I love it when you get to the end of the process and get to put someone else’s record on. It’s like listening for the first time again.
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In other news, I just spent the best part of several hours searching the internet for reviews and recommendations for a “dumb-phone” - which I am purchasing in order to further slim down my time staring at screens…a little dash of irony in that pursuit, but I got there in the end.
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That’s not a bad idea at all. I’ve been thinking about getting a dumb phone as my next phone as well. I hate it when I’m waiting for someone of something, it’s so easy to pick up the iPhone and start checking all kinds of irrelevant stuff. It’s very bad for trying to be in the present.
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I started to feel this way about my Live 2, and I’d previously owned a mk1 and a One.
But now I’m using it as a hub for syncing my 2 Op-1s, sampling/prep/processing to feed back into them. Seems a bit of a waste but it helps to enhance and optimise my usage of the Op’s, which is where I want to focus my energy.
And that stops me from selling it. I’d also like to keep it around for when my Son’s a bit older.
Yeah I kind of ran out of excuses to keep mine to be honest, with two toddlers around I rarely get enough time to invest the amount of work it takes to get a complete track done on it… the iPad and Ableton maximise my results in the time I have available, by the time my boy is old enough to get stuck in we’ll probs be on mpc live 5 and Ableton 15…
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welp, this facility has gone 0 days without buying new gear
1 whole day after loaning out my Hydrasynth to a friend for a few months, in order to fully concentrate on the NL4+Pro 2 combo, I lost my willpower thanks to a solid deal on a Nord Lead 3 rack. I had a hunch it would be my kryptonite, should a worthy deal come along.
Sad that I only made it 16 days. I’ll do my best to not use this as a watershed moment and unleash a load of purchasing and trading. Time to sell some redundant things i’ve been meaning to (Harlows, SFC-5, TE POs, some other processing), and eventually the Hydra once I get it back around April. Ironically I’ve been making a lot of tunes with a single OT by itself lately.
Anyways, full accountability here. This is hard, especially when you’ve had your eye on hard to come by things (at a decent price) for years. I hope many of you do better than I,
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I always thought this one looked cool.
Light Phone 2
Thought about ditching the “smart phone” as well.
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I have had a Kyocera DuraXV flip phone for years and it has held up. Makes calls, sends and receives texts, has an mp3 player with micro sd card, stopwatch, timer, alarm, flashlight, etc. I never take photos with it, but it can receive in texts. It can get email and browse the web very minimally but it is more cumbersome than I care to so I never use that either. Battery can be swapped out after a while but mine at 5 years old now still lasts a little under a week.
It’s possible to dumb down your smartphone too. That’s a good solution if you already have a decent phone and the problem lies in the usage. It would rule out buying new stuff which would be nice.
edit:
Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb…
Obviously there are still a few useful and essential apps but none of those are gateways to mindless browsing. I understand the attraction of the primitive good ol’ nostalgic vintage cellphone, but the thought of using money on it if you’re able to achieve the same thing for free with some flexibility with your existing phone doesn’t make much sense to me, especially while trying to stop buying new stuff. 
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Are you leaving us for good, or should I just note a sin in the first post?
Well…some people stumble, regroup and are able to take their resolutions to the end of the year…post stumble. 
So you had a hiccup. If it was the dream box, there is a little understanding.
Cold turkey is tuff. Just don’t do it again!
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I sold a bunch of things today, most of them because I bought an ipad in 2021:
- DFAM is gone: it’s a very original synth but Ruismaker Noir goes way beyond it.
- Micromonsta 2: again, great synth but there are tons of excellent polysynths on the ipad. Lovin’ Sunrizer.
- LXR-02: again, nice drum machine, but drumcomputer killed it.
I’m not planning to buy anything else with the money, I just want more focus.
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Pretty much sums up my attitude now, there’s so much quality software on iOS now that I don’t feel the need for multiple hardware units anymore… have you got beepstreets zeonn synth? That one is properly slept on and sounds even better than sunrizer imho…
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Yep, zeeon is fine too, and pairs very well with drambo because of it’s UI ratio.
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I was tempted by this one but it was pipped at the post by the Punkt, mainly because I wanted to order within the EU. It does have a handy feature of using the Signal network for web based calls and messaging, but apart from that, it’s pretty much calls and texts only. Minimal-tastic!
I was also looking at the revived Nokia 8110 (as sported by Neo in the Matrix), but because I’m clearly scared of too much money burning a hole in my bank account, I spent more to have less.
Yeah, I actually did this last year and cut down my average usage to about 45 minutes to 1 hour a day.
Reading this book was very useful.
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Down to or from about 1 hour a day? 
Yeah, still seems quite a lot eh…
Those cumulative pickups soon add up!
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Yep, they sure do. Also it’s been a gradual increase with everything being added to the phone, so in many ways it’s no wonder the usage is what it is.
It’s scary to think how it is for all the social media influencers etc…, must be pure madness.
I’m doing this too - it’s a really important part of trying to draw a line under the GAS for me. I’m very good moving things on in all other areas of my life except music gear. Usually if I don’t use something in 6-12 months then it needs to have a very good reason to stay.
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