There was a synth meet up last night at the local public library. I went down to check it out. There were several synths set up to mess around with. I played a little with a Mother 32 and a Grey Meanie 2600. Both sounded good, and were engaging, but neither of them left me eager to purchase
I hope they continue these meetings, and I hope they bring their gear back to try again. There was a Buchla Easel Command set up last night that I didn’t get to play with. I think that one would leave me feeling excited about buying it
While I was messing around last night, it occurred to me that I have only ever tried one machine out before buying. That seems weird now
This is actually one really sneaky thing about GAS and comparing one’s behavior to others, there is always someone far more messed up around to make your own problems seem less concerning.
“Well, at least I’m not like that bozo over there” hahaha
but seriously, i am on the fence about joining in again. i think i will mostly participate again this year, but i’ve learned what i wanted to learn about myself last year.
i only have three things i want which are mostly put off by balancing finances and a new job that will take a big learning curve. so if i get steadied up i might bow out for a digitakt/OBNE reverse pedal/fuzz pedal. but i’m happy with what i have now.
glad this is still going because i think disrupting our personal consumerist habits is valuable.
When you think about it modifying these habits starts to seem essential for the survival of the species, not just us gear junkies!
Word. I’ve been sitting with the long ignored MPC Live 2 this week, for at least an hour a day. I panic bought it December 2021 before the start of NGNY. The more time I spend with it the more I realise the incredible amount of things it can do.
Mine’s been sitting around the house, ready to be grabbed whenever I have spare time. I’m making myself use it rather than watching more videos about using it
Procrastination is definitely an enemy. If I just go and turn it on and start doing stuff then there is no GAS or hours of YouTube and forum surfing.
It does make me think of selling much of the rest of my gear though!
I will admit I’m struggling a bit. I sold the Hydrasynth and have zero regrets because I wasn’t using it. And I plan on selling the Korg Minilogue XD for the same reason.
But I also still GAS for a fun sampler. I honestly think I’ll sell the MPC Live 2 as well, because I’m not in the need for a second DAW and I feel it’s not fun enough to use as a dedicated sampler.
I want a Digitakt back in my life. Plain and simple. I think it would be tons of fun. I love the idea of resampling stuff from the Syntakt and MC-101, playing back in reverse at another pitch, adding some distortion and then p-locking away in a texture-and-drum pattern to complete my Syntakt jams. I have the MC-101 for lush pads and sweet synth sounds already, what I’m missing is the fun (re)sampling workflow of the Digitakt.
Can this thread also be an encouraging “talk me out of this shit” thread, or do we need a separate thread for that?
Bit of a long story. At the time, I owned a Digitone and bought a Digitakt, then I really didn’t like the fact that I never finished any songs and they were scattered across two devices. So I went with an MPC One and sold both the DT+DN.
For a long time, I enjoyed the MPC, a production tool more so than a live instrument. Until I got to a point where I was pushing its limits enough to consider the DAW again, at which point the MPC felt like overkill.
Today, I love a hybrid workflow. I use a DAW to produce full tracks from scratch, and I jam live on my Syntakt and MC-101 and use the DAW to mix those jams and then I publish them on my YouTube channel. Because of this, I’ve warmed up to the idea of accepting cables and having fun with making music that isn’t “DAW perfect”.
I really like to use samples for elements like texture. This is the world that the MPC opened up to me, and now I know how to do that in the DAW too. And, this was what I loved about the Digitakt too: mangling a loop, resampling it, reversing it, p-locking it, and ending up with something unique that I couldn’t ever reproduce again in the same way. I love to use samples for background textures, subtle percussive sounds, but also to resample and glitch up something like a pad chord that turns into a stuttering stab. Things like that. The MPC that I own can do this. But feels misplaced when sitting next to my Syntakt in a live jam, if I’m being honest.
so far I have no desire to buy anything this year as current synths are fun and plenty to build songs from. Since I am not playing live the majority of new stuff is not useful to me and I already have my portable SP 404 MK2, Rytm MK2, and Digitone for live sessions in the future…
I suggest waiting is good advice. DT isn’t rare. I think it’s ok to go on a journey and define exactly what you want through experiment. The trick is knowing when your at that point. And if DT is really what you want to complete your setup, sell something else and buy a shiny new one. Part of this thread I think is making good, considered decisions - one can’t do that in a GAS cycle.
I rebought my Digitakt back from the guy I sold it to, 2 years later. I didn’t know when I bought it: I found out later when I saw one of my projects was still on the DT
