Sometimes I just feel like getting rid of it all

If you got samples onto your A4 then you are going to have to share that candy with the rest of the class.
:slight_smile:

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I have an old friend that I’ve played in bands with since high school. A very good musician.
He inspires me, because while he loves gear, he’s happy to work with whatever is at hand.
True story: the other day, I played some of his works-in-progress to another friend, a real music geek who was convinced it must be a new Ninja Tunes release or something. Melodic, lo-fi beat stuff.

It was just tracks that my mate had been making on a Korg Microsampler, recording mostly into its built-in gooseneck mic with his crappy old guitars and flutes and stuff and resampling things. My beat-up old Microsampler (those things are indestructible) that I sold him for $200 a few years ago.

Now you’re probably going to look up Korg Microsampler on eBay, right?

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actually hoping to look up the new release on Ninja Tunes of your friend’s cool lo-fi melodic beats :joy:

pretty sure Beck’s very fabulous debut breakthrough record “Mellow Gold” was made with pretty lo-fi technology scenarios.

although really culture is about modes of communication, enjoyment, enjoyability.
if some form of recognition happens then yay for that, but it isn’t the reason to be doing it.
expectation, presumption, these things get in the way of the fun and intrinsic value.

although music provides a function, it isn’t really a product as such.

and yet certain songs carry something more than what they are, and as such are perhaps a product of the times, of the environment, or of some zeitgeist or other.

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Talk about scheme of things, this ammonite was alive some 40 million years ago and today it’s a rainbow encased in shale, go figure… :smile:

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That sure is a big deal in the scheme of things :joy:

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Ah, I think I may understand- you are suffering a self-imposed guilt because,
You have not fully lived up to your own expectations and ideals of your self.
The good news is: many don’t- but it is okay.

I think the motorbike pic also illustrates the common error of attaching objects and outcomes with happiness. “If only thus would occur, or if I had this, THEN I could be happy.” Which is really a set up. So happiness, which is essentially a decision you make for yourself, despite whatever circumstances, or conditions: it’s a gift you give to yourself. Permission to succeed, fail, learn, grow, be lazy, stagnant as well as magnificent. It really is all the same, after all.
Even a self-imposed crisis, and I come to believe all crisis as well as freedom arises from self, is a sign of health because it is a sign of death, growth and change. The first steps have already been taken by simple realization, by having the courage to take an honest appraisal… this, in itself, is something to be happy about.
But happiness is a misused term, it is both the path, the traveller and destination. I prefer Joy.
Joy, like en-joy is that little spark inside that told you something was out of balance in the first place, that you were placing the cart before the horse. That certainly, many of us, if given enough adequate time and effort, could acquire whatever standard of living or coveted possessions, reach that “ideal” state but said life or possession, once acquired, would have no “meaning” because we had not developed the character balanced enough to not be possessed by said outcomes, conditions or our possessions.
This is a common trap. So you can see, instead of being the navigator, REALLY calling all the shots, good and bad, really taking ownership of the “journey”, we are being dragged helplessly into the future by a vague idea. We are actually giving our power to said outcomes, possessions, things Other-Than-Self, they become our scapegoats and so, we blame THEM for our misery.
And so, it becomes the motorbikes’ fault for not being there, or our mothers, fathers, lovers, etc. that we are not happy…or ALSO their fault for being there.
What people essentially mean by happiness is freedom- the freedom to choose. It is by choosing that we accept responsibility, and so, have a sense of power over our own destiny.
Maybe there is some allegory between Teacher and Pupil has been told,
“Master, Woe! For I have Failed!”
“That Is Wonderful, Grasshopper!, For now you may truly know Success!”

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I actually got rid of most of my gear at one point. I just had a pile of synths which were more like sound modules, I had a really bad setup, nothing really talked to each other and I felt recording hardware was mostly a huge hassle. I’d sketch a track on the computer, used placeholder sounds, and over time the placeholders became more and more the final result and the synths just gathered dust.

I had, in retrospective, a really ass backwards, almost architechtural way of making music from some imaginary blueprint towards a whole track. But the whole track often turned out to be an unpainted house, because mixing and spreading the paint was a pain in the ass. So at some point I just acknowledged, yeah okay, I’m a computer musician, I’m gonna sell my gear because I don’t need to impress some synth elitists by using hardware. It also helped I really needed money at that point.

I did save my Sidstation because it has real collector’s value and my Tetra, because I thought I would really regret selling it due to it being a relatively low cost yet by then discontinued analog poly.

Then I got tired of breaking the same breakbeats on the computer and kind of gave up on music. A year or two passed and I stumbled upon the pocket operators and they reignited my interest towards music. Here I had really cheap pieces of hardware which connected each other intuitively and I could use them to sketch up ideas faster than on the computer and they forced me to do stuff other than “yeah lets toss an amen here and some bass”.

Next I set my eyes on the Digitakt because it seemed kind of a big, adaptable Pocket Operator in a sense. Intuitive workflow combined with good sounds and flexibility. I came in around OS 1.04 or so. The launch was rough, but the workflow was super inspiring and Digitakt has really matured into something quite great.

I also grabbed D-05 because I once had a D-50 and I really loved the sound of it, but the form factor was inconvenient to say the least.

At some point I had a huge urge to get all kinds of new gear, but it has kind of died down. I’m probably gonna get a Digitone because it seems like something that would really work well with the Digitakt, which has become the centerpiece of my setup. And that just might be it for a long time.

My point is that if you feel like ditching all of your gear, perhaps the workflow is working you and not the other way around. Or you might be bored of being stuck doing things the same way or your gear incentives doing samey stuff too much. Besides these factors all humans probably have the occasional urge to ditch absolutely everything and start from scratch and wanting to get rid of all gear might be the synth version of that.

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In some ways yes, in some other ways no. I think…

You’d be correct in suggesting that not living up old expectations has been something of a downer. Not so sure I’d call it guilt though. It’s more of a mental facepalm.

As for the motorbike, I can see how you might get the idea that I might be attempting to attach future happiness to a coveted object. But I suspect it’s actually mostly symbolic of where my life is headed currently. Having once been one of those one-bag type of minimalists I’m acutely aware of just how much mobility/freedom I’ve lost over the past 15-20 years since I chose to become a caretaker of more stuff. And since in my experience that sense of freedom was often accompanied by a sense of sheer joy, it makes perfect sense for me to want to go back to having significantly less stuff - maybe as little as could fit on the back of a bike. Or maybe not. While I can’t logically blame all those inanimate objects for me having acquired them, making them into a sort of external locus for my previous discontent does make them easier to cull.

With that being said, it’s a pretty fucking cool piece of machinery. And selling my pickup in order to fund it would actually make financial sense should I choose to do so.

Actually this is the feeling I’ve been having the most lately. I may have expressed disappointment about the past, but the past can’t be helped. The future is where it’s at!

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Sorry to insist, but now I’m convinced that yoga and motorbike is the only way of life…

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Thinking about selling it all to start a 6u case of modular, only will I know it will make things worse!! :drunk:

Limit in HP or desk space?

I have so many questions:

  1. How did a cat get $100k?
  2. How did they order it online? Or did they walk into a store? If the latter, how did they carry $100k in? With their paws?
  3. Did the owners like the music?
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Neither the past, nor the future - it’s the present where life, happiness and everything else happens.

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Yeah, but reckon not too many Cats have a Cat.

http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/octavecat.php

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I know a women with a violin; She gives her soul and her heart when she “plays”. And still … people mostly talk about the clothes she was wearing during the performance. We love music, that //should// be enough :slight_smile:

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Thats was the first synth i bought in 1982 or so. I was only 17 and still at school. It took me a year to pay off on credit. Later on i married and it came with me. I put it away in a cupboard and forgot all about it. I got divorced and left it behind. i think it was scrapped in perfect working order. Sad story of a great synth.

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Sometimes she should get rid of all these clothes ! :slight_smile:

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yea, it’s a bit funny. But if you think about it some more… not so much.

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To answer your questions:

  1. rich hipsters with big income 150k tech jobs can afford a lot of expensive gear!
  2. yes mostly out of state to avoid paying taxes and shipping- smart move
  3. yes they do

Nothing wrong with it if you can afford it and make music and have fun. Heck aviation is way more expensive than music gear. Basic annual maintenance and fees to own or rent a Cessna or Piper single piston aircraft easily run 5-10k or more!

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