I’m at the same point atm. All of them are so different it’s difficult to let any of them go.
The “out of sight, out of mind” approach seems at least very worth trying before taking more drastic action.
I will strip my setup to max. 4 synths at a time and store the rest of it at my mom’s house.
This should enhance my ability to dive deeper into the gear I own and make it less likely to lose all my gear should there be a fire or burglary etc.
Also none of the gear I have is losing it’s value as it’s all good stuff.
It’s easy to get carried away with these things and this kind of approach will likely reduce the amount of dumb and hasty decisions.
Yesterday, the last purchases of 2021 arrived. I ordered an NTS-1 to use as a multi-effect and added some pedal-cases and cables to fill out the 200€ amount to not have to pay postage.
It turned out that the cables were the best buy after all as I was able to rearrange everything a bit and get everything finally connected to my patchbay. As it turns out, I have just the right amount of gear for my 48-point patchbay. There was one patchpoint that was left empty after I connected everything. My mixer only has 12 inputs so I need to patch stuff to get everything in use. This time I also patched my MPC inputs to the patchbay so it’s a simple job of connecting four patchpoints to sample any of my instruments into the MPC Live. Feel really good about my setup at the moment.
I loved the pedal cases too. They allow for everything to be kept nice and tidy and compartmentalized. I made a three pedal board with a looper, a delay and a reverb and connected that to my patchbay. Whenever I feel like I need some fx and jamming, I just patch things to go through that pedal case. Patchbay is a wondrous thing.
Nice to hear man. I’m really happy with all of my last purchases as well. No regrets at all. Feeling strangely content at the moment. I’m really enjoying finally getting around to using some things I haven’t touched in a while as well. This hiatus on buying will be good for me I think. Let me catch up on things.
At the end of the day, when you die, I hope you won’t be on your death bed thinking about the stuff you owned. Chuck Palahniuk wrote ‘The things you own end up owning you’ and I believe that.
If you enjoy your things and synths then great, but it sounds to me that you don’t, so it might be a good move to get rid of a lot of it.
My (mental) problem is that I should have done that some time ago, I’ve sunk way too much money and time into the equipment and as a result have reached this point:
Music gear (and the lack of anything produced with it) has become a source of stress and obsession rather than pleasure, I’m not making any music or learning any equipment, only either worrying about it or ignoring it completely. Need to change that!
Baby steps. Pick a synth and/or sequencer and make a riff. Twist those knobs for an hour or 2 with no intention of recording or writing a track. Just enjoy it. I remember a few months ago you posted a couple of snippets on this forum - I messaged you because I really enjoyed them. They weren’t full tracks but I still listened. Maybe post more of these in the current sounds from your gear thread?
Are you a professional musician? I’m guessing not, so there really isn’t any stress to produce. I’m also assuming that your friends and family don’t judge you based on the music you make, so all this anxiety comes from within. I’m not a shrink or a medical Dr., but I would suggest you try and play with your gear again rather than producing on it.
And always remember, it’s just stuff and this stuff is making you stressed, so more stuff will mean more stress. I always try and keep things simple and use common sense.
You might benefit from a really small setup. At one point, all of my electronic music gear was just a Digitakt and a tiny Boss recorder. It was one of the most productive setups I’ve ever had and there was no need to feel guilty about having loads of gear.
I’ve got more stuff now, mostly not electronic music related (except for a drawer of Volcas that I love as a guilt-free pleasure), but the focus of my work this year will be on a single sampler and cassette portastudio, which is sort of reminiscent of my old Digitakt setup. I think it will be not just be productive, but fun, and since I can sample instruments, educational as well!
Since you are a synth player, have you ever studied keys? Maybe one way to get a jump start on making music would be to take some lessons on keys. You could sell a synth or two and use that money to fund lessons. Just an idea. I really love in-person music lessons. It’s one of the best things I’ve discovered in my 40s. Great alternative to going to the pub!
It’s easy to say to yourself what you should have done and much harder to determine what you should do now.
Take some time to make a plan for this. You already joined NGNY22, so the most important step you already took!
An example for a plan might be: Make a minimal setup of the gear you own with the sonic needs covered and box the rest and put it out of sight. Do this today or tomorrow.
Pick a date in your agenda for reviewing your minimal setup, like March 15 or so. Then decide to sell the boxed gear or to create another minimal setup. With boundaries and structural rules set for yourself it will be easier to make decisions and it will hopefully help you to get back into the mood of actually making music!
I don’t think it’s just stuff. Some instruments are special and the bonding is real, at least for me.
I think there is something magical about some instruments and in the way one perceives them.
This is just my view of course. Certain memories with an instrument are making the equation a lot more complicated for me. My instruments are pretty much all I’ve got in terms of material stuff. If I’d have mouths to feed or other responsibilities like that, it would be another story.
@Grate_expectations Thank you! Yes music is something I do in my spare time, so no judgement or deadlines around music. I will try what you and @rtme and @DimensionsTomorrow are suggesting, a small setup with just 2-3 items and no expectations.
I haven’t but that would be nice to do. Maybe I’ll come back to that after getting myself out of this headf*ck first! I also have a guitar sat in a cupboard, and want to get back into the death metal playing at some point - no worries about setup there
@Joebas and @Wolf-Rami it’s totally fair enough, each of us has a slightly different version of this going on! If I was to sell everything that would no doubt result in more GAS. I’m hoping to sell enough to remove guilt and start being productive again without triggering it.
I’m really grateful for all your support and suggestions, this is a fantastic help to me
Selling stuff but not specifically because of NGNY. Had already planned on offloading a few things but now that it looks like my place is about to be sold off to investors I’m looking to sell off pretty much everything that’s not nailed down (books, dvds, camera, etc) asap.
Partly to claw back as much $$ as possible (which will help to cover expected rent increase) and partly because I have no idea what to do with a lot of my shit if I get kicked out and don’t have anywhere to go.
With that being said, having been fairly extreme minimalist at various times in my life, I’ve always found the process of stripping right back to little more than the essentials to be rather therapeutic.
Edit: I’ve also found that the sting of monetary losses when selling underused items is a good reminder not to waste so much fkng money.
It seems like most of the misery of having a few too many synths is not so much about the material situation but more related to the amount of good stuff one is able/willing to squeeze out of them.
I never feel guilty about these things when I have a nice flow going on.
While I understand what you are saying, it is just stuff. You may love your instruments and have a connection to them, but they are still material things. It is of course your right and prerogative to feel that way.
I think I understand what you mean too and we seem to have a different view, which is more than fine of course.
To me it’s not possible to divide things into two categories like that.
I’ve had so many dreams in which I play my instruments. Not the most convincing example but it’s just to point out that these things do affect how we view music, how we feel, our thoughts, actions, plans and so on. It’s deeper than just the material level. In most cases it’s the instruments and their special sounds that lead me to where I’m going musically, not my mind alone.
The material/immaterial dualism just doesn’t work for me. I don’t find it valid at all.
I don’t want to drag this thread off in too much of a tangent, but I do want to ask one question (and I do find the discussion interesting). If you suddenly lost all your current instruments and then only had access to a couple of new ones, say an MPC and a synth for the foreseeable future, would you still make music or would that be it? Would you have no further inspiration or connection to the new instruments?
