ADDICTIVE Gear Shopping vs Making music

[vadesriux]

Hi everyone,

This is a problem I have for a long time: buying gear instead of making music.
I'll explain. Back to 1987, when I had a ROLAND D-20 and nothing else(!), I made an album with 9 or 10 tracks of electronic music. I've called it "Digital Look". I even recorded it on a Technics stereo Hi-Fi tape recorder. It was a time when my creativity and love for playing and composing developed naturally.

Later, from 2010 on, I bought a YAMAHA MOTIF XS6, a ROLAND VP-550 and a KORG KRONOS 61 + Alesis IO4 Audio Inteface + an iPad with Cubasis to record music.
Do you know how many songs I composed since then? Very few.
Where do I spend my time at night and on weekends ? Browsing eBay, online music shops (Thomann, Musicstore, etc...), and essentialy: reading reviews of music gear....
Trying to find what ? The perfect instrument: keyboard, drum machine, etc, etc,...

But I'm just fooling myself because what is happening is that I throw to the bin hours and hours of rest, anxiety-free time, and Music playing and composing time !

I don't know if this is just me or if other people has the same problem. I suspect that many do have this problem...

Also reading online reviews for hours on end, only to find the "next-perfect-sounding-gear", is absolutely exhausting for the mind. I tire myself so much that I have no "stamina" to go and play some keyboards.

I'd like to know if any of you has the same or similar problem and speak a little bit about it.

Thank you.

[drdave2002]

Really funny Vadesriux as back in the day when all i could afford was the Casio CZ I spent hours with the patches I had, just minor tweaks here and there and playing to get the most from the particular patch, flash forward to today and with the M3 and Kronos a lot of the functionality is so overwhelming as they can do so much, you look to play something and start tweaking, the next thing you know is its time for bed as you've spent all night "not actually playing".

Loving it all the same!! twisted or what?

drdave

[DennyC]

I hate to admit it, but I can relate to both of these posts. But, after the recent revelation, my determination is to complete my projects!

[Bertotti]

I started making progress again by limiting my online time. Last year I actually decided to stop surfing the net for 6 months. I do enjoy during the net but now I limit myself to a certain level of participation and time. Gives me more time to myself and kids! Less spending to!

[SanderXpander]

This thing is so common it has an internet nickname; GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). Don't worry you're not alone. Consider us your support group

[pedro5]

"Consider us your support group"....
Brilliant sense of humour....SanderXpander !!!

[GregC]

Might be an age thing ( I am 61). I no longer feel I need additional gear, or a stack of boards. It's not a question of budget, either.

And prior to the Kronos, I always had 3 or more including a rack module or 2.

In addition, Yamaha and Roland have not done anything radical. Their recent models are incrementally better/cheaper but nothing close to what Korg is doing.

So I don't have Gas. But I use to be in hunt in the past so I sort of can relate,

[SanderXpander]

To be honest I didn't have any keyboard GAS until the Kronos, and I haven't really had any since. It just ticks all tye boxes for my (live) needs. I keep buying software though

[Bald Eagle]

I experience severe cases of GAS from time to time but it passes and I get back to playing. Unfortunately I have a case of it now. While I'm waiting for my Sub 37 I have this urge to get something else to hold me over. We'll see what I end up with.

The problem with the support group here is that they encourage you to purchase expensive things.

[SanderXpander]

Ah the Sub 37! That is a borderline case for me, but I keep myself in check by considering I don't use my Micro and Voyager very much.

[vadesriux]

Than you to everyone who have replyed to my topic.
It is a serious issue really, because besides limiting you creativeness, it holds you in a permanent state of anxiousness for the next "toy". And that anxiousness is intoxicating, is exciting... The element of surprise, the gift (package), arriving at your doorstep...
I wonder if this is somehow related to not having enough presents when we were young, or the presents we were given always failed to be what we really wanted...
Or maybe it is just an addiction, pure and simple.
Anyway, it is not good if kept on and on for a long time. I speak for myself of course.

So, thank you once again to everyone and keep fighting for being creative! I will.

[RKfan]

I was watching a video the other day where Vince Clarke was showing of his massive collection of toys and then another one where he spoke about Erasure. Interestingly he said that when writing songs they strip everything back to acoustic (e.g. piano or guitar) because the songs have to work in themselves - be good tunes. The technology is then used later.. and he has loads to choose from.

I have the same issues with playing with the noises and not practicing the tunes - its easy to become distracted especially when youve got so much choice with the Kronos.

[Mister088]

Very true. I do the same thing with cameras and lenses. When you consider the music that was written and produced in the 60's and 70's, they didn't have all these toys (quantized, midi,daw, etc).... I'd say the music was better then.

We do become addicted to buying the latest and greatest. It's an excuse to not get down to creating. We have way more than we need to create great music ( pictures) but we get preoccupied with wanting more gadgets and wind up creating less!

I guess balance is the key

[GregC]

Very true. I do the same thing with cameras and lenses. When you consider the music that was written and produced in the 60's and 70's, they didn't have all these toys (quantized, midi,daw, etc).... I'd say the music was better then.

We do become addicted to buying the latest and greatest. It's an excuse to not get down to creating. We have way more than we need to create great music ( pictures) but we get preoccupied with wanting more gadgets and wind up creating less!

I guess balance is the key

That reminds me of an adage towards tech.

Technology is simply a tool. We should not be slaves to technology.

[Joe Gerardi]

About 3 years ago I decided to update my 3 keyboard, 8 module rig...

It's now 7 keyboards, (none of the old ones kept) 5 modules, (one of the old ones kept) and I'm still going, selling, buying, selling, buying...

The problem is that getting the perfect arrangement of keyboards to match the scope of music I play is difficult. The Kronos is about as good as it gets, but I should have gotten the 61 version instead of the 88. At the time, I wanted to retire my KX88 because it's getting so long in the tooth, but I think it still has a better keybed that the Kronos.

That has affected my Classical playing...

The dearth of "performance" synths with aftertouch is a problem. I have fought this urge to buy synths without aftertouch because it's so important to my style of play. I relented the first time and get a Casio XW-P1, but had to sell it because of its horrible keybed and aliasing far too low in the keyboard range. I wanted a Jupiter-50; I desperately wanted to love a Jupiter-50, but the lack of aftertouch on a "Performance" synth makes it not a "Performance" synth at all, because the performances suffer. My final try in this field is a Juno-Stage. The reason it might work is because it's a lower keyboard on the stand, and as such, won't be doing a lot of leads, hence aftertouch isn't as much of an issue.

Then there's what's considered to be "vintage" sounds. I'm a old fart. I was there when most of these sounds first his the airwaves. (Does that make ME "vintage" as well?) What the makers constitute as "vintage" is a far cry from what I constitute as "vintage. An example:

Think of the songs "I Wanna Know What Love Is" by Foreigner, "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper, "ABACAB" by Genesis, "Sister Christian" by Night Ranger. ( I can quickly name a dozen more, but these will suffice.) Can anyone name the "vintage" sound in all four of them? If so, can anyone name the one synth today that has this sound. This sound which was used on probably half of the hits of the 80's?

No. But synths today will have 100-200 drum kits on them.

That's only one example. So I gotta get more synths than before to cover more sounds than I ever did before. From piano, through pipe organ, to the rock sounds, and orchestral tones as well. then I have to deal with the limitations the manufacturers put in as they try to stay afloat in a limp worldwide economy.

Finally, I have noticed that there is less and less "sizzle" in the sounds. They're wonderful, awesome, beautiful, but they don't have that sizzle that makes your ears perk up and say "What's that?" Listen to the Moog sound in "Welcome to the Machine," the organic textures of "Doctor Doctor," by the Thompson Twins. You don't have to like the music, but the sounds stand out and grab you. Today, the makers rely on effects to enhance their sounds, but they're not built on a solid foundation of sound, so we're always left a little wanting. Therefore, we keep looking for that little something extra, which is why we're buying, selling, buying, selling...

Sorry for such a long post/rant.

..Joe