How Many Instruments Do You REALLY Need?

[Anderton]

I got this idea for a topic from a post in the GearLab review of the GX-80. With so many virtual instruments available, how do you decide which ones you really need?

 

Well, guitar players have a lot of guitars, but I'd say that my subjective needs are:

 

Guitar with humbuckers and shorter scale length

Guitar with single-coil pickups and longer scale length

Guitar with P90s (IMHO nothing else gets that sound)

Gibson guitar with the robot tuners that I can use at seminars (so I don't have to lose time tuning up)

Guitar with hex outputs

Semi-hollowbody guitar

12-string electric

12-string acoustic

6-string acoustic guitar

Dedicated electric slide guitar

Dedicated Nashville-tuned electric guitar

Dobro

 

Over the years, I've managed to accumulate all of them except the acoustic 12-string. And I'd love an L5-style archtop, but I can come close enough with a semi-hollowbody guitar.

 

As to keyboards, my needs for sonic variety are:

 

Wavetable synth

FM synth

Virtual analog polyphonic synth

Minimoog emulation because it's so easy to come up with sounds fast

Modular synth

Sampler that plays back libraries, but also lets me sample

Acoustic piano

Electric pianos (Clav, Rhodes, Wurly, CP-80, that kind of thing)

Huge-sounding synth for pads

ROMpler-type keyboard with highly evolved split, combi, and layering options

 

For either category, what am I missing?

[KuruPrionz]

Baritone 8 string acoustic/electric.

 

I saw an Alvarez on craigslist and was stupid enough to go try it out. Then, I had to have it. 

I tune it to A. The low 2 strings are big and the winds are big so there is too much finger slide noise.

D'Addario has incredibly thick flat wound "Chromes" guitar strings available as individual strings so I put a .065 and a .056 on the low A and D strings, works fine. 

 

The two middle courses are tuned in octaves like a 12 string and the 2 high strings are plain wire. The "grunt" and "chime" are both there in abundance. Very versatile. 

 

You need a nylon string guitar, the hybrid acoustic electrics with a cutaway are really nice. I love my Yamaha, it's one down from the top of the line Gabriella signature model. 

Great sounding and playing guitar, nothing sounds like a nylon string guitar. 

 

Plus you need 2 bass guitars, one fretted and one fretless. Tune the fretless to EADG and the fretted to BEAD (or get a 5 string, I prefer the 4 string).

And you need a 5 string banjo. No mandolin though, at least not for me. Short scale steel stringed fretted instruments tuned in tempered fifths make me grit my teeth. 😇

 

Last but not least, I need (and therefore, you need) a tenor ukulele, acoustic electric. I've got my eyes open for one. 

[EscapeRocks]

Technically I don't NEED all the VST's or hardware instruments I have.

 

My basic keyboard 'needs' are very similar to yours.

When it comes to VST, I just like to experiment and play around. So it become a want, and not a need.

I could do just fine with just the built in Mainstage sounds, if I had to.

 

 

 

I also need everything in the Sweetwater 'museum' area

 

[Anderton]

@KuruPrionz - great point about the nylon string guitar. I also agree a ukulele is a good addition, and I have a soprano model (I'd also like a baritone, though). But I considered them separate from guitars, so I didn't include them.

 

For bass, I have four-string and five-string solid body types, and a four-string semi-hollow model (great for pop). A fretless bass isn't essential for what I do, I have synths for that  If I was to add anything, it would be a U-Bass.

 

@EscapeRocks - yeah, we're very much on the same page. Much of the time, with Studio One the bundled instruments do what I need. So, I can make a session go faster if I just use them. But having a lot of VSTs is an inexpensive luxury. I'll often need that one particular sound and load up Codex, FM7, Sines, Loom II, Kontakt, or whatever else gives me sounds I can't get in any other way. So while not essential, they sure are nice to have around, especially give the cost compared to what hardware synths used to require.

[KuruPrionz]

Just now, Anderton said:

@KuruPrionz - great point about the nylon string guitar. I also agree a ukulele is a good addition, and I have a soprano model (I'd also like a baritone, though). But I considered them separate from guitars, so I didn't include them.

 

For bass, I have four-string and five-string solid body types, and a four-string semi-hollow model (great for pop). A fretless bass isn't essential for what I do, I have synths for that  If I was to add anything, it would be a U-Bass.

 

@EscapeRocks - yeah, we're very much on the same page. Much of the time, with Studio One the bundled instruments do what I need. So, I can make a session go faster if I just use them. But having a lot of VSTs is an inexpensive luxury. I'll often need that one particular sound and load up Codex, FM7, Sines, Loom II, Kontakt, or whatever else gives me sounds I can't get in any other way. So while not essential, they sure are nice to have around, especially give the cost compared to what hardware synths used to require.

And, since I only use electric 12 strings for recording, I'm finding that a Nashville tuned short scale electric guitar correctly intonated can more or less take the place of an electric 12 string guitar. If fact, the cheap Johnson short scale strat I've been using works very well underneath either acoustic or electric instruments. If I play the same part it might as well be a 12 string to the listener. 

 

My acoustic 12 string is just too fun for porch jams and open mic nights to consider not needing it. 

 

Soprano ukes are just too small for my, even the concert size is pretty tiny. I find it easy to see them as guitars, most of them look just like guitars. 

My nylon string obsession goes back to childhood, Mom took her 4 kids to see Carlos Montoya, the great flamenco artist. 

He got a standing ovation on his first piece, stood up (he was a small man) and said in a high pitched, cartoon-like voice "Thank you very much!"

That's when it hit me, I was just a kid and I realized that with a guitar, you could be a giant. 😃

 

[RABid]

Need? Who knows.

 

Want? All of them. I'm such a gear whore. At one single Gearfest I bought an Ibanaz 1405E 5 string bass, a Fender American Jeff Beck Strat, and a set of Paste cymbals. AND I put my name on the waiting list for the latest Roland synth. 4 different instruments in one trip. Nice instruments. If I wasn't a musician I could be living in Hawaii. ... Anyway ...

 

My first instrument is drums. I've built a 20 piece V-drum kit, 13 piece DW Performance series kit with 5 extra snares, and a 5 pice Doc Sweeny boutique kit. I plan to someday give the Doc Sweeny kit to a cousin, donate the DW drums to my high school, and take a small set of V-drums to the nursing home.

 

Second instrument is keyboards. Roland RD 2000 piano, Hammond XK3c organ with extra manual and Ventalator 2 rotary pedal, 5 keyboard synths with two more on my wish list, and a bunch of beat boxes. Oh, and enough modular gear to pay for a house. Hard to cut back any of these but I am really thinking that I could cut down to a single Roland Fantom 7. ... ... ... And a Jupiter X. ... ... And maybe a Juno X.

 

Third Instrument is trumpet. I'm down to three after selling two Yamaha's. I'll eventually get rid of all but the made in Elkhart Indiana no name trumpet I used in high school.

 

Saxaphone - Sold my Yamaha. Now down to the Roland Aerophone.

 

Guitar, electric. Keeper, my Jeff Beck Surf Green American Strat. Easy choice. I have two more American made Strats, two nice Ibanez, and a really nice PRS that I would also have to keep. I sold a few and gave away others so the collection is shrinking. Got 6 amps including a really nice MesaBoogie Mark V 1x12 combo that I need to sale so I can buy another synth. I did find a place where I can buy boxes for shipping guitar amps.

 

Guitar, acoustic. Keeper, Taylor 814cd DLX. Sold my expensive Martin nylon. I still have an Ovation, Takamine and Washburn. Have given a few away over the past few years.

 

Bass, electric. Ibanez SR-1400E, 1405E and 1406E covering the need for 4, 5 and 6 string versions. Fender American Vintage '64 Jazz Bass. Plan to sell off all but one four string. The hard thing to get rid of is bass cabinets. Some of those are really big.

 

I have a Yamaha flute, a banjo, ukulele and a didgeridoo that I plan to learn how to play some day. Also have a collection of harmonicas. Most every key.

 

So what am I going to do with everything? I started really thinking about this when I hit 60. So far I have two ideas.

 

1. Leave instructions that everyone that attends my funeral AND goes to the grave side service will be entered in a drawing. After the funeral there will be a meal/gathering at the church. That is where the instruments will be on display and the drawing held. Draw your number, you get to pick an instrument or amp and take it home. Drawing continues until all instruments are gone.

 

2. Will everything to various local high schools and churches. I've already given the local high school some drums and trumpets. I was ready to give my old high school a bunch of instruments but then found out that the high school band is down to 12 members.

[David Emm]

I won't even pretend that I could answer that, because "need" is a highly abstract term, especially where GAS is involved. Part of it is that every instrument you buy now is so powerful, real musical need is basically in the rearview mirror.

 

I have a stout fistful of plug-ins, but a lot of people seem to have a 55-gallon drum full. I can understand someone with an electric piano jones having 4 or 5 variants, but I owned a Wurly and Logic's take on it is well beyond merely sufficient for me.

 

Craig's synth list is baseline-practical, but almost any workstation or slightly above mid-line synth will cover all of that, aside from the modular. Also, if its a Kurzweil, VAST *is* your modular. You'll naturally season to taste, but it took me a few years with a workstation to understand the juggling process.

 

So let's review: I'm well-supplied with orchestral tools, a focused guitar and piano resource, 1000 drum kits, a bushel of organs, several legendary polys, DEXED and a physical modeler that covers most of my FM needs and then some. I read about new gear with interest, but I'm so covered, it takes a lot for me to make the leap. I don't look that hard, because I'm still reverse-engineering presets on my last few synths.

 

Of course, I DO have TWO CS-80s, because, um, well, SHUT UP, stop making that face, I do what I want!    

[RABid]

6 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

My acoustic 12 string

Oh. Oh! I need a 12 string!

 

Edit - Oops. I mean I WANT a 12 string. 

[GovernorSilver]

Instruments that I have that I need:

 

Yamaha YEV-105 electric violin - cheap, brash, yet trustworthy and comfy.  

 

Yamaha PSR-SX600 arranger keyboard - I'm not a real keyboardist, but thanks to the built-in speakers and nice-feeling synth action keybed, has become my main instrument for working out keyboard parts, learning piano stuff like chord voicings, harmony stuff, etc.  

 

Strandberg Salen Jazz - 2 humbucker guitar with a really nice position 4 sound (inner single coils wired up to be noiseless, kinda sounds like middle-position Tele), just fits where I'm at musically.  Have other electric guitars but have transitioned to playing violin and keys more and more.

 

Breedlove Discovery series nylon string guitar - like the YEV, cheap, but super comfy to play and sounds decent plugged in.  Needs to be taken to the shop because needs refretting.  Just love playing fingerstyle on this thing.

 

Instruments that I don't need but love having around:

 

Arcus P5 Violin Bow - Pretty nice upgrade over the cheaper carbon fiber bows I've had.  

 

Sequential Prophet 5 Desktop - Wanted this ever since Dave Smith announced the Prophet 5 Rev 4.  I don't intend to recreate Prophet 5 sounds of 70s/80s records but it's got the "it" sound for me.

 

Roland MC-707 Groovebox - We've got the full review going over at MPN Gear Lab.  Love it for its strengths, and am at peace with its quirks

 

Roland TR-6S Drum Machine - Bought when it was selling for under $300.  Pairs well with the MC-707, as it has the synthesized drum tones lacking in the other machine, which only has sample-based drum tracks, while the other machine provides off-grid sequencing not available on the TR.  FM and ACB (modeled analog) drums alike sound great in this little thing.

 

Korg Opsix - Can do just about all the FM sounds that I like, as well as some physical modeling like tricks thanks to the effect operator (eg. Comb Filter), really good virtual analog, etc.  

 

Korg M3 61 - Admittedly I used this as an overgrown controller for the new synths more than its internal sounds, as it has aftertouch and full size keys.  But the keybed is so sweet on this thing.  

 

NS Design NXT5A 5-string fretted violin - love the fret and tone, but the strings are a little closer together than I like, and sometimes it moves on me no matter how tightly I try to lock it's proprietary shoulder rest/support system into place.

 

Elektron Octatrack - Haven't fired it up in a while, but still my fave machine for mangling samples.

 

Instruments that I want:

 

Expressive E Osmose - Preordered in 2019.  I figure it'll arrive sometime this decade

 

Volta Violinatron - Flaxotron edition - Rob Flax signature model.  Just met Rob in person last weekend and he let me hold it briefly.  It's surprisingly light, considering it's got built-in speakers, delay circuit, etc.  He said I could order one with frets, and I certainly will when the day comes.   

 

[Tusker]

I use a work horse / show horse mindset because time is a constraint. There are work horse tools for me with I can usually achieve at least a sketch of a vision. Then there is the show horse stuff which is not usually necessary but utterly necessary to do a particular thing well.

 

In the case of synths, U-he Zebra is a workhorse. I know it. My patching is time efficient. I have lots of presets. Cool. But recently I acquired the GX-80. It provides show horse flavors I can't easily get to in Zebra. It forces a certain point of view and encourages creativity.

 

I find that the idea helps me when selecting effects. Liquidsonics Seventh Heaven is a great work horse reverb. Sure I can make a pitch shifted verb from from it, but Blackhole and Valhalla Shimmer are beautiful show horses and they bring their own unique points of view.

[Notes_Norton]

This is what I need to make a living:

1. Tenor Saxophone (and a spare)
2. MIDI Wind Controller (and a spare)
3. Three synth sound modules (and a spare for one)
4. Guitar with Duncan Triple Shot Pickups so it can do P90, Rail, Series Humbucker and Parallel Humbucker (and a spare)
5. Flute

Although they aren't instruments, I need 2 computers to play the mp3 backing tracks that I make myself and to display words or music. I can get by with one, but I have two up and running at all times  (the show must go on).

 

PA system.

 

There is a difference between want and need, this is what I need.

 

Notes ♫

[KuruPrionz]

OK, Notes gets down to the nitty gritty, giggers.

 

I need my Peavey Vypyr VIP 1 or the Boss Katana Mk II 50, each with it's own foot switch system. I only take one, neither of the amps has ever acted flaky. I have a Tech 21 Para Driver DI in my gig bag, just in case. I've used it once straight into the PA, more to test it than as a backup. It sounds fine, foot switchable from clean to grind. 

 

I need one of 2 electric guitars I put together, my Strat or my Tele. Both have fat Warmoth necks, the Strat fretboard is scalloped and I love that but I can get the gig done with the Tele. Both have EMG active pickups, 2 in each guitar - plus an EMG SPC mid boost (which is cranked most of the time). Both guitars have locking tuners (Hipshot or Sperzel) so I don't need a backup as long as I keep a full set of strings in my guitar case. String changes go quickly with locking tuners. I bring 2 guitar cords in case of failure and a small folding "step" for an amp stand. I have 2 Boss TU-10 clip on tuners, they seem to last forever. Too many Snarks died, never again. 

 

Last but not least, I always bring my Shure KSM8, a mic stand and one of those "clampy clips". All on a dolly or on my back (gig bag with backpack straps), one trip in and one trip out. So far so good. 

[ProfD]

I enjoy sound design and sampling as a different aspect of creativity in music composition and production.

 

Otherwise, as a musician, the only instrument I need is my Rhodes EP sound. That's where the magic starts.

 

Any other sound(s) I choose to use is just icing on the proverbial cake. 😎

[Polychrest]

On 12/6/2022 at 11:10 AM, Anderton said:

For either category, what am I missing?

For keyboards, a Hammond, a good Hammond clone, or B-3X and a controller with drawbars?

[JimboKeys]

For keyboards, it's an interesting function not of "Instruments" but of functionality (either hardware keyboards or Virtual Instruments):

- Really good Hammond emulation (B-3x)

- Electric and acoustic piano sounds

- Rompler for strings and such (with enough editing capabilities to tailor the sound the way i like it)

- Synth sounds - i'm not too fussy there, got a couple freebie VA synth plugins that suffice.

 

And to control it all, two 61-key keyboards with enough knobs, sliders, and pedal inputs.

 

Other instruments currently using for gigging: 

- Miramatsu Flute

- Yamaha Alto Sax

- Yamaha DTX Multi-12 electronic percussion

 

Used for gigging but not at present:

- Guild 6-String acoustic

- Taylor 12-String acoustic

- Kramer electric

- Pedulla fretless 5-string

- Squier fretted 5-string (top of my wish list for an upgrade next time i find myself in a situation playung bass

 

-- Jimbo

 

[RABid]

I'm really glad to know that I am not the biggest addict here. But also, I've had 60 years to acquire my collection.

[Anderton]

2 hours ago, Polychrest said:

For keyboards, a Hammond, a good Hammond clone, or B-3X and a controller with drawbars?

 

I thought about that, but I can't remember the last time I used a Hammond sound. To me, part of the "Hammond sound" is the monster technique of the person playing it. I don't have that monster Hammond technique, so there's no need for me to have a Hammond

[David Emm]

1 hour ago, Anderton said:

 

I thought about that, but I can't remember the last time I used a Hammond sound. To me, part of the "Hammond sound" is the monster technique of the person playing it. I don't have that monster Hammond technique, so there's no need for me to have a Hammond

 

I can see your take on it, but lacking a full-featured Hammond technique doesn't mean there aren't key moments of pad work, flurries during a couple of mic-drop moments or big church flourishes to be had. You can't cover many Floyd tunes minus the Wright organ chair, for example. Its a fundamental sound.

 

As Wendy Carlos once observed, "Every parameter you CAN control, you MUST control." Same with myriad possible musical demands out of the blue. At this point, I can cover anything but tuned yak bleats.

 

The longer I live ITB, the more I feel like a mad composer. In this instance, "mad" would mean "only technically sane."

[RABid]

2 hours ago, Anderton said:

I thought about that, but I can't remember the last time I used a Hammond sound. To me, part of the "Hammond sound" is the monster technique of the person playing it. I don't have that monster Hammond technique, so there's no need for me to have a Hammond

May I suggest Three Dog Night, Live at the Forum. That is the album that taught me how to play rhythm organ. That was very handy when I was having to cover a lot of rhythm guitar parts. It is a skill that every keyboardist should learn, unless you know how to play guitar and are pretty decent at it. Do you ....

[Polychrest]

2 hours ago, Anderton said:

I don't have that monster Hammond technique, so there's no need for me to have a Hammond

I used to think about my rudimentary guitar chops and guitar ownership the same way, but then I heard The Ramones 

[pinkfloydcramer]

I am a man of extremely modest means but I pretty much have everything I need- that being a Hammond organ, Leslie 145 speaker with a tube preamp for clones, a real acoustic piano (freebie Kimble upright, I love it for ragtime and boogie and playing classical with a vodka hangover), a chromatic harmonica and some diatonic harps set up for overblowing, a mid-range Yamaha acoustic with good quality electronics, and an Ibanez semi-hollow body. Also have some digital pianos and B3 clones for gigs, because there's no way I'm gigging the A100-  cab is too nice. At this point I have no desire to acquire virtual instruments as my hardware does good enough grand and electric pianos. Maybe that would change if I found something that responded like the freebie upright.

 

My hope is to get proficient enough on the various pieces to do my own recording. I like to be independent. It motivates me somewhat that I ran my mouth on MP about learning new instruments, and now I need to back it up. Haven't touched a guitar in over a week though, because I'm in the middle of a 9-day run of gigs. Today was rocking Frosty the Snowman at a nursing home with the help of a sax player. Good to know a musician who is not scared of Christmas songs, someone who can just show up and play! But that's a subject for another thread.

 

[Jeff Leites]

I have trouble parting with anything.  Especially guitars.

 

I have a Silvertone 1457 red sparkle burst with the amp build into the case.

A '64 Fender Mustang

 

Then I got into building and assembling guitars so I have...

 

A Carvin Bolt-T

A semi-hollow tele style 6 string with USA Custom Guitars body and Carvin Neck

A semi-hollow tele style 12 string with USA Custom Guitar body

 

I put a new Warmouth neck on my Mustang, but then decided to keep it original, so I put the old neck back on and bought a new Warmouth Mustang body for the new neck and built another Mustang.

 

A Traveler Guitar.

 

[Dr Mike Metlay]

In my studio today, I have one big keyboard (my 49-key Hydrasynth), several iPads (two or three in use at any given moment), an ancient Mac Pro for Ableton and REAPER and plug-ins, two small controllers (a LinnStrument 128 for the iPads and a Novation Launchpad Pro for the Mac Pro), and -- importantly -- a set of shelves in the corner of the room, stacked with alternative controllers, sound modules and desktop synths, music toys, etc...  little music doodads that I use on occasion and don't think about the rest of the time. My two "vintage" synths are stored in a nearby closet, carefully packed in padded gig bags.

 

When I gig, depending on the project / prep time / available stage space / number of collaborators / difficulty of travel / how my back is feeling, I will bring my LS128, two or three iPads, and maybe one of the little doodads. I am currently preparing to augment that rig with a HydraSynth Explorer, which will give me Deluxe-like capabilities in the studio and all my beloved sounds in a portable form, minus the ribbon controller which I honestly don't often rely upon.

 

Under certain circumstances, I will add Betty, my beloved Schecter A-5X baritone aebea, with the two stompboxes that I can't live without: my ancient Zoom 505MkII and Yamaha MagicStomp. To be honest, I could probably replace them these days with a volume pedal, a really good chorus set to very particular settings with the knobs then removed, and my Strymon BlueSky reverb, consider that I never really change programs on the MagicStomp and NEVER change programs on the Zoom.

 

What do I NEED out of that pile? Nothing. I have done an entire set at a music festival with just my iPhone and received a long ovation for it. The hardest lesson I ever learned (thanks, Freff) was that if it's in my head, I can figure out a way to get it out to my audience. I can't play keys for sh!t, but I can always make music somehow.

 

But that's just me.

 

mike

 

[BMD]

I bought some new gear recently. I now have:

 

Yamaha Pacifica, Sandberg bass, Behringer mic, Zoom R12

 

That's it. Do I need any of it? Nope

[Nowarezman]

Very interesting, all the responses.  Good thread idea, CA!

 

I've thought about this very thing quite a lot lately out of coincidence.  I need to pare things down, be less cluttered, go deeper not wider.  Just where I am at this point in life.

 

First off, I need my hands and my voice.  Feet, too, at times.  At my age I'm reaping what I've sown over six decades.  Take care of 'em, boys and girls.  You don't get new ones, at least not at this stage in technological evolution.  

 

Second off - I actively play keys and guitars, so here goes:

 

One main single coil guitar, one main humbucker guitar.  Right now I'm playing a Casino and an Ibanez PM-120.  

 

One bright Fender-y amp, one Brit voiced amp.  Right now I'm playing a Dr. Z M-12 thru a Weber Blue Dog, and a '65 AC4.  That's right, an ancient AC4, all original except for a few caps and a new Weber Champ speaker.  So I don't really have a Fender-y amp, but the M-12, with pedals, hits some of the same territory.

 

One good 'ol steel string acoustic, one beloved Classical nylon-string, one lap steel.   Right now I've a Martin OM-28V, a Pavan classical, and a late 40s vintage Rickenbacher bakelite lap steel, an "ACE" with the horseshoe pickup and yes, the old spelling before the "ch" was changed to a "k".   Nails the Running on Empty tone hands-down.

 

For keys I need a piano.  Right now I'm making do with a big MIDI SL88 controller and good software, but I'm working on buying a big upright - a Yamaha or a Steinway - once we move in a couple of month.   

 

For EP, I just like the Waves Wurly emulation.  Not picky....EPs are wonderful, but not particularly subtle, instruments. 

 

I'd so love a real B-3.  It was the first instrument I really, really wanted after hearing Booker T play Summertime.  I got a Vox Jaguar transistor instead - which was cool - but not a B-3 by any means.  So I now I play a midi keyboard and software.  The B-3 software available these days is pretty freaking good!  But there's no replacement for a real Leslie.  Maybe some day....

 

For synths, I have a Modwave, a Poly Evolver, a Neutron, and a Model D (Behringer.)   Kinda set for synths, not even going into detail about all the VST synths I've purchased.  Most of the time I use Kontakt, Reaktor, Diva, and the Mellotron stuff from G-Force.  Just bought the Roland Cloud 106, for that thing the 106 does!

 

VSTs do all the old outboard stuff - compression/reverb/EQ/delays/saturation  and on and on, except I do have about a dozen guitar pedals, all subject to frequent change. 

 

But "need" is one thing and "have" is another.  What I need, really, is to stick to a handful of go-to instruments.  Bond with them, love them, hate them, play them 'till I know every hemi-demi-semi wisp of their feel and quirks and strengths and weaknesses, which become my feel and quirks and strengths and weaknesses.  

 

And then go from there, all the above being just shopping, not "music" per se.

 

nat

 

 

 

[ElmerJFudd]

“Need” - oh my.  
 

minimum - a good weighted key action digital piano with acoustic, Rhodes, wurly and organ.  A quality GM sound set for the odd ball sound need.  
 

“Want” 

 

everything you guys have come up with and then some. 

 

 

[AnotherScott]

At home, I have more than I need.

 

At gigs, I need more than I have.

[Notes_Norton]

I don't have a 'collection' of instruments. Basically what I need to gig with, and a few spares so "the show must go on".

 

When I buy a new instrument, the former main instrument usually becomes a spare, and the old spare which is probably in need of repair gets donated to someone who would want to fix it and play it.

 

I do collect music though, I have a 'linen closet' full of books and sheets.

 

Notes ♫

[Winston Psmith]

Much the same . . .

 

My EM sound is largely built around a Guitar with a Hex PU, driving a Roland Guitar Synth, so I have two different Guitars with different Hex PU Systems, and four different model Roland Guitar Synths. (Each model has features that make it useful.)

 

My Rock sound, for lack of a better description, is built around a Gibson SG, so I have 2 SG Specials, that I've retro-fitted with Schaller parts. I have a 30-watt Laney Tube Amp as my main Amp, and a SS Peavey as a back-up.

 

I have tried to gather different types of Synthesis, Wavetable, FM, Analog Subtractive, Phase Distortion, Semi-Modular, and I think the "tool" analogy is a good one.   They're not exactly interchangeable; each has its own features and functions.

 

SFX, OTOH, are another story . . . it seems like there's always a spot for another Delay, or Ring Mod, or Distortion pedal.

[Anderton]

17 hours ago, ElmerJFudd said:

“Need” - oh my.  

 

 I guess the answer depends on how you define "need." If I had only one instrument, I'd make music with it. But I sure would have a hard time getting gigs, writing books, testing gear, doing soundtracks and sonic logos, etc. When I was doing session work there was always Studio Instrument Rentals, but it's so much more convenient to have the stuff in a home studio.

 

The bare minimum I would need is a good keyboard workstation and an electric guitar.