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.

Best - Klein Electric Guitar $3400, bought it 9 years ago, I've used it on almost every gig and every recording I've ever done, worth 2x that now that they are no longer being made. I don't gig with it much anymore for fear of having to hunt down someone for taking it.

Worst - Marshall DSL401 $700...good sounding little amp but was so poorly made it spent as much time in the shop as it did on stage.

#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

my best software purchases started with HS2 ..
which led me to get involved with Cakewalk products...
My Faves...Cake or not...
Sonar 6.2 PE , Project 5 V2.5, Dimension Pro, MPL-1 Pro , BR1180CD, Samplitude, ....
and all my guitars and vintage amps....( many I've owned for 20 years plus )

My Worst ...some of my EX's .......thank God for the gift of time.....
Kenny

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

Oh wait on second thought, the worst thing i bought was a Gibson Eb0 bass
it sounded like mud inside of a can, i was hoping it would sound like Jack Bruces
bass, and unfortunately it did

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!

I still have the 1/16 size violin that I started on at age 4. I don't know how to categorize that for this thread. It was my first violin -- so that puts it in the "Best" category. But it sounded (and still sounds) like nothing you want to listen to for more than 5 seconds. So.........

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

I was just going to say, EW is the man that has helped make Kore work for a whole lot of people on the forum over there. I didn't mean to throw mud at a product I have never actually used for longer than a 10 minute store demo. I will point out that it did crash the computer twice in that 10 minute store demo however, which kind of pushed me away. But that was early on, doubtless it is much more stable now...