This is so true. No doubt in my mind that some of the problem is cultural/societal.
Need (ours) created by (others) greed - a generalisation about Neo-capitalism of course.
Reminds me of that quote about telling the truth being revolutionary in a society of lies. Can’t remember who it was by!
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Today I kinda used the loophole in NGNY of being a business owner.
A friend of mine who also happens to live across the street from us, works for a moving company. They mostly move businesses and government offices and such. Quite often he stumbles on perfectly good stuff that’s meant to be thrown in the garbage. So he saves them by taking them home. Now he’s on a winter holiday and he’s started cleaning up his closets and he sends me pics of all the nice gear he’s saved in all the years he’s been in the business.
This morning I bought a beautiful modular 70s broadcast mixer from Soundcraft from him for 50€. I bought it for my shop to use as a PA-mixer etc, but when I posted a pic of the mixer on my shop’s social media it only took like 15 minutes and there was a dude with money in his hand, ready to buy it off me. Sold it for 120€ which was very cheap but I still made a good profit.
There’s a saying that you can’t have a cake and eat it too. I kinda feel like I’m proving it wrong. I got the adrenaline/endorphine rush of buying a beautiful piece of second hand gear but also sold it in an hour’s time and didn’t break any rules.
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jamuary was a blast. I don’t have a big temptation to buy new gear often because i don’t have lots of money, but i always enjoyed seeing what exists. making music is a great way to avoid even looking. it’ll be hard to avoid looking at guitar pedals, but we’ll see. I am going to keep working on ‘jamuary’ as a weekly thing to try to write full songs. could help carry you forward too
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I cracked and ordered a midi controller to get maximum immediacy to the OT and other Elektron boxes.
I feel ashamed and yet ecstatic to admit this. No excuses, I was too weak.
However I will attempt to not buy anything else this year.
The only thing that Elektron gear falls a bit short IMO is the lack of immediacy and this way I will be able remedy that substantially. It’s not a new synth but it’s definitely gear lol.
Noted 
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You also sold some lucky soul some very decent pre-amps and a very nice analog summing unit for the price of a Volca, so add a selfless act kindness to a stranger to your daily work.
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I expected NGNY to be stressful, but I feel quite great about not being able to buy gear. I don’t have to read reviews, or search online for deals. All of my gear efforts are for learning my own gear and creating music
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not gonna lie. im off the #NGNY22 wagon. sorry, y’all, but a dood got needs.
=)
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I still haven’t bought anything. What’s helping is I have zero extra money right now. I guess poverty is a good motivator for NGNY…
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Yeah. I’m both unemployed and productive with what I have right now. Good combo for avoiding GAS.
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Take care out there - hope to see you next year
Edit - couldn’t find you on this list? Oh well, doesn’t matter now.
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Got some GAS building atm… Nothing too serious, I’m perfectly calm right now as it’s a piece I’m happy to wait and (possibly) get next year, as time is limited right now anyway and seems 2nd hand prices aren’t going to shoot up anytime soon. I’ve also already had this particular piece once before so there’s that - I mean, I did have a reason to get rid of it the first time around.
But another funny thing with GAS is that once I’ve started wanting a piece of gear I often start to see it EVERYWHERE. Anyone else experiencing Baader-Meinhof GAS? 
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Just wondering if anyone else had a psuedo-GAS type feeling for free from the new Digitone update? 
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Not at all! It’s funny because I saw the video and I just felt that nothing made me want to go through the “hassle” of updating for these features, all good with my DN how it is.
This year is slowly turning out to be Pimp My Gear -year with Xzibit. By the end of the year all of my gear will have chrome bumpers, sick chrome rims, red velour interiors and huge rearview mirrors.
I play my gear mostly inside sitting down. Pressing on those pesky pedal switches with only socks is starting to hurt in the long term, especially on a looper which you basically step on all the time. So I needed some pedal switch caps to make them friendlier for my feet.
Small ergonomy-inspired purchases that improve my quality of life without breaking the rules. That’s the way.
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I’m down with this. I think making your gear and your music space more practical, pleasant or exciting to use with some practical or aesthetic enhancements is a great antidote to GAS.
Buddha agrees!
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So far so good here! I did get a voltage meter to test some voltages coming out of my modular; maybe some people would count it as gear but I’m don’t. I’ve been working with modular for 7 years but there are still some modules that I didn’t fully understand as far as voltage ranges etc. It’s actually been pretty helpful and underscores the problem of constantly shuffling modules in and out of the case; no wonder I don’t know what all the voltage ranges are at the rate I’ve been buying/selling over the last few years.
I’m still resisting the temptation to sell a few things. I imagine that I will ultimately end us selling a few pieces but I’m really trying not to be hasty to avoid regret (and triggering more GAS).
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First day with serious gas, since starting this. Strange how that works. I have no idea why, but I think we might be around the longest time, I would ever go, without buying stuff? So maybe this is som kind of personal record
And - if anyone is wondering - it is the Oto Boum. I don’t need it, I just want it. But I’m not gonna get it.
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Symptoms?
I know people swear by the Oto Boum and the main reason for me selling it was that it just wasn’t getting enough use.
BUT for the subtle warming up I wanted it for I was much better off with the Heat. AND if I want to get rough I have the preamps of an old (and cheap!) Fostex 4-track I can abuse.
So yeah, overhyped.
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