I’m not in the NGNY club but I just want to say I feel your struggle. I want a poly synth but I have no room for one yet I still wrestle with the idea.
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Still finding it hard to really get on a roll with anything specific - like an idea that would sorta start driving itself towards something ”bigger” - but the last week or so I’ve been getting back to jamming almost every night and it feels nice. Last week I spent a lot of time with the OT and MnM, both together and separately and tonight went back to the MD. Still lots to explore with that one as well, tonight was all about TRX machines and slow LFOs of different shapes to VOL. Simple stuff but really responsive and fun musically. Combined with the tonal setting just an endless number of options how to come up with cool textures and also melodies. GND sin wave still gives a very cool, emotive electric piano vibe.
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I’m hanging in there. I haven’t had a GAS attack since December and have thought creatively about what I do and don’t use in my studio. I haven’t been very musically productive for that reason. I look back at the “Purchases” thread with astonishment at the repeat buying and selling I used to do. And so much justification for it too “I just sold something…i can afford it…” When I crunched the numbers my jaw dropped! It’s good to have some perspective though and see how chasing the latest new shinies was a source of distraction and self-soothing for me.
ETA: another benefit is feeling more present and closer to my loved ones. Not having the constant “what next?” In my brain leaves space for more connections with others!
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Hopefully you’ll find the time to make music soon and great to hear that even under pressure nothing has been bought!! The grim situation in Ukraine really is depressing on so many levels. Because the news in some form are pretty much inevitable at this point it’s very important to try to make some time for creative and relaxing activities to balance things out a bit.
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Surely the ideas will start to merge together forming something cohesive when the time is right for that!! Sounds like a great combo! I don’t think I’ve ever used the OT and MnM together. Do you take the MnM into OT or record them separately?
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I haven’t managed to make much musically but that’s mostly a function of extra stuff to do for work and at home, plus some renovations to the house. Most importantly I haven’t GASsed about any gear since I started this, or felt the need to add to or re-arrange the studio desk setup.
Like @Strutter says, the ideas will come together when the time’s right for that. I’ve got about half a dozen ideas sketched out for development so far.
Really pleased to hear a lot of others getting the results they want too.
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No purchase for me, not a lot happening musically either, I decided to take down my monitors and only work on headphones for a while, leaving me more space on my desk, which is resfreshing.
On another hand, just went on a music week end with friends where I played bass a lot on some poppy songs, and having a breather outside of the electronic/machine world is very refreshing too.
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Thats great to hear! Especially the point of being more present and therefore closer to the people around you is spot on!!
Due to ADHD I am used to waves of interest in hobbies and so it helps a lot, that I am not that much into music making since mid February. Hapax hit a litte since I am still looking for a sequencer with song arranging that is “better” than the Octatrack one, but as I am currently mostly jamming without much inspiration and Hapax is Backorder no urgent feelings currently. I am telling myself, that it will be available at retailers next year and that its much easier to get on than, so currently I am good. Over 2 month without buying gear. Cannot remember the last time I had that!
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OP-Z is the quickest song arrangement tool I have com across 
Yeah I was just jamming with some samples (piano, strings) on the OT and had the MnM coming in on a thru track. Actually I put together a 30 min liveset of sort which I even recorded but it’s far from ready. Still much too stagnant but might turn into something if I only have the patience… Put some snippets of this in the Current sounds thread too.
Now that I’ve tried various small setups of one or two devices I’ve come to realize I really do have enough gear to keep myself happy for the rest of my life. And I actually find all my gear to be really inspiring, with the possible exception of the Digitone (how can one still be ambivalent about a piece of gear after having owned it twice, although only for about a year combined?).
Having said that, I will likely buy an A4 mk1 sometime next year. What can I say, I feel the Elektron workflow just suits me really well. For many reasons (not only NGNY) I don’t feel like buying anything right now, just way too many more important things to think about in the world… Although I do understand the human tendency to give yourself something else to think about by buying something.
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Well that’s definitely a start!! I too have realised that I’m pretty much covered for life when it comes to gear.
A4 is hard to beat. Interesting to hear about your uncertainty about the DN. I would have guessed that it’s perfect for the kind of music I’ve heard from you. On the other hand, many ppl seem to have the same kind of thoughts on it. A friend of mine has it and I’ve tried it once. It sounded v good and it was easy to shift from pretty sounds to absolute insanity and back. I thought it was rad and powerful but then again that’s just the first impression.
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Digitone is one that’ll never leave my desk. The scale modes are really inspiring, and it’s so easy to use as a 2 osc virtual analog synth in a pinch. I have a greater appreciation for it now that I’ve sold off a lot of other gear.
I think having too much gear is what causes the endless GAS in some. It’s so easy to keep trading gear, always on the hunt for something new that you’ll hopefully like better, or a nice bargain used.
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i don’t necessarily think its a ‘sin’ or something that will be derail my commitment to this NGNY, but my wonderful partner bought me a chorus pedal from native audio for my birthday. they didn’t know i was trying to do NGNY and it isn’t worth mentioning because its beyond sweet considering I mentioned being interested in the pedal a long time ago.
aside from that, i’m in a bit of a lull musically which is fine because its the tedious part of arranging and working through the tedious parts of finishing the ideas i decided i wanted to work on. pushing through it tho.
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That’s really sweet of your partner, and not something I would consider a sin either.
Sorry for being quiet around here lately. Been trying to process the situation in Ukraine.
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I don’t think I ever got added to the list so best to not bother adding me 
As you were…
Gonna have to be removed from the list, I broke my own promise to myself and replaced some stuff with some stuff.
I have been enjoying everyone’s contributions to the thread so will stick around, and best of luck to the ngny’s still staying strong.
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I have removed you from the list - glad that you’ll stick around 
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I’m struggling today with my first truly bad gas of the year, I sold a bunch of stuff that I didn’t really need or get on with in favour of embracing the iOS route for beat making and its been an excellent choice for me so far, my debt has gone down dramatically, my productivity and the quality of my work is improving as I focus on beatmaker 3 and export stems to Ableton for final arranging and mixing…
All was well until they announced the new m1 iPad air and then blam “the gas got me”
Ain’t nobody got time for that…
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They’ll be in good supply, and they’ll get replaced by something better in a year or less. I’ve been buying Apple products for 30+ years now, and I never jump on them right out of the gate. I let the buzz die down, the sober reviews emerge, the flaws become apparent, and the bugs get fixed. A couple of times this has saved me.
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