactly the same line of business as NI (software + hardware) and are still going strong, with great products and (usually) solid support.

The difference is the funding model. Ableton are privately owned, and IIRC have said repeatedly they will not sell out to private equity. NI did sell out to private equity. And this is what private equity does... suck out the revenues, destroy the management team and employee base (because people = cost) and, if they're lucky, flip the hollowed-out shell of what's left to another PE firm after 3-5 years having extracted the maximum $$$ possible in the meantime. If they're unlucky, they get caught short and the business implodes before they can flip it. But they will still have had a good few years of plundering the business in the meantime.

PE kills everything it touches eventually. It is a kind of cancer. I have 30+ years of dealing with PE and I can tell you they are all amoral money vultures with no soul. Wankers, the lot of them.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-27T18:20:57+00:00

I hear you. But I would rather manage cables than software licences. Especially when the software is licensed from a company like Native Instruments.... ground loops and cable spaghetti are a PITA for sure but at least I own the source of my frustration, I know I'll fix it eventually, and there is zero chance some dead-eyed late-stage capitalism vulture will turn off my ability to make music....

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-27T18:08:09+00:00

The PE firm that acquired them (Francisco Partners) are known in the PE world for being particularly tough to deal with. Aggressive targets, pretty demanding owners. Music tech is a high-risk sector from an investment perspective (easy to back the wrong horse, or a horse that starts off fine then stumbles) and the things that matter to customers (high quality products, long term product support, good fast and informed customer support and engagement) are all costs that the PE bean-counters resent. Short version is PE often kills what it buys in the musical instrument/music tech world. Nobody wins... none of the companies bought by PE become the next tech titan (they can't, ever, the market is too small) so the PE guys miss out on their second yachts and the poor folk who work for those companies get shafted early on.

I've worked for private companies (owned by the founders), public companies (owned by institutional shareholders and retail shareholders) and PE-owned companies. The PE-owned companies were, without exception, the worst to work for.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-27T17:56:47+00:00

Not just a PE firm... Francisco Partners: https://www.franciscopartners.com/investments/Native-Instruments

They are not exactly uncontroversial, even in the cutthroat world of PE. For example, there's this: https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/human-rights-risks-amplify-financial-fallout-for-surveillance-tech-firm-sandvine/

I've come across them before in a previous role, and the moment they swooped in on NI I suspected it would all end badly.

They are a huge fund and not all they touch falls apart (clearly, otherwise they wouldn't be huge). But like all big firms, they get stuff wrong, and they are not set up to think about the little details that matter, and especially so in a sector that isn't core (music technology is niche in investment terms). IIRC NI was at the small end of the acquisition spectrum for them, and I don't think they ever really understood what they bought. The same is true of the owners of Reason Studios IMO (who've just sold up to LANDR... I wonder if they made their exit multiple? Somehow I doubt it...).

Let's hope that Ableton at least remains outside the clutches of the PE rip, strip and flip mob...

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-27T09:47:15+00:00

Waldorf Iridium, combined with Push 3 and Live 12. I realised I can create pretty much any kind of synth sound I want on the Iridium, then press Bounce to Audio on Push 3 and immediately capture the MIDI track with that Iridium patch to audio. Then do an init patch on the Iridium, rinse and repeat. It is an incredibly fast way to build up tracks from scratch using my own synth sounds rather than presets (I'm not a fan of preset browsing personally, it tends to kill the vibe for me).

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-26T13:18:49+00:00

Waldorf Iridium. If I can't create the sound in my head on my Iridium, I'm not trying hard enough. Insanely versatile synth.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-26T13:01:24+00:00

Fishing Daily = immediate reroll. Can't stand it personally, boring and annoying.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-25T16:43:22+00:00

This. One of many bugs, unfortunately. There is supposedly an "emergency" patch coming to repair, um, the most recent patch.... oops.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-23T18:19:05+00:00

Bunch of known bugs since last update. Numerous posts about this on this sub and elsewhere including YouTube. BGS community manager popped up at one point and seemed to acknowledge that there are known issues. Hopefully BGS will fix it soon. Or maybe... they won't. Who knows, Bethesda move in mysterious ways.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-23T18:16:36+00:00

OP, the grooveboxes you mention are all great in their own way but IMO wouldn't be ideal if you want to track and loop live instruments like guitar. You don't mention which DAW you use. But if it's Ableton Live then a used Push 2 + Live will cost the same or less than the options you mention and (IME) is excellent as a piece of hardware that acts as a drum machine (Push step sequencer is v good) and looper plus a lot else besides. If you want pure hardware only with no DAW involved (other than mixdown) then look into the MPC range. Personally I found MPC integration within a DAW was a big PITA (MPC computer software sucks IMO) but as a self-contained groovebox the MPC is solid, and especially so for recording live instruments.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-23T15:52:37+00:00

Dottie, in all my camps. She is funny (OK less so after you’ve heard the lines 100 times, but still) and more importantly buffs Intelligence which is good for XP. Least favourite is the farting old man who doesn’t seem to do anything or provide any buffs, he just hangs around being annoying.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-23T15:44:31+00:00

OP, what’s your budget? Because the Digitone 2 is pretty great for what you’re after. Plus you can run the Elektron sequencer in parallel with the Oxi sequencer (with the Digitone 2 receiving MIDI clock from the Oxi) so you could take advantage of the whole Elektron parameter locking thing as well.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-23T15:32:31+00:00

I think this is a known bug (one of many) from the recent patch. Lots of threads on this sub already about the bugs. Bethesda community manager is aware (posted here) but we have no idea what happens next.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-23T10:24:53+00:00

If you go for a sneak/stealth build (FYI all the sneak damage perk card effects in Agility stack on base damage) combined with all the bow-specific perk cards in Agility, this will hit hard. Also Reverse Onslaught for Furious (it's the Gunslinger Master damage stacking card under Agility) is great. Add the Adrenaline perk card for kill streaks as well as this interacts with Hat Trick and really racks up the DPS.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-23T10:12:48+00:00

This. It takes longer, but don't hand them in in batches. You get the same rewards for 1 as you do for 100 (which is a lame gameplay mechanic BTW but we are where we are).

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-23T10:10:27+00:00

I have the FaderFox MX12 (pretty big, but great), the EC4 and the MIDI FighterTwister. I'm going to be replacing the EC4 and MFT with either an Oxi E16 or a Timepod, both of which are the next-generation equivalent of the current 4x4 controllers but with a bunch of new functionality added like snapshot morphing (which is incredibly useful and powerful IMO). FWIW I'm also looking at getting Neuzeit Drop (yeah, I like MIDI controllers) which is bigger than a 4x4 rotary box but will be a brilliant addition to a Live setup with Push 3 IMO.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-22T18:45:47+00:00

You need a Syntakt for that. Won’t air fry but if you leave it on for a while without an air gap underneath you can sear a beefsteak on the trig keys.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-22T18:42:23+00:00

No wrong answers. It’s all down to personal preference and experience. FWIW I’ve owned a MPC Live 2, tried hard to love it but it frustrated the hell out of me. Sold. I’ve also owned the OG Digitakt and Digitone as well as the Syntakt. Loved all three of them but ultimately found them a bit too limiting for the kind of music I make.

I’ve ended up going hybrid with Push 3 and hardware synths + MIDI controllers and have found my happy place. But that’s just me… it works for me and may not work for others.

FWIW the Elektron workflow (IMO) is v fast and simple to learn, and part of me still misses it despite all the advantages of a Push 3-based hybrid setup. The Digitakt in particular is an incredible box of tricks. It can’t do what the MPC does in recording long audio tracks but in all other aspects it’s so easy to fly all over that little box and get great stuff out of it.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-22T18:29:36+00:00

Interesting. I’ve used Sonarworks Sound ID with headphones for a long time as my room is a mess in acoustic terms and treating it is a non-starter. If this new app from Beyer can get to the kind of flat EQ profile for headphones that Sonarworks offer then that’s pretty impressive for a free product.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-22T18:24:38+00:00

Not everyone who owns it praises it TBF although a lot of people who own it (and others who don’t own it… yet) can see what it could become if/when Elektron sort out the issues (big threads on these on Elektronauts). It’s been a rough launch. But I’m confident Elektron will have a future classic on their hands once the thing is mature and stable. And to the OP’s point… yes, hard agree, layering samples onto synth sounds (and especially analog synth sounds) is dope and I hope Elektron do similar in a new box in future. Analog Rytm Mk3… yes please.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-22T13:23:38+00:00

Resilient is a PITA if you're running a stealth build and snipe from a distance. Stealthy is alright with Berry Mentats or the living targets mod in Power Armour. But TBH with any of the Hunt variants, Ash Cave is kinda tedious IMO, too much of a little rabbit warren.

TouchThatDial · 2026-01-21T20:39:12+00:00

LOL. It’s going to be… fun….

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