I need help with my gearsluttyness...

[m127b]

Originally Posted by m127

What I am going to do at least for the rest of this year is:

1. I am declaring that as of this moment, I do have everything I could have dreamed for in terms of a more than reasonably well equipped production studio. I don't need anything else to lay down a decent track.
2. I must stick it in my head that gearslutting must be defined as my love for my gear and what my gear can produce in terms of sound, not some sick junkie-like consumerism.
3. I won't buy any new hw synth whatsoever.
4. I won't buy anything major (over $200) that could change my system/workflow significantly.
5. I will only buy updates for my current software when actually needed.
6. Accessories to current gear are allowed, but should not affect item 2.
7. I will assign 70% of my time to creative work, no matter what.
8. I will assign 25% of my time to focus on a single synth/piece of kit, 1 by 1, until I can reasonably and desirably squeeze the shit out of it theoretically (I will know what to do to get what, 1 by 1).
9. I will report my progress here monthly, starting on June 29th. I know this is kind of personal, but I think it will help me to commit publicly here. Mods feel free to move this to another subforum if proper.
10. I have bragged about my strong will before, I should be able to do this or **** and admit I am a ****ing loser (or a winner; we'll see shortly enough). It won't be easy, my shopping spreee has been lasting years now. Thousands and thousands spent especially in the last 2 years. . I know I can do it, AND I WILL ****ing do it.
11. If I fail to do the above, then **** it: I will sell everything on January 2012.

My forum activities are not an issue. I average 1 and sometimes 2 posts a day, depending on topics.




Your fb did me a lot of good guys. Thanks again so much.
Let's see how this goes.

June report.


I have to be a man and admit that I am in desperation. I failed to not buy stuff. I knew this was an actual problem. When you can't stop doing something, you have a problem.


While I succesfully rejected a very tempting sale of an MKS-80 and other synths like a JD-800 (about which I have always had GAS for), I ended up buying a third JM Lemur. It was so cheap and it was so easy to picture its intended use that I could not bring myself to pass. It was $650 from a client of mine.

It was a moment of weakness where the lust to picture it in my studio was so strong that I did not even remember my pledge to not buy stuff.

This crap is certainly NOT easy when you have some funds to burn.

I feel sad due to this addiction, but I am still on war against my gearsluttyness, and I will not give in.


I am happy though that I hit my GAS on its ****ing face with a huge NO to an MKS-80 especially...



Anyway, again, I won't ****ing give up.
I still believe I can win.
I was distracted and made a mistake like a ****ing lousy junkie, but I have July to make my GAS pay.




Sorry if this seems crazy to you. I am seriously working on this.





.






ORIGINAL POSTS for this thread:

I posted this below in the May new gear thread, but I realize that I actually need help from people who have faced the same and found a solution somewhere or somehow...

JUST THIS YEAR (not even half of a year) I also bought:

a6 Andromeda
PolyEvolver keyboard
microWave Xt, etc.


You get the idea...



I am just hoping someone who has ever felt the same way can chime in and share his/her solution or experience...

I kind of feel that I have a problem, but I also am humble enough to hope for the slight possibility that there's actually no issue at all... I don't know... I will wait for you opinions

Thanks in advance...






.

[foodeater]

Invite friends over to jam!

Other than the fact that I personally would learn much more slowly and get overwhelmed having so many choices at once I don't see a problem. I'm more the type that gets in deep with one tool at a time for a few months/years though.

You aren't depriving anyone one else of synths and you're helping the economy! :slowclap:

The minimalist laptop fetish is largely a reaction against so many great affordable gear choices now(like how being fat was awesome when food was scarce, but now it's looked down upon because any fool could do it) and some kind holier than thou perversion of Zen/Buddhism. Nothing wrong with going minimal, but if you have 25 plugins it's the same as having 25 pieces of gear.

Anyway, get off the forums and use that shit!

[kreeper_6]

It's true, too much cake is too much cake. But, if you start sharing it with others (I don't mean giving stuff away for free) by starting groups or programs for kids/people who otherwise would not be able to use such devices...Then your doing things with them that helps others and thats good.

[Yoozer]

Originally Posted by foodeater

You aren't depriving anyone one else of synths

If they wanted them, they'd save up enough to buy them.

Synthesizers are after all mass produced. Everything has its price. Okay - perhaps it's insanely high after you just plonked down $7K for a JP8, but you'll only feel bad about this if the next day the price crashes down to $2K again (not bloody likely). If they're doing nothing in storage nobody's deprived, nothing's a waste.

The minimalist laptop fetish is largely a reaction against so many great affordable gear choices now(like how being fat was awesome when food was scarce, but now it's looked down upon because any fool could do it) and some kind holier than thou perversion of Zen/Buddhism. Nothing wrong with going minimal, but if you have 25 plugins it's the same as having 25 pieces of gear.

This is true. However, I don't see it like that for the DAW's own effects - having multiple instances is simply saving yourself the effort of re-recording and re-plugging everything in and out again. By far the greatest benefit is that it can be made completely invisible - by hiding the folders from your DAW. Keyboard synths end up in storage, put on their ends - rack gear slowly moves down to the oubliette of the lowest 3 or 4U. But it still takes up room.

As for the Zen perversion you mention, and to answer the topic starter:

All suffering is caused by attachment - the stuff we have, and the stuff we want. Meanwhile, we forget to live in the now - using what we have and not worrying about what we want.

I'd go mad either way - laptop or fully kitted out studio. There's a balance between austerity and excess. That balance is not financial. There's no nice positive integer that says "spend more than X but no more than Y and you will be happy". You can throw money with reasonable safety at monitors and acoustic upgrades; those don't really count as bloat.

The balance is there in terms of focus. If you buy 3 pieces of kit in 2 months that all come with a manual the size of an encyclopedia then there's a good chance that you will not be able to focus properly and determine the place and necessity of that piece of gear.

So you got an XT and an Andy. Most folks here would say that it takes you several months to dip deep in either of those alone. Meanwhile, you're not making music but experimenting with sounds, modulation and routing. I mean, those filters alone already, not to mention what happens when you actually get going with the wavetables in case of the XT. Or what happens when you route the Andy through the XT.

So, the waste is that you don't have enough time and focus to dig deeply, and as a result, you might not get your money's worth out of it, which is too bad - for yourself and your creativity.

For guitars, this is relatively easy. You don't have MIDI. You can put 'm in a separate room and pick a flavor (though we get overwhelmed by choice) and meanwhile the others are doing nothing and you don't feel obliged to do anything with them. You can only play one at the same time and when it's your third you have a good reason, if it's your thirteenth then you should start to think whether that was a good idea to buy them all. If you would've pooled some of those expenses you might've gotten something that was really a lot better.

What's the solution? Force yourself to strip down the setup as an exercise in constraints. People did entire soundtracks with a single DX7 or a single Minimoog or a single Prophet 5 and a 4-track tape recorder. What that means that it's possible to do that - but it does not mean you should spend half a day recreating and recording a wavetable waveshape with the Andy that would take 1 minute on the XT. It's however an interesting exercise that gets you to value, appreciate and know your equipment better.

Move stuff out of sight when you're not using it, if you have the room for that - keeping it in sight will only make the uneasiness worse. When it's out of sight for a long time, take it out again - if there's no spark, no "yeah, that's why I bought that", then you can safely sell it; you weren't missing it.

If you feel something's not worth the effort to sell because it's cheap, sell it anyway. It takes up room. Your limits are your time, space, and attention span.

Anyway, get off the forums and use that shit!

And this is the most important advice

[m127b]

totally appreciate the fact that you take the time to help a fellow composer/engineer, guys
I am finding your opinions and remarks very interesting and valuable.

[omegaomega]

That's a great post Yoozer.
Agree 100%
(even if I would probably not sell something I liked even a little bit, if it wouldn't be really worth it, but I would rather put it in storage instead...)

[memristor]

to the OP, the questions you have to ask yourself first are :

( mind you should answer these to yourself, not to the forums )

• do you have a problem with that ? for instance financially or otherwise ?
• do you feel it's a-typical behavior for you ? or behavior that happened before but rarely ?
• are you unhappy with the things you bought ?
• or feel guilty ? ( for what ? )
• is there stuff among these things you dont need, or don't need for now ?
• do you have the feeling you have too much so it's distracting you and you can commit to either thing ?
• do have the feeling you still need another item urgently ?
• are you aware that even on GS there is a subforum that's dedicated to the low end, low budget, minimal investment, minimum stuff, maximum impact side of things ?
• why do you worry about your acquisitions at all ?
• what is the piece of gear you could get rid of without feeling regrets ? try to rank them
• which piece of gear you would never let go ?
• is there a single piece of gear or a combo you would trade all this stuff for if there was a chance ?
• are you aware that the amount of stuff you bought recently is about what those famous 80ties groups where confronted with when they had a chance to go to a "pro" studio first time and record there hit albums within like 10 days ?

what I really dont get is why you got the VSynth when you do have an A6, PolyEvolver and Microwave, so maybe you just want to rearrange your set up ? , but what has been mention before : it's much more important that you start making music -or- decide to become a collector, trade most things for rare or otherwise desirable gear, note that while in real life it's uncommon that collectors do make music it wont hinder you from creating music, could be even that the more fancy and more limiting things will inspire you much more

[Rob Ocelot]

My problem is that I encounter too many can't-pass-this-up deals in short periods of time. My experience is that I never find the equipment I want when I need it so I tend to stock up with stuff I know I'll need down the line. Of course this can get out of hand if you have a packrat/hoarder mentality.

Learning to tame that 'but I might need that sometime' urge with the 'let it go, another one will come along' is probably the most important gearslut skill you will ever learn.

However, it's hard to resist when an MS-20, Fizmo, and Microwave XT all land on your doorstep within a week or two of each other all at prices you can't ignore. Sure, they aren't unique or one-off synths by any stretch of the imagination but I would be spending a lot more time and energy trying to get one of those when I desperately need them.

Yoozer is right on the money when he talks about learning to pare down and do more with less. All the synthesis options in the world will do you no bit of good if they collect dust 90% of the time.

[m127b]

Probably I will be recorded in history as the first gearslut who gets depressed over getting a V-Synth and a semihollow Ibanez guitar at ridiculous prices...

I totally get what you all said. I thank you much.

I am concluding that I am getting overwhelmed by the amount of choices I have, and also because I am spending a lot of time trying to understand the limits and pros of the gear I buy, and not laying down enough creative production.


Therefore, by adding more gear I add more technical homework to do but not concrete creative homework, which I think is what's bringing me down, along with this kinda nastyness related to plain and sick consumerism.


What I am going to do at least for the rest of this year is:

1. I am declaring that as of this moment, I do have everything I could have dreamed for in terms of a more than reasonably well equipped production studio. I don't need anything else to lay down a decent track.
2. I must stick it in my head that gearslutting must be defined as my love for my gear and what my gear can produce in terms of sound, not some sick junkie-like consumerism.
3. I won't buy any new hw synth whatsoever.
4. I won't buy anything major (over $200) that could change my system/workflow significantly.
5. I will only buy updates for my current software when actually needed.
6. Accessories to current gear are allowed, but should not affect item 2.
7. I will assign 70% of my time to creative work, no matter what.
8. I will assign 25% of my time to focus on a single synth/piece of kit, 1 by 1, until I can reasonably and desirably squeeze the shit out of it theoretically (I will know what to do to get what, 1 by 1).
9. I will report my progress here monthly, starting on June 29th. I know this is kind of personal, but I think it will help me to commit publicly here. Mods feel free to move this to another subforum if proper.
10. I have bragged about my strong will before, I should be able to do this or **** and admit I am a ****ing loser (or a winner; we'll see shortly enough). It won't be easy, my shopping spreee has been lasting years now. Thousands and thousands spent especially in the last 2 years. . I know I can do it, AND I WILL ****ing do it.
11. If I fail to do the above, then **** it: I will sell everything on January 2012.

My forum activities are not an issue. I average 1 and sometimes 2 posts a day, depending on topics.


Your fb did me a lot of good guys. Thanks again so much.
Let's see how this goes.

[Yoozer]

Originally Posted by m127b

If I fail to do the above, then **** it: I will sell everything on January 2012.

I can see two issues with this:

- it's a stick, not a carrot
- it's a stick that's way off in the distance.

Shorten your timespans. Don't commit to far, far away January 2012 which is going to be there in an instant - commit to July 1st, which still takes 30 days to arrive, which is like, eternity.

Is everything hooked up properly?
Did you create templates in your sequencer?
Does your mixer or audio interface have your gear plugged in, all outputs?
Is everything labeled and do you only have to move 2 cords to patch something?
Can you switch on everything with a single click?

[moog man]

The greatest cure for GAS is producing and completing tracks to their final state. If you get paid to make music then this shouldn't be too difficult, but if you don't you may get caught up in all the toys and never finish anything. But once you do I think you will feel satisfied and find the gearlust goes away.

[cramseur]

Originally Posted by m127b

Probably I will be recorded in history as the first gearslut who gets depressed over getting a V-Synth and a semihollow Ibanez guitar at ridiculous prices...

I totally get what you all said. I thank you much.

I am concluding that I am getting overwhelmed by the amount of choices I have, and also because I am spending a lot of time trying to understand the limits and pros of the gear I buy, and not laying down enough creative production.


Therefore, by adding more gear I add more technical homework to do but not concrete creative homework, which I think is what's bringing me down, along with this kinda nastyness related to plain and sick consumerism.


What I am going to do at least for the rest of this year is:

1. I am declaring that as of this moment, I do have everything I could have dreamed for in terms of a more than reasonably well equipped production studio. I don't need anything else to lay down a decent track.
2. I must stick it in my head that gearslutting must be defined as my love for my gear and what my gear can produce in terms of sound, not some sick junkie-like consumerism.
3. I won't buy any new hw synth whatsoever.
4. I won't buy anything major (over $200) that could change my system/workflow significantly.
5. I will only buy updates for my current software when actually needed.
6. Accessories to current gear are allowed, but should not affect item 2.
7. I will assign 70% of my time to creative work, no matter what.
8. I will assign 25% of my time to focus on a single synth/piece of kit, 1 by 1, until I can reasonably and desirably squeeze the shit out of it theoretically (I will know what to do to get what, 1 by 1).
9. I will report my progress here monthly, starting on June 29th. I know this is kind of personal, but I think it will help me to commit publicly here. Mods feel free to move this to another subforum if proper.
10. I have bragged about my strong will before, I should be able to do this or **** and admit I am a ****ing loser (or a winner; we'll see shortly enough). It won't be easy, my shopping spreee has been lasting years now. Thousands and thousands spent especially in the last 2 years. . I know I can do it, AND I WILL ****ing do it.
11. If I fail to do the above, then **** it: I will sell everything on January 2012.

My forum activities are not an issue. I average 1 and sometimes 2 posts a day, depending on topics.


Your fb did me a lot of good guys. Thanks again so much.
Let's see how this goes.

This 11-point plan is too complicated to be applied effectively, IMO.

Consider shortening it to this type of thing:

"I will create at least one full new song per month using the gear I already have. Only after I have created 12 such songs can I consider buying any new item."

Or even more simply " I will not buy any new gear until I have completed 10 (12 , 15...whatever) new songs, with the gear I already own. Period.

Then hook your sh*t up and get to work.

Creativity does not work on a time clock, and I consider "learning about programming synths to be a creative endeavor, as much as songwriting,
or working on playing technique, or learning recording techniques.


The rest of your list i just too specific
(i.e. 70%, 25%, $200, accessories that don't interfere with workflow, monthly reporting here).
Bla, bla, bla.

Don't worry about how much time this or how much time that...just get songs done.


If you take a month to learn how to program drum sounds on a synth for a song you're working on...
So Be It!

If you make song # 2 using only presets...cool. Just get the songs done.


There's only one way to get songs done. You have to stop stalling, and do them.

[m127b]

Originally Posted by Yoozer

I can see two issues with this:

- it's a stick, not a carrot
- it's a stick that's way off in the distance.

Shorten your timespans. Don't commit to far, far away January 2012 which is going to be there in an instant - commit to July 1st, which still takes 30 days to arrive, which is like, eternity.

Thanks Yoozer (just so you know, I enjoy most of your insightful posts a lot, and am very pleased and thankful you have chimed in and are trying to help me out).

You are right. Actually, that is why I set a monthly check-in on my progress. My first goal is to report back on my progress in one month as of the date I OP'ed this and realized I was in danger of becoming a simple gear junkie as opposed to a healthy and true gearslut.

1. Is everything hooked up properly?
2. Did you create templates in your sequencer?
3. Does your mixer or audio interface have your gear plugged in, all outputs?
4. Is everything labeled and do you only have to move 2 cords to patch something?
5. Can you switch on everything with a single click?[/

1. Yes, indeed. Probably one of the few benefits from my obsession with order and structure: everything is not only hooked up properly but any signal can go anywhere in seconds or no time at all. Everything is interconnected and as unified a workstation as they can reasonably be.
2. Totally. I actually developed a supertemplate during this time that is my pride. Maybe I will show it in a video when I have time. I think it's worth it especially for newbies who could grab a tip or two.
3. Oh yes, I have 6 patchbays and 3 mixers. I use ADAT and analog. I have more than 100 channels combined at my disposal. Little to no patching is needed. (Patching is mostly done for experimental stuff: like running Massive or Reaktor, etc., through my SlimPhatty's or PEK's filters then to my SRV-30, etc.)
4. yes.
5. yes, definitely.

[Yoozer]

You're welcome: I wish you all the best in your endeavor. At least you have your connections sorted out - that's still on the list for me.

[m127b]

Originally Posted by cramseur

There's only one way to get songs done. You have to stop stalling, and do them.

**** yeah. Right on the money on this and everything you said.

However, I have to start by beating my somewhat stupid consumerism to DEATH at least for a while (all my synths are not exactly redundant, nor my guitars, etc., hence the epithet "somewhat ridiculous"). But then, adding a freaking ukulele would not be redundant either so this HAS to stop.

The "creating songs" part is a true concern of mine, but I rather not finish songs for sake of finishing them. I must like them first and make sure they are propositive at least to a humble extent. This is another difficult part as I am super demanding from everyone and especially myself.

I have hopes that by focusing most of my time in creative work (yeah, from sound design to laying down songs) instead of just more gear will help the "create songs" department as an indirect result.

[m127b]

Originally Posted by moog man

The greatest cure for GAS is producing and completing tracks to their final state. If you get paid to make music then this shouldn't be too difficult, but if you don't you may get caught up in all the toys and never finish anything. But once you do I think you will feel satisfied and find the gearlust goes away.

I am on kind of a second stage/period in terms of my career.
I spent 7 years playing the "local rock star" in my city/country. Got me some awesome experiences, trully. Led me to record our second album with the same top of the line, talented people who worked/were produced with/by such talented people as Adrian Belew, etc. Never became truly famous though let alone wealthy.
Gave personal love and attention to my groupies and drank lots of beer, that's for sure.
Fun times definitely.

But then, a set of circumstances (too long to explain) stopped everything and I started to travel the world for some years.

I decided that I was not going to submit my creativity to no external force whatsoever (especially commercial pressure, as I had to in the past). So I decided I was going to build a decent personal studio with myself in full command (meaning I would not compromise to others in terms of sound engineering and creative decisions, which led me to have to take some sound engineering classes while travelling and also learn several instruments at least theoretically and to an acceptable level for the type of music I envisioned) and do my best to create music that actually meant something to me with no excuses (in the hopes that someone could relate to my view/perspective afterwards, and thus contribute and make my life worth it to me).

Now nasty gear consumerism is getting in the way of that goal.

I am addressing it.

This shortened story is to kind of answer you that this is not about money anymore. But I totally understand what you mean and why.

[shadowfac]

Get married and have a couple kids. If that doesn't end with the sluttiness, I don't know what will.

[Stevil]

i switched over to guitar pedals. much cheaper than synths. now i gotta stop that so i can save up for a permanant place to put all this crap.

[Shy]

I don't have a problem like yours anymore because I already know what I really want and really need. I have nothing to feel uncertain about. You say you have too many choices, I say there are very few choices for me. In every field there's only one or a couple of products that really appeal to me and are really useful for me. Do lots of research, learn what there is out there and how to use stuff, and decide what you really DON'T need and what really DOES IT for you. I've completely narrowed things down. That's all there really is to it.

[cramseur]

Originally Posted by m127b

**** yeah. Right on the money on this and everything you said.

However, I have to start by beating my somewhat stupid consumerism to DEATH at least for a while (all my synths are not exactly redundant, nor my guitars, etc., hence the epithet "somewhat ridiculous"). But then, adding a freaking ukulele would not be redundant either so this HAS to stop.

The "creating songs" part is a true concern of mine, but I rather not finish songs for sake of finishing them. I must like them first and make sure they are propositive at least to a humble extent. This is another difficult part as I am super demanding from everyone and especially myself.

I have hopes that by focusing most of my time in creative work (yeah, from sound design to laying down songs) instead of just more gear will help the "create songs" department as an indirect result.

Fine, waste time "beating your consumerism", and "not finishing songs" because of your "super demanding" standards...whatever <yawn>,
It's your time, your money, your music, and therefore your choice.
We are all living on the limits we set.

exeo !

[m127b]

Originally Posted by Shy

I don't have a problem like yours anymore because I already know what I really want and really need. I have nothing to feel uncertain about. You say you have too many choices, I say there are very few choices for me. In every field there's only one or a couple of products that really appeal to me and are really useful for me. Do lots of research, learn what there is out there and how to use stuff, and decide what you really DON'T need and what really DOES IT for you. I've completely narrowed things down. That's all there really is to it.

I hear you. I will spend these next months just using my current gear and then contemplate narrowing my choices if proper, as you and others suggest.

[keybdwizrd]

Originally Posted by shadowfac

Get married and have a couple kids. If that doesn't end with the sluttiness, I don't know what will.

That's the truth.

I just finished putting my son through college (undergrad), and my daughter will be a junior in the fall. The tuition, housing, and transportation bills are staggering.

I have zero extra money for gear, and have sold off much of what I used to have. But there is nothing I would rather do than to give my children college educations.

[m127b]

Originally Posted by Yoozer

You're welcome: I wish you all the best in your endeavor. At least you have your connections sorted out - that's still on the list for me.

Hahaha, thanks man, and all the good luck to you too with your gear connections... let's say no to procrastination!!

[networkacid]

Originally Posted by m127b

The "creating songs" part is a true concern of mine, but I rather not finish songs for sake of finishing them. I must like them first and make sure they are propositive at least to a humble extent. This is another difficult part as I am super demanding from everyone and especially myself.

Hi mate, I can appreciate your plight and just have a small piece of advice (tons of great advice already in here) is that at least in the short term you should absolutely just finish songs for the sake of finishing them, if only to form the habit of doing so. It's cool to be demanding of yourself and to expect high quality output, but you could modify the expected out in order to achieve this more easily in the future. Time spent forming good habits is not time wasted, even if the product of the time is not necessarily up to your usual standard.

Just a thought. I wish you well

[m127b]

Originally Posted by networkacid

Hi mate, I can appreciate your plight and just have a small piece of advice (tons of great advice already in here) is that at least in the short term you should absolutely just finish songs for the sake of finishing them, if only to form the habit of doing so. It's cool to be demanding of yourself and to expect high quality output, but you could modify the expected out in order to achieve this more easily in the future. Time spent forming good habits is not time wasted, even if the product of the time is not necessarily up to your usual standard.

Just a thought. I wish you well

cool networkacid, I see what you mean



thanks also to shadowfac and keybdwizrd and ALL of you.


I feel way way way better as I have a clear objective now in regards to this slight issue.
Much good to get stuff out of your chest to people who can understand you. That's just great... Thanks so much

[m127b]

Originally Posted by m127

What I am going to do at least for the rest of this year is:

1. I am declaring that as of this moment, I do have everything I could have dreamed for in terms of a more than reasonably well equipped production studio. I don't need anything else to lay down a decent track.
2. I must stick it in my head that gearslutting must be defined as my love for my gear and what my gear can produce in terms of sound, not some sick junkie-like consumerism.
3. I won't buy any new hw synth whatsoever.
4. I won't buy anything major (over $200) that could change my system/workflow significantly.
5. I will only buy updates for my current software when actually needed.
6. Accessories to current gear are allowed, but should not affect item 2.
7. I will assign 70% of my time to creative work, no matter what.
8. I will assign 25% of my time to focus on a single synth/piece of kit, 1 by 1, until I can reasonably and desirably squeeze the shit out of it theoretically (I will know what to do to get what, 1 by 1).
9. I will report my progress here monthly, starting on June 29th. I know this is kind of personal, but I think it will help me to commit publicly here. Mods feel free to move this to another subforum if proper.
10. I have bragged about my strong will before, I should be able to do this or **** and admit I am a ****ing loser (or a winner; we'll see shortly enough). It won't be easy, my shopping spreee has been lasting years now. Thousands and thousands spent especially in the last 2 years. . I know I can do it, AND I WILL ****ing do it.
11. If I fail to do the above, then **** it: I will sell everything on January 2012.

My forum activities are not an issue. I average 1 and sometimes 2 posts a day, depending on topics.



Your fb did me a lot of good guys. Thanks again so much.
Let's see how this goes.

June report.

I have to be a man and admit that I am in desperation. I failed to not buy stuff. I knew this was an actual problem. When you can't stop doing something, you have a problem.


While I succesfully rejected a very tempting sale of an MKS-80 and other synths like a JD-800 (about which I have always had GAS for), I ended up buying a third JM Lemur. It was so cheap and it was so easy to picture its intended use that I could not bring myself to pass. It was $650 from a client of mine.

It was a moment of weakness where the lust to picture it in my studio was so strong that I did not even remember my pledge to not buy stuff.

This crap is certainly NOT easy when you have some funds to burn.

I feel sad due to this addiction, but I am still on war against my gearsluttyness, and I will not give in.


I am happy though that I hit my GAS on its ****ing face with a huge NO to an MKS-80 especially...



Anyway, again, I won't ****ing give up.
I still believe I can win.
I was distracted and made a mistake like a ****ing lousy junkie, but I have July to make my GAS pay.




Sorry if this seems crazy to you. I am seriously working on this.





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[dhollmusik]

Originally Posted by m127b

I have to be a man and admit that I am in desperation. I failed to not buy stuff.

Brilliant! Describes to a tee what most of us here have been through at least once.

I also can't resist, picked up a Solton Sam 8 FX mixer for a good price...but why? I don't need another mixer, but I was just curious about how its EQ and effects sound, so I bought it.

Not arrived yet, I'm almost hoping it turns out to be really noisy and have cheap and nasty effects...this might turn me off spontaneous buying...if only for a while...


Good luck to you, mate.

[Odey]

Originally Posted by m127b

June report.


I have to be a man and admit that I am in desperation. I failed to not buy stuff. I knew this was an actual problem. When you can't stop doing something, you have a problem.


While I succesfully rejected a very tempting sale of an MKS-80 and other synths like a JD-800 (about which I have always had GAS for), I ended up buying a third JM Lemur. It was so cheap and it was so easy to picture its intended use that I could not bring myself to pass. It was $650 from a client of mine.

It was a moment of weakness where the lust to picture it in my studio was so strong that I did not even remember my pledge to not buy stuff.

This crap is certainly NOT easy when you have some funds to burn.

I feel sad due to this addiction, but I am still on war against my gearsluttyness, and I will not give in.


I am happy though that I hit my GAS on its ****ing face with a huge NO to an MKS-80 especially...



Anyway, again, I won't ****ing give up.
I still believe I can win.
I was distracted and made a mistake like a ****ing lousy junkie, but I have July to make my GAS pay.




Sorry if this seems crazy to you. I am seriously working on this.





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ORIGINAL POSTS for this thread:

Dude.. Just make money out of buying cheap synths and selling them. That way you can satisfy your obsession and make money at the same time.

A Jupiter 8 for 2,500 is a deal you will never pass up for example. Even if you have 3 already. If you have the cash flow... Buy it... And flip it.

[DeathDub]

Looks like you have a couple of different activities going on that you have somehow rolled into one.

1. Love of musical gear as objects
2. Desire to build the perfect studio system
3. Desire to make music

Seems like you've spent a lot of time buying gear and working on the studio set up which is fine, but it doesn't leave a lot of time to actually work on music. You've spent a lot of time and cash in order to have the "perfect" platform to make tracks but you're not outputting the music you want so all the work seems wasted and for naught.

If you really want to make you gas "pay" I'd suggest that you leave your system as is and just work on tracks. Create a sound cloud account and post your music. Don't worry about your tracks being perfect. Do it today. If you have to - make all the usual excuses, (not finished, made yesterday, rough mix, whatever). You might get your ego hurt but you might get a boost. Take the jump and see.

A lot of times musicians say they're perfectionists and use that as an excuse but behind this excuse is fear. Fear of rejection, fear of being ignored and fear of failing in general.

I've have some of the same issues as you and that's why I'm being bold in my suggestions. My friend got me to start posting tracks a couple of months ago. He threatened to upload them himself if I didn't. Good luck with everything. Think I'll take my own suggestion, get off the Internet and finish making stems for a remix project I'm 2 months late on. Damn ancillary activities.

[m127b]

I hear ya'll guys.
Lots of sense there.

1. Love of musical gear as objects
2. Desire to build the perfect studio system
3. Desire to make music

not in that order, but right on the money on that and most of what you said.

will keep working on these issues, that's for sure. Great there's a forum where you can reflect with others who can empathize with you, that's pure gold.

will report on my progress again in august. I bid you good luck to you all.