once again i do not wish to offend anybody with substance misuse issues i am just curious about peoples experience with synths and substances…and when it all goes wrong together
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Misusing synths never made me loose a job, relationship, home, friends, or even money (since I had a job to buy the synth, and once I’ve got it, it doesn’t cost any more to keep using/misusing it.)
So no. I don’t think they go hand in hand at all. Not even close.
If youre talking about addictive spending (on synths) that’s not synth misuse, that’s money misuse. Due to an addictive habit. Totally different thing.
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thanks for you considerate response - you’ve made me think about it a bit more now and i reckon its the dopamine response to both things that gets me entwined within the two in a slightly bonkers way
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A good life involves moderate enjoyment of many things.
Music and intoxication have gone hand in hand as long as they have existed. Altered states can and should be enjoyed, but they should be visited responsibly and with care.
Be wary of puritans eager to outlaw anything fun.
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I’ve found (strong) substances have knocked me on my backside and taken away my steam, making me stop creating.
Weed was doable back when i did, but only because I was use to being blitzed.
It does allow the mind to wonder through ideas ofcourse, but i was kidding myself it helped (it feels now).
Same with booze, its possible to play but it ain’t helping.
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Synth misuse won’t see you homeless living on the street contemplating if you continue living. Drug misuse on the other hand can lead to very dark places.
Drug and synth positive use though can lead to wonderful places 
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I make irresponsible Reverb bids when I’ve had one too many to drink. Waking up in the morning not knowing if I’m $800 lighter for a piece of gear I don’t really need has motivated me to get this habit in check.
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its always been way easier for me to blow off my own personal goals with a powerful, “ehh, fuck it” when im intoxicated. definitely made some synth purchases after saying fuck it.
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Definitely goes hand in hand to some extent as it’s a dopamine thing. GAS is just another word for dopamine seeking.
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at worst nothing gets done, at best I will play hours of the best jams I’ve ever done and not record any of it
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That’s why you RTFM! Don’t misuse your synths! Or maybe we should try that from time to time…If it sounds good, it sounds good. If not, maybe we learn something from it.
Ok, jokes aside, I guess creative people and substance use go hand in hand. Learning where your personal limits are (and for many people the limit is zero aka no substances) is extremely important. It’s easy to fall and lose everything and it can happen very quickly. You might be able to hang on for a while, but some day everything will crash. You’ll find yourself in a deep hole without any way to climb out and it will take many years, decades even to get up again. If you can make it, that is.
There are a few substances that work for some and there are many substances that are impossible to use in a controlled way. It’s only a question of how deep one might fall and how quickly that might happen, not if it happens.
Very few daily users benefit from their substance use and manage to live a happy and content life, but usually it has cost them a lot in life and the journey to get to this point was quite rough.
My 2 cents.
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What is “synth misuse”? I feel we must establish this vital parameter if we are to meaninfully compare these two distinct things…
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I can see how easy it would be to fall into patterns of substance abuse as a performing musician.
I really struggle to perform live sober. I enjoy myself much more if I’m performing absolutely shitfaced.
If I had regular gigs I’d be a fucking mess.
Also, if I had enough time to really indulge myself in terms of making music at home (instead of all that boring shit like raising kids and having a job) I’d be an absolute fucking mess. But I think most musicians that are substance abusers would probably still be a substance abuser without the musician bit. Being a musician and being an addict are both, in at least some of us, symptoms of a common cause, rather than there being much in the way of causation between them.
As for such things as drawing equivalences between GAS and addiction, yeah, there’s probably some crossover in terms of the psychological stimulus for addictive patterns of behaviour, but like a few have already said, ain’t nobody burgling their neighbors to pay for their synth habit.
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Funny thread.
I consider making music is precisely what keeps me from becoming a total alcoholic or junkie.
When I can’t make music for a while I become grumpy and feel more prone to drinking or indulging into other abuses.
The stupid amount of time I spend in aimless noodling materializes into basically nothing from a musical point of view - except for a couple of live gigs per year maybe.
But at least, while I’m doing that, I don’t bide my time brooding over what not - which often leads to nasty habits in my case.
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Example.
I can abuse my synths as much as l want. Worse thing that can happen is I break them. Boohoo.
If I abuse substances as much as I want, I end up breaking me, or dead.
So yeah, again. Synth abuse not even closely related to substance abuse.
And I choose to use the stronger word abuse, because thats what it is. ‘Misuse’ implies some sort of mistake or accident.
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Such as only ever using presets 
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Other artists also have this. Gas is a thing in the drawing and painting community. They also call it gas. “I don’t really need another watercolor set, but I always wanted to try them and now they are on sale!”
“I already own probably thousands of coloured pencils, but look what I found!”
Same with photographers…they are browsing for new lenses and come across this vintage lens they don’t need.
I’ve never heard of someone that ruined their finances for a new synth or a new lens. For drug addicts, it’s more the norm than the exception.
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20+ years on the railway has meant if I took any I’d risk losing my job, and with the rise and seemingly normal regular usage of coke by most people I know, I dread to think what I’d be getting up to if I could freely take it or any other drugs.
I have used it for justification for buying gear tho.
Like thinking one of my mates would have spent x amount on sniff over the past year, so buying this synth is ok 
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except those mfers always seem to have more money for more sniff 
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Isn’t not recording it exactly the trick? They may not sound like the best ones you’ve done once you’re sober, so don’t let the recordings taint the memories of having a blast.
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