We all said this
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i minimize setups, not gear.
rotating gear is important part of fun.
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Iāve come to realise that the only piece of gear I need to make the music that makes me happy is a sampler - if I were to own another synthesiser it would only to be for the creation of more samples, so I tend to save money on the hardware by making samples in software instead.
I get gear envy for drum machines a lotā¦ Then I get one, only to realise what ālimitedā truly means.
Until recently Iāve had the LaunchControl XL and Launchpad Pro set up with Ableton Live. The other day I realised that I never use the LCXL and rarely do anything meaningful with the LPP. So Iāve boxed them up and started using Live with nothing more than a MIDI Fighter Twister. Now Iām really happy - turns out all I needed was a box of clicky knobs! Itās nice to have control over Session View with RGB pads but I rarely feel the need to play a scene arm a track or tweak an fx send with anything other than the trackpad. Iām also super happy to use the humble QWERTY keyboard to make melodies, or a MIDI sequencer. Less really is more sometimes, especially when having something and not using it leads to feelings of inadequacy.
Im Music at school the teacher handed out woodblocks. tambourines,recorders etc. I ended up with the shitty Triangle. He said āStop moaning and be happy with what youāve gotā. I then set out to master the triangle. I learnt all about it. Its timbre. Its change in pitch when held at certain angles. Its 3 sides that could be used to make a simple arpeggio. I could mute and unmute it at a whim. My friends were jealous of my masterful skills of the Triangle. After that everyone wanted a Triangle. 
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*me-currently searching Reverb for a triangleā¦ā
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Iām on the same route.
Started out with Ableton and turned to hardware which was ever growing in numbers (one Volca after the other + Monologue + Micromonsta).
Until I got my DT which I soon paired with a DNKeys. Iām down with those two instruments now, great limitation / great combination.
I must admit, I recently added an Analog Heat. But thatās not even an instrument right? 
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Would love to see them add an LFO per side when Triangle MK2 is finally released.
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That is so fucking funny. My most recent experience with that was watching timbaland on youtube and then searching for a second hand push 2. Then Iāll make it!
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Iām also one of those that had a bunch of stuff then sold it, then started buying it again. I can tell you this time is different because Iām putting stuff away, out of sight, and concentrating on two machines at a time. Instead of selling what Iām not using, Iām going to hang on to it and hopefully rotate pieces. I know what went wrong the first time and itās directly related to minimizing gear. When I have every piece of gear out and set up, I just look at it and fiddle with everything but never really get a cohesive idea. Right now Iām focusing on DT/DN (bringing samples into DT straight from vinyl- old, old Indian/Pakistani records I inherited from my father-in-law) and trying to get comfortable with that combo. Next step is bringing in the OT and thatās that for my Elektron setup. My TE stuff I use for when I want to make music somewhere else around the house or if I want to bring something to work with me (Iām teaching all online classes but I still have to report to my classroom so I have a lot more music making time than I would if things were normal). That leaves Lyra 8. To me, Lyra is itās own thing and at this point I only use it by itself. Thereās really something to be said for scaling down. It helps me concentrate and I actually finish ideas.
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Yeah, after a period of gear surfing you figure out a flow that your looking for. I went through synths and once I got a sampler that I could use I just cut down to the OT and a few synths.
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Definitely on the same page - OT & Rytm FTW for me
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Definitely very important to me. Trying to get the most out of as few instruments as possible. Any synth i canāt or donāt use when performing live i use as sample sources. This way itās pretty safe to add a synth every now and then. Just having these 2+ hour sound design sessions, where I sample the sounds / arps etc. into Octatrack / Digitakt / DAW for later use, works really well. You learn your ayntha on a deeper level without losing focus on the song / track making machines.
And the nice thing is that you can of course do the same with vstās
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When you sample, what do you sample? Notes, chords, patterns?
Iām just starting getting into a similar process. I keep falling into a trap.
I make a nice sound (nice-ish, my sound design skills need work, but this IS the workā¦). Then I play it for a while and get into a riff or a sweep or a chord sequence. I programme it as MIDI, then sample it. But the sampling process ruins my flow. I spend so long fighting with levels, poor playing, changing my mind about mod+pitchwheel tricksā¦ I forget or lose interest in the music I started out playing. Trying to organise samples on the OT during a sampling session completely kills it.
I am sure Iām doing it wrong, but am not sure where to go. āPracticeā will help for sure, but maybe my workflow is too clunky too.
Minimising helped me finish songs. As a rule I never have more than Force + another synth/groove box on my desk.
Iām also trying to force myself to always have the Force on when Iām doing sound design, to sample happy incidents and to quickly try patches with a drum loop for context.
Next is to learn to focus on an instrument so whatever gets the deskspace should be forced to stay on the desk for at least 2 weeks.
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I tend to set a specific goal sometimes when starting a sound design session. Examples:
- create 16 kicks
- create an analog drumkit with synthesizer X
- Create a bunch of dynamic chords stabs
etc.
One thing that might help you relax a little in these sessions is that not every single sound you create has to be top notch. You could even set a timer to stop from zoning out on details. Like giving yourself 15 minutes per sound. After the 15 minutes you need to make sure you stop and move on to the next sound. After a while youāve crated a bunch of sounds from which a few will be good enough to further explore and finish.
See it as harvesting diamonds. Youāll find many many rocks before finding that diamond. The more stones you move the bigger the chance youāll struck upon a diamond.
After this session plan an hour or so for a dedicated sampling session where you record and organise the samples. This way you separate the administrative work from the actual creative work.
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Great advice!
I would also suggest creating template projects in your DAW, OT or whichever platform you are using to sample. Which support sampling a range of notes, a set of chords or similar. This way you can start sampling a lot faster and only tweak a few levels or recording times.
Another tip I would suggest here is adding a visible timer to your workspace.
Iāve always struggled with time mindfulness/management in the studio, and itās easy to not be organised and something simple like browsing presets/fiddling turn into 3-4 hours before I know itā¦
Having a timer enables me to either set a specific time for a task (eg, 30 mins to build a kit for my AR) or just set the clock running and keep an eye on how long Iāve really been doing something.
I also use it for recording mix ideas/jamsā¦ I now aim to have every idea in a jam developed and captured within 4-6 mins, beforehand my mixes to cover the same thing could be 15-25 mins easily.
Sounds simple, but making yourself time-accountable is great for increasing productivity and it compliments a minimalistic approach to gear well.
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I love how @AdamJay complained, that everyone told him to buy an OT in 2015 and now he uses 2 of them
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when you find yourself feeling like you have too much gear or too many options that is the perfect opportunity imho to not get rid of your gear, but instead break it down and take the time to experiment with different setups and ideas with the gear that you intend to get rid of, especially when youāre intending to go from a bunch of gear down to just a couple of core instrumentsā¦
for example I was gonna sell a Yamaha reface cp, Behringer boog, microkorg, and an mpc I wasnāt using and that I felt just complicated being integrated into my setup but instead of selling them I made a smaller rig out of them and put it on the floor over by a window and now they feel great to use instead of like a burden that is in the way. This setup doesnāt feel like my main setup in any way and whenever Iām feeling the need for the vibe I get when Iām using it I just go use itā¦
anyways the point is that just because all of your gear doesnāt feel good together doesnāt mean that you canāt break it down into 2 or 3 smaller very cohesive rigs that do feel great together which in turn makes them very useful in the end. Music is like food but we donāt eat everything in our kitchen at the same time, we eat what goes together at the time and for the kind of meal we want to make.
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