Gas

[nightfade]

Think I’m the opposite, manufacturers have to do something pretty special if they want my cash!

[kusalamati]

@""Baddcr""

Very nice…,! Totally agree about the TV, haven’t had one for probably 95% of my adult life. Terrible terrible things - if I want to watch something the internet has the juice.

Clearing out - I did a similar thing almost three years ago.

I got rid of 80% of my stuff.

I’m ready for the next stage and I think I can get rid of 80% of the 20% that was left. I’m just looking for the time to do it.

I’ve never owned much gear - never been able to afford it until this last year and I’ve spent that time building a setup of my dreams and it’s ace. Still got a couple of things I’d like, but on the whole, I’m done.

This is my studio setup - there are many like it, but this one is mine

An arrangement of beauty.
You make it all look so simple.

Fuelled by Dragonfly Tea.

[TrabanT]

@""rex_mundii""

Indeed. There’s another saying that goes “never trust a junkie” - unfortunately my housemate at the time was

… BAD BAAAAD memories coming back to me at those very words … hope you learnt your lesson just like I did … (just had to say this rex )

[TrabanT]

@""rex_mundii""

[quote=“TrabanT”][quote=“rex_mundii”]
Indeed. There’s another saying that goes “never trust a junkie” - unfortunately my housemate at the time was

… BAD BAAAAD memories coming back to me at those very words … hope you learnt your lesson just like I did … (just had to say this rex )[/quote]
Absolutely! These days I’m waay too short-tempered for putting up with the constant BS that seems to go hand in hand with share housing.

Pretty sure that might be one of those important lessons we need to learn before we’re allowed to call ourselves grownups [/quote]
word ! … booya … grownups … true that !!!

[klerc]

It is this time of the year again: It is cold outside…NAMM is coming…and the GAS is back.

We should start a group therapy.
So… How does it make you feel?

[Automageddon]

I’m usually good at controlling GAS, but recently I have this awful feel I want to trade the A4 for something else, I’d love a Spectralis but never seem to decide, or I’d love to trade it up for either a Tempest or a Virus Ti…

Yet I know that with A4, OT and Nord Drum 2 I have what I need, still if I only I had that elusive extra piece of gear…

[M-Circus]

@""BoomTish""

Forums are the worst creators of GAS.

At some point you had so little gear than when things sucked, it was the gear. But by the time you have 4 or 5 pieces of sound generating equipment (and you didn’t just buy the same type of sound generator), then actually no its not the gear, its you that sucks.

However, forums convince you the elusive golden sound is just an expensive purchase away. And for a while you coast along thinking, yes! I’ll get sound X if I buy gear Y. But after much purchasing, you learn the techniques which create a sound. You then think back to how you could have done that on a number of synths, many of them not that expensive.

Now I am post-GAS, my lessons learnt are:-
[ul]
[li]Trying to copy a sound only gets you so far. A quirk of a synth can’t be emulated. Not getting that exact sound does not really matter.[/li]
[li]Be able to record audio to a track and reuse the same gear for another track. Accumulating gear to be able to play all parts at once is just expensive, not better.[/li]
[li]Good sampling abilities are essential.[/li]
[li]Aim for 1 good piece of each type of synthesis or sampling. If you have a rompler, you really don’t need another. Buying gear for waves in rom is, um, well…[/li]
[li]Don’t always say No to gear, just say No to the impulse to have.[/li]
[/ul]

I agree with all of this. Think I need to re-read it every other week. I should know it, but apparently need to be reminded.

[DL]

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/7-stages-of-gear-acquisition-syndrome-585947

[kusalamati]

After a year of GAS-a-Rama I’ve been “safely” installed at my new location in China since August, and seemingly well away from outlets of readily available gear.
Yet since arriving with just the MnM, A4 and OP-1 as luggage, I’ve been regularly engrossed by each of the machines in turn, in standalone formation. I might pair up the A4 and the MnM at some point, but it’s ace fun seeing what they can do on their, just jamming and twiddling.

Lovely bit of anti-GAS at play

[rgraphic]

Just sold my moog mother 32 in an attempt to squash my GAS. I now have a minitaur, slim phatty, octatrack, A4 and RYTM. ALL I NEED…I think…

[AdamJay]

Things I have been gassing for lately…

Acidlab Drumatix
Minilogue
Mbase 11
Mbrane 11
Novation Circuit
Zaquencer

I think GAS is ultimately a product of our deafeningly loud consumerist culture. It’s difficult to overcome. One piece of advice my financial advisor gave me was to wait three days before buying a product I do not “need”. This has definitely helped and given me time to look at purchases less emotionally and more logically. I nearly ordered the Drumatix but waited and then changed my mind.

So, I’m going to get a far more logical and affordable, yet not nearly as fun, Roland TM-2 .wav drum/sample trigger module to put A4’s CV track back to use with all kinds of samples. I can import samples of all the drum things I want to buy via SDHC card, and it has a few tricks up its sleeve as well. A bit like a Nord Drum sampler. The goal is to free up a couple A4 percussion tracks to more interesting synth work, and it does that.

But damn is it hard to employ such logic sometimes with all the new and shiny!

[AdamJay]

@""klerc""

It is this time of the year again: It is cold outside…NAMM is coming…and the GAS is back.

We should start a group therapy.
So… How does it make you feel?

Anxious.

[yentz]

Gas makes me feel bloated

[thermionic]

@""kusalamati""

So yesterday I finally discovered what this GAS business that everyone talks about refers to; Gear Acquisition Syndrome, and in doing so, identified something of a trend of said syndrome in my own kit buying history.

In fact, ironically, the same day I looked up the meaning of the acronym, I found myself hypnotised for much of my waking (and possibly sleeping) hours at the prospect of buying an OP-1, cue the gazillion youtube demos and hunting for review threads on here and elsewhere, convincing myself that it’s a good idea, and by the end of the day, hitting ‘BUY’ on Amazon as the pre-purchase dopamine buzz was at its height.

The unit arrives this week, and yes I am very much looking forward to it.
GAS GAS GAS!

It’s a strange beast this GAS, quite similar in my mind to a syndrome I have since shaken off; VAS (Vinyl Acquisition Syndrome) in which the forces of craving manifest as a feeling of lack, which mixes potently with one’s personal passions to arise as that all too familiar “I just need to have that, my creative life will be offered a sense of completion when I get it” and I strangely find myself in a new paradigm in which something will indeed be missing from my creative life if I don’t take the necessary steps to acquire the goodies.

I suggest you never google heroin addiction.

[LyingDalai]

@""AdamJay""

I think GAS is ultimately a product of our deafeningly loud consumerist culture. It’s difficult to overcome. One piece of advice my financial advisor gave me was to wait three days before buying a product I do not “need”.

My technique so far : send automatically to the lady, every month, all the money earned minus a little bit that I can use as I want. My mind doesn’t like the bank account being too empty, so it has to make do with what is left ^[1][2]
The mantra “I don’t need anything” is helping, but the mind is so weak.
I’m also convinced I don’t know intimately my A4 yet.
Still in the GAS, though.
Another tip : as soon as you found something to GAS for, look for something else. It helps to trick the mind into another target.
Here for instance : Minilogue looks pretty cool. But what is Teenage Engineering going to show ?
It’s not like I personally REALLY care… but it confuse the mind enough to prevent clicking on the BUY MINILOGUE button.

---

1. u ↩︎

2. /u ↩︎

[Bwax]

GAS’ing for the Minilogue and an OP-1 (Or OP-2?)

But, not too bad. Not as bad as years past. Been selling a lot actually.

What has helped me is getting older and looking forward to retirement. I made a spreadsheet showing all the gear I have bought (and sold) over the past several years. It’s eye opening to see it all listed on one page, as well as prices.

I made another spreadsheet showing what I would have to earn/save/invest to cover my living expenses, as they are right now. This is also eye opening, to say the least.

There are lots of calculators online that show the “latte effect” of spending habits. It’s amazing how quickly little things like coffee or gourmet treats add up, not mention synths and gear. You can punch in numbers that show how these spending patterns detract from financial independence in the long run. Woke me the f**k up.

I realized I have two choices, basically:

1. Have a nice studio chock full of gear, but stuck at the office, working to pay for it all.
2. Have a limited amount of gear, plus the free time to actually learn it, use, it, enjoy it, making music M-F.

Currently selling off extra bits and resisting buying new gear. Plowing everything I can into index funds.

Also currently spending more time learning music theory, songwriting, etc. Going to start practicing more guitar and piano. That helps as well. In the end, for me, it’s more fun to write songs than hoard gear.

But… I sure am still tempted this time of year. I hope Dave Smith does not release anything cool.

[DL]

@""AdamJay""

So, I’m going to get a far more logical and affordable, yet not nearly as fun, Roland TM-2 .wav drum/sample trigger module to put A4’s CV track back to use with all kinds of samples. I can import samples of all the drum things I want to buy via SDHC card, and it has a few tricks up its sleeve as well. A bit like a Nord Drum sampler. The goal is to free up a couple A4 percussion tracks to more interesting synth work, and it does that.

But damn is it hard to employ such logic sometimes with all the new and shiny!

Why do you need another drum voice if you have a RYTM?

[license]

I just want a Nord Drum 2.

[DL]

I try to keep my setup small and portable. I also have a limited space so every purchase needs to be well-thought-out.

[Automageddon]

[quote=“” license""]
I just want a Nord Drum 2.
[/quote]

I love mine, so easy to program…