GAS is a spiral of dissatisfaction. We all experience it, but we shouldn’t give it too much attention. Getting proficient with each piece of gear requires months of use, which takes time away from creative exploration and artistic production. It would be better to play music than to study the manuals.
Cool trick: Buy it all, then make it work together.
Instant GAS killer.
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Welcome aboard.
This subject has been discussed a lot, I took the liberty to gather your new thread with an old one cause it contains a lot of valuable insights.
Look for NYNG thread to find a part of the community that show solidarity and commitment (or, in my case, recurrent fail).
Add a few zeros to my bank account and soon I’m dreaming about another synth…
Yet at some point in my life I’ve converted much money into gear and I now have the kind of studio I had dreamed of. I surely don’t need to add another piece. Or need to get rid of some unused ones, first.
Stupid GAS is still here, but I’ve learned to delay impulsive buy, commit to 1 in = 1 out rule, and for a year now committing to DNII has helped a lot.
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learn all the alternative ways to game your dopamine system and stick to those instead?
For me personally, I only experience GAS when my brain chemistry is off whack. So for me, its some form of neurosis or something
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my GAS went away by itself.
i always have an excuse that i like rotating gear – however, at some gear amount i started to feel that it’s saturated enough.
bought the last synth i wanted really badly more than a year ago. (however, still on the hunt for more second hand TB-3’s.)
the only thing i have on my list right now is Zoom LiveTrak L-6 – but that’s a looooong overdue.
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I don’t know. I like all the shiny toys in the store. But for some reason I can stick to self-imposed limits. Maybe it’s because my parents didn’t have that much money, so I learned I can’t have everything I want and be at peace with that idea. I just can’t justify spending all my money, I NEED to build some capital. I had an idea about what gear I wanted (synth, effects, Ableton, sequencer), in itself more than capable to create great tracks. So I stuck with that, bought that over the years, and now I’m ‘Enough! First learn to master this!’. Only things I would go in debt for are a house and mayyyybe a car if I really was stuck without one. But for everything else, I save. And yeah, there’s that Minitaur in the store beckoning me…pure analog Moog sound. But still, the stuff I have gets close enough and there’s more than enough to keep me busy for a long coming time, so…sorry Minitaur…maybe later.
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Push 3 + Live totally cured my GAS. Everytime I want something new, I ask myself: can this be done with Live and/or Push? 99 of the times the answer is yes.
The only thing I bought recently was a stereo mixing module for my eurorack, because I hit a wall juggling too many signals.
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Fortunately, I’ve also become more mindful and more controlled when it comes to my purchases. When I look at the list, I realise that I can actually still act in a reasonable way:
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Novation Bass Station II (2016)
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Novation Peak (2017)
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Teenage Engineering OP1 (2017)
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Modular System (2020)
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Moog Matriarch (2023)
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Roland TR8s (2021)
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Elektron Analog Rytm mk II (2025)
Analogue Rytm (the reason I joined this forum) was just added a few days ago and will probably replace the TR8s in the long run. Even with the modular system together, I’m at a point where I can say that I don’t see the need to replace anything.
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This defintely resonated with me when I read it, having become a father myself for the first time 18 months ago. I too have been making electronic music since about 2001 and releasing it in physical form since 2013 - intitally in the computer and then slowly adding bits of hardware, as budgets increased and curiosity was piqued. Now I have significantly less time (although probably more than most, thanks to an understanding and very supportive wife) and this means that I often find myself with the budget and desire to buy things but having no time to get to know them (most recent example being a Toriaz SP-16 that I’ve used exactly twice 
).
In the last few months, however, I’ve been overcome with a sudden desire to basically let go of everything except for a USB C interface, pair of speakers, iPad & octatrack, as a way of yes, engaging with the GAS/dopamine thing (by reducing and thus, changing my setup) but also a way of just simplifying what I “need” to make music in general.
There’s the thing of "lessons will be repeated until they’re learned - I know in my heart that I’m really a computer musician (with an Octatrack for live performance) and that when I want to finish a piece of music, rather than just jam around, the most effective way for me to do that is by working in a DAW (it’s hard to unlearn 2 decades of practice and habits!). This is despite the fact that hardware often has a great interface and is undoubtedly often very cool. Even using hardware effects lately has become kind of a pain in the **** for me because of having to real-time (
) bounce things and not just have the plug in and all its settings be instantly recall-able, so if I decide I’ve overcooked e.g. the compression on something, I have to physically change the settings and re-bounce that part - sometimes on different days…
I’m not sure that I’m ready to give up the “Artist” label for myself just yet, as I’m still gigging and creating regularly but I can see how the potentially painful process of re-defining one’s ideas of self could ultimately lead to a kind of freedom from expectation (and ultimately even peace perhaps)?
Funnily enough, I too have been listening lately to a lot of drone music, field recordings and dubby, atmostpheric electronic stuff as a way of clearing and quietening my mind. I also saw in an interview with Stimming that he says he listens to ambient music when not making his own stuff - perhaps it’s a function of age and parenthood 
Anyway, there are some thoughts. I don’t know whether any of that is interesting or helpful…
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One good trick you can try is when a new toy shows up, think of gear you have already and try to recreate the sound you think you will get from that new machine.
It will take you some time to do it, and gas will come down, rational thinking will be involved. The more time passes the less you will feel a need to spend money.
And if you get sound you were searching for that’s added plus on top, and you learn something new
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I’ve found that treating my GAS with a steady regiment of booze and drugs helps tremendously!
Overcompensating is key for recovery!
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Biggest GAS-killer for me was moving across the country for a new job with a significant pay cut and moving into a smaller apartment.
Curiously, I also didn’t really make any music for the following two years. And now that I’m back to recording more regularly, I’m also back to window shopping, thinking about things I could swap out - but mostly remembering that experience and that the accumulation of stuff was a burden I don’t want to deal with ever again.
Also, like someone else mentioned, these instruments are deep. I haven’t maxed out anything.
So, I see some new shiny thing and still imagine what kind of new creative opportunities it might provide. Then I think about it realistically (financial, space, time to learn, time to sell, etc) and more often than not it isn’t worth it. I wouldn’t know what I do now if I hadn’t dove in like I did and try a lot of stuff, so I don’t have major regrets, although I did end up swinging back the other direction a little too hard and let go of a couple things I’ve since reacquired.
The NYNG and downsizing threads are nice anti-GAS threads to poke around in here.
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After spending thousands over 6 years in this hobby and being close to retirement but with not enough to retire so I have to keep working, I sold everything and bought a used MPC One +and I’m happy now. I can make anything with the MPC and it was so cheap compared to the thousands I spent before…so essentially seeing that I have to keep working through at least the first few years of my retirement made me realize I dont need any of this gear, just one thing if I ever want to make any kind of music and the cheapest with the most potential for me is the MPC One. I’m ok now!
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This is very true.
Akai MPC is the true cure for GAS.
The rest of the gear is just for if time and money allows it.
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I feel very similar. I can totally understand what you mean. Above all, I now live with my wife and three(!) children. There is no other way than to constantly question my attitude as an artist and my concepts of myself. I have repeatedly experienced phases of sadness and regret, but these have ultimately led me to other, more expansive places. It definitely helps me to realise that I haven’t stopped making music (or “being” an artist, whatever that means) - my way of being in the world and my way of dealing with such processes has just been changing for quite some time. Compared to phases where “everything has always stayed the same”, I would even say that my life feels healthier now, even if not quite as carefree.
I feel the same way. I’m integrating more and more performative elements into my pieces, but at some point everything finds its place in the DAW Sinne. A place where I feel familiar and safe. And where it is also in good hands before I render it for the last (?) time.
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One thing that worked for me sometimes was to visualise the actual device sitting on my desk. Not what I imagine could possibly be done with it, but the actual mundane act of unboxing, holding it, having to learn it, finding that I have to make space for it, hearing some sounds (some interesting, some dissappointing), finding cables to connect it to other stuff, then most probably leaving it aside for now. I found the laziness in me takes over and defeats GAS. It worked most recently on the Polyend Mess, for example. I visualised myself scrolling through presets, programming varying intensities of reverb, etc., and I reached the conclusion that I might use it for a track or two, then probably abandon it - too much effort and would only work in very specific scenarios anyway. Cool as it is, I need much more immediate devices these days that help me quickly compose and record songs. In the past, I would have jumped to order it without thinking twice.
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2 weeks ago I bought the Analog Heat + FX second hand but the seller cancelled last minute as there was an issue with his device so I got a refund. It is weird but this killed my gas for the product, as if the act of purchasing was enough 
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The answer to self-medication is … self-medication.
It’s such a simple answer once you see it.
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I find that this type of cancellation is another form of GAS. The seller decides he has too much gear, has to sell it off to begin curving his GAS. At the last minute after someone buys it decides I can’t part with it, so suddenly, something is wrong with the unit. Refund and cancel.
Keep the gear and probably do it all over again.
I have had several cancellations of purchases like this and I myself have done this as well.
Synth gods help us!
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Me too, especially with the OP-1 OG and then OP-1 field… I cancelled several times