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Gear You Regret Buying?

robgb

Genius. Idiot. You Decide.
Back before most of you were born, I bought a hardware sequencer called the Yamaha QX1 for $3,000 1980-something dollars, which is equal to $9,642.40 today. I don't know what possessed me to buy it. It was the first of its kind and I visited the shop several times before I plunked down the money and took it home.

It was a great unit, but literally three months after I bought it, Yamaha came out with a newer, more advanced model at a third of the cost. I can't tell you how much that killed me. And while I got a lot of use out of it, to this day I regret spending that kind of cash on a piece of gear that was obsolete three months later.

https://medias.audiofanzine.com/images/thumbs3/yamaha-qx1-153652.jpg

Anyone else have any gear they regret buying?
 
A Houston controller for Cubase. The faders would never reset properly and the buttons felt like I was pushing Haribos.
 
Initial release of Komplete Kontrol S-49 Keyboard /MIDI Controller.
Major updated model not so long after which flushed my value down the toilet.
I must say this one works but with notable design flaws corrected by version 2.

Pitch Bend and Mod Wheel Touch-Sliders were such a poorly conceived design.
My bad …. will not likely purchase first model of any hardware again ….. :barefoot:
 
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An Alesis electronic drum kit years ago.

Never felt comfortable using it compared to a real kit, it took way too much space in my studio room and I felt I played the drums much better with my fingers than with the cramped and weird-feeling laggy pads instead. (I've been playing drums with keyboards since the late 90's and am actually quite good at it, haha!)

Right now it resides at my son's room and he's enjoying playing with it, so it's not wasted, luckily.
 
Initial release of Komplete Kontrol S-49 Keyboard /MIDI Controller.
Major updated model not so long after which flushed my value down the toilet.
I must say this one works but with notable design flaws corrected by version 2.

Pitch Bend and Mod Wheel Sliders were such a poorly conceived design.
My bad …. will not likely purchase first model of any hardware again ….. :barefoot:

Although I don't regret purchasing my S88, I have gotten used to the sliders. However, sometimes I accidentally touch the adjacent pitch bend strip which is a total nuisance.
 
this could be a long list<G>!

AKG C3000 - the only microphone I've ever tried for which I can find no use.

Alesis 3630 - brilliant concept, horrible execution. I eventually modified it to make it passable, but could never bring myself to inflict in on another. One of a very few pieces of gear I sent to the landfill.

Bellari Two-Channel Tube Preamp, can't even remember the model number. I also modified this, and it was OK as a microphone preamplifier, and outstanding as a DI for electric bass. But I spent more to upgrade it then I spent on it. And a lot of time. Possibly a good education, but I could have lived without that entire debacle.

Akai S900 - ok, I don't regret it, but I didn't get much use out of it before software samplers arrived in force (think Giga-Sampler). Prior to that I had used Ensoniq samplers, and still have an ASR-10 in the rack which sees some use. On the plus side (sometimes you have to go looking<G>) I did get some really cool libraries, which I imported into GS, and still use. I should probably import them into Kontakt, but I have no idea where I put the original CDs.

Ensoniq SQ-r - not a bad device, actually a pretty good little rompler. But the timing was awful, I bought it at street price about a month before Ensoniq was purchased. The price dropped dramatically at all the usual places. Had I known I'd have waited for the fire sale. Not a lot of call for it these days, but I have that, and a Proteus 1 with the Protologic (??) expansion in the rack. They can be fun... just with I'd spent less on them<G>.
 
Nectar Midi Controller (can't remember the model). Broke after a few months.

Samson Meteor --limited application, and even for that (voice-over) it's not that great. Only benefit is that it's USB, so you have a little more flexibility. Still overpriced.

I-Rig Mini Keys --overpriced plastic piece of junk. Didn't break but for $70 I'd expect higher quality feel/build. Got it so I could get Sampletank 3 Full Version. Still not sure if I can sell the controller and retain Sampletank. 'Cause I definitely want to sell it. Could be good for a beginner, hobbyist. Definitely couldn't get more than $15-20 for it I'm sure. I'd feel like a criminal if I tried charging more.


I don't really buy a lot of gear, but on a side note, there are some things I have been extremely happy with lately.

Korg Monologue. Really love it. All I can really compare it to is the analog emulations I own --(repro 1 and 5, and the legend). Not a great comparison for sure, but the difference between analog and digital is pronounced. Youtube videos don't really do comparisons like that justice. Have a lot to still learn, explore and create.

Tascam DR44-WL. That thing is a workhose and has gotten me through a lot of projects. It can record pretty much anything very accurately, and is fairly quiet. USB bus powered or batter powered (so really great if you're recording inside, so you never have to use batteries). But nice to have the portability as an option. I've dropped it more than a couple of times, and still working great (I don't recommend that of course). Condensor mics are known for being fragile. Maybe I've gotten lucky thus far.
 
Roland Juno-G synth. It had a defective LCD screen, which was a big issue for a lot of people who made the mistake of buying this, and the defect was never properly acknowledged or rectified.
 
Back before most of you were born, I bought a hardware sequencer called the Yamaha QX1 for $3,000 1980-something dollars, which is equal to $9,642.40 today. I don't know what possessed me to buy it. It was the first of its kind and I visited the shop several times before I plunked down the money and took it home.

It was a great unit, but literally three months after I bought it, Yamaha came out with a newer, more advanced model at a third of the cost. I can't tell you how much that killed me. And while I got a lot of use out of it, to this day I regret spending that kind of cash on a piece of gear that was obsolete three months later.

https://medias.audiofanzine.com/images/thumbs3/yamaha-qx1-153652.jpg

Anyone else have any gear they regret buying?

Other than their wind instruments Yamaha is on my blacklist. They create the most doorstops. I wish I would have bought a RME Hammerfall instead of the SWXG1000 after the turn of the century. It would still be in use.

There are also numerous smaller audio interfaces I've wasted money on. I'm still using an I7 4790, AMD FX6300 and still getting a lot of mileage out of my M-Audio PCI cards.
 
Nectar Midi Controller (can't remember the model). Broke after a few months.

Samson Meteor --limited application, and even for that (voice-over) it's not that great. Only benefit is that it's USB, so you have a little more flexibility. Still overpriced.

I-Rig Mini Keys --overpriced plastic piece of junk. Didn't break but for $70 I'd expect higher quality feel/build. Got it so I could get Sampletank 3 Full Version. Still not sure if I can sell the controller and retain Sampletank. 'Cause I definitely want to sell it. Could be good for a beginner, hobbyist. Definitely couldn't get more than $15-20 for it I'm sure. I'd feel like a criminal if I tried charging more.


I don't really buy a lot of gear, but on a side note, there are some things I have been extremely happy with lately.

Korg Monologue. Really love it. All I can really compare it to is the analog emulations I own --(repro 1 and 5, and the legend). Not a great comparison for sure, but the difference between analog and digital is pronounced. Youtube videos don't really do comparisons like that justice. Have a lot to still learn, explore and create.

Tascam DR44-WL. That thing is a workhose and has gotten me through a lot of projects. It can record pretty much anything very accurately, and is fairly quiet. USB bus powered or batter powered (so really great if you're recording inside, so you never have to use batteries). But nice to have the portability as an option. I've dropped it more than a couple of times, and still working great (I don't recommend that of course). Condensor mics are known for being fragile. Maybe I've gotten lucky thus far.

Got one of those. I'm into mini controllers due to space. I probably wont buy another controller that uses micro USB ports. Mine had issues and a new cable from the 99 Cent Store fixed that. Small controllers are hard to sell used. I basically got it for the iPad but my amusement with portability came to a quick end.
 
Really? If I am ever again looking for a digital piano, Yamaha and Kawai are the only two brands I'll likely consider. Nothing but great experiences with Yamaha P and CP series DPs.

Those would be the exceptions. Pro audio gear - never.
 
Mackie Control. I hardly ever used it and after my desk collapsed (don't ask) I never ever used it anymore.
I feel your pain. I managed to wangle one for about half price rrp on eBay some years back, and didn't really find a need for it. I ended up just using it for the jog wheel and transport controls, until one day it suddenly dawned on me to just sell it on. Such a relief, and opened up so much desk space!
 
Got one of those. I'm into mini controllers due to space. I probably wont buy another controller that uses micro USB ports. Mine had issues and a new cable from the 99 Cent Store fixed that. Small controllers are hard to sell used. I basically got it for the iPad but my amusement with portability came to a quick end.
It feels like an old toy piano where the black keys don't really work (even though in this they do). It really just feels like a kid's toy. I'm afraid I'll break it if I touch it just the right (or wrong) way.
 
Back before most of you were born, I bought a hardware sequencer called the Yamaha QX1 for $3,000 1980-something dollars, which is equal to $9,642.40 today. I don't know what possessed me to buy it. It was the first of its kind and I visited the shop several times before I plunked down the money and took it home.

It was a great unit, but literally three months after I bought it, Yamaha came out with a newer, more advanced model at a third of the cost.

The QX-5, right? It was a great sequencer. I used the heck out of mine.
 
M-audio Axiom pro 49....defective board resulted in BSOD...I did finally get it working by flashing the os after years of it being a handy doorstop!
 
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