I’ve not made a track in 7 years. I’ve bought and sold equipment, played around when I could between work and family time but not recorded 1 single thing in 7 years. Now I’ve pretty much got the setup I need and with what’s currently happening in the world I’ve found inspiration. At times I thought it would never return. I’m 47 in 2 weeks and I’ve made music on and off since I was 12. But this has been the longest and hardest period of musical inactivity. But the heart never forgets and it’ll always be with you.
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Deadlines are everything. Self-imposed ones are difficult. I don’t know what the equivalent would be in the audio world, a label demanding the latest release? I have an artist friend who always does shows, he’s always tearing his hair out till the last minute but he gets new stuff done as a result. maybe it’s live shows. Another artificial arbiter I’ve found is doing the whole camera record thing. It’s like having someone watch over your shoulder, you press record, and suddenly the pressure is on to do it right. Me personally, the best stuff I ever did was in college, when I had the demands of handing things in for assessment. I worked my guts out to make it the best it could be. At the end of it were the demands of my teacher, my marks and a demanding student cohort waiting to criticise my work in review. There’s something in those external expectations I think, in snowballing them, they might start small, but if you can finds ways to create external demands of yourself that you respect, then you will find yourself in a position not being able to let yourself down, but also having to outdo yourself. I could use a piece of this advice myself, the trick is in creating the opportunities and the situations that demand it - for instance, another option could be doing a live show on radio. Or a podcast, going live. Anything that demands higher expectations of yourself. If you say, I’m going live Saturday night with a live stream mix, you’ll tear your hair out rehearsing before you do it.
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yep. had over 20k in vintage synths piled up in a room for nearly a decade while I spent all my time and energy riding and racing bicycles. every time I sat down to try and play I’d write one pattern and either hate it five minutes later, or like it but have no desire to actually see it through to anything worthwhile. eventually it came back to me though, and I’m loving it. the desire to ever do anything “big” is gone. I just make music for me. same reason I ride/race bikes still (something else that’s fun but easily turned into something you dislike doing).
life has ebbs and flows. you gotta learn to ride 'em and make the most of 'em. variety is good for you. time away from doing things you love is good for you. balance is good for you.
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As long as you haven’t lost the will to do everything, consider yourself released 
Take the opportunity to do something else.
The cool thing is, when you get your groove back, it’ll probably blow you away that you never realised how good at it you are.
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Whenever I am in a musical rut, I either draw a picture or read a chapter in one of my favorite books.
Narrative drives creativity. Maybe it’s time to do some self discovery. Genealogy, editing photos off your hard drive, speaking with family members older than you that you usually don’t talk to, etc.
Things shake loose when you open the junk drawer.
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For me, an important point was to understand that I enjoy the process making music, sounds, melodies, rythm, whether electronically or with ‘real’ instruments more than the ‘production’ of finished songs. For most of human history, music has been performed, mostly with song and dance, for its own sake and for enjoyment, and not following some pressure to produce a perfectly polished piece.
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This is a great thread. It really goes to show that we’re all in it together, that we all feel similar things sometimes. And when we’re struggling, there’s always someone here that’s ready to listen and offer some advice from their own perspective 
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man, it is rough out there nowadays, I feel y’all for sure…
sometimes it is just about re-finding joy in the littlest things, like you can fire up the grill, fire up a synth a sampler anything, just let it flow…let it bring joy back…
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Play one chord a day. I find doing this is a way to feel your not losing the will. Just repeat it a few times. I got this idea from Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results
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Now that’s a cool idea!
There’s indeed plenty of small things you can do to spark creativity or at least prepare yourself for when it strikes. Here’s my favorite: pick an album I don’t know by an artist I want to discover, get my small notebook, listen and enjoy the album front to back and note all the interesting little samples encountered during the listening. After that, I go back to each track and capture them, then edit them. Might be a kick, a drumroll, a guitar chord. Put all that in a folder, ready to be used. And bam, I’ve both discovered new music AND create a nice little soundbank.
Bonus if you’re feeling inspired: compose a track with your newly acquired soundbank.
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These days, to keep the process stimulating, I often challenge myself to break the routine.
30 minutes Challenge : build a Track in 30 minutes, Jam, Record and Post
The One Trig Challenge : What can I achieve with only One Trig on the first Step. I did this with the Digitone. Jam, Record and Post
Building a Track with only One Machine : Jam, Record and Post
Take a free Sample Pack : Build a Track, Jam, Record and Post
Beatless Track : Build a Track with no Drums, Jam, Record and Post
Etc.
These approaches force me to think ways I wouldn’t even imagine and it makes me feel good. No pressure, no hassle.
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Do what you enjoy and enjoy what you do. A learner’s mindset focused on the discovery and experience of new depth and detail while ridding yourself of the expectation of and attachment to the final outcome is the pathway to a new connection with your instruments and the art that flows through you.
Take your time, take a breather, drop your will, just sit with your gear and intention and let it show YOU where IT wants to take you…intimacy wants silence to unfold, it is the source of inspiration in my book. and if that inspiration wants to take you away from it all for a while so be it.
Keep keeping on my man and move in faith in yourself and the universe. I wish you a good and joyful time of reflection, struggle and discovery.
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Buy a DFAM
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NO! (why?)
I learned that buying new gear doesn‘t help - maybe rather sell something
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this is excellent. a good friend once told me although his studio time is limited, he approaches each session as though its productive, so long as he does something.
that something could be reading a manual, re-cabling things, coming up with a cool patch (with or without the ability to save it), learning something new a module does, finding a new trick an Elektron box does, finding a workaround to a synth or machine’s shortcomings, etc… all of this stuff makes you excited to be in your “happy place” and thus inspired to work there again. and a lot of it means you learned something you can then use to your benefit in the future.
if you start to hate doing even that… yeah, time for a serious break.
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This makes a lot of sense. Sometimes it’s the expectations we put upon ourselves that get us down, when simply learning something new is all we need to do. The brain is funny, it retains a hell of a lot from these little sessions of conscious and non-conscious learning. Even if that’s simply shutting yourself away for an hour with a good old or new album and some headphones, trying to almost get meditative and uncritical about it. Just listening and absorbing non judgementally
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Wandervogel
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I hate the “one man circus”, but I can’t have anyone over (because of the novel Covid, obviously) and even beforehand my friends are either brilliant successes/professionals or had very little interest in synths and music production.
I do it because I want to get better, but it’s okay to be burnt out because the world has a lot of terrible people damning us to an unnecessary fate at the moment.
I should just make my studio more comfy so I can shut off and relax.
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As in lays an egg not to return to the nest… 
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Same boat here. I just think it’s my head spinning with can my business survive, High-school seniors not graduating and always around, no frozen pizza at the market so I’m cooking every night, and on and on.
My best songs I’ve written was a story I wanted to tell. Right now, I don’t have anything to talk about.
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