Letters to Satan: the 2024 ILFSS Wishlist thread

[Gone Fission]

Hey, Satan!

So I’ve been playing more guitar than usual this year. A bunch of electric and acoustic, too. Surprise new guitar of the year is a Taylor T5z—amazing neck, lots of range, and seems made for dream pop. It is just enjoyable AF to play, plugged in or not.

So I’ve been trying to focus down my delay/reverb/mod pedal stuff mainly to an HX One and (soon to be added) H90. More space for really particular pedals. And more fuzz and fuzzy drive stuff. I’ve been slouching on keeping up with some of the recent offerings from our Shark Tank, MAE, and Mid-Fi in that territory. And granular stuff.

I haven’t followed the siren song of modular. I’ve eyed an entry level semi-modular mono synth or two but so far haven’t bit. I have a decent cheap Yamaha piano keyboard thing and a little controller for the MacBook that are my only real portal into synth stuff. But the Mac is new this year and the first computer I’ve had that can actually do serious audio stuff, so I’m digging the Moog iOS apps I have that run on it with serious screen territory instead of the phone and feeling bad about how shit my keyboard playing is. I’m probably gonna try to get a non-antique iPad over the holidays so I can mess with synth/drum/sample stuff on my long train commute days.

Mostly listening to streaming. Downloads are easy. CD can be done. LPs would give me a nudge to set up the player. I’ll make it happen to listen to your stuff.

[UglyCasanova]

Dear Satan,

I've missed you, you handsome devil you.

With a two year old and a new kid coming early January, I haven't had much time to play with pedals except during this year's ILFEU, where my eyes were opened to how cool phasers are in the context of sustainable doom chugs. But, unfortunately for you, I now own a phaser (Lantern Marigold) and have another one incoming from Coldbrightsunlight for potential ownership (Infanem Faye sing), so I probably don't need more for a while. What I don't own are any super doom-y fuzzes. I've been eyeballing a few but haven't landed on anything. Other than that I've been wanting to get another ring mod. Gated oscillating fuzzes are always great. Glitchy stuff.

About done getting my workshop ready, so anything for building pedals is cool. Breadboards are always great. Those 3D printed nut tighteners look smart. Weird knobs. Fun chips. Basically anything except a soldering iron and solder is welcome. Also no kits, maybe. I have so many I haven't gotten around to building.

I only use Spotify, so for music I'd love a playlist or just some recommendations. I'd rather have you support a local band on my behalf than buy me anything.

I eat and drink all the things.

IG: digitalflorafx

Happy hunting!

[coldbrightsunlight]

Dear Satan,

I don't really know what I want this year, sorry I slimmed down my euro stuff this year so none of that (unless you REALLY know you can replace some of my stuff ). I am happy with fuzz & my various band boards. In general I'm very focussed on guitar & bass at the moment, but of course this will swing another direction at some point. I'm also playing lots of viola & lap steel. I'm not really sure where that gets you

In general, I assume this is obvious from my posts but I don't get on with stuff that is too complicated or has hidden functions. Simple boxes that sound good.

I don't have a way to play non-digital formats, love bandcamp & merch!

I will definitely update this as I think more.

UPDATES

I've been thinking again of getting a simple hardware sampler/drum machine. I have gone through a succession of more and more complicated samplers (Volca Sample - Digitakt - Octatrack) and sold the octa and went to computers for fancy sampling and now have none. I am happy with computer/euro but every now and then I think it would be fun to have something simpler and easy to use to play around with. Capture sounds, mess with them, do simple drum machines into pedals stuff.

If there's a good combination flanger/chorus that doesn't have too many knobs I'm very intrigued. I love the cosmichorus and BF-2 but I don't use either effect enough to feel like it's worth having them and mostly use my behringer vibrato for band stuff (this thing is ridiculously good). Would probably love a good chorus that is simpler/cheaper/smaller than the cosmi even if the cosmi has that good ILF cred and sounds great.

I said I'm happy with fuzz pedals but I always like fuzz.

Also still curious about getting another parametric EQ. Used to have the stone deaf PDF but been curious about multiple band ones like the Empress ParaEQ or the Sine FX ones for a while. IDK if I'd really make great use of it as I'm not that clever but it sounds fun

Sorry I did this update too late I've been pretty sick/busy. hope I've not been too unstalkable this year

[MSUsousaphone]

Dearest Satan.

I would like a tuba, a Mesa tube head (vintage), a meat lovers Shaqzilla pizza, and a vehicle that can fit six kids (open to different makes/models....I'm easy).

Thanks in advance.

[MSUsousaphone]

Ok. But for real, my story is very much the same you will see searching through these threads the past years.....I am a bass player who was to be addicted to pedals. It was bad. I had money and no other vices. Like, I tried everything. Then I had quintuplets and I no longer had time and money and I couldn't afford my pedals. I had to sell most of them (pedals, not kids) and I haven't really gotten to keep up on the new stuff. My quints are 12 now. So it's been like 12 years of being out of the game. I also added a single. She's nine. So I have six kids.

But what I would really want is something you feel like I probably missed out on this past decade. I love fizzy things. Glitchy things. Doom stuff. I used to use a fuzzy synth pedal that went into an envelope filter with an expression control that let me do dub step thingies.....that was fun. That's the stuff I love. And I know that sounds vague and the vagueness may give you trepidation but really, you can relax. I'm easy to please. Just give me a piece of pedal fun I missed out on in my absence. And I would much rather you save money and get used.

I used to travel. Obviously I don't get to do that as much with six kids. So a sample of foreign and exotic things is great. I'm really easy to please with food.

Here's my current collection (the Mostly Harmless pedal is a rehoused Mountain King Megalith, the Macross one is a Robot Factory MS-20 Brain Freeze.....and the red guy escapes me atm):

[01010111]

Dear Satan,
First: I will love anything you send me.

I'm in a weird place gear wise. I'm basically selling off everything to fund my modular. This is the gear I'm keeping:
Wolf Computer
MXR bass octave
hm-2
tonal recall rkm
boss looper
generic di box
pest tattern
dunk tank
russian big muff
(my previous secret santa presents)
Vox Bass Amp
Volca FM and Beats
beatstep pro and keys
Syntakt
(my tape recorders, because I guess that fad is over now?)

I've got a few of the modules in my planned setup on the way (Bluebox, hermod, RS-9, and the 808 clone modules). Where I'm finally living in a place where I can buy/sell gear again, I'm really excited to finally mix things up. I won't be buying anything else until after Christmas (and after I've sold more stuff).

I'm excited to try anything you send me. I haven't been keeping track of guitar stuff very much, but I still play regularly. Guitar feels the best to play, even though I spend more time doing synth stuff. Phasers and flangers always have my interest. If there's something weird or cool you think I should check out, I would love to give it a spin.

Where there's so little time to plan things this year, I'd be happy hearing whatever music you're digging these days. My recent taste can probably be summed up in these four artists: Bat For Lashes, Orville Peck, Red Fang, and TV Girl. I really want to branch out and try out new things. So, if there's something you like, spread it around.

Food wise I really am just interested in whatever weird things there are in your area. Whether that means fancy, boutique candies, or the random truck stop brand candy your local gas station carries. I love variety in sweets and while I love chocolate, I think I love novelty more.

UPDATE: I forgot clothing size. I'm a medium in everything except hats (I'm large in hats).

[crochambeau]

Hello Satan!

I feel like I'm probably a difficult read, but please don't hurt yourself - I'm quite easy to entertain, and am a person of simple pleasures.

My active gear interests are probably well outside the scope of a gift exchange, but I'll rattle off a list of what I've been looking for when I'm "window shopping"; please understand I expect ALL of this shit to not be contenders - it's just to paint a better understanding of my mindset:

I like to look up broken stuff, or things needing repair: samplers, drum machines, mixers, preamps, MIDI utility stuff like switches & sequencers & programmable mixers. Here's what happens when I type the letter "r" into the URL field in firefox:



Note the "&condition" modifier, hell I click through to gander at broken stuff when on my way to respond to queries there. Anyway..

I'm about to buy a ZuluSCSI drive emulator for the recently purchased digital 4 track, such things and floppy emulators are always somewhere on the to buy list. I'm about to buy some logic ICs that will go into (hopefully) repairing an Otari 4 track open reel deck.

I'm working on the ability to record demo videos, having grown tired of lining up separately recorded audio tracks with a video track only to have sync slowly slip away. I am certain this is a slippery slope that will eat money and shit lost time in the future. This weekend is going to see me trying to figure out why OBS is unwilling to grab the direct audio input feed from my soundcard. I run a linux machine for added stupidity (I'm not smart like that, what AM I DOING?). I will need to learn how to write some code to achieve some ideas.

I'll probably break down and buy a %$#@!$%#@ RD-9 at some point, unless I happen upon an RE-909 kit. That's just my compulsions speaking, pay it no heed.

I also like to look at goofy industrial of medical electronics, galvanometer amplifiers, lock-in amplifiers, early video SEGs, and line amplifiers; though cost of shipping and the Hainbach effect somewhat diminished my intake of heavy rack test equipment, I suppose actual space is a consideration as well.

CMU block & concrete mix.

Anyway, enough about entirely unrealistic shit: goofy noise makers, interesting objects, bits of moss, sticks, etc are always enjoyed. Things that produce gain, erode fidelity, stick in space, or make one go "huh?"; lovely. I'm good on the amplifier front, but open to experimentation on the speaker front: example, I have an old low power tube amp (of dime store origin) that I'm planning on installing a sheet-metal baffle peppered with small drivers, you know, goofy shit. Mindless fun.

Weird electronic components, and anything manufactured under the Soviet experiment also tickles my fancy. Ooof, there I go again..

Brownies with a little chili pepper mixed in, and a neat Pu-er tea; let the rains wash all the smoke from the air.

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

Hello Satan,

Like other folks, I hope I'm easy to buy for — I'm pretty easily satisfied!

I'm much more of a noodler than an accomplished performer on any instrument, so I like having lots of stuff to noodle with. I'm super-lucky in that I'm in a community where I get to play out with folks reasonably often, so things that work in live set-ups are usually good for me.

Most any kind of soundmaking thing that can be plugged into a mixer and routed into pedals to mess with can be fun for me. I like little synths, soundboxes, noise generators and on and on. I play around with tapes (and even CD's!) sometimes. I like things that are easily tweakable in a live setting, and if they allow for a bit of ham-it-up performativity, even better.

I have been mostly quiet on the gear-buying front this year. Besides grabbing a Donner MEDO (handheld groovebox type thing) in an earlybird deal, I didn't get that much!

In terms of things I didn't buy... I like my Roland J-6, so I have had my eye on some of the other boxes in that line, especially the S-1. I'm not savvy with MIDI or stuff like that, I usually just operate my gear in realtime by twisting knobs. I'm also not usually tied to a rhythm/groove in music I make, so things that are out-of-sync in cool ways are in my zone.

Pedal-wise, I'm not super into distortion/fuzz, but things that make sound wiggle in various ways are always excellent. Weird loopers? Weird modulation? I say yes. I can't afford Chase Bliss-level stuff, so I usually keep en eye out for (mildly) cheaper wiggles. I think this is the only pedal that's on my watch list, but that's mostly because I haven't been actively seeking lately.

I don't have a fixed "board", as I usually mix in different stuff depending on what I need for a particular gig. I have posted rigs from time to time in the Setup of The Day thread, that should give a notion of the workflow.

So there you go! Don't sweat it, you'll do fine! I'm not a super xmas-y person overall, so I'm not worried about it arriving exactly on xmas eve or anything.

[D.o.S.]

My quints are 12 now. So it's been like 12 years of being out of the game. I also added a single. She's nine. So I have six kids.

Unrelated gear aside: this is one of those things that you read and you think - damn, it's wild how time happens. I remember when you told 'us' (the bass gear nerd internet slice) that you were having quintuplets. Does not feel like over a decade ago.

[dubkitty]

one weird thing about aging is seeing people’s kids growing up…i’m always like “i remember when you were this big.”

[Dowi]

I am still somehow alive, lowest post count ever, i can barely post because i don’t have a pc besides the one in the office and hate to write long posts like this one on the phone. But i read&lurk, happy to hear that you’re all still here!

Life in a nutshell: new job is constantly raising the bar which is challenging in a positive way but at times can be mentally devastating, got a new kid born before summer, i’m getting married next year, last week i turned on my amp and small board for the first time since forever (i think May). To summarize: I am tired, but generally good.
Santananans can go and look at my past posts, but to ease his/her/its life a bit – but not too much: Pedals? Yes, tho i have plenty of dirt and fuzz pedals that don’t get the attention they deserve, so i’m more interested in time/modulation/reverb/sample stuff. Samplers/drum machines/synths? Yes, especially the first two, bonus points if they are simple and handy can work on the fly. Our daughter is 6 and enjoys music and playful musical instruments. Generally speaking i prefer a thousand knobs and switches, the less menu diving, the better.
I think there’s a semi recent a pic of my pedal collection somewhere in some thread: it hasen’t changed since then (i think) besides an earthboud audio supercollider. I don’t have plan to buy anything besides the new Dr.Sci jawn if it’s released before the end of the year.
Books: i have a decent pile of unread books but i am also reading a lot more than the past years.
Music: i generally buy vinyl or stream through bandcamp, i don’t use Spotify. If you have a band (ore more bands) you’re morally obliged to send me your stuff.
Food: YES. I am curious and don’t have restrictions.
Shirts: medium.
Stickers: VERY MUCH YES.
Is there anything else?

Enjoy the stalking!


@MSUsousaphone: 6 kids. SIX. You have my respect.

[dubkitty]

aw, jeez, what am i doing now? after having spent a ton of time and money putting boards together, i'm now at a place where i really don't need anything in particular. i'm pretty well-stocked in terms of fuzz/distortion, so i'd be more interested in modulation, delay, or reverb, but if you see something cool and fuzzy you think i'd enjoy then fine. since i think i have most of the normal-esque sounds sorted (and some of the more peculiar ones as well!), boxes that do one or two oddball things really well would be cool, especially if i don't have something like that on my board(s) (see "Let's See Your PEDALBOARD" for details). i don't like pedals that require extensive menu-diving or that try to do too many things. i'm open to utility stuff as well...cables are fucking expensive nowadays. i eat most things, drink only occasionally, don't like beer. Large shirts, largest hat size available. seriously, i have a huge head. i don't do vinyl. my cat likes just about anything edible. if i think of anything else i'll post it.

[Gone Fission]

my cat likes just about anything edible.

Which is not to say that Dubs’ cat likes edibles.

Missus Fission thinks our hound may have a venison allergy. No one in the Fission household would be into edibles.

[crochambeau]

I tend to cut my edibles up into micro-dosing sized chunks. I also live in the middle of reefer country, so there is no reason to flirt with a felony to deliver contraband on my behalf.

Parallel processing makes the idea of too much fuzz on hand an impossibility, there is simply no such thing. I will die on this hill.

[oldangelmidnight]

Dear friend, I'm sorry that I am hard to gift. I promise I will love and cherish whatever I receive.

If you make stuff, I would be honored to receive something you make.

I remain pescetarian and would love any local delicacies you have access to. I'm excited to try new flavors as long as they're not made of land or sky meats. I like to open my gift on Christmas night so if there's anything perishable, please make a note outside the box.

I'm taking a songwriting class with an artist I respect and they're giving me exercises that compel me to work on very structured, clear songs. As a result, because I am a contrarian, I find myself wanting to make abstract, formless noise. I'm playing with a few stereo tabletop devices so a little stereo mixer like the Bastl Bestie would be helpful if a good deal could be found for that. Or any fun little tabletop device.

I've developed a bit of an interest in Magic the Gathering, if you have any cards lying around.

I still listen to records every day but most of what I hear comes through Apple Music or Bandcamp so a link to your favorite thing would be appreciated.