I think we all have different NGNY goals, and it’s up to the individual to figure out why they’re here. I’m much more focused on not getting any physical hardware because of space constraints and to develop my live modular performance practice. New gear is actively bad for my goals there.
But I’m not personally worried about buying software, as long as it’s good, simple, and does something I can’t easily do in Ableton. That’s why I’m here, and I get to decide what counts for my own NGNY. We all do!
I keep searching reverb for a few particular things, with the implicit knowledge if I happen to catch a crazy deal on one, I might buy it. It goes against the no-new-gear idea that I’m even looking, but my target prices on these things are so low, I really doubt I’ll ever spot one at that price.
Just wanted to confess here. I feel better already.
Still super busy, haven’t launched my DAW in 2 months. I have had a couple chances to play my synths in the last week, which was nice. I almost forgot they aren’t just decorations.
I’m not really participating, but I haven’t bought anything yet this year. Sold a bunch of stuff though and it feels great. One item left on sale, but already thinking of more candidates to get rid for. Am I developing gear disposition syndrome?
Aaaaaand I’m out.
I’ve had my eyes on the kinotone ribbons for a long while and the batches sell out so fast that I never had a chance to get one until now. It’ll most likely replace my genloss2 (and maybe even my lossy), so at least it’s 1 in 1 out.
Bought a pair of headphones. I am not counting it personally against me, I rather stupidly broke my last set toward the end of last year and the replacements were actually unusable ($20 tascam headphones). I sort of half got by with them until now but it reached a point I didn’t want to make music because mixing wasn’t possible even to my low standards.
Just wanted to put it here for posterity - I did buy “gear” although it’s not gear I was excited to buy, just felt like more of a necessity.
I’m not participating this year, but I still like reading the thread to see how people are going with it.
Most other facets of my life at the moment would be “I can’t believe it’s mid-April already”, so it was nice even just to read that comment from the perspective of “it’s only just mid-April”!
I looked up a new module that came out yesterday (I don’t own any modular), then whilst having my morning coffee today, bam, a clear thought of said module in a wooden case on my desk.
I had full awareness of it and just kind of laughed.
The mind is funny sometimes, I don’t need that.
If I can do this whole year, I might look into it for fun, if I have the time, but it’s not something i want to invest time into right now.
Watching these videos or reading articles plants seeds is my point. I know this already, however it’s interesting going through this process, reducing the noise and seeing this with more clarity.
Also, not to get too OT, but 20th century post-war america is basically the first post-scarcity economy in human history. And as the article points out that led to the rise of more “first costs” (fueled by advertising/marketing arriving as we know it today). It is a lot of work to develop the mental muscle that lets you break down ads and question their premises to figure out if you just want to buy something, or if that something might actually improve YOUR day to day life.
I think I jokingly talked about this earlier in the thread, but I was being served ads for gym equipment - specifically I was being served ads for the Baseblocks Basebar Flip. At first glance, it was pretty cool. I have low ceilings, but I did want a pull up bar to go with my freeweights and benchpress that I’ve had for years. And, bonus, this thing can be flipped to also allow me to do rows. It seemed like a no-brainer, but I flexed that mental muscle and asked if I could get myself a better product to fit my needs.
Turns out, the product I wanted wasn’t as sexy and isn’t advertised where I was looking - but I could get a cheap power tower that takes up a bit more floorspace, gives me access to the same exercises as the basebar, also adds on ab/leg exercises, and cost $30 less with no shipping wait time.
I’m not saying by participating in NGNY I’ve defeated all my consumerist tendencies (I updated my wardrobe this year because I felt like it, that’s not exactly frugal on my part). But I catch myself thinking more like this, and I think that’s a good thing. Great share.