Best:
Alesis ADAT black face $4000 - Got a lot of songs recorded on it and still have them in wav files. Gave unit away after 10 years.
Mackie 24.8 mixer $4000 - One of the first USA made ones, got 12 years use out of it and sold it for $900 cash. Good usable preamps.
Yamaha NS-10m speakers $319 - Used for 12 years then sold for $550 on e-bay WOW !
AKG C-414BULS $900 - Used for 13 years and sold for $500, great sound, no problems. Broke me, but also broke me from buying lots of mics trying get a good sound. There were no cheap condensors in those days.
----Note: All the above gear purchased in the early 90s.----

Worst:
Fostex 450 mixer $900, did not get one good track or mix made with it, preamps hissed, gave it away to non-musician, so bad I was too embarrased to try to sell it.
Alesis PCR card (ADAT Edit system) $400, OK, I did get it to work on Windows 95 but the drivers were never updated for any other operating system and it was a real trick getting a good transfer from the ADAT took several tries and you had to listen to make sure there were no glitches. Total loss, have not bought a single Alesis product since.

Best purchase: About 6 months ago, I bought a used Roland JV-1010 synth module from Guitar Center for $100. Last week, I bought a "60's & 70's Keyboards" expansion board. Upon installing it, much to my surprise, there was already a "Country Collection" board installed. Just yesterday, one of these boards sold on ebay for $145. The way it worked out in the end, Guitar Center essentially gave me $45 to take the module off their hands. All because whoever traded it in forgot or didn't know to remove the board first.

Best: RealTraps, Studio Projects C1, custom DAW for Sonar (Liquid DAW), custom DAW for GS3E (ADK Pro Audio), Purrrfect Drums, UAD-1.

Worst: Autotune (PACE infested. Took down 2 DAWs), RBC Voice Tweaker (Could not install on new DAW and could not get any support from RBC)

a picture says a thousand words...

ah, but the Kore controller is so purdy! I was this close to buying one, it was silly cheap in Dubai where I was living when it came out, but something told me no, don't believe the hype, nor the pretty lights, this way madness lies. Considering the amount of stuff they ended up giving away with it to try to keep people happy, I almost wished I had for a while... almost...

whatever the thousand words that monkey says, or the freaky vibrating pig, I think I am glad I cannot hear. Truly Disturbing!

best sonar 6

worst its lookin like b.f.d

Worst:
Alesis 1622 mixer: least transparent mixer I've ever used (and not a pretty coloration), plus super-cheap construction ... hated it!
Alesis Midiverb II: didn't sound terrible, but noise, noise and more noise made it useless for pristine recordings
Alesis MEQ-230: again, cheap construction, barely adequate performance
(sensing a pattern here?)

Best:
Mackie CR/1604-VLZ: replaced the Alesis mixer with this. What an amazing trade up it was ... and for almost the exact same price!
Korg Wavestation EX: this instrument has been at the centerpoint of my music and my studio setup for 15 years now and running.
Bass Collection electric bass w/active electronics (don't know the model #): bought it on the cheap from a friend who was looking to unload a few of his extras (he was into Steinbergers at the time). He wanted to buy it back from me a few years later ... but sorry, I wasn't lettin' go of it, it's too awesome. :)
And many versions of Cakewalk for DOS, Cakewalk Pro Audio, and Sonar, of course.

#1. Almansa 413 Flamenco Guitar
#2 Mercedes ML320
#3 Alesis HD24
#4 Leo Kottke Signature 12 String
#5 Beyer M 201 Dynamic Mics

Layfayette RK-30 reel to reel tape recorder purchased in 1966 - got me started!

-D

Best:
Audix OM3
it makes the SM58 seem like a child's toy, and how so many still rave about it mystifies me

Worst:
A vacuum from Wal-Mart, they discontinued the bags, and refused all my customer service attempts-- I'll never shop there again

Since everyone's digging into the distant past to find bests and worsts, I have to add my old Teac 3340S. Four tracks at 15ips. With that and Cakewalk for DOS, Yamaha TG-33 module, Roland Jupter 8, I was in business!

ORIGINAL: ew

ORIGINAL: subtlearts

a picture says a thousand words...

ah, but the Kore controller is so purdy! I was this close to buying one, it was silly cheap in Dubai where I was living when it came out, but something told me no, don't believe the hype, nor the pretty lights, this way madness lies. Considering the amount of stuff they ended up giving away with it to try to keep people happy, I almost wished I had for a while... almost...

whatever the thousand words that monkey says, or the freaky vibrating pig, I think I am glad I cannot hear. Truly Disturbing!

And I've been using it since before it was released (I'm the KORE forum moderator) with both 2.2 XL and 6 PE (I didn't update Sonar from 2.2 until a couple months ago; I've been a Sonar user since 1.0). I haven't had issues with it in either one.

ew

Hi ew

It was more an ill-informed purchase for me - no particular functional issues. I just dont need it and hence it was a bit of a waste of money for me - so probably my worst purchase. BTW - thanks for all your help on several of the NI forums, it is much appreciated.


Monkey

Worst:
1. Antares Autotune
2. M-Audio 1010 on E-bay 3 weeks ago. Input channels 2 and 4 don't work. It advertised as only being used 4 times!

Best:

1. AKG TL2 Microphone
2. Taylor Acoustic
3. Yamaha S90 Keyboard


Hawky

Going back a few years for these:

Best: Ensoniq ESQ1...groundbreaking at the time, limited but very useful sounds, and built-in sequencer - this unit just inspired creativity.

Worst: Alesis reverb unit. Nothing wrong with the unit, but it was new so everything I recorded at that time I added GALLONS of reverb to...!

Fun thread, and easy if I stick to software:

Best = Ableton Live. Wish I jumped on this sooner, "first product I'd replace if..."

Worst = Gigasampler (+ a bzillion versions of Giga-this-and-that.) Stuff that never worked more than two days in a row. Coulda been using something simpler and maybe, ya know, playing music.

ORIGINAL: subtlearts

I will point out that it did crash the computer twice in that 10 minute store demo however, which kind of pushed me away.

Oh my... I could see where that wouldn't be a positive experience...
Thank you both for the kind words.

My best? There's been a lot of them. Keeping it just in the computer realm, I'd have to say Sonar, Reaktor, Absynth and my Terratec EWX 24/96.

My worst? A SBLive I bought when just starting out and an Emagic Audiowerks that I'd bought as a second soundcard for one of my machines.

ew

i do alot of research and testing before i buy anything, it makes the nerd in me happy, so i havent yet bought anything that i've really regretted.
i love my software.. uhh.. suite. sonar, acid, vegas, audition, reason. love em all to pieces.

worst must be... maybe komplete 2. the only pieces of it i use regularly is the kontakt sampler. i had high hopes for reaktor and the vocoder etc.. but for some reason, there's always something that sounds better for whatever i am doing (like the RHINO synth or the sonic flavours refills)... and audiomulch is letting me do alot of things that i thought i would do in reaktor.