Letting Go Of Gear When You just Don't Want To

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

Sad to say I had to sell my Circuit and Launchpad Pro today. Feels bad. Currently I’m out of work from an injury, and I’m only getting about half of my usual monthly income so I had to make some sacrifices. Luckily these two were my least utilized so it’s not the end of the world.

I’m happy that it wasn’t my DT or 404, but still. I liked my collection and loved taking my LPP and Circuit when I’m on the go. Tough times call for tough measures but still.

Just needed to vent to my fellow Nauts for a minute cause I know many of you have been in similar/worse situations.

What’s some gear you’ve had to let go during times times that you miss?

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#2

Yeah tough call. I got given some really fancy skate trucks years ago, very rare, very special (I used to do downhill skate comps) and after an injury sold them to pay bills. I wish I never did that!
I sold lots of synths for similar reasons, the blofeld keys being one of them, and a really tasty gretch drum kit, Should never have sold them!

Much as we get attached to stuff, its just stuff. And stuff comes around again.

I hope your injury heals fast and you get back on top of it all.

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#3

Loads. The ones I miss the most are guitars, as they’re unique and hard to replace. A MIM strat with a lovely flared(?) maple fretboard and amazing sounding pickups, a Framus Strato 6 in seafoam green with bigsby and the fastest neck ever because the frets were worn down.

Sold an Octatrack twice but have learned not to make that mistake again.

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#4

Downhill skating always seemed so awesome to me but utterly terrifying, haha. And you’re right! It’s only stuff. It can always be replaced.

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#5

That sounds like it was a lovely guitar! I don’t personally play myself but worked in a music shop for a few years and learned to appreciate the craftsmanship.

I traded my DT for a Push 2 a while back and I ended up regretting it. Thankfully I was able to replace it back in November.

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#6

I am sorry to hear you are in this situation.

A few years back I left the PhD program I was a couple years into to change my field of study and set myself up to get a job someday. Had to sell off my small eurorack, a buchla music easel, a sub 37, and some other bits and pieces. It was all the gear I had, but I had to accept the reality that I would be, once again, taking out student loans and living on what I could sell the gear for and that it’d have to last me a year or perhaps longer.

It was painful at the time, but things are bouncing back and I have been building up my collection again. Everything is temporary.

Edit: all the typos

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#7

Coupla years ago my car got written off in an accident and I got sued - lost a bunch of work as a result, had to pay for repairs for the other driver and find the money to buy another vehicle.

Around the same time I’d started to realise that the sacrifices I was making to buy my toys over the years really wasn’t worth it. I’d rather have healthy teeth & gums and a pair of well fitting trousers than a nice drum machine. Ended up selling off everything except a cheap workstation keyboard to get my finances in order and visit the dentist - but it was worth it.

But do I still miss the Virus TI and AR.

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#8

that’s where I am now (just out of work: commiserations) - but I realise I’ve said goodbye to the stuff that’s gone - Euro modules - it never gelled for me anyway (I couldn’t devote the required time). Elektron boxes are next but I know they are kind of a luxury item.

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#9

as they say: it’s only stuff.

things I’ve sold that I miss: Oxford OSCar. Korg Maxikorg 800DV. Rozzbox. Richard Sachs road bicycle. DW bebop drum kit. Dunnett custom titanium snare drum. lots of handmade cymbals (Spizzichino and Bosphorus ones especially).

but… I have lots of other awesome toys now. miss some stuff, happy to have others. way it goes…

being injured sucks! heal up quick!

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#10

i’ve been toying with the idea of selling my digitakt for a long time. i hardly use it, it’s not in any of my finished tracks, but i do love playing with it.

there’s plenty of things i DO need that i’d use every day, but this one is so hard to sell. i got it shortly after it came out and it hasn’t ever given me 1 problem. tough call. i feel i should sell it as my salary is relatively low (though “fair” for a creative in berlin), and the things i need (apollo 8 or x8, new trumpet, mastering costs for new label etc) aren’t cheap. but they only go for €450-500 used… that’s not gonna do all that much for me.
meh.
it just doesn’t fit into my production flow, as fun as it is to jam on.
decisions decisions.

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#11

Sell it. If you never use it, that’s 500 euros back in your pocket that you can put to better use.

My plan is to restrict my studio corner to the maximum to force myself to level up with the remaining gears. For now, that would be:

  • OT as the center piece
  • Monologue for mono duties
  • Circuit for poly duties and as a nice controller / OT food
  • Pro Co Rat / Ms-cdr70 / Monotron delay as fx unit
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#12

Yamaha fretless bass and a Martin uke. Both necessary at the time so it is what it is. Hope you heal and find better times.

#13

I know exactly what you are going through. Keep in mind, though, that both of the items you sold are still readily available, so you’ll be able to get them again (or better versions) when you are on solid ground.

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#14

That Grandmaster hand hammered 21” cymbal I had that had etchings of flowers on it. That cymbal was like the Holy Grail… it could do everything and sounded so goddamn beautiful. I tracked it down after I sold it, but it then changed hands several times and it got away…
Oh well… it’s just a piece of metal.

#15

I’ve been there before with the DT. Even right now I haven’t been using it consistently, but I definitely don’t want to sell it. There’s always those nights where I’m sitting here trying to be creative and nothing feels right, then I see the blue box containing my DT and I get the itch. I then sit in bed with my laptop and DT and some headphones and go on some whacky sampling adventures. Most of my best boombap/lofi beats are made on the DT and I just can’t replicate that workflow any other way.

Depending on how this month goes I may have to let it go, but I’ll do whatever I can to avoid that at this point.

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#16

It’s always tough letting gear go, whether for money, lack of space, just not using it anymore, or any other circumstances. But I am always surprised, that of all the pieces I have let go, there are very few pieces of gear that I regret letting go.

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#17

That’s the essence of skateboarding in general (I did it for years). Overcoming your rational and irrational fears. You fall, it hurts terribly, and yet you get up and try the exact same thing again and again until you overcome your chosen obstacle. It’s the difference between total satisfaction, exhilaration, and being proud of yourself; over letting your fear win, being defeated, and losing faith in your resolve to accomplish whatever you set in front of you (life lessons to carry with you).

That said…16 years of music production and hoarding gear and software I’m ready for a reset. I’ll keep the instruments I made. I’ll keep the ones that are irreplaceable or that I bond with on a regular basis (Elektron gear stays :slight_smile: ). But the rest has to go…

Every time I come back to Elektronauts there is a thread about exactly what I’ve been mulling over in my head… Love this place <3

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#18

Im pretty much at bare minimum at the moment, Macbook Pro, Monitors, DT770’s, a shit interface and a Midi fighter twister. Its enough to play around in Live or some other soft studio, but I recently got rid of all the hardware.

Like others I kinda was living with dumb debt while still accumulating gear, it was fun but it bummed me out and locked me down, so i got rid of it and started to hit the credit cards and loans earlier this year. Now I’m in front and saving like a beast, meanwhile Im not suffering from any GAS whatsoever. I do want something hardware based in future, I’d honestly love to slowly re-tool a studio of my dreams, but theres always something new round the corner. If anything Id love to pick up a Monomachine, or maybe even a Snow or TI2 or Nord at some point, but for now as always Im looking forward to seeing what Elektron or Nord does next. I’d even love something guitar based, even thought about just cheapening out on something like a Pocket Pod for a bit of fun :slight_smile:

Anyway, i feel the new me is more responsible with cash, don’t think ill ever scrape the barrel again to buy new gear like i did in the past. In fact really keen to punch way out in front so a purchase is like a small percentage of savings rather than 100% lol

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