Cheap gear

[MagBaX]

What's some cheap and also great gear that you know/own? I'm getting some money in these days and i want to buy some stuff so...

[Euro Trash Bazooka]

Cheap gear often means impersonal sounds or poor quality. Save money, buy decent stuff you've thoroughly investigated beforehand, you'll be happier in the long run.

[Acne]

you can do a lot with very little gear if you buy good stuff. When i first started buying gear I bought a ton of cheap behringer pedals and cheap patch cables and spent a long time wondering why my sound sucked or wouldn't work like I wanted it to, when I ended up buying better cables and saved up for some better pedals it made the process way more enjoyable.

THAT being said - cheap stuff I have used that I still love:

Korg Monotron Delay
https://www.amazon.com/Korg-Monotron-Analog-Ribbon-Synthesizer/dp/B00684KFAM

cassette players at any thrift store are great
you can find a lot at thrift stores and rig some shit up to make some cool noise

I really like all of CS's gizmos - buy some contact mics and make some shaker boxes / junk noise
https://www.etsy.com/shop/CrankSturgeon

idk - I would say just look around for some shit that you think is cool and spend the $$$ it'll be worth it.

[theworldisawarfilm]

Save money, buy decent stuff you've thoroughly investigated beforehand, you'll be happier in the long run.

I'm not sure "cheap" gear is going to give you uninteresting/impersonal sounds...I think that has more to do with the user. Garbage in, garbage out etc.  This second part however is super important. Do research, borrow stuff from friends (if thats an option), take care of new purchases in case you don't like them so you can easily return/exchange/flog second hand.
I'm a huge believer in people not needing expensive stuff (I'm fucking cheap too), but after you've been at it for a while and start to learn what it is you are actually trying to do there usually comes a time where you realize that consumer electronics are no longer going to cut it and will probably be willing to invest more money.

Can I also just say that the original post here is sort of vague...what is it you are trying to do exactly?  Interested in synthesis, abuse of pedals etc.?

[l.b.]

to counter the prevailing opinions here i usually buy cheap gear and a lot of times ill buy shit just because it's cheap and old and stupid-looking, like mxr doubleshot distortion or "stereo" flanger that looks like a toy. new cheap stuff sucks but old stuff is good. i'll never give up my boomerang v1 phrase sampler or SP202

also is there anything worse than seeing someone play a set with nice expensive gear but it totally sucks?? fuck off with that

[FiEND]

what do you mean by cheap? you can get a minibrute for under $200 or a crank sturgeon shaker/mic for under $50. both in my mind are "cheap" but one is cheap sounding and the other a quality piece of handmade gear for noisers by a noiser.
showing my bias but price point isnt always the factor to look at. i say save money to go for a unique gear piece that speaks to your wants. of course their is nothing wrong with buying a cheap hardware synth like the arturia to get an idea of how you want to move forward.

[chuzz]

DS-1 + mods
It's all about how you use it, baby.

[Cementimental]

Cheap gear often means impersonal sounds or poor quality

Expensive gear usually means impersonal 'high quality' sounds unsuited to Noise :D

[Euro Trash Bazooka]

You tell that to all the noisers who bought a Sherman Filterbank to use it as a distortion unit, to Chris Goudreau and his modular, etc...
Sure, it's all about how you use it, but a crappy Behringer pedal will always sound like a crappy Behringer pedal no matter how well you use it.

[Cementimental]

but a crappy Behringer pedal will always sound like a crappy Behringer pedal no matter how well you use it.

no, it will sound like the pedal it's an exact clone of :)

[Andrew McIntosh]

If you want synth sounds, a lot of the small, desktop synths that have come out in the last few years (Korg Volcas, Roland "Boutique" series, Arturia Mini/Micro, etc) are very reasonably priced and sound pretty great. You can get them second hand now too for even cheaper prices.

[theworldisawarfilm]

 Seeing some of the back and forth in here, I am actually embarrassed that I replied.

[dodecaphonic]

use your mind its important to just experiment with anything and everything and find what suits your aesthetic

computers - synths digital & analog- mixers - instruments - different samplers theres no one rule or one sound or one piece of equipment - just try different set ups you can afford. and get a external audio interface to get it into your computer and process that way - scarlett 2i2 if your that way inclined

[host body]

VST synths and effects and a Zoom or a similar recorder for recording samples, use reaper to assemble. Cheapest you can get.

[Pigswill]

VST synths and effects and a Zoom or a similar recorder for recording samples, use reaper to assemble. Cheapest you can get.

Seconding these, especially Reaper. I've only started getting into that DAW relatively recently and now I feel like I've been wasting my time with my previous setup.

For recorders, even modern phones are doing pretty well. Mine has a built-in app simply called "HD Audio Recorder" and it's able to pick up really clear sounds. Apparently it ships with some LG models, but I believe Sony created it.

I bought a DIY synth from a guy off of Craigslist years ago that has three knobs, three switches, an LED, and a single 1/4" out. The seller said he got it custom from some guy on ebay but didn't have a great use for it. It makes some pretty wild squeals and I think only cost me $20.

I've found some excellent deals on Reverb, ebay, and Craigslist. Some people don't know what they have and some people just don't care. The latest find was a MOTU MIDI Express 128 for under $70 on ebay, including shipping. These things have been listed starting at $200 a pop lately. The reason why I got this particular one for so cheap was because the seller listed it as "as-is", possibly broken, because they acquired it, but had no idea how to test it. From the pics and description, I didn't see why it wouldn't work unless it was some internal damage, which seemed unlikely. Turned out to be right. Similarly, I got an Axiom Pro 49 MIDI controller from a Craigslist seller who bought it brand new but sold it for under half of its original price because he didn't realize that it wasn't a synthesizer/epiano and that it couldn't make sounds on its own.

All that said, Euro Trash Bazooka's post really sums it up nicely:

Cheap gear often means impersonal sounds or poor quality. Save money, buy decent stuff you've thoroughly investigated beforehand, you'll be happier in the long run.