^ this
@craig Get the OT out of your hair and return to the DT. Then, when you start GASing for an OT, remember what happened last time and resist. It happens to me a lot with the OT (I have neither anymore and I have owned 2-3 OTs).
The DT and the OT are two completely different devices.
That MD album you made is easily one of the greatest releases I’ve heard in a while.
I’ve been listening to it over and over again and it’s my go-to when painting with acrylics.
Don’t be so hard on yourself!
That thread reminds me a bit of IG. IG ruined video synthesis for me for several years bcs I got used to posting a one minute clip or two a day there and in the end (pretty soon actually) I was a complete dopamine junky, doing it for totally wrong reasons and wasn’t able to make myself create something more complete and meaningful.
I can still feel the effects of that. Now, a few of years later something cool is beginning to happen again finally.
Now I’m watching SY-300 videos. I suspect the Chords of Orion one will be particularly dangerous 
Probably won’t get one this year. Maybe 2023.
If you decide to swap the OT back for a DT because you really feel you made a mistake then I think most of us will forgive you. We won’t tell Joebas about it! (You’ll have to do that yourself 
).
Haha. Thanks! I’m going to take my time to decide. Something I didn’t do in full GAS cycle. 
Yeah take your time. You might be glad you did. There will be plenty of DTs around later on.
You’re absolutely right. And I don’t actually set out to make something for that thread but the concept of that thread has been fitting a bit too well with limited time I’ve had for music lately. Plus I’ve certainly been oversharey at times. Time to break that cycle (too).
What @Strutter said about the IG-ey nature of that thread rings true to me, even tho I’ve never actually been on IG. As inspiring as I’ve found following the thread, it’s time to take a break. At least to the extent that I have been following it.
And thank you so much for for your words @Strutter! Seems I often have a pretty short memory when it comes to the so-called successes of this creative venture of mine.
This is all interesting stuff. It’s really easy to fall into that trap, especially the way the world works now. Recently I’ve found myself tempted to chase low-hanging fruit for that dopamine rush, but in the back of my mind I know that won’t make me satisfied.
Also, as @korpinen said, I also want to just play more music at home for the sake of playing it, not recording.
Honestly, while this thread and the album commitment thread have good intentions, I’m also starting to wonder if these kinds of internet commitments are even healthy. They seem to be invoking a constant low level of stress in me, and this one in particular sent a lot of people into a panic at the end of last year. I’m not even tempted by gear at the moment, so it’s not like I want to buy anything, but yet it’s still a strange source of stress. Not sure if anyone else feels this. I find myself thinking that maybe I should just get my name off of lists and go my own way this year and see what happens.
I don’t think it’s possible to evalute if they are healthy or not. I think it’s such an individiual thing, that everyone has to decide for themselves.
For me personally, this thread has been amazing, which, sadly, makes me less helpful to people struggling, because I don’t have much insight to share.
But if it feels like a stress factor, dragging you down, it’s definately not worth it. That being said, the stress might be the dying call of an addiction, so that needs to be factored in too.
I hope you find the way, that works best for you, and wish I could be more helpful.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s anything that severe. More like I’m a person that prefers to workout alone rather than in a group. A buddy tried to get me to do a running/exercise routine with him and I just hated it. I did way better on my own. Perhaps just my personality type. He on the other hand was someone that couldn’t workout without someone motivating him.
You and me both - I’m very much a loner by nature, and prefer company in small doses. And I always workout alone. So I understand, where you are coming from. Maybe the difference is, that I don’t feel any pressure from the social aspect of this commitment.
I don’t think discomforf is a reliable meter of unhealthiness if it’s obvious that there is an addiction with buying new stuff constantly. It only makes sense that one gets grumpy and annoyed when quitting cold turkey.
It’s only natural that there are ups and downs with anything consistent and nowadays the amount of options is making it very difficult to stick with anything when a challenging period hits, same is to be seen in relationships today. Too much “what ifs…”
Some days ago in this thread I was stating that too much information can be crippling to ones creativity and was told that new knowledge is never a bad thing. I think it can be, and often times is and news of new gear is a perfect example of this.
Maybe you also committed to too much: NGNY and an album? I’d say drop the album commitment and just see what happens when you just do NGNY.
Commiting to too much is a normal “sabotage” pattern of your unconsious self that wants to make you fail.
And it’s actually a good sign that you feel a bit stressed or “I want to do this by myself”. That means change is happening! Changing habits is one of the hardest things to do as a human being and will always cause struggle and uncomfort. But that will go away eventually.
And don’t forget that one of the reasons to do such commitments with others is that it’s so hard (impossible) to do it alone. Talk about it here as much as you want, it will help!
Haha. Nah. I’m gonna go with my gut on this one. Internet commitments are not my bag. Not planning on doing any shopping, but also don’t want to spend too much mental energy on this. Also, still planning to do an EP, but will also be withdrawing from that list as well. I think I want to spend a bit less time on social media this year, including this forum, so I’m going to try to limit my focus to stuff like the beat battle thread, which is something I do enjoy.
Best of luck to everybody.
I can totally relate to this-it’s happening to me right now!
Partly in a reaction to this thread - which I signed up to - I decided to distract myself from new gear and do ‘Jamuary’ recording and posting a jam a day to YT and IG. In many ways it’s worked - I’ve not thought about new stuff and instead invested music time into creating ideas, jamming, recording etc-none of it brilliant but it’s stopped the GAS…
I started off posting videos and was getting 50-100 views on each- a few likes and comments and I was more than happy that a few people were watching and interacting and I was creating something.
One particular day I was short of time and so I just grabbed a resonator guitar and recorded a 45 sec slide jam and posted that. When I looked the next day it had 800 views-way more than I normally get, so I did another and that got 2.5k… same story on IG where I usually get 20-30 views, both guitar vids got over 4000… suddenly I got hooked on getting views, algorithms, refreshing my ‘views’ lists waiting for it to jump up, and totally losing site if the original purpose!!
Dopamine-seems it creeps up on you!
In short through the exercise has distracted me from GAS and focussed on the gear I have, and now I have recognised that chasing social media views is futile (and that 4k is also really not many!!) it’s been largely positive! I can certainly relate though and fear I was just substituting one dopamine hit (getting new gear) with another (getting views)
I think I am going to fail at this. I am GASsing for a T-1 (don’t need, think I can resist) BUT I don’t have drums. I have a ND3P that I just don’t use. It is too awkward to set up with my current arrangement. It is boxed up under the bed. I like how it sounds, but I don’t use it. I need something small, and ideally battery operated. So that means selling the ND3P and buying a M:C or Volca Drum. Which breaks the rules.
Yeah, it’s very twisted how these things can take over ones creativity.
We all want acceptance but there is a point when that becomes the main reason for doing or saying something.
I’ve noticed the same thing even here at times, it feels nice when lots of people like your point of view or your contribution. However it can also limit one from being authentic. After giving it some serious thought I’m definitely willing to get zero likes here by speaking my mind. That being said I don’t want to be mean to anyone either. Some opinions just aren’t very popular and are difficult to say without the risk of sounding like a prick.
I’ve been selling off a lot of unused gear the past couple of weeks, this experience alone has motivated me to stop buying gear - it’s unbelievably painful to sell, the lowball offers, the people who agree to buy and don’t turn up, those that turn up then try to haggle. Don’t even get me started on the trade offers…
I’ve been doing the same. Might just be me but I’m sure this process has become much worse since the last time I sold stuff! I’ve been doing best on Reverb actually, OK there are fees but at least people on there are honest (so far) and actually want to buy things.