The Gear:Productivity Ratio

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

Apologies for bringing up a topic that has probably been done to death.

I’ve recently been thinking a lot about how productivity doesn’t scale in a linear way with having more gear after getting a lot of my stuff back from long-term storage. It has been quite daunting to face having it all at hand again. I’ve set up a Jaspers stand with a few keyboards, hooked up via MIDI to the computer. But when I look at it, and the cables hanging everywhere, and the space it occupies, I just want to ignore all of it and use Reason and a MIDI controller like in the days when I was really productive and driven.

It got me thinking over how in fact, the more gear I have accumulated, the less music I have been wanting to make, to the point where I now have more gear than I ever have but make no music at all.

I’m sure part of it is down to losing motivation along the way and trying to rekindle the interest with vacuous consumerism. The last few years certainly haven’t helped in that regard.

Interestingly, the other period I was very productive was when using a similar arrangement to what I have now, with a lot of options to hand all going into a computer (running Ableton Live). But the big difference then was I was limited by time (access to the studio of a friend).

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TL;DR Does anyone else find it harder to make music when you have more gear?

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#2

I hear you but I also think this is an example of cognitive dissonance where you associate what you see with being laborious or a chore and therefore you feel more free, or less tied down by something where you can minimize a window of or just escape from.

It’s (I think) a common plight, but not just in music and not just because we don’t want to do something about it. It’s a product of associating something with either a bad experience, a labor, a wall we’ve hit, or an apprehension we have.

I had a friend who kept his entire studio right next to his bed and would tell me how he couldn’t sleep ( I knew he had been stressing about mixing a large project) and my best suggestion was “move the bed or move the studio to the other room” and apparently he moved his bed to another room and was able to sleep again.

That’s just my 2 cents, not sure gear is the issue although perhaps it is, but perhaps not in the “more of it is the issue” kind of way? If that makes sense at all. People do talk about option paralysis though, but it’s often inside of the box because a DAW has so much depth. For some it’s like that, for others it’s easy to escape from.

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#3

This rings true. Many bad experiences associated with music/music making.

Interestingly I never run into option paralysis when using software, I seem to naturally limit the palette, despite having hundreds of VSTs etc. installed.

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#4

Yes…

I think for some though, the gear, and process of using the gear is what it’s all about.

For everyone that wants to make music with one machine, another person wants to use as many machines as possible.

Personally, I’m a one machine at a time kind of person. But I get why someone would want to hook up a bunch of wires to a bunch of different machines and see what comes out.

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#5

I often wonder if it’s time these days. I’ve said in the past I wrote a ton of music with a shit acoustic guitar and a notebook.

That said, this was pre kids/career/homeownership. I bet if I could have afforded more gear back then I would have been just as productive as with a single piece.

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#6

It’s actually beyond that in many cases: there’s an inverse correlation between productivity and amount of gear for me.

I’m by far the most productive with just one piece of gear (plus the DAW). The second I introduce more gear, the focus shifts from making music to configuring midi, cursing, fighting levels, messing with cords, and losing track of what I was supposed to do. Plus, the music making goes from anywhere (bedroom, sofa, patio, etc) to being confined to a studio with room for all the gear and cables.

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#7

Yes i see the inverse correlation all the time!

But i am starting to understand it to be two almost separate hobbies for me, where one takes time away from the other:

  • learning about gear, lusting after gear, tweaking gear, swapping, chasing “good” deals on gear.

  • making music.

I enjoy both!

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#8

Sidenote: of all the combos I’ve tried so far, I’ve been the most successful when there’s a clear “driver” and a clear “passenger”, rather than attempting to make devices play along as a team.

In my case, the Syntakt is the driver, and the SP-404 MK2 is the passenger. All sequencing is done on one single device, one of the 12 tracks is dedicated to midi sequencing of the SP and the Syntakt does at least 80% of the work, with the SP filling in the gaps with samples. I can easily disconnect the SP and continue to tweak the song, sounds and mix with the Syntakt in standalone from anywhere in the house, and I can just as easily plug in the SP when I want to hear the full mix. Because both the Syntakt and the SP remember their state when powering them on, it’s literally a flick of two power switches to pick up from where I left off.

Syntakt out to SP in means I can sample anything from the Syntakt in a split second with skipback and then throw that onto a pad and play it from the Syntakt’s dedicated midi track. Here, the SP sample workflow is quick and effortless.

Note that this isn’t necessarily an endorsement of the SP-404 MK2, it’s one of the clunkiest interfaces I’ve ever used. Forget about beat making or using its built-in sequencer unless you’re doing it to test your anger management progress. But as a quick sampler to add things like a reverse reverb effect or a crushed drumloop texture in the background of a Syntakt track, it’s actually pretty neat.

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#9

No.

The main thing that changed it for me, was realising having a studio with loads of stuff in it is a bit like having a garage full of loads of tools to fix cars. I don’t try and find a way to use all the tools on every car, i just grab the ones i need and focus on fixing it.

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#10

Nope, not in my experience. It is all about organization and workflow.

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#11

Well said. I always underestimate the complexity of adding a new piece of hardware, not just the Midi cables and configurations, but also audio cables and the lack of standardization for these between machines, all the different types of non-compatible USB connectors, etc. etc. etc. Then, when I have it all set up I often have to pull it apart because I lack the table top space to have multiple machines connected together permanently.

It’s pushed me towards always looking for a suitable iPad app in the first instance when it comes to a sound module or FX. If it’s even just 70% as good as the hardware I’ll go for that option with the ease of virtual midi routing that AUM offers.

Digitakt plus AUM and various iPad synths and FX seem to be the optimal productivity setup for me, it’s one simple USB cable that does audio and midi, AUM remembers the setup and I can press one button to recall the state and start making music.

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#12

OP, yes for sure. For me there is a definitely sweet spot. When I have too many things laying around unused I notice my own productivity going down. The sweet spot is having a few things ready to go at all times but still having enough options to stay curious.

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#13

The more I use new gear, the more I spend time learning and configuring it rather than making music, I feel. That´s why I try to stick with my old gear and learn it better currently. I don´t like having too many choices and cables to manage, so I try to keep my setup pretty minimal: I use DN/Peak/TR-8S/compression pedal/mixer, and mostly use the DN just for a bassline. I wish I could make the setup even more minimal without compromising the sound too much.

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#14

My experience has been that less gear equals more music. That doesn’t mean I couldn’t own a lot, but trying to use a lot all at once I just get lost. For myself, I don’t see the point of owning a lot. I have a flagship sampler, analog monosynth, iPad and a laptop. That’s all I need.

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#15

More gear is fine, but focusing on only a few things at a time is the most productive way for me.

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#16

Productivity links to output/efficency whereas Gear is hardware/software. What about the in-between who is the person itself operating those parameters?

So I feel that ratio isn’t the consideration here unless you are counting no. of fingers or hours versus mouse clicks and knob movements. Some people can work with higher degree of ambiguity and some needed more focus to get anything done, just different approaches.

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#17

I think it depends on your setup and how much time you have to devote to making music. If you have a ton of gear crammed into a bedroom and hardly any time to use it then yes, more gear will mean less music. If you have a professional studio with everything always hooked up and you come in in the morning flip everything on and use it all day then more gear can actually speed up your workflow because you always have the proper tool for the job and it’s ready to go.

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#18

Yeah this is a good point, I’m an amateur with limited time, doing this as a fun hobby. Context totally makes a difference.

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#19

I still haven’t finished unpacking my studio after moving, and surprisingly I’ve been super creative lately with just the OP-Z. No maintenance, no routing, just me and the instrument.

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#20

Space to breathe in, experience / flow state with your most comfortable and easy to work with gear… there’s a lot of reasons why less is more with me. I may not be perfect at keeping minimal but i’m doing well at leaning into what i can get most rapid with, while i save the learning for disposable sessions instead of getting precious with new gear.

Taking gear too slowly at first doesn’t spill out the ideas, it just slows me down. In between songs i can learn whichever device.