Alternative forum?

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

I don’t feel at home on this forum anymore and it’s not the first time I have to take a step back, because I am ruining other user’s topics by being a troll or smartass. Not solving problems or motivating others, but judging and spewing negativity around is not who I am in the real world, so why be it here?

I can’t really leave, because I feel as an artist I need an online community of some sort to learn from and reflect.

My personal issues with this forum and many other brand specific fora is that I think they are great for the brand itself, it provides them with low cost advertising, a volunteer helpdesk and thousands of volunteering representatives! More power to them, eh.

Yet, I personally prefer listening to music, I am while browsing streaming your soundclouds and bandcamps, it’s inspiring and fun! I like sharing and having my own creative output critiqued by like minded souls and I enjoy shooting the shit on everyday experiences, related or not to the gear used.

Maybe the internet changed so much, I simply don’t fit anywhere anymore… (I am 37 years old, so maybe it’s the midlife crisis calling :grimacing:) I tried finding places in the real world to interact, but people were checking their phones whilst I tried talking to them. I recently joined reddit, it’s too big for me, the karma system is a terrible fascist way of judging people and it seems to turn me into a grumpy old troll like a lot of other places online. The c74 forum is useful to my work as a resource, but lacks a social element and doesn’t do enough music sharing.

Are there forums left where you can share thoughts, art/music and philosophize on it? Someplace less saturated and preferably small?

Am I getting too old for this shit?

EDIT: I was trolling about being 22, I am 37, started in bands in 1995, electronic music in 1997! Sorry for trolling and so far thanks for the comments!

2 Likes
Back to where you started (gearwise)
#2

You could try Lines: https://llllllll.co/

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#3

Lines forum for more intellectual stuff

Gearslutz for bitching and moaning

Reddit.com/r/synthesizers for fetishising gear

Elektronauts for a mix of the above but heavily moderated

Muffwiggler seems aight but I don’t really browse it

Choose your poison

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#4

It seems to be most useful for me when searching out opinions and experience on a specific piece of gear, but not for hanging out and generally passing through casually.

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#5

you’re really young dude.

im 39 this month and thinking of dropping everything n living on a beach in Thailand with my DT/DN & drawing tablet.

that’s a midlife crisis :wink:

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#6

I’m 37, this topic is heartfelt, but I had to troll about my real age!

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Back to where you started (gearwise)
#7

haha that’s some decent trolling.
respect :smile:

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#8

Check out idmforums.com

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#9

Sweet trolling :slight_smile:

#10

is this still very active?

#11

From my experience of stumbling upon threads they seem more modular orientated on muffs. Never really clicked as a hangout place for me though

On reading OPs post again I’m probably gonna say lines forum sounds like what you’re looking for. Reddit sucks, it’s too anonymous and revolves too much around upvotes. every comment is a popular opinion, proper comments end up hidden constantly due to either downvotes or buried under shit puns and irellevant meta memes, plus the top comments aren’t even good; they’re just early. Also everyone is a :v:️trained professional :v:️in literally whatever they happen to be commenting about.

I don’t really click with lines cause from my experience honestly it makes me feel dumb cause I don’t read fine literature, get philosophical about beats or program monomes. That might be your cup of tea though. I think elektronauts is the ideal cause it’s active, I actually learn things and the moderation makes it boring enough that I go do something else

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#12

Go to WATMM u’ll be at home there…

#13

Ha! That’s pretty much how I felt about Lines too. The Monome was something I really wanted to love but in the end I just felt that I shouldn’t need to feel like some science professor with several doctorates to get the most out of it. Nice folks though - never any bitching from my experience.

I think this place just about nails the essentials. Not a fan of the flag system and some are a little too quick to go keyboard crusading for my liking but there is a really solid core of regulars that I enjoy reading. Whenever I cant make up my mind musically with something, this is the first place I think of to ask the question.

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#14

I feel most at home here.
It shifted a bit too much in gear talk direction, but I’m participating most of the time, so who do i blame.
Still, lot’s of great music here and interesting and creative techniques discussed.
And it’s a friendly place compared to some other forums.
Muffwiggler is very interesting often and also friendly as far as i can tell.

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#15

I just be my fun loving self and seem to be pretty well accepted… I love it. I do sense a lot of negativity sometimes but not always, and there’s plenty of good positivity around to. It’s pretty neutrally balanced looked at over a longer time span, the negativity almost comes in waves. Honestly awhile back I would have imagined I’d be slammed more for being Mr. Rainbow Bright, judging on the attitudes I was reading in replies, but people seem to at least accept me and many support my positive outlook.

If you know your being negative why keep doing it? Is that what you want?

For me I love all people and want to see us helping each other out, It’s what I stand for. If I think things are negative or weird it’s all the more motivation for me to stick around and help balance it out. I love all the people who are negative too, not because of how they act, but because they are people in this world and I send them love and hope one day they’ll meet me in a place of compassion, and I have endless patience to hold that feeling. Seemingly negative people or people that behave in ways I don’t support, probably need even more love, so I wish them that instead of being upset or angry at them, that only feeds the situation the way I see it… Deep down everybody just wants to be loved and accepted, even hard ass gangsters and trolls…

I barely think of this forum as part of “Elektron”, I just see it as a cool meeting space for a bunch of neat artists all over the world. It’s my only online activity and appearance, I’m honestly surprised I’ve dove into it so deep but that’s just the way it rolled and now I feel like a part of it…

My old motto, “Be the change you wish to see in the forum”… :monkey::sparkles:

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#16

oh man, i`m 41 since January, but Thailand and ending on a beach with gear is no option. instead ending with a woman or two on a beach in Thailand - this is a life - and they provide enough to play :cool:

btw with end off next week i’m flying to Bangkok for one week, it will be awesome no Elektrons needed but party and lucky people

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#17

Yup

#18

Left this forum behind, perhaps certain aspects of it, about half a year ago because I saw the totality of it as hive mindish. I noticed an escalating preaching-to-the-choir phenomenon with regards to tools members used, a choking up at the littlest of criticisms, and an overall lack of sensible debate. Basically I saw this forum as the Elektron lunch table with marginal interest of things outside Elektron. Highly manicured with moderators to help keep it that way.

It felt stifling.
I went to Muffwiggler and found a much healthier community in their DIY Tech and general gear subforums. The Muff forums leave me with feelings of friendliness and inspiration. This is likely because it’s not structured around a specific brand, so there aren’t expectations about what is and what isn’t in.

Though I am back at Elektronauts to occasionally contribute left field advice/sell off superfluous gear, but am for the most part not interested in the fandom of the company and will refrain from perpetuating it. For me, I think it boils down to Elektron having become mainstream and associated with the haves. While the have-nots are doing just fine without Elektron products and are making music/releasing projects that are conceptually and sonically more interesting to me. And I’m not equating the have-nots with the exclusively Ableton/DAW crowd, however they certainly do fall into this category.

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#19

yea in reality id probably be parading around with a bunch of ladyboys on one hell of a cocaine binge, but the idea of making art in the sun was nice while it lasted :smile:

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#20

hey that is my dream too man! Just me and my Elektron gear sipping cold mai tais and relaxing to the beat and ocean.

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