I loved your input, for what it’s worth.
Yep, nailed it like @DimensionsTomorrow said.
A lot of the things you said check with me, even the timeline (I bought a Minibrute in May 2019). As far as the number of synths I’ve owned goes, I’m in the same range as you. 50 synths in about 30 months - everyone can do the math! My productivity for the past year (it took me the first year with synths to really get going, and I definitely slowed myself down by buying new stuff all the time) has been ok, but that’s mostly due to me using just a couple of pieces like 90% of the time.
The bit I wrote about tying loose ends. That’s actually totally laughable. It’s the exact same thing as someone saying they’re that one last move away from completing their setup. LOL.
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Thought about it a lot, and I think I finally am up for this. I got an AK yesterday, and I believe I can call it a day (or hopefully year) for gear. My musical goals for '22 include getting comfortable with keyboard playing (I am taking lessons), work on more structured arrangements for my jams and diving back into books (music as well as non-music).
Checking for second hand gear locally had become a staple (or even impulsion) in my daily life, like constantly checking social media, and I simply want to quit. Next piece of gear won’t fill any need, rather than create another. That said, I am really happy with getting this AK, because it is such a complete instrument in my eyes, I can not think of any holes left to fill.
I sincerely hope all of us get to catch up with our current gear/goals and make beautiful music for ourselves.
Gear to use/master in '22:
- OT
- MD+MCL
- 2x Volca FM
- Blofeld
- AK
- Zoia
- Neutron & Dysphonia
- Mother32
- TR-8 & BassBot
@Joebas sign me up 
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This is exactly how it is for me. Form of insanity just like my drinking was. Well I quit that and I’m determined to try quitting this GAS buying & selling obsession. Accountability helps a lot, I have a feeling this thread will be kept busy next year!
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You are added to the list! 
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I hope so. Could be great, if we can keep each other on track.
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Good impulse (?) for discussion!
I will up my MIDI game! I have two Digitakts and at the beginning I tried to introduce some extra modulation from DT1 to DT2. Opening a filter sustain or whatever, kinda like an extra LFO. Was okay, but I somehow wasn‘t really grooving with what I did. I like to do the sound manipulation myself. Ended up not doing any MIDI at all for a long time, except for clock.
I never really considered the possibility to have the MIDI routing in an X formation, DT1 going to DT2 going to DT1 again. Like the standard MIDI loopback trick, but with an extra Digitakt in the loop.
Instead of manipulating the sound, I’m more focusing on arrangement. Simple mute commands. Had great fun with making some „un-/mute helpers“ that always give me perfect timing with hitting any track mutes in the right order and in the right timing. Or some 8 bar mute sequence arrangement. Two fill modes for even wonkier layers of arrangement.
It‘s only the mute commands that I‘ve used so far, but it‘s that extra pair of hands that gives some progression to my tracks, while I merrily sweep the filters around or do some delay feedbacks, the fun stuff.
And if I want to break away from the predetermined MIDI muting, I can always do that myself.
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My goals in the nogear 2022:
- find time for music;
- break the rules with my modular system, find new ways to use it;
- stay enough time with my DT to finally feel it as my own friendly and trusty car to travel the world with and not as a Ferrari for a single ride on a circuit;
- try to master technics that I only used few times, as FM, AM…;
- read some books about electronic music;
- rearrange my gear corner to improve ergonomics.
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It took 16 euros and an hour of listening intensely to Killing Joke and Einstürzende Neubauten but now one of my main weapons against GAS for 2022 is fixed. It had a faulty touch screen, I ordered a replacement from eBay and swapped it just now. Everything seems to be working now. The synth cost me 350€ because of the faulty screen. Now I could probably double that money, but I won’t.
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That’s so cool! I’d love to be better at fixing stuff.
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you could always borrow some bongos for recording. not sure if that counts as a loophole, but a short or long term loan could help. i ride with a local cycling group. a few years ago, someone offered to let me borrow a tandem bike to ride with my son. it helped free space in his garage, since the bike had been sitting there for years after riding it with his kids. we used it to get to summer camp and some family rides before my son could ride his own bike. everybody wins. i returned the bike to him maybe last year, and he loaned it out to another rider soon after. the deal was if he needed it, he could just call. i’ve considered doing the same with whatever spare parts i have around, like a wheel set or something. having a local community can be pretty nice. you may even know some folks who’d be willing to let you borrow instruments.
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Ok, I did it. I just unsubscribed from the Your Setups thread.
It’s on.
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Yeah, my coworker is a drummer. I’m sure he would lend me some hand percussion to record if I asked. I sold him a few of my old guitar pedals cheap last year when I was slimming my gear down.
The key thing is that I’m not going to rush out and buy anything. Gotta curb the impulses. Definitely not going to do a big spending spree in the last few weeks of the year.
I don’t know if I’ll make it the whole year without new stuff, but I’m really starting to think limitations may spark some creativity and hopefully trigger me to spend more time working on music rather than watching YouTube gear videos and reading threads on reverb pedals. 
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M3m is a beast! Had one as a centrepiece for a while; was really easy to dial in some nice sounds and get to work straight away. Got a heap of music done as a result.
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Well, just been through my budget with a fine tooth comb. Looks like I can afford to hang on to the 707 now if I choose. Pick up a midi controller to go with it if I offload the mpc or BS2 before the end of the year and call it a day.
Fuck it, I’m in.
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And added!
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Cheers!
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Just read about this here:
https://llllllll.co/t/depth-year/27833
I’m going to considering giving it a go.
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The link doesn’t work for me. Must be a sign from above. Man, 2022 can’t come quick enough!
Still eyeing a ton of stuff but luckily haven’t found any great 2nd hand deals. On the other hand I’ve had a lot of fun with the Digitone. Still largely coming up with sounds that I probably can’t turn into tracks but that doesn’t bother me right now. Having fun doing sound design actually feels pretty awesome!
Btw, does anyone already have ideas what they’re gonna do for Jamuary? Great deep-dive opportunity right there!
Yes. I made an account at Lines to check if it was just members only but same result - does not exist or private. I’d be interested to read that too.