Thanks for the tip! I forgot about Slide Trigs on the Octa. I could also use p-locks to imitate the 303 accent as well.
Gas averted for now!
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Well… i failed 
got a promotion at work and celebrated by pre-emptively spending my tax return on the strymon trinity… Oh well try again next year I guess
Still, despite this failure I’m going to continue with “almost no new gear year” so hopefully I won’t be making anymore posts in this thread! However my name no longer belongs on the list.
Hope everyone is doing well!
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I finally had a little spare time to update the list of people taking part.
I tried to do it like a robot, no feelings, just mathematics. If someone asked to be crossed out, I did it. If someone told of a gear purchase but still intended to stay on board, I marked them as having sinned. It’s too much effort to consider each case intensively. If someone says, they’re out, I’ll happily cross their name off the list. After all it’s not my job to be a judge or a jury or an executioner. I’ll leave that to Joseph Dredd.
Good luck everyone! Let’s be careful out there!
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I’m out as well. Eurocrack / DIY.
I am not trained in a musical instrument and “Electronic Instrument building” is closer to my competencies as an EE… and that is a fun aspect of this hobby to me. I still want to learn more music theory and make music.
I really appreciate the discussions in this thread, it is valueable to be mindful about buying gear and concentrating on what you really want to do.
Despite my “fail” it has helped me to just turn the synths on and play with them, have fun with them in a musical way.
Thanks to @Wolf-Rami and everyone contributing here.
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To those of you you think you “failed”: don’t make it so black and white. It has been proven over and over that making big, sweeping changes in your life are extremely hard and bound to fail. Take it slow and keep a steady burn instead of giving up and allowing yourself to cave completely.
Don’t wait till next year - you’re just making things harder for yourself.
Being strong is not about avoiding failure, it’s about how you pick yourself up and keep going.
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Failing due to a promotion sounds like failing in the right direction. Congratulations!
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Exactly, at most it’s a missed step on the right path!
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So far so good. I spent any budget on taxes and home repairs this year. So will make it I think this year. Besides I really do not see anything that excites me for new gear and will focus on my setup. I spent a lot of cash over the last few years so will master that.
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congrats! That happened to me last year after getting a huge bonus at work and I blew most of it on new year like Oberheim OB X8, Rytm MK2, Virus Ti2 and Squarp Hapax gear! This year no gear for me.
Which is why the “sin confession” posts are a lost opportunity/antipattern to me in this context-
- We need healthier, more mindful connections to creation, disappointment, and dopamine hits that lead people to buying shiz when frustrated or blocked
- We need more talking about how to better use what we have, or how to do the things we expect new gear to do for us
- “I’m out!” posts may drown out any posts from others who could be helped in being unblocked
I get why individuals may do them, but I’d see discussing stuff before buying as accountability over post-hoc shrugs?
I’m biased of course, I get blocked by gear a lot and try to be helpful to others, and wish we could swing the base forum culture wherever I’m at into more achievable anti-GAS measures.
Realistically I’m not so worried about lust/speculation threads, they’re easier to ignore but in the aggregate hopefully we can have healthier threads for the gear we own.
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I think my “I’m out” post was one of the first, and I hope I didn’t influence anyone else with that. I did debate making the post, knowing that it wasn’t the most productive contribution to the discussion, and because I didn’t mention here ahead of time what my intentions were to get feedback from the group.
I perhaps shouldn’t have participated, though, and it’s hard for me to think of anything productive to add to the discussion without it feeling like I’m making excuses.
I have learned some mindfulness from this exercise, however. And I’ve taken a more honest look at the things I own and whether or not they were purchased with intention, or if their time in the studio was up. As a result, I’ve moved a sizeable chunk of things along to new homes.
That’s a win for me, so this has been productive and positive overall, and I don’t feel guilty to myself, just to perhaps being a negative influence on others here.
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Oh yeah, posting more in a steering and continuing mindfulness sense, not to be harsh or anything.
People talk about “accountability”, that’s within, no? If they want to address the desires and patterns, there’s plenty of time to do it beforehand, there’s also plenty of time for reflection during the year after you have bought one thing!
The point as I see it is to gain a foothold over patterns, not enforce an unrealistic sense of “purity” since we all have varying needs and frustrations/limitations/shit going on that may manifest itself in consumption.
After all, the buying of things is symptomatic of struggles, not causal to the struggle. Yes there are financial implications but the buying things is not where we should be optimizing, optimizing elsewhere will affect what and how we buy though!
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March 9th, still resisting the temporary urges to buy stuff I don’t need… It’s getting easier.
Except for a little music on bandcamp.
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This was the hardest thing to get over for me. I’m a recovering alcoholic too and it’s in my nature to deceive people, isolate myself and engage in self destructive behaviours. I lied to a lot of people about money and music gear while gripped with GAS, but the hardest one to quit was lying to myself.
I thought there was no comeback to that, but it contributed to a bunch of mental health problems that blew up in December last year and that I’m still working through. There was also a lot of denial and self-deception in work and relationships too, and I’m starting to pull those back too.
Progress not perfection, one day at a time. I get something from every post in this thread, thank you all, and @Wolf-Rami for curating.
Still going strong with just MPC Live 2. Not tempted to buy anything for now.
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Sounds like you’re on the right path. Stay on it!
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MPC Live II is such a GAS killer.
I could easily give up all my other gear. I just want my Live and my Linnstrument, please.
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Yeah, ultimately the external force (booze, synths) is a means to an end to get whatever state of mind or dopamine we want at any particular point.
I’m not really trying to call out anyone specific with my rambles here! Projecting my own feelings obviously in the interest in talking less about buying gear in the specific, less abstract sense.
Which is why I think it’s good to focus less on performative aspects (which you get) and more on creative endeavors or hurdles.
Current frustration- glitching Ableton 11 on studio PC (Windows but not super slow) can even occur at 44k and with buffer of 128 and not many (if any ) VSTs or native plugs running. And with a RME interface :<
I know I need to pivot for whatever reason to my MacBook Air but it’s just that added cognitive overhead and I have a project “assignment” to complete by Sunday, when my weekend is going to be taken up with obligations.
Ah, time. Time I cannot buy in abundance…
Exactly. Absolutism is not really fair to oneself, internet peeps can perhaps help with problems as they crop up, but not after or if someone decides (for their own reasons) that it’s “all or nothing”!
Being good to yourself and trying to focus on what matters over beating self up and leaning into the stuff that’s unhelpful. It’s a process.
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One of the reasons I said I’m out is just because of the negative response I got the first time. Most everyone is supportive here, but sometimes it just takes one bit of negativity to sour something.
I don’t think I have that patience for any negativity especially when I see this means something different to so many people.
Not everyone has the same struggle… there are variations of what people want to get from not buying more gear and it doesn’t always fall into the addiction category for all.
For myself, I was looking forward to this as a way to dig deeper into what I have and how I want to work.
If I had more energy to dedicate, I’d create a less stringent depth year thread that was talked about at the of end the 2022 NGNY thread.
For energy and sanity sake, I’m out but if I have gas to avoid I’ll likely post back to the many voices that will offer clarity in those weak moments.
I definitely don’t want junk. I like my workflow and I’m seeing the gaps, which is a great thing as anything I’m buying has a purpose, as opposed to just wanting and realizing it doesn’t have the purpose I hoped it did.
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Yeah, last thread there were a few cackling goobers who didn’t want to participate beyond leering and pointing fingers that made me ignore the contents.
Exactly! I want to help others, which will help myself…
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Puts hand up
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