An overwhelming amount of synthesizers and the development of Anti-GAS

I bought really a lot of shiny boxes with unique sounds, always the goodest noodels - synths, pedals, but I didn’t use them I realised. So I sold really a lot of all those synths and I’m not gonna buy anything in the future.

Only things left is now an mc707 (it’s my main box now), a sledge keyboard, a keystep, an monomachine/octatrack rig and a stylophone gen-r8 and bitwig.

I’m thinking of getting rid of it all except the 707, the keystep, that space echo and gen-r8 (the gen-r8 is special to me, I guess I wouldn’t sell it if I would get deaf), and well, bitwig software. If someone in Vienna reads this and want’s that OT/Monomachine rig or a sledge synth, lets meet and drink some coffee. :wink:

edit: well, talked to a nice guy. thought about it. wont sell my ot/mnm rig. haha. dang. head onto table.

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Ah, no it’s the pitch that is off. If I concentrate a lot I can make the offset quite stable, but not to be in pitch :slight_smile: but I think we are drifting off to offtopic here.

a proper looper pedal (ehx 2880) leads to concentrate on the capabilities of one synth or whatever sound source. the ability to multitrack and erasing all of that over and over gives a good sense of timing and experience with gear and harmonics.

iam still reducing my gear that I bought over the last 10 years and it’s great to find the real keepers but without the anxiety of missing something.

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You can break this down into one single item: OP-1. It provides sound-Engines, Effects and a 4-Track Recorder. + the idea of committing to a take and moving on instead of messing around on the same loop over and over again. Sadly I don’t want to spend that amount on another piece of gear :stuck_out_tongue:

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OP1 since 2012, ehx 2880 since 2017.
:wink:

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Yeah, great thread, I just want to add (and I know there’s a thread related to the subject) that in addition to interrogations about my basic enjoyement of the music making process and health of my wallet, there’s a consumerist aspect and an environmental concern that also help question every acquisition I am thinking of making. Like, how was this built? Using what materials? What’s gonna happen with it once I am not interested anymore? If that can help with the GAS thing, well I’ll take it :slight_smile:

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I’m quite into minimalism these last years and I think part of the stress is also that most purchases I made were not very conscious. Even though it seemed so at the time.

Things around you require your time and energy be it direct or indirect. Less gear, is less stuff craving your attention.

It took a while too finally beat the addition of buying things, I’m still not fully over it. Every time we have money, we are thought to spend it. Which is crazy!

Just my 2c though.

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I’ve been performing in a duo with a pianist recently. Just piano and vocals. That’s been good for anti-GAS. It’s inspiring working with someone who plays one instrument, and can play the shit out of it, really to an unbelievable level. It’s also the most immediately successful (in terms of audience response) music I’ve done.

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And if not minimalism, at least sobriety.
If “they” try to sell you a synth with new features yours don’t have, try to emulate them with what you have instead of buying, it will be far more interesting.

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I would say 50 percent of this forum posts are new gear related. (maybe more). Not that im telling you to walk away :slight_smile:

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These days, I tend to go for just one of each kind. So I have one synth (Mono Evolver), one sampler (Blackbox), one external effect (Polymoon) and one mastering unit (the Heat). If that won’t help me make music I like, then I’ve decided I’ll drop it and do something else.

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Yea, true. It influences spending habits for sure, still responsibilities are a personal affair. And mostly only public it they are fashionably relevant.

Variations of this sort of thread pop up pretty regularly to the extent that feeling this way is clearly absolutely normal.

For me, I hate having anything expensive/valuable lying around the house unused. Not really sure what the root cause of that is but it does have a tendency to get under my skin enough that I ultimately end up selling. Even now, I’m sitting working from home inches away from an Octatrack that I haven’t used in months thinking if it’s time to let her go and try something new. I’m even wavering on the OP-Z at the moment.

Selling and rebuying isn’t a destructive loop for me. Christ, I’ve bought and sold the OT 5 or 6 times now. Had this one over 2 years which is a record. I realised long ago that I am an ITB guy at heart but I think I’m the sort of person who would like to have one piece of OTB/hybrid hardware around.

Anyway, all I’ll add to this is don’t fret about it. It’s all part of the process. Clearing the deck can, and does, feel great and liberating. As does hoarding new gear when in a real creative phase. Just, well, c’est la vie!

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Synths are just too accessible now. You can listen to them all on YouTube or whatever to your own demise.
Then you have to get them, so easy as an impulsive online purchase. :skull_and_crossbones:
So, don’t tempt yourself. Choose a new, poison. Care Bears, Little Ponies, :unicorn:

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Behrnie Babies

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Calculators :nerd_face:

I just bought three :woozy_face:

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I’ve start juggling and it’s super fun.

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I have a few rules, which are subject to modification as time goes on:

  1. Before buying sell something, not necessarily 1 in 1 out, sometimes 3 out 1 in, or 2 out 3 in, the main idea is to reduce redundancy. A recent example is selling DT and ARmkI and buying ARmkII.

  2. Do I have a specific need for the new shiny thing? Most of the time the answer is no as I try to choose my gear carefully to do what I need in the first place.
    My achilles heel here is samplers, there currently isn’t one that does all that I need, because I don’t use a DAW samplers have to fulfil many DAW roles in my setup, limitations are great but frustrations are a buzz kill, so at the moment I have a lot of samplers, I’d much rather just have a couple that did all that I need though.

  3. Never get anything on credit, no matter what, if I can’t afford it I don’t buy it, if it an expensive item then I sell something else and/or save up. Debt is stress.

  4. Having a small room really helped me, and more importantly committing to a layout so that everything has its own place and is well organised, patchbays, labelling - makes the idea of changing the setup unappealing, so all the more important to get it right initially, I’d say I was 90% successful, but tweaking I can handle.

  5. An oldie but a goodie - watch videos of gear you already own occasionally and when GAS strikes.

  6. Remember that in the first 6 months most gear nowadays has bugs, and most gear reduces in price after 6 months, early adoption is for suckas and “pro” youtubers.

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Omg #6. Never again new. Plus delayed gratification is something sorely missing in this hyperconsummerist world.

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cant say ive seen anything out of namm thats given me mad gas. that said it is nice acquiring a new gear and working your way through it. i think that intrigue part of it is what it is for a lot of people - wanting to understand how something works as much as making music with it. even in the buying and selling process much is learned, about synthesis, techniques, approaches, sound, etc. it’s a fine line between intrigue and being overwhelmed, at least it is for me and what I see as a worthy buy. at the moment im kinda in limbo with an itb setup but it is nice watching from a distance without any intention to buy. something always comes around and it’ll be nice to drop a pre-order when the time is right

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