As a dance music fan, and occasional DJ, there’s a somewhat related hobby I’ve avoided until recently. It starts out small, first with one purchase, then a few, then all of a sudden you realise you’ve spent hundreds or even thousands of pounds on synths and drum machines.
Now that I’m approaching my 40s, it was only a matter of time before I got into music hardware. There seems to be an unwritten rule of raving: if you spend your 20s and 30s on dancefloors, you mix up your fourth decade by spending time in your office/studio pressing buttons and twiddling knobs to smash out bangers that, chances are, only you will hear.
It started with the PO-12 from Teenage Engineering, who also designed the Playdate. TE are an Apple-like company in more ways than one. To some, they make beautiful electronic devices that are themselves like a piece of art. To others, they’re overpriced and underpowered pieces of kit that only sell well because they look nice. The PO-12 lingered on my desk for a few years, occasionally being played at the end of a work day, but after recently plugging it into some proper speakers the sound difference over the built-in speaker showed me what was possible.
Soon after, I found their EP-133 K.O. II going for 100 quid on eBay. An absolute steal, so I got a last-minute bid in and won it.
And now that I have researched these products, my YouTube algorithm is pushing music hardware at me, so when I saw a £65 synth that lets you customise the firmware, I knew I had to buy it.
While I was eagerly awaiting the FM-1’s long trip from China, I was dropping into various second-hand shops to see if they had anything interesting. Imagine my luck when I found a Korg Volca Drum in a Cash Converters for 60 quid.
So now, I have a pretty decent starter collection of music hardware. I just have to figure out how to use them all.
Twisting knobs
For years, practically since 2020, I’ve been trying to find more hobbies that don’t involve screens. DJing and music production require my laptop, and I love playing video games, but those are on a screen.
Music hardware feels like a puzzle in a game. I’m experimenting through play, memorising techniques, and building a mental model of how they work.
There’s also a physicality to it that screens can’t convey. The real controls hit some dopamine centre in my brain that clicking a digital button just doesn’t.
Turns out there’s a name for this: Tactile Technology.
When everything is on a touch device or a screen, we lose a part of that tactile relationship with technology. I’m at the start of this new hobby, and it’s already fun to press buttons, twiddle knobs, and click switches, to make music happen.
But I’ve been told I’m not allowed to buy any more until I can do a live set. I’ll not mention that I’ve already bought another.
Honourable mentions
It’s been a few months since my last honourable mentions, so there’s a lot to mention:
- 🇳🇴 We went to Norway. It was so expensive but so worth it. We flew into Bergen, drove an EV round the fjords, kayaked in rivers, hiked through amazing landscapes, and camped overnight at one popular tourist hotspot.
- 💒 We celebrated 10 years together and threw a big party with all of our friends. I BBQ’d for 50 people and everyone got fed, but I am never ever doing that again.
- 🪩 I managed to get an artist ticket for Boomtown, despite not playing, which makes up for the time I did play and didn’t get one. It was amazing, but extremely dusty. It felt as bad as Burning Man.
- 🏡 We had a little staycation in Suffolk which was nice. We did some birdwatching and visited Sutton Hoo. Unfortunately the cottage we stayed in stank of black mould, so we cut it short and came home early.
- 🇪🇸 My stepdad refuses to fly, so he and my mum took their campervan down through Ireland and got the ferry to Spain to visit some family we have there. My brothers and I flew to Madrid to go and hang out with them for a weekend. With his whole no flying thing, we’ve never really done family foreign holidays, so it was really nice.
- 📖 I never did finish Consider Phlebas, but instead I’m rinsing through The Three-Body Problem to read it before Netflix releases the new season of the TV show, or cancels it.
- 🎮 A lot of stuff on the Steam Deck, but with a second go at it Blue Prince absolutely consumed me. I think I’m near the real end, and I did look up some solutions, but I’ve sort of dropped off it a bit. My Notion page is a few thousand words.
- 🎮 After Norway and East Anglia I picked up AC Valhalla on sale to pretend to be a Viking. I’ve also wanted to play the DLC set in Ireland for ages so I’m looking forward to doing that.
- 🎮 But before I get to Ireland, I need something scary, so I restarted Alan Wake 2. I’m really enjoying the atmosphere, but the combat can be a bit annoying. I’ll stick with it because everything else in the game is amazing.
- 🎛️ Playing with all my
new toysmusic hardware.