I started a band recenty with a guy playing baritone sax and I play an octatrack and a Lyra. Now I seem to have an even deeper desire to play just those two things every day. All my other synths are shelved, but still call to me from time to time. Ableton is little other than a tape recorder now.
I dont really have GAS. Too busy playing music for that.
I used to spend hours on ableton. Funny how we change!
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Use the money you have put aside for hear on a decent holiday - travel can change your life in a way that a new piece of kit certainly cannot.
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Already have one planned! I keep my travel finances separate from my musical finances. Excellent suggestion though!
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Have to say it comes down to knowing what kind of music you want to make and what genre you to stay in or explore out of.
You can easy sum it up to:
1)drums
2)bass
3)strings/pads
4)leads
5)plucks
6)sfx
I find it easier that way anyway
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Also, just exercise some discipline and buy nothing. The GAS will go away. Also wallow in that existential pit until something deeper emerges. You can usually find it in your collection - the books you read, records you own, work you’ve made in the past. Tinker through all that and you’ll usually find a way forward.
Me personally, i’ve lately realised I may have been doing myself a disservice limiting myself to things like loops and sequencing. Of course handy for some things, but current thought process is to grab maybe a midi keyboard and a midi drum kit - bring some physicality and musicality back to what I’m making. Also feel quite attracted to symphonic sounds and piano, something I’ve generally avoided while on what I guess has been something of a synthesis journey.
Your own creativity is a great journey to enjoy, so take the wallowing stages with humility, they happen and they’re the way forward after a while, just focus on work or making cash or excercise or catching up with friends while you don’t know what to do next, and you may actually find a bit of signpost that way
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G.A.S.
Give Away Synths
@Kasi Got the first unofficial official invisible GiveAwaySynths award…
Who’s next? 
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Sounds to me like you need an API or a Neve console 
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It’s funny, I saw this thread in somewhat of a similar boat. I visited my brother and we talked about avoiding GAS and minimizing to only what’s really important in life (not just gear-related, mind you). When I got back from my trip, I decided to sell some fx pedals that weren’t seeing much use. Of course, I sold 3 in the span of an hour on Reverb, and now I’m over here thinking “gee, what can I do with this ~$600??” However, like you, there isn’t really anything out there that would fit in my setup or add to it significantly. I haven’t fully made my mind up yet, but I’m leaning toward banking the dough and saving toward something bigger that would really bring something. That is, shoot for the moon a bit, if nothing seems worthy. For example, the new Kijimi from Black Corporation. I would only really be able to justify building it from kit form, at which point the bigger concern is finding the time work on it. However, the more I think about it, the more that seems like a better route, vs. filling the hole with something readily available that I may end up selling before too long.
Anyway, I don’t know if that helped you, but maybe it helped me, haha. Food for thought, if nothing else.
impossible.
i have gear to buy list, about 10 positions.
and even if i had not, more Blofelds is always a good idea.
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I gave my Nord Lead A1 away. Now he wants to sell it back to me.
Truly, WTF 
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Unofficial official invisible GiveAwaySynths award #2! @JamesM!
You did good my friend, whatever your friend is doing does not detract from your exlemplory behavior… Pat yourself on the back, may the funk flow freely through all your future endeavors…
You earned 420 Good Synth Karma bonus points! 
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I’ve a list of stuff I ‘want’ but I also realise what I ‘need’ is to learn deeper what I have and make more music because practice and creating is more important than finding new tools. The battle between that and gas though is often difficult lol
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GAS is when you have an uncontrollable desire for a certain piece of gear… i’ve never heard of GAS but not actually wanting anything!
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Compulsive buying disorder and retail therapy are genuine urges!
I’ve “suffered” it in the past. Especially when I got back into music a few years back. A desire just to spend money though I usually ended up procrastinating for so long I ended up pissed off and buying nothing.
I went Bankrupt, owing over £50.000 i’d borrowed/spent on electronic music equipment.
That was over 10 years ago, but even now i’m still affected by strong urges to buy gear I don’t need. It is an addiction and i’ll always be an addict. I just find ways to subdue those desires.
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I think it might be a new more advanced level of GAS… You want the thing that’s so good it doesn’t even exist, and you must have it, you want it bad… It’s the only thing that will help, but where is it? 
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funny how we, electronic musicians feel, that if we have more control over details that this will make our music somehow better. But music is the opposite, it is about letting go of a control. Being free for a moment, not being over obsessed with the “product”
But it is a process to get there, just letting go without training could also sound terrible 
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it is like the last phase of any addiction, where no amount of abused drugs can help release the pressure any more 
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You are right, maybe it is not just about control. When you start to master your device, you just stop thinking about controlling it - you get directly connected to it. But I think you need to invest time in learning & mastering a device…except you are a complete genius of course 
For instance when playing guitar as a beginner you learn to control the device, fingers move in slow motion and it can be pretty frustrating. I guess many people stop already here and look for another instrument. Guitar lovers continue here. Then after you have your first small success stories, you go into the more detail more complex control. Mastering (or at least playing more freely) comes when you stop thinking about the technicality of the guitar/instrument and just play and express yourself.
I wish I would have this connection I have with the guitar to a synth already…but I guess it is more a matter of practice than hunting down the next synth with better UI/sound you like. But well what do I know…
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Yes, you are right, but i was talking more about the general principles in electronic music making, because of the metodes used ( midi - cv sequencing, programing events, wave editing etc. ) there is a danger to fall into a trap of thinking that music is about that, controlling this parameters in apsolut manner, always knowing what and why it is happening.
If you play the instrument with your body movement, there will be no control if you don’t invest a lot of time in how to control your motoric apparatus.
It is kind of the opposite to the making of electronic music 
you try to control your body and with electronic music you try to make the machines less perfect
But we are getting off topic, although i think it is an interesting subject.
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