A GAS anecdote

Usually my kick in the butt to wake me up is to watch Alex Ball start with chord tutorials and then I’m warmed up. OT vids and challenge threads also keep me in line. After watching those vids I get to work. Even if I go to sleep behind my regular time it was worth it. All that built up emotion is released on keys and drum pads. If you can stay up late to watch another Netflix show you can practice playing music till you tire out.

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Well in moderation. Plus the challenges people put in our forums makes you dig deeper into your machines.

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Yeah, I know that feeling. I feel planning a new purchase can be super exciting by itself: first comparing pro & cons of different products and wagering the options, reading online reviews, thoroughly reading the manual in advance, binge watch every youtube video on it. After I hopefully made an informed decision, placed my order and the new device ships, I will check the tracking status every two hours and when it arrives I will be super hyped all day waiting for the work day to be over. It’s all part of the GAS I guess…

When I open the box: oh yeah another monosynth… :partying_face:

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If only this didn’t sound so painfully familiar…:blush:

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Since I’ve been following the rule “1 in = 1 out”, I got GAS tamed quite a bit.
For instance, I would love to get my hands on a Pulsar-23. But it’s not gonna happen, unless I’m getting rid of something.
This makes every piece in my setup shine and look so helpful, so useful!

Maybe I should get rid of some Eurorack, definitely the worst use/price ratio.

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me too.

that‘s exactly why I sold it. Too crazy

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I can confirm that this works pretty well … on me too …

Not only once I lost interest in some “new” and “exciting” gear, after having watched videos about gear I already have or after taking some time to read the manual of my gear again. Often there was a feeling in the back of my head that this “new” wasn’t really that much new. And tell you what … doing this, I found a lot of new things on my old gear :wink:

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Right on! However for the most part I just watch them late at night when everyone is in bed and I can’t really do much else, mostly.

Yep, I agree, I try to limit my time to when nothing else is going on, although inevitably sometimes when conversations are flowing or topics are very interesting that all goes out the window :joy:

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“Ooh! I should buy this again!”

Then you start pining for the Elektron V2s… :stuck_out_tongue:

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I have to say, I went into full panic-attack mode for my last order… I checked the site repeatedly for about 4 days while I was waiting for cash for a sale I made… Then after I placed the order, I checked probably once every two hours for about 3 days on tracking information.

It was pretty embarrassing and found myself hoping my rep couldn’t see how often I checked the tracking number. Kind of felt like a crazy person to be honest.

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I went crazy for a while buying gear, I got really addicted to it. For 3 years I spent around $1,000 a month on new hardware. The feeling when it arrives & when you play it for the first time is so special :blush: it’s like a drug.

Side note - Everyone’s journey is different. I’m coming down off of methadone & as I got lower on my dose, I got more & more obsessed & addicted to music production. Creating music is a healthier addiction than drugs, so I’m good with it.

I don’t regret all the hardware purchases either. Thru the process I learned what I like & what I don’t like. I realized I’m not picky with gear, I’ll play with just about anything, but at the same time there IS gear that fits my workflow best, gear that I enjoy using more than others, gear that bring out my creativity more & gear that make me more productive.

There’s a lot of amazing hardware out there & amazing hardware will continue to be made. I know a lot isn’t needed, but I LOVE variety. So my plan is to minimize down to 1 simple set up, only keep my favorite hardware & only buying a few new pieces. Then over time I’ll change out hardware here & there… Have an always morphing set up instead of an always growing set up. The only issue is I’ve never sold anything & every time I decide to sell something I can think of a ton of reasons to keep it :crazy_face:

To help me with gas, I’m not allowing myself to buy anything new unless I sell something first. I decided this a year ago & since I haven’t sold anything, it’s been a year since I bought anything new, which is good. I’m also planning out my set up to fit me better now that I know what I like & what I want… making smarter purchases. For example, I have 3 MPC’s. Not on purpose, It just happened, but for me, there’s no reason for me to have 3 MPC’s. A LOT of the hardware I bought, I only bought because it was a good deal & for many reasons I realized that’s not a good way for me to go about purchasing hardware.

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:smiley: OMG, so good. Also, the story of my modular rig.

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This thread might be the next best thing to a meetup…

I’ve played guitar and piano for more than 20 years but I didn’t even know the term GAS before I bought my first synth about a year ago. I’ve been hellbent since. About six months ago I would’ve said eurorack is the last thing I’m gonna spend money on. So it’s only logical I now have a 2x84hp case filled with modules…

Perhaps the only thing that saves me is that I’m running out of space in my little corner-of-a-room-turned-studio. That, and not having an endless amount of money.

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Thanks for sharing!

If you want to shut off the gas and get back to HAVING FUN with your gear…listen to or read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

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A good cure is listening to 90 percent of the crap on youtube.

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Funily reading your gas story has reminded me that I am still gassing for the ER-301, some performance control modules and a Nerd Seq… and a case for them. :sweat_smile: I don’t really need it but it would be a great small set up perfect for remixing work made on other gear into and making some new original works in. Something even easier to take out to a show and have fun with. Then again an octatrack would get me most of the way there, and I have little interest in getting an octa. ER-301s siren song calls to me and I’ve almost saved enough tip money to make it happen. :fearful:

image

Take two o’ dese.

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I’ve personally gone through some bouts of GAS in the past year especially. I owned a Korg ER-1 for two weeks before selling it to fund a Subpac S2. Returned defective TT-606 and preordered the Behringer TD-3. Found an Alesis HR-16 at a Goodwill and flipped it for a profit, to make up for the costs I’d spent on a Roland SH-01A. Also sold my Yamaha MG10XU to fund a Motu Ultralite mk3. Sold PO-28 to help fund the kickstarter campaign for the Nanoloop Hardware being developed.

The trend here with me is the old “1 in 1 out” rule that others have mentioned. Keeps me in check. For me personally though, GAS happens because it’s so much easier to just watch videos and read articles / reviews on gear than actually going in the studio. Not because I’m lazy or uninspired, but I have 2 daughters. If I go into my studio, they want to come along too. Problem is I can’t get anything done because they start banging on stuff, pulling cables, all I hear is daddy, daddy, daddy! Arg! I love my kids to death, but they require a lot of attention. There is no getting work done with them in the studio unless it’s just to have them bang on the Reface CS keys or play with sliders on the SH-01A.

GAS is easier, though after the new item arrives, I’m still in the same boat. A vicious cycle it is. Can’t wait till my kiddos are more gentle with my studio gear.

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Embrace and record it! Have them bang aroung while you surf the net and drink coffee. Go through, cut, slice, delay reverb and off to label. You would never have created that stuff.

Thank me later

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Lmao. I thought about thanking you all the way up until the “two daughters, one cup.” Sounds to similar to another act.

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