Gear Shame

You could include them in your live shows as some sort of Trent Reznor DX7 tribute :man_shrugging:

1 Like

That’s actually not a bad idea and it’s cheap enough too :slight_smile:

1 Like

Pretty massive assumption that anyone else is intending to or physically capable of having a next generation.

3 Likes

english is not my first language… but yes, you should include your offspring in the equation.

1 Like

I could replace all of my gear with just my computer if I wasn’t so lazy so yeah… The thing is I always fall for the “gas me up” part of the GAS you know, like “with this synth I can do what this guy is doing !”.

In a sense, I could say :

GAS me up once, shame on you
GAS me up twice, shame on me
GAS me up thrice, shame on me
GAS me up four times, shame on me

1 Like

Well… sorta. The problem with wood pulp is that it continues to change condition even (especially) when you seal it in plastic. That’s especially true for the highliy acidic paper classic comics were printed on.

Not that anyone would know, since the book is now unreadable.

It reminds me of when I would hang out at the Lilly Rare Books Library. Back in the middle of the last century, some librarians thought it would be a good idea to laminate a bunch of historic documents. Of course lamination is permanent, and doesn’t actually do much to preserve paper or vellum, so now all they can do is watch the artifacts rot away in their little plastic coffins, unable to do anything to fix or slow the decay.

CGC isn’t just a scam, it also destroys art—not just by locking it away so no one can read it, but also physically.

6 Likes

fucking philistines.

4 Likes

I don’t know if it’s shame exactly, but I have a negative association with the amount of gear I have.

Initially I sold a lot of old gear I’d had around 15-25 years ago (most of it has since doubled or quadrupled in value…) and bought an Octatrack just for fun, figuring 8 tracks was plenty.

Now I have 5 Elektron devices and a bunch of other stuff and I don’t have enough space to use it all and honestly I wouldn’t want to. I don’t do well with too many options and I’ve tried to keep things to smaller more manageable groups of instruments, and it’s still more than I’d like.

I have an Iridium, a Nord G2, a Rytm, and some other stuff as my B-squad, that’s just too much shit for messing around and not making songs.

I’d thought about selling stuff, but I don’t know what I’d sell, I like it all, I just don’t use it all or have the kind of time I’d like to spend with all of it.

If I’d used it more, maybe I’d feel differently, but that’s not where my life is right now, so instead I just feel weirdly guilty and uncomfortable about it, and hope that feeling goes away when I sneak 10 minutes before bed to mess around with a pattern I made while I was supposed to be working.

5 Likes

I have a lot less gear than some and a lot more than others. I’m here to enjoy my life though, so I just can’t muster up the effort to feel bad about this sort of stuff. Sometimes I think people just feel like they have to beat themselves up about shit. I’m no different I suppose, but I’m not torturing myself over having tools to pursue my primary passion.

4 Likes

…the shame game…where the price is never right…

it’s only a shame, if u find more fun in collecting, virtue signaling, showing off than actually DOING something for real with ur gear…

meanwhile, a little downsizing suits us all…and it’s always healthy to remind urself that many of the greatest tracks were made with almost nothing but naked enthusiasm…and todays average laptop alone already offers all the possebilties of a studio worth a million bux only two decades ago…

5 Likes

No shame, no remorse :wink:

9 Likes

The only solution to this feeling is to use it. Another is to sell, but I assume you are like me and cannot part with it yet, so use it and the feeling really does go away.

3 Likes

that raises the question of where is the need to pass something on to the next generation coming from? is that a justified need? or is that just the hubris of mankind.

i say play while we still can.

2 Likes

Advice! Be good people and keep living! Also, sorry about the lack of inheritance, mind spotting Dad a twenty! Need gas and a 40!

5 Likes

I dug into my small, guilt free archive of wood pulp and was reminded of why value isn’t encased in a plastic shell but wears a shell none the less.

perhaps not valuable without the grading, but looks like this free range gear held up just fine without anyone telling me that the condition was stable.

10 Likes

Natural law

not really as I enjoy using most of my gear except the roland boutique synths are not as fun to use.

I used to feel this way. And sometimes still do. But I found that keeping a roster for my gear helps a lot.

It’s just a spreadsheet with all of my gear and my purpose or intentions for it, like so:

<< Purpose | Name | Actual use | Better future use | Owned since | Cost | Notes >>

Notice the list is organized by purpose, not by gear name or category. That’s to keep me from getting any more attached than I already am.

From there I try to keep to some simple rules:

  • Every piece of gear needs a “job” (AKA “Actual use”)
  • One piece of gear per “job,” (though defintiion of a “job” can be broad, for instance a digitakt and an SP404 are both samplers, but have very different “jobs” because they’re totally different in almost every way.)
  • Last piece of gear in = First one out.
  • More valuable gear has to “work harder” (i.e. get used more often) to keep its place than cheaper stuff.
  • Older stuff might have personal value or be hard to replace. Those get a pass.

I try to keep stuff in the patchbay at the top of the list and keep anything on the bench toward the bottom. The last few slots are designated for what’s on Craigslist or what’s destined for it. From there, it’s basically like the Premier League.

This helps me be clear-headed about letting go of stuff. I make exceptions for things that I might not be able to find again or were gifts. But honestly, it even makes it easier to get rid of the gifts. I can just pretend I’m a Reaganite and say “Get a job, hippie!”

6 Likes

That’s actually a great idea. Might copy that.
I’ve been living by the rule “If I can’t explain its job to a non-musician, I probably should sell it”, but the spreadsheet option seems a little more like a commitment.

3 Likes

Finally had a chance to read and digest this post, yes to a lot of it, it’s quite existential and ultimately I share most of your sentiments, thanks for this thoughtful response :slight_smile:

1 Like