Battling GAS or legit hit a dead-end?

The Lounge General Discussion
#121

It seems like you have a good stock of advice. And you seem like your really trying to figure out what is the workflow and gear best for it. Limitations are frustrating and everywhere. No one can ever really guide you on your workflow. They can share their’s and their perspective as well as you’ve tried to give us a glimpse of yours and compare in a sense but not really give you an answer that will only really come with experience.

I have been in GAS up until a few months ago regularly. I don’t perform but hope to. I started on a basic sampler, then the DT and now the OT. I can’t say it’s what you should get, with your sequencing, maybe not likely.

But I will say this. I think you have an idea of what you want but not one thing sticks out enough to give you it all. I had to really debate myself between the DT and getting the OT. Just on the level of investment I knew I would have to commit myself to learning it.

So I can’t tell you what is right for you, maybe you are trying to do to much at once, maybe you need a break and then re-evalute what you think your ideal approach would be if you can imagine it.

I used to imagine grooveboxes that would be a cross between a recording/dj’ing/remixing hub and then I discovered the OT and though even 2yrs in I’m still piecing workflows together slowly I am certain inspite of what it can’t do, it does more than enough of what I ‘need’ it to do and I am fine with where it lacks, but I’m not someone trying to run a whole slew of gear at once with it and have it doing a bunch of other stuff all at once.

And if your wanting to do more live, I’ve heard it enough, strip your set up down, you aren’t playing in a band and people don’t need to see you tweaking half a dozen pieces of kit that will just ad up to issues in the moment. Use as little as possible, playback pre-recorded tracks, don’t throw yourself down that logistical hole for some small appearance.

I thought I may have seen this guy on here a little while back but before you really consider moving to something other than the MD, maybe you just need a fresh perspective. And this guy does live sets with the MD. https://youtu.be/WV65dIXMMXs

Hope that helps.

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#122

I like using the Ableton Push controller with DAW as it feels more like an instrument. That said, even professional musicians and bands struggle with these sorts of issues which is why it can take years for even them to crank out full albums. It is hard to make money producing music anyways. So just enjoy the journey, relax, focus on what you have and most important of all: have fun! If you are not at least relaxing and having fun then you could sell all the gear and start over from ground zero.

#123

Maybe that’s what we were taught, but that’s not what we learned. The music of our community mostly places classical convention into the trash bin.

But, we still feel like we ought to be using more of those classical conventions. So, that creates cognitive dissonance and unhappiness.

There are two possible ways to relieve ourselves of this cognitive dissonance: One: Free ourselves from the limiting, oppressive, formal chains of our classical forebears. Embrace the music in everything. Or, two: Incorporate elements of classical form into our music.

Some of the discussion about music theory on this forum has tended to pit these ideas against each other.

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#125

Good advice, maybe a wee bit exaggerated on the multiple threads (I tried to hopefully contain my neurosis to just this one.) Though I could see if you’ve been following me, conclusions could be drawn.

Looking back at my history, I think my posts besides some of my criticism of Syntakt have been constructive for the most part. If you wanna tell me what you thought was so disturbing? 99% of the time I was just having fun, not feeling anxious. I mean I have anxiety. I have a ton of anxiety. But the forum has been hugely therapeutic.

Actually I’ve been kind of excited about the forum lately since I realized that it’s kind of become the social outlet I needed right now, so I’ve just been posting a lot …

I was really in the depths of the roots of GAS, but I’d already learned to recognize the symptoms last year so I caught myself. It was way quicker to get the help of others than to sort through it alone (and I’d been wrestling it for days, so yeah.)

Starting tomorrow I’m gonna be a working man again - part time which is nice. I hope I can actually get more done than I have been, and get out more, which I haven’t been doing.

I haven’t minded treating the forum like my public diary lately. It’s been the furthest thing from making things worse in any way, though it does get addictive. It’s so much fun and insightful getting so many perspectives on me beyond just my own. I hope most people haven’t minded too much. If it’s been over the top then sorry :sweat_smile:

That said this post probably marks the last book-post on this thread from me, and also of posting as much as I’ve been about Syntakt and my other niggles.

Some of the stuff you said was … psychic. Very on point. Particularly on the deepest fears.

But I hope your post wasn’t meant to be a sort of “showing the door”… that’s the only part that’s worrying me rn if I’m honest …

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#127

This last part didn’t feel very nice to be honest. You can do that, but you don’t have to tell the OP that when he’s openly expressing that he’s worried about being shown the door.

@Roger, despite that, the advice for you from @naturestudy is probably the right one. Take a break from the GASing and attempts to find the perfect workflow. Remind yourself that this is a hobby and you chose it because you enjoy it. Spending this much time over analyzing yourself and your music making process doesn’t sound like enjoyment. Good luck on the new job and remember to enjoy yourself!

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