I would also make a video on GRS: the Gear Review Syndrome ... spending hours watching demos and reviews on youtube or reading user manuals ... without actually buying anything! 😅
Ever notice that synth users are literally the only people on the planet who actually read manuals? Some read them cover to cover before ever turning on a synth or just read them without owning said synth.
'Rediscovery' gets mentioned occasionally. One thing I have found useful is to deliberately become excited and interested in gear I already own, but have not touched for ages, by reading and watching some reviews and kind of wishing I had this brilliant new / classic thing. And then ... hey! look what I found in the studio! Time to go deep on it!
The truth is, I think my obsession over gear, reading and watching reviews, checking forums, ebay etc, is just a way for me to procrastinate from making music. Starting songs and putting down ideas is relatively easy for me, but finishing a song is crippling sometimes.
We all have the sickness ... It's that dopamine shot we get instantly when we buy new gear or watch gear videos etc... Then the thought of sitting down... Possibly hooking things up, powering everything on, tuning the guitar... All that doesn't give us that instant fix... (just my thoughts)
True words man, i found myself not finishing a single track after buying a sub37, deepmind 12 and a Prophet 8 within 6 months..... now 9 months later i sold all of them and revert back to my trusty sampler, 303,101 and minilogue... enough to make tunes. My mind is free and open for new tunes again, finally.
You are so right! ... from the music making point of view. But to be honest, most of us hobby musicans do this simply to have fun. And if exploring new gear is more fun than just producing another song that no one listens to, it's fair enought to simply enjoy what you can best.
Exactly. For me it's just a nerdy hobby. Although it spiralled out of control during covid... I bought 4 Oto boxes, a Peak, an Alpha Base, TR8s, Fs1r, Microcosm, OB6 and that's not even all of it. Tracks produced I have none. However, I'm pretty successful in my job which is also technical/creative and have also invested a lot of money and time in software I don't use and projects that were never realised. So it's just my style I guess, some people save, I hoard. Luckily most stuff I pick gains in value...
@@BXLrules as an enduser I do not see a problem with that to some extend^^ congratz btw. GET HELP:PPPPPPPPPPP haha, jokes aside, if you have the funds and no need to sell one of your kidneys, you should be fine though. The only issue I am seeing is that all these channels are their hypocracies^^... people are constantly told, look at this, look at that, while it is always "about" music and how this could improve or give you something you might want in your "workflow" when in reality most of those channels do not really make music and are just tinkering like a lot of viewers out there, giving the viewer the impression that you need this or that... while in reality, especially all those young viewers who are the most impressionable are getting the idea that they NEED this and that... but they end up just becoming synth nerds tinkering with their gear and loops, never really finishing something musically:PP... in the end all these channels are just a big advertising machinery and I always find it pretty funny when these channels start to address G.A.S. and completely forget what they are doing and how they present themselves and the gear throughout the channels livespan.
Really glad to see more people talking about this, lots of great points in this video! I see a lot of people getting stuck in consumption, hoping it will help them be creative, but it can just as easily hold them back.
Thats very true. The only thing I'd say to counter this is musical output isn't really everyone's goal with this stuff. Personally speaking I'm just as happy to noodle around as I am to write/record anything. Having new toys to noodle around with definitely adds to the fun.
Hi brother! So nice to see you here! I really liked you own take on the minimalistic approach! I’m still far from that but I see myself going that route in the future. Keep up the awesome videos! Cheers!
Nothing bad about enjoying showcase videos and spending time learning synthesis. I mean, not everyone's goal is just to release/make music... I personally enjoy every part of the process. Without any hurry I guess.
I spent an entire decade buying/selling/trading gear and in retrospect, I hate it. I went through 100+ synths and lost a lot of good ones that I miss and didn’t spend nearly enough time making music. Now I have a setup that I love and I don’t plan on letting anything go for a while, but gear lust is a real thing and it can be really detrimental. I still watch videos because I like to see what other people are doing with their synths, but luckily I’m spending more time making music now than ever before. It’s definitely a deep rabbit hole.
I most definitely agree…when I first started out making music I spent loads of money on different daws, keyboards and other gear just to get stuck in a rut trying to learn everything. It literally killed my creativity. I’ve since sold most if not all. Trimmed down to just an iPad w/midi controller and never looked back.
Great video! I agree. When I got my Waldorf Iridium I was like man I do not need to purchase any more synths after this one... And 5 mins later I am looking at other new synths... LOL
YES!! Exactly lol. I lasted about three days after gettin my polybrute before I started looking a new synth reviews again.. will I ever learn? Cheers mate!
@@MidlifeSynthesist It also happened to me with my Deepmind12.. But I always try to keep in mind that punchline from "The book of Eli" where Eli answers the question "What was it that led to the Flash (aka the apocalypse)" and he says "People had more than they needed". And this is how I protect myself from a personal "apocalypse"
I have (had) the same with virtual gear btw.. I forced myself to make Music Everyday in July 2021, because I spent all of my time watching YT, getting plugins to work, reading manuals. I now start them up and start making something. Because I have to. And it is so much fun to actually create music! Your video helps me believing that even more!
Well said. The reason we play is to be happy and accomplish good things; obsessing over gear is definitely stressful and unfulfilling. The gear most people have today is much better and far more versatile, than what the Masters had decades ago, yet they sounded the way they did because they practiced and practiced and played and played and played. There is a famous TV video on RUclips of Wayne Shorter playing in the Miles Davis Band with a Bundy Tenor student level sax - and you guessed it, he still sounded like Wayne Shorter and recorded a couple of albums with that pawn shop horn. Indiscernible from the albums with his Selmer MK 6.
My GAS story so far. Started of soft with wanting as many VSTs as I could get. First with Propellerhead Reason and their Rack Extension format. Then I switched DAW and went to Ableton live suite and VSTi’s. I also acquired Spectrasonics Omnisphere, U-he Diva, Korg Gadget then Korg Collection, Rob Papen Collection, Synthmaster, Soundtoys Bundle, Roland Cloud Subscription (€200 per year), then Native Instruments Komplete Collection, then on Arturia’s V Collection. Option paralysis kicking in. Then after having the set up of my dreams, I decided to jump in the AKAI MPC band wagon, acquiring the One MPC, to go Dawless 🥺 Picked up a Behringer Deepmind 12, a Yamaha MODX 7... and my latest desire, I’ve yet to acquire.. 😏 is the Korg Wavestate, that I’m hoping to get soon, that will complete the jigsaw. Or will it?? I blame RUclips 🤓 Great video by the way 🤨🥴
I have "GAS". and you speak the truth. Sgt Peppers was recorded on a four track recorder. All the bells and whistles of today won't help me write a better song, and whether I used a Moog, Behringer, or VST means absolutely nothing to the listener... It's about the song. the song, the song, the song... it's only us "GAS-Y" folks who give a rip about what kind of filter the blah, blah, blah has.
Four tracks was state of the art in the late 60s. It would've seemed like luxury compared to the One track machines they started with! But as soon as Eight tracks were available people used that. Now we can have as many tracks as we want, which is great, but we don't HAVE to use 50 or 100 tracks just because we can. I find 16-20 is more than enough for me!
A few weeks ago I shared a video with this topic. I was done completely with my studio and making music. Too much gear, too much time losing on connecting and even starting up. After my video I sold a lot of gear and kept my most precious pieces and added the MPC-X. Hmmm...also promoted in one of your videos hahaha. Thanks for this!
Exactly. Nailed it on the head. In the 1970's we had 1 or 2 instruments, an amp, and 2 FX pedals we used for 10 years. Thats all we could afford, and you would pay for an ad in the trades section of the local newspaper to buy and sell. Different world. Today- Buy,Try and re-sell like water. Always thinking about the next purchase. And you think, ok one day I will be all set with a permanent setup.../ never happens, always evolves.
Something I'm trying out is not buying gear until I reach an absolutely blocked state due to lack of said gear. Sometimes you have to get really creative to maneuver yourself into a corner where the New Cool Toy is the only way out. But, to make that box, you had to be creative, and when you're creating, you tend to find ways around your limitations.
This video is so good. I make a lot of music, but sometimes (once every few years) I get GAS... HARDDD GASS!! lol I used to gas over pedals and found that the cure for that was learning how to build my own. All of a sudden the gas went away and turned into something more productive. Engineering studies online, soldering practice, learning about components... ect. It turned out to be the best decision I have ever made. Craving a new fuzz pedal with a certain name on it? Build my own and make it how I want it exactly. For synths (which I am a huge fan of, just as much as guitars) the cure is much harder to find. Something which I am currently gassing over, the polyend tracker, would be much harder to build than an fx pedal for example. Thanks for the therapy though Midlife, it is great to know that us fellow gassers are not alone. (alone in a mountain of awesome gear)
If you have a ton of gear and have no plans to sell most of it, just be sure to re-arrange your studio/setup once or twice a year. Makes a big difference and is exciting kind of like getting new gear thus keeps you from....getting more gear. Also don't be so hung up with having everything connected and ready to play or record at the flick of the power switch. It's OK if something collects dust for bit. Just stick to the re-arrange plan and watch how the workflow adds excitement and maybe even...gulp...a new tune completion.
That is GREAT advice! I was actually giving that same tip to a friend of mine the other day. Everything doesn’t have to be hooked up all the time. Thanks for stopping by my friend, cheers!
This hits so close to home. I suffer from gas in all my hobbies and if not kept in check, it can end up costing me a fortune and in the end I'll feel depressed because I won't have achieved anything really. It's also the realization that the videos I what's on RUclips are the end result of a ton of hard work and as you say, that's not something we think about when watching the latest review. We just hear the result, condensed in a small few minutes and our mind then think that if we just had that last piece of gear, everything would happen so easily. Anyway, great video :)
You are doing a great thing making this video. I think the gas thing is a very underrated and overlooked problem, specially in the synth world. I'm 39 and got into synths a year and half ago due to lockdown boredom (I play drums and guitar since more than 20 years) and reading some things on onlime synths forums made me sad, I think it deserves to be treated as a mental disfunction because it really makes people's life worse, it's the "anti-gratification" that should come from music and musical instruments. Subscribed, all the best
Thank you so much my friend! I’m trying to shed a light on this dirty little secret called GAS that we like to joke about, but it can easily get out of hand and be as harmful as any other drug addiction. That’s why I squeeze in these PSAs every now and then to remind people that even though talking about gear is cool, the fun stuff comes when you’re actually using it. Cheers! Hope to see you around!
I had a few years without any gear but recently got back on board with an entirely new set up. Previous experience guided me in my purchases and I bought some quality gear which I expect long service from and I view the process of getting to know the gear as a welcome challenge, I won't get bored with the gear quickly because I am still striking up a relationship with it as I use it AND the gear still has more to offer and discover over a long period of time. It was a conscious decision I made when buying the kit. What this also proves is that you're right because obviously with a complete set up all in a short time I have plenty of manual reading ahead of me, which clearly takes time but is to be expected. There is a certain amount of gear required regarding synthesisers in order to be able to create that rich tapestry but, buying more and more gear will not help once you have reached a certain point ,it will only hinder. TRUE. I'm keeping my set up simple this time. With limitations comes creativity.
I agree with all you said, but for me is a big part of the fun! I look at demos when I want to rest, and it really helps me to distress. My girl critizeses me when I’m reading in my phone, but she’s got a kindle and I have my manuals. One strategy that I apply is to recycle my gear, by storing some in the closet and after a while, re-learning them as if they where new. Also, this year I started selling the ones I don’t use, so at least I will not spend a lot of more money if I gas for something new. Finally, I decided to not stress my self if I’m not way productive with my music. I would love to live from it, but at the moment I have another job, that allows me to buy the things I want, without risking my kid’s education. I don’t have the age of Garrix and I’m not famous as Harris, and I accept it because I just love the music I do.
I think GAS can arise from good intentions. I believe many of us, especially newer musicians, notice how impactful an individual piece of gear can be to their work flow, creativity, fun factor and end work. Seeing that can make you feel a game changer is always around the corner that everything may benefit from. GAS is likely a very important part of a musicians beginning and I believe after time, a good setup will be achieved and things will start feeling redundant and the charm of new gear wears off. That's been my experience!
Good points. I have bought quite many devices because I'm fascinated with gear. What helped me to settle with the setup I currently have was the decision to narrow down music making to a genre and getting the gear needed to make music for the genre. I have a sequencer, sampler, bass synth, drum machine, and a synth that provides me with everything else. Yeah, I know - it seems restricted but the way I see it, I'm studying or making a study of a genre and will probably move on once I've exhausted the options.
Damn dude, you just blew my mind with the "anxiety over gear disconnects you from the present" thing. That perfectly explains why I'm so addicted to watching youtube videos about synths instead of playing with the synths I have. My mind is always in this anxious state where I'm thinking about something I don't have yet. Not surprising that I can barely ever get myself to sit down and actually work on music for any extended period; my mind is fighting tooth and nail against being brought back into the present.
I too have suffered from GAS many times.. but you can recover from it I have on two different occasions. I always say you only really need three or four good pieces of gear.. a good drum machine a good synthesizer that can do more than one type of sound (analog and digital) and a good sampler and a very good mixer
Old Japanese animation shows with english subtitles and vintage synthesizer docs/synth gear reviews are some of the best videos to get my kid to fall right to sleep at night. We have slept thru more loopop videos than I have watched awake.
Well said! Also consider the fact of constantly look for what would make you happy, not looking at what you already have. Isolate one of your synths from time to time, play it solo and try to master it. Makes you appreciate its existence more.
Regarding "hoarding", I personnally felt when something didn't integrate well into the setup and let that thing go. My collecting instinct decreased by itself when I reached a point where everything worked without any frustration. I spend a lot of time playing and proof testing my setup so I guess that's an important part of deciding what's too much and what's lacking. (As you can see on my channel 😜)
When I started out with synths, I didn't know what to buy - and I purchased gear, that did not work for me. Anyway I kept most of it. What I don't need everyday goes to the shelf. At the moment Digitakt and Digitone are stored away. When I feel like buying a new synth I pull them from the shelf pretending those are new. On the other hand there is some nagging inner voice which tells me what to buy... It is difficult ;)
That’s actually a great GAS fighting tactic! I currently have a few stashed away so that I can take then out when the urge strikes lol. Cheers my friend!
Gear often seems to be a crutch or an excuse, an attempt to bypass the huge amounts of effort required to genuinely get good at making music. People convince themselves that the thing keeping them from making great music is a lack of hardware... but really the limitation is almost always the person, not the instruments. Developing skills takes lots of work over a long period of time, and it's not very rewarding in the short term... so it's hard to focus on that when there's shiny new gear waiting to give you immediate gratification. OTOH, gear is hella fun to play with, and there's nothing wrong with just having a good time. I don't regret the hours I spend in sonic bliss without producing anything. It's like a cross between playing a game, meditating, and having a private concert for an audience of one.
To actually produce music though, people should generally focus on learning a DAW really well, learning enough music theory and production techniques to get by, coming up with a workflow they like, and just ... putting in the time to get it done.
I'm struggling with this myself. What I _want_ to do is press a few keys and have eargasms... but what I _need_ to do is a bunch of learning and housekeeping tasks like configuring my DAW better and removing friction from my workflow. But that isn't fun, so I haven't done it. I don't wanna eat my brussels sprouts... I just want dessert!
I can attest to this. Spent/wasted TENS OF THOUSANDS over the years, constantly buying/swapping/selling for a loss/repeat. Now have the simplest ever set-up (MPC60, Novation Bass Station Rack & Roland VS880EX) and have never been happier nor more creative...with zero GAS to boot. Wish I'd known years ago!!!
This video is just NECESSARY. As an Octatrack user I have some experience with learning curves, but I found something interesting lately. Once you a master a piece of gear, in most cases, it turns just to a matter of switching sounds over a certain pattern or routine, looking for non usual combinations. It's like painting an abstract picture with no colors, and then choosing it all at the end of the process with almost no limitations. So, creative process becomes another thing, maybe true experimentation. Im not defending "happy accidents theory here", but somehow, once you're REALLY into gear, many interesting results just come to surface.
Totally agree, I limit myself on purpose. It forces me to utilize and use my synths to there maximum potential. This is why I stayed away from the Modular rabbit hole, to many possibilities.
Yep. That's been my lesson lately. Acquired a few new bits of gear, and running into their limitations makes me appreciate the gear I already had so much more. Need fewer gadgets and more time management.
Yeah this is so true, to prove the point in this video. I calculated the amount of money I've spent in my studio over the past 5-6 years, its roughly around 35-40k invested and what have I got to show for it? Well, I've completed around 8-10 shitty tracking in about 5-6 years. I remember when i started music production and I idolised making actual music over equipment, I was just making track after track on a failing laptop and a pair of 60 dollar headphones. but at some point when the beginner naivity began to fade, I began telling myself, "in order to make the music I want to make, I need x or y or z" and I recently came to the realisation that my internal goal had shifted from making music to buying gear. I definitely don't regret purchasing any of the equipment I have in my studio as it was all very thought it and well planned but it's definitely time to get my head back in the game and remember why I started with this shit in the first place.
This is so relatable! You can definitely go overboard and end up spending huge amounts of money on what was initially a harmless hobby. Thank you so much for sharing your experience! Rock on my friend!
Everything you said, all true! One idea is to start small then add what you need rather than pre-imagining the track you want to produce. Use the fewest pieces of gear that you need to start a track and only build on that if you need to. The band Freezepop wrote their first album on a Yamaha QY70. Sometimes just one piece of gear will do all the work.
So true. Coming from a software background, i went down the hardware route for several years. It was really fun organizing all the stuff and checking out 2nd hand gear and doing the cable salad dance and THINKING OF all the cool stuff i COULD make when i just get this one new piece ... but in fact it was a sort of escape from actually making music. Now i'm happily doing my stuff with software again ... with random attacks of "plug-in-aquision-syndrom" (but not too bad) and sellers remorse when i see pics of gear i once owned. But all in all my productivity is soooooooo much better than with hardware. Works for me :)
Listen to this man and his wise words. I can confirm his statements 100%. The phrase "less is more" comes from real experience. On the other hand, especially as a young person, you want to discover your world and the possibilities it offers. You first have to find out what you like and what you want to start with and use. But don't overdo it. Time is money, as they say.
Thanks man! And yes, time is money! I just wish I could pay to have more time, cause when the adulting starts, you’re lucky to get a few minutes a day to yourself. Cheers my friend!
I took a 7 year hiatus from writing after I sold 95% of my gear and got into outdoor horticulture work. Got back into buying gear about a year and a half ago after getting the bug again. Since then I've amassed a large collection of synths, drum modules, VST's, guitars (12) DAWs etc (all software paid for) and realised that I am more unproductive than I've ever been. I realised I have more dollars than sense. And my GAS and 'hunter gatherer'/research addiction is well off the charts. I am going to sell a lot and simplify. I could pretty much take out a mortgage on a small country property or pay my bills/rates for a few years with the money spent. "Hi I'm Earlymist and I am a gear and gear research addict."
Your speaking on all the issues that have plagued me for years. I constantly state, having lots of gear is a Gift & Curse. As I definitely suffer from Option Paralysis. But, this is true for many of my creative and entertainment options. ✌🏾👍🏾
The new synth golden age has peaked. It’s time to enjoy these days now! You will be glad you did when you look back on this time in history…. when in 2 years a zombie is eating your head…
Definitely relate to this. Over the last month I was on the verge of purchasing either an A4, an OP-1, and/or a Microcosm. The worst thing is that It was a cycle in which I would convince myself not to get one, and I would immediately focus my attention on wanting one of the others. I think I got it under wraps (for now). What helped me kind of reign it in is questioning why I wanted to buy the gear (I have enough). The answers have little to do with music and are primarily driven by FOMO, finding a great deal (even if I may not use the synth that much - which undermines the value of the purchase in some respects), and short-term immediate gratification. I have to ask myself - do I REALLY like making music? Or do I like playing with toys (metaphorically)? That’s something I’ll have to grapple with. Great video overall.
Top work TMS, you've just created a fantastic metaphor for life in its entirety - take what you have and do something awesome with it, don't concentrate your energy on wishing for more - you've certainly summed up exactly what I do, I'll often actually stop a track mid-make, and think, yeah, I'll hang on to that until I've got ... X Y Z device, when, 99% of the time, the finished song is just moments away with the building blocks I already own! But something about the ring of the doorbell and that new shiny box of hardware arriving, its like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
great insights. - I've bought way too much gear over the years, starting in 1986, - but youtube really has taken it to another level for me. That said, I do tend to wait a few years now, until a product is well established, - like I've only just bought the Eventide Space, and I only started buying Roland's ACB gear, about 2yrs ago. I agree RUclips certainly fuels GAS, but given time it's also easy to hear whether a piece of gear is going to work for me or not, purely through the amount of videos added over time. - I've learnt over the last few decades, not to rush out and buy units just as they're released, - which introduces a well needed cooling off period between wanting a product, and actually feeling that I require it as a worthy addition to the sonic arsenal. - And, if I have major issues with a unit by a particular brand, I remove that brand from my future purchasing lists, - which has saved me small fortune over the last decade or so, as one of the problems I see personally is there are many great brands out there, but only a few consistently offer high-quality units. Japanese and European brands seem to be more road worthy, just in my personal experience that is, regardless of where they are made. love to ALL, feel no hate
@@bartjanc Xaoc Devices, Moog, dbx, Analogue Solutions are the ones that immediately come to mind. Not that there is anything bad about the companies mentioned, or their products, - I've just had major problems with some of their products personally, issues that have caused me to lose all confidence in the brands on a personal level. absolutely no disrespect aimed at any of the named brands above love to ALL
Totally agree, the option paralysis always hit me on the ice cream shop and surely it's hitting me in my studio, usually, I ended up using one synth at a time. That clip at 3:00 am looking at reviews it's hilarious and totally relatable. Nice video!
Amazing video and very valuable points - I find myself so often thinking of what gear to by next and watch literally EVERY video out on it here on RUclips instead of making music with the gear that I currently have. So the last point is sooo important! Cheers buddy :)
I agree. When I had one synth, one effect and a 4 track recorder I made new music every day, now I have four amazing synths unlimited effects and lot of tracks I find myself overwhelmed and feeling guilty… I will take your advice and do one day at a time and a synth…
Many truths in just 6'31" - great! GAS is a big part of my life as well as music but I keep these separated. Literally: gear I don't use is boxed and stored and I keep the number of intruments in use simultaneously as low as possible. Most of the time this approach works in favour of creativity. Thanks for sharing this and have a nice day!
Just stumbled across your video. So many things here I can relate to. I spend WAY too much time looking around the keyboard/synth world looking for a "new " sound when I have two ( in my opinion ) wonderfully powerful machines, the Yamaha Genos and the MODX6, a truly awesome combination. Your most profound comment?? " It only has to be awesome to you " . Made me realise what is important to me and that's creating music from my imagination. Thank you.
This hit home. I'm a lifelong side musician turned fledgling producer. I spent a LOT of time reviewing gear and software I'd like to have in my arsenal and was lucky enough to be able to acquire much of it this past year (though it's by no means high-end and I'm still in the hole for much of it). Now I have 3 drum machines, 5 synths, countless software synths, a few boards, some rack gear...all of which will take time to learn. I have a pretty huge learning curve ahead and it can be pretty daunting when I just want to sit down and write a song, especially just trying to figure out where that next sound I need is going to come from, let alone how to tailor it and make it fit well in the context of the other sounds... Great vid! Thanks!
Lots of truth in this video. Before RUclips it was so difficult reaching valuable practice information. I like the MPC workflow, which I found is using one gear and having a bunch of powerful options at the same time. The good thing about MIDI is the interoperability, which let you decide what gear to use. Even if possibilities with electronically music have grown up, they are easier to handle.
Great message!! We are all intoxicated by finding the next best thing. Modular has crippled me with this at times, but I have recently “down graded” to a better workflow and smaller amount of modules. Now time to get to work.
As always, great video! I work as a character animator, a super creative job, but music is my (other) passion and I have been playing keyboards in different bands since I was 15, starting with a Yamaha PC100 and a Commodore 64 and a double deck cassette player for adding more instruments than my 2 hands can play :P 5 years ago I had a pretty good job opportunity so I moved to Canada, taking only my laptop and some clothes with me. The first thing I did here was buying a cheap pair of studio monitors and a MIDI controller. Later I bought the Arturia V Collection and I was in heaven. I had all the synths I ever wanted when I was 15, on a single computer, and at the end of the year, I had almost 50 finished tracks, and pretty good ones. My small MIDI controller and the Arturia V Collection was the only inspiration I had and after work, I was playing music for at least 4 or 5 hours per day. A year after I moved to a bigger apartment and I decided to stay in Canada for the rest of my life, so I started buying (again) hardware, because bringing all my synths from my home country is gonna be super expensive and complicated (one of my machines is an Emax II and that beast is huge and heavy). I started with some Volcas because they´re super small and cool, and then I found the Boutiques series and I fell in love with the form factor and the possibility to have legendary modern interpretation of those machines, sitting on my desk. And then there was youtube and that was my GAS problem starting, but luckily I put a stop pretty soon, just precisely when I found out that I wasn't making music like I did with only one MIDI controller and a bunch of VST´s anymore. In the past years I bought maybe 1 or 2 synths that I rarely play, and that was the moment when I changed my behavior and stopped looking at new gear, and started learning how to use everything I have, because technically I might have more machines and VST´s (or sound possibilities) than all the bands I love from the 70´s to 90´s together, so I didn't have any excuse and I only have to seat and make music instead of keep buying things. I´m a musician, an artist, not a collector, and synths are musical intrument intented to play with it, not to collect dust or look cool on instagram. The last thing I wanted was a full size synth, with all the classic synths and the flexibility of a modern digital machine, so I bought the Jupiter X and now it is the center of my music production, I stopped buying things and just focusing in making music, and my passion is back and I'm truly enjoying every single piece of hardware and VST I have. I don´t care if the synth is analog or digital, or a hardware or a VST... those things are for fanboys :P I like to make music, I like a sound and I use it and that's it. The meaning of "playing" music is just that: to play and have fun :)
I generally don't suffer from Gas unless I eat too much chili... However, my lack of inspiration comes from crippling depression... Sometimes we need to come to terms with ourselves to overcome mental and creative blocks. And as we humans often attempt to fill one void with another, it can be hard to tell from what you're suffering. I love ther gear I have and have acquired but I spend most of my time wrapped up in myself to make music... so I fill the void with much of what you said here. I'm not trying to call out your very well thought out video... I just want people who read this comment to know, you're not alone. There are people out there in your same or similar position. And videos like this and comments like mine, I hope people find answeres in so they can continue to better themselves by whatever means necessary.
'oughts and shoulds' "I ought to be using that new/old synth" "I should get that new synth, it'll give me inspiration" It's the killer of inspiration and productivity. I feel guilty if I don't use whatever synth, regardless if the track needs its sounds. Also, too much choice of sound palettes. Poor use of time, and feeling guilty for not hitting the studio. Also, for me, the worst thing is worrying if people will like it, instead of making music I like to make.
I got into modular stuff a while ago, and not long after I found myself with more modules than I knew what to do with. It led to constant analysis paralysis, and the only way to deal with it was to just straight up ignore a lot of the gear. Trying to work it all in posed so much difficulty, even if it did produce some really cool and unique sounds/vibes/etc. The best and most creative spans were all when I focused on just making use of certain limited features at a time, like I'd work on a piece that made big use of voltage controlled stereo panning, or one where it was all about getting cool AM and FM tones. Trying to do everything all at once added such a cognitive load to the creative process that it dragged it down.
You made a very good video, thanks for this. Especially the part of "Learning new gear" and "Implementing it in an existing setup" are crucial points for me. It's easy to make fun of GAS but it surely has characteristics of an addiction. So the first point is to admit it. I made a list: From the mid-90s to today I owned 79 devices. This includes synths, samplers, sequencer, controllers, audio interfaces, effects. No headphones and VSTs. From these 79 devices 12 have been very special to me. I still own 23, 3 being DAWs. This is way too much. I could break up my gear to three different setups and place it at my desk, bedroom and toilet.
I started in music playing a cornet. I found it easy to pick up, only 3 buttons (valves) and breathing technique. But I felt limited playing only one note at a time. Rock n Roll changed my trumpet into a guitar. 6 notes at one time! Amplifiers! Peddles! All sorts of things to add to the collection. Creating tunes and little diddles fairly easily. But after many years trying to improve fingering, limitations appeared. Repetitions had me looking for something different. That's when synths came into view. But that view extends waaaaay into the horizon. Guitars are relatively simple. They all have 6 strings (yeah you can get more or less) a couple of pickups, volume and tone knobs.. You pick it up and if you like and can afford it, that's it. But synths, to my newbie mind, have so many options, poly, mono, digital, analog, hybred and lots of knobs, midi, clocks, LFO's, sequencers, voices, on and on...So...I "think" I want a Prophet 12. Maybe...a Rev 2 16 voice? A Poly D? A Moog "bleep" machine? A Volca to see if I like turning knobs for cheap? As the Kingfish used to say at times like these, "Holy Mackeral Andy, whatamI gonna do now?" And I have no solid idea because there isn't a shop that sells synths within 3 1/2 hours from here (5 hours in traffic) to see if i can connect with ANY synth. So I take weeks long breaks from gassing and reviews, create a ditty on my guitar knowing, another gas attack is just around the corner.
Fortunately, thanks to this and similar channels, I haven't made any mistakes yet. I'm not staring at any of my machines with buyers' remorse. These channels have allowed me to learn from others' experience and make informed choices. Each box I've ultimately decided on has filled that particular hole in my setup perfectly, which never would have happened without these reviews. The Deluge was the final and most important piece, the glue that brought it all together. I can honestly say I'm good now. If I can't make amazing music with what's already on my desk, the problem is me. Of course, I don't make an income reviewing gear, so it's easier for me to say ;-)
That’s a great way to go about it! Especially your final reflection, it’s a hard thing to admit to oneself. I’ve often thought about that and absolutely, if I can’t make good music with what I have, then the problem definitely ain’t the gear. Thanks for sharing my friend!
@@MidlifeSynthesist Any time! I just re-read what I wrote to you and thought to myself "who am I kidding?" Of course I haven't purchased my last piece of kit yet! It's just, I don't have any more gaps in my setup now, thanks to you and others. My kaleidoscope is now complete, so any new gear at this point will simply be adding new shards to the kaleidoscope. :-)
I had two major hiccups over the years related to gear. I used an Ensoniq SQ-80 as my master keyboard and sequencer for about 15 years, at the end of which I knew it like the back of my hand. When I upgraded to a Motif ES, it literally took me 3 months to understand how the sequencer worked. So new actual music for 3 months. Then a while longer to understand programming, data backup, etc. 6 years later I got a Motif XF, that transition was mostly seamless. 6 years after that I went ITB with Logic and again spent months trying to understand how it worked, not to mention searching for the best controller keyboard, wasting both time and money. I'd estimate I have 5-10 times as many "experiment" projects recorded in Logic sitting on my disk as part of the learning process. Even today, I run into something in Logic that I didn't know about and off to some more experimenting, which in fact I am doing right now. Spent 2 days already figuring out how to integrate a new plugin into a project and will be back at it again after I type this.
When you intro’ed “Playing Together”, I thought you were gonna talk about the importance of jams & collabs - all good though, many great thoughts & takeaways. Arigato 🌟🤙🏽
I had to give my gas an endgame. I’ve collected way too much and I almost exclusively use my jx305. It has an 8 channel sequencer onboard. So I hooked up 4 mainstay pieces and left 2 channels open for the 305 and one guest channel for any random piece in my collection. Right now I’m exploring the emu audity rack. I’ve had it for years and it’s finally getting a workout.
Most of my synths still live in their boxes. I may leave it that way except for my Matriarch and Grandmother. These knob per function gems are much easier for me to play, even though I just got started with them. I'm at about 35% with the microfreak and 25% on the deepmind 12. Boog D, opsix, minilogue, nts-1, and therimini are just gonna have to wait their turn. Thanks for your candor on these subjects. It helped me focus on jamming instead of piling boxes of gear up in my studio. The other exacerbating aspect of my GAS/GRS, is bargain hunting. For instance, I never considered buying the Matriarch until Alto put their glut of darks on sale for $1699. After watching the quantity go from over 300 to 118, my FOMO took over, and I pulled the trigger. (At least I didn't pay $2199 +,+). Saving $500 was not a good enough reason to make that purchase, especially since I bought a mint used GM for $750 two weeks prior. Incidentally, the GM arrived with a broken A3 key. Moog sent me one for the cost of shipping, and I fixed it myself. I received a $215 repair allowance from reverb, which reduced the total cost to $550+,+. Still, WTF is wrong me??. Anyway, thanks for the evergreen subject matter.
Right on with this. Can totally relate in my own case. Also a lot of synth youtuber's content is basically cycling through gear and gear reviews so it's easy to get caught up in that.
Back in the day. You were basicslly limited to whatever handful of shops near you had in stock. For used gear it was whatever was in the local paper or a couple of national places who sent out mail order magazines or subscription interest magazines (I blame YOU for my gas Keyboard Magazine).. Today, you get endless hands on demos made for free by people who own the synth or are expert reviewers. The amount of marketing that goes towards the marketing of gear is huge. The international hunger for gear is so huge that it's more than just profitable to recreate modern versions of gear and synths that have been out of manufacture for the last 30 or even 40 years. The reach of marketing has grown by leaps and bounds. I'm not in judgment of any of it. The amount of pure access modern computing and low cost manufacturing is a complete Disney World to what it was. But also the expectations were lower. No one was expecting a studio quality mix then either, so you could only focus on what you could write not what you could mix.
I totally agree! I am part of the problem of course, but I try to talk about gear from a sentimental value standpoint and hopefully that comes through in my videos. You guys are the my synth friends that I can talk about this stuff. Thanks for some great insight, cheers!
at the end of the day you just got to make music have fun don’t think to much about it just do it, better acting than doing nothing at all, I think synthesizers are fascinating I’m so glad I got into this stuff and took the risk buying my first synth
Thanks for commenting my friend! Welcome to this wonderful and crazy world of synthesizers and samplers! I really feel what you said - at the end of the day, you just got to make music and have fun. Cheers!
Yep. This is me. Add plugins to the mix, and the constant “obligation” to upgrade the next release of Komplete when you don’t even use 98% of the instruments in the current release. I bought a CP73 stage piano so I could play better, and that made the only real difference! I will eventually replace my FA06 with either a Fantom 6, or whatever next gen workstation Yamaha or Korg releases, because the computer is just too full of distractions for me.
So true. I was so much more productive when I had basically one synth and I knew it inside and out (Nord Micro Modular). Now I have synths just sitting in boxes that I am only vaguely familiar with and I make much less music. My attempt at a solution has been to just try to start all writing at the piano instead of at a synth/softsynth.
As usual, you're on point and on time with this video. I think for some ( I could include myself in this one) , it become more like trophy hunting that the music aspects of it. But that's when the overload sets in when creative process comes in.
My GAS started with really wanting the Prophet 6 as a move from the DAW to hardware. Then, as I am a complete synthwave nut, the Juno 60 looked more appealing by the day once I got the P6. "Once I had the Juno", I said to myself, "I could finally start to produce". The Juno has its limitations in this day and age and got the JU-06A instead, which, after watching comparison videos on RUclips, has no audible difference to me. Then the drum machine debacle of 2020 hit - always buying and selling stuff that just could not create the sounds out of the box that I was looking for. In the end, sampling seemed the way to go for me. The same is true for the eternal chase of the perfect controller / sequencer for non-keyboard players. Launchpad Pro, Linnstrument, Digitakt, Blackbox, Theoryboard... I've had them all at some point. Now the Akai Force controls the Prophet 6, JU-06A, SH-01A, Peak and recently the UDO Super 6, all routed into their own effects. Finally, the dream setup is here. Still, I'm not quite as happy as I would have thought I would be, because noise (hiss, no ground loops) is quite an issue at times. This is GAS for sure. Meanwhile in the DAW, the writing of my first record took a back seat, while it was practically done two years ago. Thank you for hammering this home. Thanks a ton for this smack in the face / wake up call. Now let's make some music.
Thanks for another thoughtful video! now I tend to experiment out of the box I’ve been sitting when I was making music I wanted which was giving me excitement and fans. Now I’m too lazy to go the same successful path, but am feeling that it’s the way to go and all the rest is just toys I want to play. I don’t have too much hardware, I’m feeling this is going to help me in making the old and the new stuff (just for fun), but like I said I became too lazy even to adapt my new gear to making music the way I did before. I guess this laziness brings us to the idea of getting newer and more universal gear to get us finally going, I’m afraid that’s not to happen before we come to realize what we need and master the tools we have to make what we need :)
It’s also worth a note to point out that any extra time spent learning a skill is time spent setting yourself apart from other people. A person who reads a manual and does boring work is already ahead of the crowd in at least one aspect. It might not seem like you’re having valuable knowledge, because it now feels normal and we assume anyone can do it if we did, but people who learn multiple pieces will have a skill set that not everyone is willing to obtain. It’s not everything, but it’s not nothing. Deep knowledge of any skill is rarely a bad thing in my humble opinion.
I agree 100%! Part of the reason I got into making this youtube channel was because I love learning and exploring new gear, and it was a way to make that experience useful to other as well. Thanks for commenting, love the insight, cheers!
While I’m fine with nearly all you said , some people (me) have problems to convert ideas due to the lack of skills. So they can’t start right away. Sometimes there isn’t even a school where things you need are taught.
You make some salient observations here, and I agree that GAS crosses over with obsessive behaviour etc (guilty). Although I have a number of synths my GAS exists around, pedals and stuff that records (desks/AIs etc) but I have to say, my endless research/sleepless nights/watching you tube vids and all the things you have mentioned have helped me so much as a distraction upon quitting alcohol (and other animals) 600 ish days ago! whilst I appreciate I am in the minority here, GAS saved me and distracted me from the early 'challenges' of being sober and so did starting a little channel here! (i also spent all the money that used to go on such things on gear- no, not that type!) Anyway, great content- thank you!
Great video thanks for this reminder! So I put a limiter to myself to not allowed to buy another gear until I know the gear I’ve bought, then I detailed it out per type product like delay fix, reverb, modular osc, mono synths and since I don’t yet own a hardware poly synth (only vst) I’m still allowed to look for buying it even though I barely know half of my gear I have! Easy to trick yourself :)
Too true!! Playing should be the aim; many vids are just chained demos. We tend to forget that music is meant to be perceived by ear and touch but not by our eyes. Too much seems to depend on the size of the setup and the pedigree of each machine. We are just synth lemmings :)
So true, I had a relatively large number of synthesizers and drum machines ... I sold everything, and there was a standstill. Unfortunately, I had also sold my Digitakt, that was a mistake, I have now bought a new one, used. And I bought a synth that I'm very happy with. It has no knobs to turn, i don't waste time researching sound. My ultra-flexible setup is a Digitakt (only 2 Digitakt are better than one) and a DX7 MK1 12Bit soundsynth. For the DX7 I got myself a wazacraft chorus (DC-2), a dream. The DX7 is so cheap, so famous, sounds really good, digital and analog…. Perfect. I recommend everyone a Hypersynth cart for the DX. Unfortunately, I am still a bit excessive with the purchase of rotary dj mixers, only to come to the conclusion that I like my Urei 1620 / Le best.
Without evening seeing this yet I know you're going to raise some valid points. Also I've just spent the last few weeks obsessing over the Nonlinear Labs C15, to the point I didn't want to play any of my current gear. I finally got the C15 delivered this week so the story has a happy ending and it certainly exceeded expectations. Let's see if I actually put it to practical use after all that research and obsessing 😅
@@Wagoo Definitely, it wasn't hugely on my radar until Stimmings recent review and the introductuon of midi support. It's well worthy of any GAS anyway. Its one very special and unique sounding synth.
@@DonSmiths Its probably not for everyone. If you're into more experimental, abrasive or unique sounds then theres really nothing else that comes close to the C15. For that warm analog sound theres better options though, C15 is unashamedly digital.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
I would also make a video on GRS: the Gear Review Syndrome ... spending hours watching demos and reviews on youtube or reading user manuals ... without actually buying anything! 😅
yes this is me. Especially reading user manuals for gear i don't even have, just to compare with what i have.
That's me at night. Screw the NBA finals, I'll watch synth videos instead
me me me. ... never deciding to buy anything, but informed about everything.
Ever notice that synth users are literally the only people on the planet who actually read manuals? Some read them cover to cover before ever turning on a synth or just read them without owning said synth.
@@evetsnitram8866 I’m sure other users of other equipment read manuals.
'Rediscovery' gets mentioned occasionally. One thing I have found useful is to deliberately become excited and interested in gear I already own, but have not touched for ages, by reading and watching some reviews and kind of wishing I had this brilliant new / classic thing. And then ... hey! look what I found in the studio! Time to go deep on it!
The truth is, I think my obsession over gear, reading and watching reviews, checking forums, ebay etc, is just a way for me to procrastinate from making music. Starting songs and putting down ideas is relatively easy for me, but finishing a song is crippling sometimes.
so true
Damn you calling me out like that lmao
Have plenty of ideas stored in the sequencers of my keyboards seeking expansion. Checking gear helps sooth the feeling of failure
We all have the sickness ... It's that dopamine shot we get instantly when we buy new gear or watch gear videos etc... Then the thought of sitting down... Possibly hooking things up, powering everything on, tuning the guitar... All that doesn't give us that instant fix... (just my thoughts)
@@LoVeAmBiEnT Yeah, it's a dopamine fix for sure. Learning and creating doesn't give the instant gratification we have come to know.
True words man, i found myself not finishing a single track after buying a sub37, deepmind 12 and a Prophet 8 within 6 months..... now 9 months later i sold all of them and revert back to my trusty sampler, 303,101 and minilogue... enough to make tunes. My mind is free and open for new tunes again, finally.
You are so right! ... from the music making point of view.
But to be honest, most of us hobby musicans do this simply to have fun. And if exploring new gear is more fun than just producing another song that no one listens to, it's fair enought to simply enjoy what you can best.
Exactly. For me it's just a nerdy hobby. Although it spiralled out of control during covid... I bought 4 Oto boxes, a Peak, an Alpha Base, TR8s, Fs1r, Microcosm, OB6 and that's not even all of it. Tracks produced I have none. However, I'm pretty successful in my job which is also technical/creative and have also invested a lot of money and time in software I don't use and projects that were never realised. So it's just my style I guess, some people save, I hoard. Luckily most stuff I pick gains in value...
@@BXLrules as an enduser I do not see a problem with that to some extend^^ congratz btw. GET HELP:PPPPPPPPPPP haha, jokes aside, if you have the funds and no need to sell one of your kidneys, you should be fine though. The only issue I am seeing is that all these channels are their hypocracies^^... people are constantly told, look at this, look at that, while it is always "about" music and how this could improve or give you something you might want in your "workflow" when in reality most of those channels do not really make music and are just tinkering like a lot of viewers out there, giving the viewer the impression that you need this or that... while in reality, especially all those young viewers who are the most impressionable are getting the idea that they NEED this and that... but they end up just becoming synth nerds tinkering with their gear and loops, never really finishing something musically:PP... in the end all these channels are just a big advertising machinery and I always find it pretty funny when these channels start to address G.A.S. and completely forget what they are doing and how they present themselves and the gear throughout the channels livespan.
Really glad to see more people talking about this, lots of great points in this video! I see a lot of people getting stuck in consumption, hoping it will help them be creative, but it can just as easily hold them back.
Thats very true. The only thing I'd say to counter this is musical output isn't really everyone's goal with this stuff. Personally speaking I'm just as happy to noodle around as I am to write/record anything. Having new toys to noodle around with definitely adds to the fun.
Hi brother! So nice to see you here! I really liked you own take on the minimalistic approach! I’m still far from that but I see myself going that route in the future. Keep up the awesome videos! Cheers!
Nothing bad about enjoying showcase videos and spending time learning synthesis. I mean, not everyone's goal is just to release/make music... I personally enjoy every part of the process. Without any hurry I guess.
the one person who disliked this video just isn’t ready to admit that they have GAS…
Never ever regret a synth you buy. Enjoy your life and gear. It could be your last day.
Love the sentiment my friend! Cheers!
I spent an entire decade buying/selling/trading gear and in retrospect, I hate it. I went through 100+ synths and lost a lot of good ones that I miss and didn’t spend nearly enough time making music. Now I have a setup that I love and I don’t plan on letting anything go for a while, but gear lust is a real thing and it can be really detrimental. I still watch videos because I like to see what other people are doing with their synths, but luckily I’m spending more time making music now than ever before. It’s definitely a deep rabbit hole.
I most definitely agree…when I first started out making music I spent loads of money on different daws, keyboards and other gear just to get stuck in a rut trying to learn everything. It literally killed my creativity. I’ve since sold most if not all. Trimmed down to just an iPad w/midi controller and never looked back.
Great video! I agree. When I got my Waldorf Iridium I was like man I do not need to purchase any more synths after this one... And 5 mins later I am looking at other new synths... LOL
YES!! Exactly lol. I lasted about three days after gettin my polybrute before I started looking a new synth reviews again.. will I ever learn? Cheers mate!
@@MidlifeSynthesist It also happened to me with my Deepmind12.. But I always try to keep in mind that punchline from "The book of Eli" where Eli answers the question "What was it that led to the Flash (aka the apocalypse)" and he says "People had more than they needed". And this is how I protect myself from a personal "apocalypse"
I have (had) the same with virtual gear btw.. I forced myself to make Music Everyday in July 2021, because I spent all of my time watching YT, getting plugins to work, reading manuals. I now start them up and start making something. Because I have to. And it is so much fun to actually create music! Your video helps me believing that even more!
Well said. The reason we play is to be happy and accomplish good things; obsessing over gear is definitely stressful and unfulfilling. The gear most people have today is much better and far more versatile, than what the Masters had decades ago, yet they sounded the way they did because they practiced and practiced and played and played and played. There is a famous TV video on RUclips of Wayne Shorter playing in the Miles Davis Band with a Bundy Tenor student level sax - and you guessed it, he still sounded like Wayne Shorter and recorded a couple of albums with that pawn shop horn. Indiscernible from the albums with his Selmer MK 6.
My GAS story so far.
Started of soft with wanting as many VSTs as I could get.
First with Propellerhead Reason and their Rack Extension format.
Then I switched DAW and went to Ableton live suite and VSTi’s. I also acquired Spectrasonics Omnisphere, U-he Diva, Korg Gadget then Korg Collection, Rob Papen Collection, Synthmaster, Soundtoys Bundle, Roland Cloud Subscription (€200 per year), then Native Instruments Komplete Collection, then on Arturia’s V Collection. Option paralysis kicking in.
Then after having the set up of my dreams, I decided to jump in the AKAI MPC band wagon, acquiring the One MPC, to go Dawless 🥺
Picked up a Behringer Deepmind 12, a Yamaha MODX 7... and my latest desire, I’ve yet to acquire.. 😏 is the Korg Wavestate, that I’m hoping to get soon, that will complete the jigsaw. Or will it??
I blame RUclips 🤓
Great video by the way 🤨🥴
I have "GAS". and you speak the truth. Sgt Peppers was recorded on a four track recorder. All the bells and whistles of today won't help me write a better song, and whether I used a Moog, Behringer, or VST means absolutely nothing to the listener... It's about the song. the song, the song, the song... it's only us "GAS-Y" folks who give a rip about what kind of filter the blah, blah, blah has.
We don’t all write songs though.
A four track recorder, and a few hundred thousand dollars worth of gear and resources unless I’m mistaken
Four tracks was state of the art in the late 60s. It would've seemed like luxury compared to the One track machines they started with! But as soon as Eight tracks were available people used that. Now we can have as many tracks as we want, which is great, but we don't HAVE to use 50 or 100 tracks just because we can. I find 16-20 is more than enough for me!
I have colleagues that use well over 100 tracks for composing and TV / Film work. We dont all write pop and basic band style music.
A few weeks ago I shared a video with this topic. I was done completely with my studio and making music.
Too much gear, too much time losing on connecting and even starting up.
After my video I sold a lot of gear and kept my most precious pieces and added the MPC-X.
Hmmm...also promoted in one of your videos hahaha.
Thanks for this!
Exactly. Nailed it on the head. In the 1970's we had 1 or 2 instruments, an amp, and 2 FX pedals we used for 10 years. Thats all we could afford, and you would pay for an ad in the trades section of the local newspaper to buy and sell. Different world. Today- Buy,Try and re-sell like water. Always thinking about the next purchase. And you think, ok one day I will be all set with a permanent setup.../ never happens, always evolves.
Something I'm trying out is not buying gear until I reach an absolutely blocked state due to lack of said gear.
Sometimes you have to get really creative to maneuver yourself into a corner where the New Cool Toy is the only way out. But, to make that box, you had to be creative, and when you're creating, you tend to find ways around your limitations.
Nice! Made me think of the notion that “limitation breeds creativity.” It seems that “less is more” in many aspects of our lives. Thanks! 🙏🙏🙏
Sage advice. Things we know, but forget in a moment of vulnerability. The obsession part is especially potent.
Explains quite a lot about why I fell in a rut with my guitar playing lol. Great video!
This video is so good. I make a lot of music, but sometimes (once every few years) I get GAS... HARDDD GASS!! lol I used to gas over pedals and found that the cure for that was learning how to build my own. All of a sudden the gas went away and turned into something more productive. Engineering studies online, soldering practice, learning about components... ect. It turned out to be the best decision I have ever made. Craving a new fuzz pedal with a certain name on it? Build my own and make it how I want it exactly. For synths (which I am a huge fan of, just as much as guitars) the cure is much harder to find. Something which I am currently gassing over, the polyend tracker, would be much harder to build than an fx pedal for example. Thanks for the therapy though Midlife, it is great to know that us fellow gassers are not alone. (alone in a mountain of awesome gear)
If you have a ton of gear and have no plans to sell most of it, just be sure to re-arrange your studio/setup once or twice a year. Makes a big difference and is exciting kind of like getting new gear thus keeps you from....getting more gear. Also don't be so hung up with having everything connected and ready to play or record at the flick of the power switch. It's OK if something collects dust for bit. Just stick to the re-arrange plan and watch how the workflow adds excitement and maybe even...gulp...a new tune completion.
That is GREAT advice! I was actually giving that same tip to a friend of mine the other day. Everything doesn’t have to be hooked up all the time. Thanks for stopping by my friend, cheers!
This hits so close to home. I suffer from gas in all my hobbies and if not kept in check, it can end up costing me a fortune and in the end I'll feel depressed because I won't have achieved anything really. It's also the realization that the videos I what's on RUclips are the end result of a ton of hard work and as you say, that's not something we think about when watching the latest review. We just hear the result, condensed in a small few minutes and our mind then think that if we just had that last piece of gear, everything would happen so easily. Anyway, great video :)
You are doing a great thing making this video. I think the gas thing is a very underrated and overlooked problem, specially in the synth world. I'm 39 and got into synths a year and half ago due to lockdown boredom (I play drums and guitar since more than 20 years) and reading some things on onlime synths forums made me sad, I think it deserves to be treated as a mental disfunction because it really makes people's life worse, it's the "anti-gratification" that should come from music and musical instruments. Subscribed, all the best
Thank you so much my friend! I’m trying to shed a light on this dirty little secret called GAS that we like to joke about, but it can easily get out of hand and be as harmful as any other drug addiction. That’s why I squeeze in these PSAs every now and then to remind people that even though talking about gear is cool, the fun stuff comes when you’re actually using it. Cheers! Hope to see you around!
I had a few years without any gear but recently got back on board with an entirely new set up. Previous experience guided me in my purchases and I bought some quality gear which I expect long service from and I view the process of getting to know the gear as a welcome challenge, I won't get bored with the gear quickly because I am still striking up a relationship with it as I use it AND the gear still has more to offer and discover over a long period of time. It was a conscious decision I made when buying the kit.
What this also proves is that you're right because obviously with a complete set up all in a short time I have plenty of manual reading ahead of me, which clearly takes time but is to be expected.
There is a certain amount of gear required regarding synthesisers in order to be able to create that rich tapestry but, buying more and more gear will not help once you have reached a certain point ,it will only hinder. TRUE.
I'm keeping my set up simple this time. With limitations comes creativity.
I agree with all you said, but for me is a big part of the fun! I look at demos when I want to rest, and it really helps me to distress. My girl critizeses me when I’m reading in my phone, but she’s got a kindle and I have my manuals.
One strategy that I apply is to recycle my gear, by storing some in the closet and after a while, re-learning them as if they where new.
Also, this year I started selling the ones I don’t use, so at least I will not spend a lot of more money if I gas for something new.
Finally, I decided to not stress my self if I’m not way productive with my music. I would love to live from it, but at the moment I have another job, that allows me to buy the things I want, without risking my kid’s education.
I don’t have the age of Garrix and I’m not famous as Harris, and I accept it because I just love the music I do.
I think GAS can arise from good intentions. I believe many of us, especially newer musicians, notice how impactful an individual piece of gear can be to their work flow, creativity, fun factor and end work. Seeing that can make you feel a game changer is always around the corner that everything may benefit from.
GAS is likely a very important part of a musicians beginning and I believe after time, a good setup will be achieved and things will start feeling redundant and the charm of new gear wears off.
That's been my experience!
Good points.
I have bought quite many devices because I'm fascinated with gear.
What helped me to settle with the setup I currently have was the decision to narrow down music making to a genre and getting the gear needed to make music for the genre.
I have a sequencer, sampler, bass synth, drum machine, and a synth that provides me with everything else.
Yeah, I know - it seems restricted but the way I see it, I'm studying or making a study of a genre and will probably move on once I've exhausted the options.
This this this this this this this this this!!!!!!!,!
Damn dude, you just blew my mind with the "anxiety over gear disconnects you from the present" thing. That perfectly explains why I'm so addicted to watching youtube videos about synths instead of playing with the synths I have. My mind is always in this anxious state where I'm thinking about something I don't have yet. Not surprising that I can barely ever get myself to sit down and actually work on music for any extended period; my mind is fighting tooth and nail against being brought back into the present.
Try watching videos and demos on synths you already own, then you can start GASing about those.. and then go actually play with them
I too have suffered from GAS many times.. but you can recover from it I have on two different occasions. I always say you only really need three or four good pieces of gear.. a good drum machine a good synthesizer that can do more than one type of sound (analog and digital) and a good sampler and a very good mixer
Old Japanese animation shows with english subtitles and vintage synthesizer docs/synth gear reviews are some of the best videos to get my kid to fall right to sleep at night. We have slept thru more loopop videos than I have watched awake.
Well said! Also consider the fact of constantly look for what would make you happy, not looking at what you already have.
Isolate one of your synths from time to time, play it solo and try to master it. Makes you appreciate its existence more.
Thank you my friend! Great advice!
Regarding "hoarding", I personnally felt when something didn't integrate well into the setup and let that thing go. My collecting instinct decreased by itself when I reached a point where everything worked without any frustration.
I spend a lot of time playing and proof testing my setup so I guess that's an important part of deciding what's too much and what's lacking. (As you can see on my channel 😜)
Ive been buying and selling gear over a quarter century. I'll revisit this video in another 25 years and let you know how it went.
LOL😂 Looking forward to it!
When I started out with synths, I didn't know what to buy - and I purchased gear, that did not work for me. Anyway I kept most of it. What I don't need everyday goes to the shelf. At the moment Digitakt and Digitone are stored away. When I feel like buying a new synth I pull them from the shelf pretending those are new.
On the other hand there is some nagging inner voice which tells me what to buy... It is difficult ;)
That’s actually a great GAS fighting tactic! I currently have a few stashed away so that I can take then out when the urge strikes lol. Cheers my friend!
Gear often seems to be a crutch or an excuse, an attempt to bypass the huge amounts of effort required to genuinely get good at making music. People convince themselves that the thing keeping them from making great music is a lack of hardware... but really the limitation is almost always the person, not the instruments. Developing skills takes lots of work over a long period of time, and it's not very rewarding in the short term... so it's hard to focus on that when there's shiny new gear waiting to give you immediate gratification.
OTOH, gear is hella fun to play with, and there's nothing wrong with just having a good time. I don't regret the hours I spend in sonic bliss without producing anything. It's like a cross between playing a game, meditating, and having a private concert for an audience of one.
To actually produce music though, people should generally focus on learning a DAW really well, learning enough music theory and production techniques to get by, coming up with a workflow they like, and just ... putting in the time to get it done.
I'm struggling with this myself. What I _want_ to do is press a few keys and have eargasms... but what I _need_ to do is a bunch of learning and housekeeping tasks like configuring my DAW better and removing friction from my workflow. But that isn't fun, so I haven't done it. I don't wanna eat my brussels sprouts... I just want dessert!
I can attest to this. Spent/wasted TENS OF THOUSANDS over the years, constantly buying/swapping/selling for a loss/repeat. Now have the simplest ever set-up (MPC60, Novation Bass Station Rack & Roland VS880EX) and have never been happier nor more creative...with zero GAS to boot. Wish I'd known years ago!!!
This video is just NECESSARY. As an Octatrack user I have some experience with learning curves, but I found something interesting lately. Once you a master a piece of gear, in most cases, it turns just to a matter of switching sounds over a certain pattern or routine, looking for non usual combinations. It's like painting an abstract picture with no colors, and then choosing it all at the end of the process with almost no limitations. So, creative process becomes another thing, maybe true experimentation. Im not defending "happy accidents theory here", but somehow, once you're REALLY into gear, many interesting results just come to surface.
Totally agree, I limit myself on purpose.
It forces me to utilize and use my synths to there maximum potential.
This is why I stayed away from the Modular rabbit hole, to many possibilities.
Yep. That's been my lesson lately. Acquired a few new bits of gear, and running into their limitations makes me appreciate the gear I already had so much more. Need fewer gadgets and more time management.
Yeah this is so true, to prove the point in this video. I calculated the amount of money I've spent in my studio over the past 5-6 years, its roughly around 35-40k invested and what have I got to show for it? Well, I've completed around 8-10 shitty tracking in about 5-6 years.
I remember when i started music production and I idolised making actual music over equipment, I was just making track after track on a failing laptop and a pair of 60 dollar headphones. but at some point when the beginner naivity began to fade, I began telling myself, "in order to make the music I want to make, I need x or y or z" and I recently came to the realisation that my internal goal had shifted from making music to buying gear. I definitely don't regret purchasing any of the equipment I have in my studio as it was all very thought it and well planned but it's definitely time to get my head back in the game and remember why I started with this shit in the first place.
This is so relatable! You can definitely go overboard and end up spending huge amounts of money on what was initially a harmless hobby. Thank you so much for sharing your experience! Rock on my friend!
Everything you said, all true! One idea is to start small then add what you need rather than pre-imagining the track you want to produce. Use the fewest pieces of gear that you need to start a track and only build on that if you need to. The band Freezepop wrote their first album on a Yamaha QY70. Sometimes just one piece of gear will do all the work.
So true. Coming from a software background, i went down the hardware route for several years. It was really fun organizing all the stuff and checking out 2nd hand gear and doing the cable salad dance and THINKING OF all the cool stuff i COULD make when i just get this one new piece ... but in fact it was a sort of escape from actually making music.
Now i'm happily doing my stuff with software again ... with random attacks of "plug-in-aquision-syndrom" (but not too bad) and sellers remorse when i see pics of gear i once owned. But all in all my productivity is soooooooo much better than with hardware. Works for me :)
That’s awesome my friend! Thank you for sharing, cheers!
Listen to this man and his wise words. I can confirm his statements 100%. The phrase "less is more" comes from real experience. On the other hand, especially as a young person, you want to discover your world and the possibilities it offers. You first have to find out what you like and what you want to start with and use. But don't overdo it. Time is money, as they say.
Thanks man! And yes, time is money! I just wish I could pay to have more time, cause when the adulting starts, you’re lucky to get a few minutes a day to yourself. Cheers my friend!
Agreed! Ever since I got my polybrute in March, I cant think of anything else I need. Nothing has come close!
I took a 7 year hiatus from writing after I sold 95% of my gear and got into outdoor horticulture work. Got back into buying gear about a year and a half ago after getting the bug again. Since then I've amassed a large collection of synths, drum modules, VST's, guitars (12) DAWs etc (all software paid for) and realised that I am more unproductive than I've ever been. I realised I have more dollars than sense. And my GAS and 'hunter gatherer'/research addiction is well off the charts. I am going to sell a lot and simplify. I could pretty much take out a mortgage on a small country property or pay my bills/rates for a few years with the money spent.
"Hi I'm Earlymist and I am a gear and gear research addict."
Your speaking on all the issues that have plagued me for years. I constantly state, having lots of gear is a Gift & Curse. As I definitely suffer from Option Paralysis. But, this is true for many of my creative and entertainment options. ✌🏾👍🏾
The new synth golden age has peaked. It’s time to enjoy these days now! You will be glad you did when you look back on this time in history…. when in 2 years a zombie is eating your head…
Definitely relate to this. Over the last month I was on the verge of purchasing either an A4, an OP-1, and/or a Microcosm. The worst thing is that It was a cycle in which I would convince myself not to get one, and I would immediately focus my attention on wanting one of the others. I think I got it under wraps (for now). What helped me kind of reign it in is questioning why I wanted to buy the gear (I have enough). The answers have little to do with music and are primarily driven by FOMO, finding a great deal (even if I may not use the synth that much - which undermines the value of the purchase in some respects), and short-term immediate gratification. I have to ask myself - do I REALLY like making music? Or do I like playing with toys (metaphorically)? That’s something I’ll have to grapple with. Great video overall.
Top work TMS, you've just created a fantastic metaphor for life in its entirety - take what you have and do something awesome with it, don't concentrate your energy on wishing for more - you've certainly summed up exactly what I do, I'll often actually stop a track mid-make, and think, yeah, I'll hang on to that until I've got ... X Y Z device, when, 99% of the time, the finished song is just moments away with the building blocks I already own! But something about the ring of the doorbell and that new shiny box of hardware arriving, its like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
great insights.
- I've bought way too much gear over the years, starting in 1986, - but youtube really has taken it to another level for me.
That said, I do tend to wait a few years now, until a product is well established, - like I've only just bought the Eventide Space, and I only started buying Roland's ACB gear, about 2yrs ago. I agree RUclips certainly fuels GAS, but given time it's also easy to hear whether a piece of gear is going to work for me or not, purely through the amount of videos added over time.
- I've learnt over the last few decades, not to rush out and buy units just as they're released, - which introduces a well needed cooling off period between wanting a product, and actually feeling that I require it as a worthy addition to the sonic arsenal.
- And, if I have major issues with a unit by a particular brand, I remove that brand from my future purchasing lists, - which has saved me small fortune over the last decade or so, as one of the problems I see personally is there are many great brands out there, but only a few consistently offer high-quality units. Japanese and European brands seem to be more road worthy, just in my personal experience that is, regardless of where they are made.
love to ALL, feel no hate
Which brands are on your never-buy-again list?
@@bartjanc Xaoc Devices, Moog, dbx, Analogue Solutions are the ones that immediately come to mind. Not that there is anything bad about the companies mentioned, or their products, - I've just had major problems with some of their products personally, issues that have caused me to lose all confidence in the brands on a personal level.
absolutely no disrespect aimed at any of the named brands above
love to ALL
Totally agree, the option paralysis always hit me on the ice cream shop and surely it's hitting me in my studio, usually, I ended up using one synth at a time. That clip at 3:00 am looking at reviews it's hilarious and totally relatable. Nice video!
Amazing video and very valuable points - I find myself so often thinking of what gear to by next and watch literally EVERY video out on it here on RUclips instead of making music with the gear that I currently have. So the last point is sooo important! Cheers buddy :)
I agree. When I had one synth, one effect and a 4 track recorder I made new music every day, now I have four amazing synths unlimited effects and lot of tracks I find myself overwhelmed and feeling guilty… I will take your advice and do one day at a time and a synth…
Many truths in just 6'31" - great!
GAS is a big part of my life as well as music but I keep these separated. Literally: gear I don't use is boxed and stored and I keep the number of intruments in use simultaneously as low as possible.
Most of the time this approach works in favour of creativity.
Thanks for sharing this and have a nice day!
Just stumbled across your video. So many things here I can relate to. I spend WAY too much time looking around the keyboard/synth world looking for a "new " sound when I have two ( in my opinion ) wonderfully powerful machines, the Yamaha Genos and the MODX6, a truly awesome combination. Your most profound comment?? " It only has to be awesome to you " . Made me realise what is important to me and that's creating music from my imagination. Thank you.
This hit home. I'm a lifelong side musician turned fledgling producer. I spent a LOT of time reviewing gear and software I'd like to have in my arsenal and was lucky enough to be able to acquire much of it this past year (though it's by no means high-end and I'm still in the hole for much of it). Now I have 3 drum machines, 5 synths, countless software synths, a few boards, some rack gear...all of which will take time to learn. I have a pretty huge learning curve ahead and it can be pretty daunting when I just want to sit down and write a song, especially just trying to figure out where that next sound I need is going to come from, let alone how to tailor it and make it fit well in the context of the other sounds...
Great vid! Thanks!
Thank you for watching and sharing! Cheers my friend!
Lots of truth in this video. Before RUclips it was so difficult reaching valuable practice information. I like the MPC workflow, which I found is using one gear and having a bunch of powerful options at the same time. The good thing about MIDI is the interoperability, which let you decide what gear to use. Even if possibilities with electronically music have grown up, they are easier to handle.
Ya I bought a new synth this week and have more synths than racks. I'm happier than ever :)
Great message!! We are all intoxicated by finding the next best thing. Modular has crippled me with this at times, but I have recently “down graded” to a better workflow and smaller amount of modules. Now time to get to work.
This is the most important gear video on RUclips - needed this, thanks for gentle reminder :)
Thank you so much for your kind comment! Hope it helps someone out there, cheers!
As always, great video!
I work as a character animator, a super creative job, but music is my (other) passion and I have been playing keyboards in different bands since I was 15, starting with a Yamaha PC100 and a Commodore 64 and a double deck cassette player for adding more instruments than my 2 hands can play :P 5 years ago I had a pretty good job opportunity so I moved to Canada, taking only my laptop and some clothes with me. The first thing I did here was buying a cheap pair of studio monitors and a MIDI controller. Later I bought the Arturia V Collection and I was in heaven. I had all the synths I ever wanted when I was 15, on a single computer, and at the end of the year, I had almost 50 finished tracks, and pretty good ones. My small MIDI controller and the Arturia V Collection was the only inspiration I had and after work, I was playing music for at least 4 or 5 hours per day. A year after I moved to a bigger apartment and I decided to stay in Canada for the rest of my life, so I started buying (again) hardware, because bringing all my synths from my home country is gonna be super expensive and complicated (one of my machines is an Emax II and that beast is huge and heavy). I started with some Volcas because they´re super small and cool, and then I found the Boutiques series and I fell in love with the form factor and the possibility to have legendary modern interpretation of those machines, sitting on my desk. And then there was youtube and that was my GAS problem starting, but luckily I put a stop pretty soon, just precisely when I found out that I wasn't making music like I did with only one MIDI controller and a bunch of VST´s anymore. In the past years I bought maybe 1 or 2 synths that I rarely play, and that was the moment when I changed my behavior and stopped looking at new gear, and started learning how to use everything I have, because technically I might have more machines and VST´s (or sound possibilities) than all the bands I love from the 70´s to 90´s together, so I didn't have any excuse and I only have to seat and make music instead of keep buying things. I´m a musician, an artist, not a collector, and synths are musical intrument intented to play with it, not to collect dust or look cool on instagram. The last thing I wanted was a full size synth, with all the classic synths and the flexibility of a modern digital machine, so I bought the Jupiter X and now it is the center of my music production, I stopped buying things and just focusing in making music, and my passion is back and I'm truly enjoying every single piece of hardware and VST I have. I don´t care if the synth is analog or digital, or a hardware or a VST... those things are for fanboys :P I like to make music, I like a sound and I use it and that's it. The meaning of "playing" music is just that: to play and have fun :)
I generally don't suffer from Gas unless I eat too much chili... However, my lack of inspiration comes from crippling depression... Sometimes we need to come to terms with ourselves to overcome mental and creative blocks. And as we humans often attempt to fill one void with another, it can be hard to tell from what you're suffering.
I love ther gear I have and have acquired but I spend most of my time wrapped up in myself to make music... so I fill the void with much of what you said here. I'm not trying to call out your very well thought out video... I just want people who read this comment to know, you're not alone. There are people out there in your same or similar position. And videos like this and comments like mine, I hope people find answeres in so they can continue to better themselves by whatever means necessary.
'oughts and shoulds'
"I ought to be using that new/old synth"
"I should get that new synth, it'll give me inspiration"
It's the killer of inspiration and productivity.
I feel guilty if I don't use whatever synth, regardless if the track needs its sounds.
Also, too much choice of sound palettes.
Poor use of time, and feeling guilty for not hitting the studio.
Also, for me, the worst thing is worrying if people will like it, instead of making music I like to make.
I got into modular stuff a while ago, and not long after I found myself with more modules than I knew what to do with. It led to constant analysis paralysis, and the only way to deal with it was to just straight up ignore a lot of the gear. Trying to work it all in posed so much difficulty, even if it did produce some really cool and unique sounds/vibes/etc. The best and most creative spans were all when I focused on just making use of certain limited features at a time, like I'd work on a piece that made big use of voltage controlled stereo panning, or one where it was all about getting cool AM and FM tones. Trying to do everything all at once added such a cognitive load to the creative process that it dragged it down.
You made a very good video, thanks for this. Especially the part of "Learning new gear" and "Implementing it in an existing setup" are crucial points for me. It's easy to make fun of GAS but it surely has characteristics of an addiction.
So the first point is to admit it. I made a list: From the mid-90s to today I owned 79 devices. This includes synths, samplers, sequencer, controllers, audio interfaces, effects. No headphones and VSTs. From these 79 devices 12 have been very special to me. I still own 23, 3 being DAWs.
This is way too much. I could break up my gear to three different setups and place it at my desk, bedroom and toilet.
I started in music playing a cornet. I found it easy to pick up, only 3 buttons (valves) and breathing technique. But I felt limited playing only one note at a time. Rock n Roll changed my trumpet into a guitar. 6 notes at one time! Amplifiers! Peddles! All sorts of things to add to the collection. Creating tunes and little diddles fairly easily. But after many years trying to improve fingering, limitations appeared. Repetitions had me looking for something different. That's when synths came into view. But that view extends waaaaay into the horizon. Guitars are relatively simple. They all have 6 strings (yeah you can get more or less) a couple of pickups, volume and tone knobs.. You pick it up and if you like and can afford it, that's it. But synths, to my newbie mind, have so many options, poly, mono, digital, analog, hybred and lots of knobs, midi, clocks, LFO's, sequencers, voices, on and on...So...I "think" I want a Prophet 12. Maybe...a Rev 2 16 voice? A Poly D? A Moog "bleep" machine? A Volca to see if I like turning knobs for cheap? As the Kingfish used to say at times like these, "Holy Mackeral Andy, whatamI gonna do now?" And I have no solid idea because there isn't a shop that sells synths within 3 1/2 hours from here (5 hours in traffic) to see if i can connect with ANY synth. So I take weeks long breaks from gassing and reviews, create a ditty on my guitar knowing, another gas attack is just around the corner.
great video and good reminder
Thanks Bo!
Fortunately, thanks to this and similar channels, I haven't made any mistakes yet. I'm not staring at any of my machines with buyers' remorse. These channels have allowed me to learn from others' experience and make informed choices. Each box I've ultimately decided on has filled that particular hole in my setup perfectly, which never would have happened without these reviews. The Deluge was the final and most important piece, the glue that brought it all together. I can honestly say I'm good now. If I can't make amazing music with what's already on my desk, the problem is me. Of course, I don't make an income reviewing gear, so it's easier for me to say ;-)
That’s a great way to go about it! Especially your final reflection, it’s a hard thing to admit to oneself. I’ve often thought about that and absolutely, if I can’t make good music with what I have, then the problem definitely ain’t the gear. Thanks for sharing my friend!
@@MidlifeSynthesist Any time! I just re-read what I wrote to you and thought to myself "who am I kidding?" Of course I haven't purchased my last piece of kit yet! It's just, I don't have any more gaps in my setup now, thanks to you and others. My kaleidoscope is now complete, so any new gear at this point will simply be adding new shards to the kaleidoscope. :-)
I really enjoy your more philosophical discussions on gear and music making. Thank you for making quality videos!
Great video. I’ve recently been “obsessing” over the OP-1.
Uff! I feel that! I love that little thing. Sold my first one, bought it back and never letting go! Sorry if that didn’t help the GAS lol
I had two major hiccups over the years related to gear. I used an Ensoniq SQ-80 as my master keyboard and sequencer for about 15 years, at the end of which I knew it like the back of my hand. When I upgraded to a Motif ES, it literally took me 3 months to understand how the sequencer worked. So new actual music for 3 months. Then a while longer to understand programming, data backup, etc. 6 years later I got a Motif XF, that transition was mostly seamless. 6 years after that I went ITB with Logic and again spent months trying to understand how it worked, not to mention searching for the best controller keyboard, wasting both time and money. I'd estimate I have 5-10 times as many "experiment" projects recorded in Logic sitting on my disk as part of the learning process. Even today, I run into something in Logic that I didn't know about and off to some more experimenting, which in fact I am doing right now. Spent 2 days already figuring out how to integrate a new plugin into a project and will be back at it again after I type this.
When you intro’ed “Playing Together”, I thought you were gonna talk about the importance of jams & collabs - all good though, many great thoughts & takeaways. Arigato 🌟🤙🏽
I had to give my gas an endgame. I’ve collected way too much and I almost exclusively use my jx305. It has an 8 channel sequencer onboard. So I hooked up 4 mainstay pieces and left 2 channels open for the 305 and one guest channel for any random piece in my collection. Right now I’m exploring the emu audity rack. I’ve had it for years and it’s finally getting a workout.
Thank you for your time and opinion my friend
Thanks for the kind and encouraging words.
Thank you so much for watching!
Most of my synths still live in their boxes. I may leave it that way except for my Matriarch and Grandmother. These knob per function gems are much easier for me to play, even though I just got started with them. I'm at about 35% with the microfreak and 25% on the deepmind 12. Boog D, opsix, minilogue, nts-1, and therimini are just gonna have to wait their turn. Thanks for your candor on these subjects. It helped me focus on jamming instead of piling boxes of gear up in my studio. The other exacerbating aspect of my GAS/GRS, is bargain hunting. For instance, I never considered buying the Matriarch until Alto put their glut of darks on sale for $1699. After watching the quantity go from over 300 to 118, my FOMO took over, and I pulled the trigger. (At least I didn't pay $2199 +,+). Saving $500 was not a good enough reason to make that purchase, especially since I bought a mint used GM for $750 two weeks prior. Incidentally, the GM arrived with a broken A3 key. Moog sent me one for the cost of shipping, and I fixed it myself. I received a $215 repair allowance from reverb, which reduced the total cost to $550+,+. Still, WTF is wrong me??. Anyway, thanks for the evergreen subject matter.
Right on with this. Can totally relate in my own case. Also a lot of synth youtuber's content is basically cycling through gear and gear reviews so it's easy to get caught up in that.
Love how the ad I was offered up for this was for more gear
oooh what gear was it for??
Some hi tech multi channel mixer that connects to a phone. Sounds like something I need but could do without
Back in the day. You were basicslly limited to whatever handful of shops near you had in stock. For used gear it was whatever was in the local paper or a couple of national places who sent out mail order magazines or subscription interest magazines (I blame YOU for my gas Keyboard Magazine).. Today, you get endless hands on demos made for free by people who own the synth or are expert reviewers. The amount of marketing that goes towards the marketing of gear is huge. The international hunger for gear is so huge that it's more than just profitable to recreate modern versions of gear and synths that have been out of manufacture for the last 30 or even 40 years. The reach of marketing has grown by leaps and bounds.
I'm not in judgment of any of it. The amount of pure access modern computing and low cost manufacturing is a complete Disney World to what it was. But also the expectations were lower. No one was expecting a studio quality mix then either, so you could only focus on what you could write not what you could mix.
I totally agree! I am part of the problem of course, but I try to talk about gear from a sentimental value standpoint and hopefully that comes through in my videos. You guys are the my synth friends that I can talk about this stuff. Thanks for some great insight, cheers!
at the end of the day you just got to make music have fun don’t think to much about it just do it, better acting than doing nothing at all, I think synthesizers are fascinating I’m so glad I got into this stuff and took the risk buying my first synth
Thanks for commenting my friend! Welcome to this wonderful and crazy world of synthesizers and samplers! I really feel what you said - at the end of the day, you just got to make music and have fun. Cheers!
@@MidlifeSynthesist yes for sure! It’s fun cheers!
Yep. This is me. Add plugins to the mix, and the constant “obligation” to upgrade the next release of Komplete when you don’t even use 98% of the instruments in the current release. I bought a CP73 stage piano so I could play better, and that made the only real difference!
I will eventually replace my FA06 with either a Fantom 6, or whatever next gen workstation Yamaha or Korg releases, because the computer is just too full of distractions for me.
So true. I was so much more productive when I had basically one synth and I knew it inside and out (Nord Micro Modular). Now I have synths just sitting in boxes that I am only vaguely familiar with and I make much less music. My attempt at a solution has been to just try to start all writing at the piano instead of at a synth/softsynth.
As usual, you're on point and on time with this video. I think for some ( I could include myself in this one) , it become more like trophy hunting that the music aspects of it. But that's when the overload sets in when creative process comes in.
Good advice. Very healthy and helpful. I mean i'm not gonna follow your advice but other people definitely should lolol
LOL! Can’t argue with that!
My GAS started with really wanting the Prophet 6 as a move from the DAW to hardware. Then, as I am a complete synthwave nut, the Juno 60 looked more appealing by the day once I got the P6. "Once I had the Juno", I said to myself, "I could finally start to produce". The Juno has its limitations in this day and age and got the JU-06A instead, which, after watching comparison videos on RUclips, has no audible difference to me. Then the drum machine debacle of 2020 hit - always buying and selling stuff that just could not create the sounds out of the box that I was looking for. In the end, sampling seemed the way to go for me. The same is true for the eternal chase of the perfect controller / sequencer for non-keyboard players. Launchpad Pro, Linnstrument, Digitakt, Blackbox, Theoryboard... I've had them all at some point. Now the Akai Force controls the Prophet 6, JU-06A, SH-01A, Peak and recently the UDO Super 6, all routed into their own effects.
Finally, the dream setup is here. Still, I'm not quite as happy as I would have thought I would be, because noise (hiss, no ground loops) is quite an issue at times. This is GAS for sure. Meanwhile in the DAW, the writing of my first record took a back seat, while it was practically done two years ago.
Thank you for hammering this home. Thanks a ton for this smack in the face / wake up call. Now let's make some music.
Thanks for another thoughtful video! now I tend to experiment out of the box I’ve been sitting when I was making music I wanted which was giving me excitement and fans. Now I’m too lazy to go the same successful path, but am feeling that it’s the way to go and all the rest is just toys I want to play. I don’t have too much hardware, I’m feeling this is going to help me in making the old and the new stuff (just for fun), but like I said I became too lazy even to adapt my new gear to making music the way I did before. I guess this laziness brings us to the idea of getting newer and more universal gear to get us finally going, I’m afraid that’s not to happen before we come to realize what we need and master the tools we have to make what we need :)
It’s also worth a note to point out that any extra time spent learning a skill is time spent setting yourself apart from other people. A person who reads a manual and does boring work is already ahead of the crowd in at least one aspect. It might not seem like you’re having valuable knowledge, because it now feels normal and we assume anyone can do it if we did, but people who learn multiple pieces will have a skill set that not everyone is willing to obtain.
It’s not everything, but it’s not nothing. Deep knowledge of any skill is rarely a bad thing in my humble opinion.
I agree 100%! Part of the reason I got into making this youtube channel was because I love learning and exploring new gear, and it was a way to make that experience useful to other as well. Thanks for commenting, love the insight, cheers!
While I’m fine with nearly all you said , some people (me) have problems to convert ideas due to the lack of skills. So they can’t start right away. Sometimes there isn’t even a school where things you need are taught.
This is wisdom. Thanks. And yep, it resonates with my own experience.
Thank you! Hope it helps in any small way, at least in sharing our experiences and knowing there are many just like us. Cheers my friend!
You make some salient observations here, and I agree that GAS crosses over with obsessive behaviour etc (guilty). Although I have a number of synths my GAS exists around, pedals and stuff that records (desks/AIs etc) but I have to say, my endless research/sleepless nights/watching you tube vids and all the things you have mentioned have helped me so much as a distraction upon quitting alcohol (and other animals) 600 ish days ago! whilst I appreciate I am in the minority here, GAS saved me and distracted me from the early 'challenges' of being sober and so did starting a little channel here! (i also spent all the money that used to go on such things on gear- no, not that type!) Anyway, great content- thank you!
Great video thanks for this reminder! So I put a limiter to myself to not allowed to buy another gear until I know the gear I’ve bought, then I detailed it out per type product like delay fix, reverb, modular osc, mono synths and since I don’t yet own a hardware poly synth (only vst) I’m still allowed to look for buying it even though I barely know half of my gear I have! Easy to trick yourself :)
Great video. Channel is ticking along nicely and should take off real soon.
Too true!! Playing should be the aim; many vids are just chained demos. We tend to forget that music is meant to be perceived by ear and touch but not by our eyes. Too much seems to depend on the size of the setup and the pedigree of each machine. We are just synth lemmings :)
So true, I had a relatively large number of synthesizers and drum machines ... I sold everything, and there was a standstill. Unfortunately, I had also sold my Digitakt, that was a mistake, I have now bought a new one, used. And I bought a synth that I'm very happy with. It has no knobs to turn, i don't waste time researching sound. My ultra-flexible setup is a Digitakt (only 2 Digitakt are better than one) and a DX7 MK1 12Bit soundsynth. For the DX7 I got myself a wazacraft chorus (DC-2), a dream. The DX7 is so cheap, so famous, sounds really good, digital and analog…. Perfect. I recommend everyone a Hypersynth cart for the DX.
Unfortunately, I am still a bit excessive with the purchase of rotary dj mixers, only to come to the conclusion that I like my Urei 1620 / Le best.
Ah the sensibilities!! Great video and message !
You hit me with this at right time.
Glad I could help my friend! I’m always here for some GAS THERAPY when you need it lol, cheers!
Without evening seeing this yet I know you're going to raise some valid points. Also I've just spent the last few weeks obsessing over the Nonlinear Labs C15, to the point I didn't want to play any of my current gear. I finally got the C15 delivered this week so the story has a happy ending and it certainly exceeded expectations. Let's see if I actually put it to practical use after all that research and obsessing 😅
Good that the C15 is finally on the table to GAS about now they _finally_ added MIDI
@@Wagoo Definitely, it wasn't hugely on my radar until Stimmings recent review and the introductuon of midi support. It's well worthy of any GAS anyway. Its one very special and unique sounding synth.
Resisting the temptation to look up this gear ... nope, gotta do it :[
@@DonSmiths Its probably not for everyone. If you're into more experimental, abrasive or unique sounds then theres really nothing else that comes close to the C15. For that warm analog sound theres better options though, C15 is unashamedly digital.