yes, you understand lol
I have free once as well and as stated time is scarce to get to everything.
AUM was a great tool when I did have an ipad…productive, as well.
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I think monitor speakers fall into more of a utility purchase than a GAS purchase, especially if you don’t have them yet. The spirit of NGNY is probably aimed at those of us buying stuff we truly don’t need. I wouldn’t count it as a sin, and you’ll be saving your ears and increasing your productivity.
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Do yourself a favour and buy these speakers, tinnitus can be permanent, when you have it, its very hard to get rid of it. Spending cash on speakers is nothing compared to tinnitus.
I acutally like your current mixes very well, i had a listen to some again during last week, i never imagined, that you did these on headphones, but thats not the argument - avoiding tinitus is. If you get it after 1-2 hours, you are at high risk for permanent ringing - stop using headphones, if you have to lay off the purchase for later - use a bluetooth box untill you get proper monitors.
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Uh oh! I’m not ready to say it’s over yet but I did transgress. Hear me out. I have no idea why I looked at craigslist while still in bed on the morning of the 4th of July but I did. This dude down in Tacoma had an A4 and ARMKII listed for $750 each and wow did they look clean. The A4 has been one of the synths I’ve been most interested in for several years now and when I saw that price (and it’s grey!) I just had to. While it is a violation of my pledge I don’t have anything else causing any burning desire to spend so this will not be any opening of the proverbial floodgates. I feel pretty good about it actually and I still consider myself on the NGNY wagon. I mean last year I was shopping for and usually acquiring at least one piece of new gear of some description just about every month so this year is almost as different from that as I could get.
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I failed this challenge quite miserable this time (as well). 
Had to make some purchases and made some I really didn’t have to lol.
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Started out pretty good, when finally my Osmose arrived, but then I had to shrink even further down from 3 toer to 2 tier plus livingroom-friendly. Naturally keeping the Osmose, I got rid of all my Elektron gear (ah, a4, dn, so what am I even stil doing here?!), an mpc live 2, continuumini and audio interface and bought: moog studio, es-9, disting ex and rackbrute, with an ipad on mirack.
Net cash is positive. Tbh I cheated and got a crave instead of a mother32, but did get the OG dfam and subharmonicon with the cute studio additions and rack, which I now to not use.
Still have some rackspace left. Maybe misha, plinky?
I failed too, just got an inexpensive mono to replace one of my existing ones, although I don’t think it will… oh well. It’s a really cool machine though and made me rearrange my setup, which might actually be a step to getting rid some of the other gear.
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I still believe I’m on the wagon… I did buy twenty copies of Max and ten copies of Ableton Live Suite, but they were for work!
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One thing that is keeping me from GASing is the fact that i don’t really have a permanent space for my gear. My music space is also my working from home and computer space. I have a few pieces of gear that i just have to take out and connect each time (with exception of my midi controller which has a permanent place). This is good for GAS but bad for music writing as i have to set up everytime.
In saying that i have been using Renoise for the past year or so and im getting better at doing most of the commands via the qwerty keyboard.
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Hi! This past week I got back to a couple of old friends, but in new ways. I recorded a bunch of randomized one shots on from the Volca Drum, and edited them into some sample chains for the Rytm. It’s only the second time I’ve tried sample chains, and the first where I’ve used less than 120 samples. I don’t think the Start and End positioning is working quite how I expected it to, but I’m still having a good time with it. When I first got the Rytm, I expected it to be like my Electribe 2 sampler, but with a crazier sequencer. But I haven’t really used it like that until now. It really does sound great as a sample player
Have fun!
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Still going strong! My only music related purchases this year have been a couple of iPad apps (Drambo & Fluss) which in my mind don’t count (gear being a physical instrument).
I’ve been finding that Elektrons recent update strategy has been extremely effective. They drop a set of new DT/DN features and it keeps me entertained (and focused on their devices) for months.
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Nice! Still going strong here as well. I’m finding it easier to avoid new purchases as time passes. I feel I’ve reached my goal; NGNY helps my musical focus, eliminates time spent checking ads, and has helped me dive deeper into what I already have. It feels like my GAS for new stuff is at a historically low point.
I’ve only bought a second midi/cv and a couple of midi and firmware upgrades, which is ok for my NGNY plan as it’s only enabling the use of gear I already have.
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I had some low key errors of judgement - a volca, a TR-6S… Definitely selling the volca (never learn… Fiddly little bits of tat).
Might keep TR-6S if no need to sell but it seems unlikely I’m going to use it much at this point.
For the moment Renoise seems to have been a worthwhile purchase, as it’s killed all GAS over the last 5 weeks or so, and looking forward (atm)
Not the worst situation at this point, but had it’s ups and downs.
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These last weeks I had to make some big purchases.
For work-related reasons, my wife and I have to spend next year living on different places. She is a hobbyist DJ, and we used to share some expensive material: the laptop (we had several, but only one powerful enough to use on music related tasks), and the monitors.
So, she took the laptop and the monitors with her, and I’ve just bought another ones. Moreover, after having a terrible experience with the new laptop (Syntakt & Linux - #6 by joanq), I’ve ended up expending quite a lot of money on a second hand M1 Macbook Pro.
I know that this doesn’t qualify as a “sin” in the NGNY sense, as I need these things to replace my equipment and keep doing what I was already doing, nonetheless, I’d preferred to not have to spend money and time buying music equipment this year.
Also, I want to sell some of my gear to, at least partially, cover the expenses. And this is being hard for me. Even though there are quite a few things I’m not using, it’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that I don’t have the time to invest in all this amazing gear, so the decision on what to sell and what to keep is being difficult.
On the other hand, this has opened (more) my eyes on what a crazy behavior is this: buying more gear than you could possibly use in your free time, just because it seems cool or other people do amazing things with it.
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Sounds like you’re completely on the wagon! Hope everything works out with your new setup.
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It is officially over for me. The new position at work requires a longer commute and I wanted something that required no cables of any kind (aside from headphones) with which to make music on the train. So I’ve bought an M8.
So the 2023 NGNY chronicle goes like this: I really did forget to buy a T-8 in 2022 when I sold my Deton8. It was part of my ‘Shitrig’ which I was using fairly regularly to do noise/drone/weird shows. So when I opened the case for the first time in 2023 and saw no drum machine I had to do it. I never considered this a transgression against my commitment as it was preplanned and I had the dough set aside from the sale of the Deton8. Then on the 4th of July I saw a grey A4 in mint condish with the box and all the goodies for $750. I had been wanting a secondhand grey one for a few years and they were all either beat, of dubious origin, too expensive, or sold before I could get in there. So I pulled the trigger on this one and sort of pretended like because the deal was so good and I had been waiting so patiently that it didn’t break my NGNY edge. But that was just me being nice to myself, of course that one was way over the line! Still, excellent purchase. Now this M8 is the final straw. It’s over. But compared to last year I did quite well. I was buying something probably at least once a month throughout 2022 and that was pretty silly. I’m now just starting the process of selling off a whole bunch of stuff and will most likely be buying an Elmyra 2 before the end of this year as well.
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I am in the same boat.
As posted before here I bought tons of unnecessary things in 2021/2022 almost every month due to known reasons (impulse buys due to gas/fomo/copium/being locked up at home).
I am glad to report that the only thing I bought 2023 was a Push 3 - I could not resist giving the thing a chance. It was not needed but I also don’t regret the purchase like the other ones.
Now I am selling most of the unused stuff that I purchased I feel relief.
And even if sales are slow because the economy is bad and the weather is still good - it feels good to be off the hamster wheel of shopping addiction.
It is an instructive experience to realize that it is not the gear that makes artistic creation but the attitude to show dedication and create a nurturing environment for inspiration and commitment.
Which is still the hardest part.
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How is everone else going?
I’ve been Gassing for the Polyend Tracker since it’s on sale, so hoping the sale ends soon or it all gets sold out. Also been looking at the Opz on fb marketplace, ebay etc as the workflow looks great for a portable device. Only thing holding it back is the amount of build quality issues it has.
Now the woovebox is out and im curious about that too.
All in all, i know that if i buy any of these things, i will only use them for a bit and then it gets packed away or sold like every other piece of gear i have bought in the past. Staying strong on this one and will stick to what i have
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