Done with GAS, but now overwhelmed with all the gear I acquired

Elektron Gear
#127

I see a lot of suggestions to “put away everything but one piece of gear and learn that for six months.” Here’s my question: is OP’s goal to learn gear or make music? If the goal is to make music, then if pick 2-3 pieces of kit and make a goal of finishing something (anything) in 4-6 weeks.

Use presets, loops, whatever it takes, just finish something that you are reasonably satisfied with. Then do it again with the same setup and try to push yourself a little further. Then do it again but swap out one piece for something else. Get yourself in a habit of creating something once a month or so. You’ll learn your gear and figure out what is your core setup and workflow

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#128

An imminent change of continents “helped” me to evaluate what I had and decide what I should keep and use.

Changing continents is an extreme measure to solve GAS and gear use issues though :sweat_smile:

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#129

You can make music with one groove box. There’s no need for multiples from the beginning. Learning gear and making and finishing music are not mutually exclusive either ;). Actually are tied together.

The point is that if you start to really get that one piece you will also have a better idea of what you miss or simply would like to add to the setup.

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#130

Before you got all the gear, when you were making music in Ableton, did you also collect third party plugins? I wonder if that happens too, like software acquisition syndrome, or perhaps soft-GAS :laughing: I’m asking because I wonder if the same mindset can lead to gratuitous software purchases. I’ve seen some people expand the plugin tree inside their DAWs and I think “whoa, you have 57 synthesizers, ok… that’s more cash than my desk full of hardware”. With software-based GAS it’s not as visible though, I guess.

For me, GAS hits the most when I have the least amount of time to dedicate to music. It’s weird and it makes no sense. I often feel the need to spend more time on music, but work and life in general gets in the way, so I start thinking about a magical piece of gear that will increase my output. Now I know to recognize that there is no such piece of gear and what I need is more time to make music.

My setup is currently OT+DT+DN with some outboad effects and pedals. Even that can be a lot! Sometimes I have a session and realize I haven’t touched one of the machines in an hour.

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#131

I think you just have too much overlap. like why do you want MPC, OT and DT? you’re probably fine ditching two of those. maybe the OT and MPC, since you know the DT well (it sounds like) and they’re the more complicated machines. likewise with OP-1 and OP-Z, you probably don’t need them both. these changes would be huge as those are some of the more complicated machines that require actual learning of how they function, plus regular use to remember it. this would also give you more time/space to learn your gear, and feel less overwhelmed. Microfreak, Minilogue, JU-06A and SH-01 are all pretty similar subtractive synths that shouldn’t require a lot of learning. just choose each one for its specific sound and how you’d like that to fit into the mix of a given track.

I think it would be instructive to also spend a dedicated week to learning the more complicated machines, each on their own. so spend a week with the Digitakt, making tracks with just it so that you have to learn features by wanting to do something and looking up how; you’ll remember them better that way. likewise with Digitone and OP-1 (or Z). don’t worry if the tracks are garbage throwaway material, just focus on learning and playing around. as for your subtractive synths, just learn what makes them different from one another sonically; what you like most about each and how you think you’d like to use that in your music.

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#132

Definitely the case for me, electronic music has been my main hobby the past 3-4 years and without many other avenues of entertainment for almost 2 years I ended up using funds that usually would be taking me traveling, going to bars and restaurants, etc., towards gear.

I don’t regret it a bit, thought I would get overwhelmed but I expanded my setup to something I’m getting very comfortable with and it’s also very flexible. Even expanded into a hybrid setup so I can bounce between a DAW, Reaktor Blocks and my hardware seamlessly, having this flexible routing has really improved my workflow. I’m very in love with my machines, every time I come back to the room and look at them it gives me a smile :slight_smile:

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#133

Sitting with a more complex machine by itself (or paired with a simple synth if you want more immediate versatility) for a while is really a great way to learn it quickly.

I learnt most of the more advanced features of the OT by taking it on a work trip with me for 2 weeks, got a USB-DC converter cable, an external battery and any downtime I had I’d take the OT out with me to somewhere a bit inspiring and push the limits of my knowledge. I had never used the arranger, pickup machines, realtime resampling + layering, parts and many other features until this trip, and I had the OT for at least a year at that time.

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#134

True, you can make full tracks with a single groovebox. I’ve seen you do it :slightly_smiling_face: My comment was more advocating against picking one of the synths and spending six months learning that. Because the OP might realize he had to relearn how to use it in the context of a tune. Or trying to make the DN do lead and pads and rhythm may be trickier than just letting DN do melody/bass and fire off some loops on a sampler.

But some pieces of gear (OT in particular) will need dedicated time just working with that box to really unlock it.

#135

Soft-gas is most definitely a real thing. I gas way more for software than hardware these days. Last I checked, I have well over 700 3rd party plugins. :neutral_face:

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#136

This was my advice as well, although I forgot to tack on the ‘with the goal of making something’ aspect. Just using one synth for days or weeks bores me to tears, and the patches I make when I’m just sound designing in isolation are often different than the ones I make and use when doing so in the context of a song. I don’t care about “mastering” my gear, I care about finishing songs. If I know my gear enough to make the songs I want to make, that’s enough. 2-4 devices, though? Perfection. I get variety while still focusing on what I’m actually doing.

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#137

Yeah, soft-GAS still costs hard cash!

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#138

This 100%.

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#139

Yes, although my software vst acquisitions were limited to once a year on Black Friday. I have the Arturia V Collection 7, the Soundtoys bundle, Diva, Serum, and a few Roland Cloud plugins. I never really GASed for VSTs like I did for hardware. But honestly I think I’ve learned more about music production from all the time I spent researching each hardware acquisition than I ever did from buying and using VSTs.

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#140

Yeah, I get it. Hardware is just that much more sexy!

That sounds like a reasonable collection of software. I think the only software I gassed for was Phase Plant – I like the open approach. I don’t use it much these days because I’m so tired of being on computers at work.

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#141

The thing with “mastering your gear” is that it means you probably wont get lost down rabbit holes whilst making a song. If you know all the nooks and crannies of your sound engines, you (hopefully) can quickly tweak and dial in a good sound on the fly to suit the song without going “I just found that if I modulate that, with this, then I get these kinds of sounds, what’s the sweet spot, oh that’s nice, but what if I change the wave shape… “

Give yourself separate rabbit hole time.

That said, people have different workflow and ways of focusing. An “accidental” rabbit hole might also redirect the inspiration of a song in a good way; or maybe you are the lucky type which can return to their main line of thought after a detour.

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#142

On a similar theme to this, I think buying soundsets/banks for your existing gear is often a good move.
It’s easy to write off gear, synths in particular, if you haven’t got a good understanding of them and the presets it comes with aren’t great (which is usually the case).
Finding sound banks that match the type of sounds you’re into can stop you thinking you need to buy X synth to give you that sound.

I did this with the Novation Peak. I had it down as being harsh/sterile, based on its presets and my editing of them. I later found a sound set that I really liked and it completely changed my view of the Peak, and it’s still hear.
Deconstructing those bought sounds gave me a way better understanding of the Peak overall too. $30 well spent.

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#143

I just wrote a really long post and then deleted it again, so I’m going to try something shorter…

It’s fine to buy gear if it makes you happy and you can afford it. It absolutely WILL NOT make you a better musician/producer. If you’ve spent the time learning to produce or do sound design then you’ll likely be able to take a single synth and make entire albums with it. We’ve all seen the YT videos of “professional” producers doing such things, if that’s your cup of tea.

If you just like to have fun with music gear then go ahead and buy whatever you like, just don’t expect to suddenly have an epiphany when you get that “one more” piece of gear. I am one of many, may people here who have bought and sold tons of VST synths, DAWs, bits of hardware etc. It’s a fool errand if the goal is to actually be a better music producer. If, on the other hand, you just enjoy playing with music gear, then that’s a good enough reason and you don’t need anyone’s approval (except perhaps your partner/wife/husband/etc if you’re spending money meant for something else).

I’m going to go out on a limb here and propose that if your end goal is to actually produce “finished” music and not just mess around then most (not all) people are better off with less gear, not more. I have zero judgment on people with GAS (I’m one of them, at least some of the time) but it’s probably counter-productive if you’re actually trying to get something done.

I believe the saying is “option paralysis”. It’s real!

OK, that was still quite a long post. Sorry.

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#144

It does take time to design sounds, and you can learn a lot from experts patches, totally worth it.

Yeah the Peak is crazy deep! Did you check out ”noise as mod source” that was recently added in the 2.0 firmware? Apparently it’s a game changer for warm/analog sounding patches. Here’s an interesting demo with Ricky Tinez https://youtu.be/3cFK3MApzco

#145

Maybe it’s like buying a second laptop and then another tablet (same OS), won’t make one any much more productive than one currently is/isn’t.

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#146

Yes, and it’s really cool. I already had it on my Arturia Polybrute, and always use noise to modulate the filter, so I was happy to have it come to the Peak.
Ricky does some great basic but deep Peak videos, I watched a good one recently on using the mod envelopes. :+1:

Edit- this video;

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