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No more keyboards or synths


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Is the opposite of GAS, to be called SAG?

 

Congratulations. Less is more.

 

I am mostly downsizing music software at the moment, as I already eliminated most keys and synths years ago.

 

My productivity shoots way up after limiting my choices, forcing me to get past technical hurdles vs. switching.

 

In your case, the Theremin could take a lifetime to master anyway, so now you'll have more time to practice it.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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As someone who is constantly shrinking his studio but in a pattern of buying a few options, trying them, selling/trading/returning them, and ending up with fewer boxes than when I started, I am curious as to why you're doing this, if you'd care to share.

 

We don't know each other, but the tone of your email suggests something less cheerful than simply acknowledging focus and limitation as beneficent creative forces. If some of my local music friends had posted a message like this, I'd be concerned for their health.

 

I guess my second question would be: are you all right?

 

mike

 

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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What are you doing with it? I ask because I have a bunch of gear I don"t need anymore and also want to be rid of it. Don"t want to just give it away to whoever though. Thanks and good luck.

Kawai KG-2C, Nord Stage 3 73, Electro 4D, 5D and Lead 2x, Moog Voyager and Little Phatty Stage II, Slim Phatty, Roland Lucina AX-09, Hohner Piano Melodica, Spacestation V3, pair of QSC 8.2s.

 

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As someone who is constantly shrinking his studio but in a pattern of buying a few options, trying them, selling/trading/returning them, and ending up with fewer boxes than when I started, I am curious as to why you're doing this, if you'd care to share.

 

We don't know each other, but the tone of your email suggests something less cheerful than simply acknowledging focus and limitation as beneficent creative forces. If some of my local music friends had posted a message like this, I'd be concerned for their health.

 

I guess my second question would be: are you all right?

 

mike

 

 

I am alright in the sense of being healthy! I see my doctor every three to four months. Aside from having high blood pressure, which I am controlling with medication, diet and well, working on exercise.

 

As far as my mental health? I am good in that I am not suffering from depression or any mental disorders. Proven by my doctor. Although, I do suffer with mild anxiety, which is controlled with medication, mainly for the physical effects, but not mental. Of course we all suffer from some form of anxiety. I have been learning disabled since childhood. Suffered with a mild form of Asperger"s syndrome and dyslexia. Was even diagnosed, with poor hand eye coordination. Although, part of that might have been me, doing something deliberately! I would classify myself as being introverted ( based on the so called Myers Brigs Test), which is bogus. Learned that from Adam Ruins everything.

 

As for always buying and selling keyboards, it was more of a want then a need, or use. Actually, it applies to everything, even my piano and Theremin. Although, I can"t sell the Theremin, as that was a gift from my mother. Actually, I had wanted the Thereminium and not a Theremin, but she thought the Thereminium was too plastic and not wood like the Theremin! Oh well, I may not be able to play it, but I got the technique, to control it.

 

I had taken piano lessons from the age of five until twenty one. Which amounted to nothing! I hated to practice. I was taught the John Shaum Classical method. BORING! Also, I wanted to be able to play straight with out practice. Unfortunately, I am not Mozart! When I was a child I was fascinated with pipe organs, but was told I had to learn to play the piano first. Of course having a player piano in the house didn"t make matters easier. Because, I learned to could play music, without learning to play music. Why learn sheet music, and practice, when I could just put in a paper roll and pump the bellows with my feet, and music when ever I wanted. I love music, I just don"t want too work at it!

 

As for buying and selling multiple synths, that was just a stupid obsession! I have always known, I would never amount to anything musically. I have always loved synthesizers and electronic music, just never wanted to do anything with them. Also, I am my own worse critic and just hate my playing style and ability. It"s a good thing, I didn"t get into modular synths or experimental music, and post on YouTube. I would have been criticized for what I did, as not being musical, and I don"t take well to that sort of thing.

 

As far as joining this forum, I don"t have an answer for that? Maybe to make friends. Of course my grammar and punctuation have come into question? I don"t know the proper use of to and too, as when to use them in a sentence? Same goes for my over use of commas,,,,,,,,,,,,, :P. Although to be fair, Unless you are someone who writes a lot, which I don"t. It would be nice for people to ease up on mine and other people"s writing. I am looking at you Grammar Nazis! I"m sure if our public school system focused more on Grammar and punctuation. More people would be better at it!

 

In conclusion, Yes! Mike I am alright!

 

Paul

 

 

 

 

 

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Good for you. At the risk of being accused of just being inflammatory, I suspect GAS is in fact a cop-out. I don't exempt myself, so let me explain via this story:

 

Yesterday, I bought an SUV. This was much like buying a synth: I already had a car, but wanted just a bit more. I did my research, and watched the market. I didn't pull the trigger on several choices for a variety of reasons ... Then on Sunday, vehicle #1 completely died, mid-travel. I immediately tested out my three best candidates, and was just about to go buy one of them -- when a new listing came up that fulfilled every criteria of my search.

 

Today, I drove it to work. Everyone else was congratulating me on my "new car" (actually it's old enough to vote, though it looks new) ... but I felt nothing. Sure, I like it, but I didn't buy it to thrill me -- I bought it to get me around, and my gear as well. The old car did that mostly, but this does it a little more, and a little easier to get my gear in and out of. The other candidates would have served just as well. Oh, they had some minor objections -- but if any of them had been the only choice, I would have bought it and had my needs met. Nothing's perfect -- not even this one (the door sticks, and it burns a bit rich). If the old car hadn't died, I might still be hesitating.

 

I totally understand the excitement of this or that new announcement, and the possibilities of what new technology might do. But what do I actually need? If I had only my MX61 and a TR-8, I could manage everything I've really ever had to do. My main excuse (and it's a good one!) is that I decided to try doing an all-synth album, so that had me trying/buying a lot of new things. But really: I could probably get enough sounds out of the MX alone. It just wouldn't be as sexy/exciting.

 

What really is the reason for acquiring "just one more"? Well, it is pretty exciting to get onto whatever others are buzzing about, isn't it? But at some point, there's a reward for saying "I already have what I need", which is a richer fulfillment than "just one more" (unless, of course, that "one more" is just what you need)

It's not the gear, it's the player ... but hey, look -- new gear!

 

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I've drooled a lot over keys and synths when I just had the JUNO-G. 61 key rompler board, did everything I needed but a lot of it in a mediocre way. Now that the NS2 does stellar piano, EP, organ and good VA sounds, I can do anything with those two boards and I can't really justify any new purchase. I wouldn't even have the time to play with something new!

Life is subtractive.
Genres: Jazz, funk, pop, Christian worship, BebHop
Wishlist: 80s-ish (synth)pop, symph pop, prog rock, fusion, musical theatre
Gear: NS2 + JUNO-G. KingKORG. SP6 at church.

 

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I don"t know the proper use of to and too, as when to use them in a sentence?

 

 

Not being condescending, just trying to help. 'Too' (with two oo"s) means as well, or also. If that"s not what you mean, use 'to', (with one o)

Occasionally, do something nice for a total stranger. They'll wonder what the hell is going on!
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If we all used the mantra 'do I want it or do I need it?', we"d all have a lot less gear.

 

Indeed. I've been downsizing since spring of this year and it's great--sold two keyboards and have another on CL at the moment.

 

I'm using the extra $$$ to purchase photography gear!

 

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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I don"t know the proper use of to and too, as when to use them in a sentence?

 

 

Not being condescending, just trying to help. 'Too' (with two oo"s) means as well, or also. If that"s not what you mean, use 'to', (with one o)

 

Also not being that and just trying to do that. Too also means excessively (as in "Too pedantic, CountFosco").

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If we all used the mantra 'do I want it or do I need it?', we"d all have a lot less gear.

 

If it"s a business than yeah. Otherwise I much prefer spending my money on things I want.

 

I need a roof

My dog needs ACL surgery

I want another beer

I want a new synthesizer.

 

See? :D

In all seriousness I think it"s more about buying stuff that you"ll use and get maximum enjoyment from over many years. Too often the best part about buying stuff is the acquisition including the anticipation and opening the box. The newness factor can wear off very quickly. Unless you"re finding new things to do with it.

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I feel like I've reached "the end" as well--though I've said that before, for live use anyway.

 

Nord electro and Yamaha modx cover a LOT of current bases...and the modx being able to easily bring in an ipad really opens things up.

 

Thought it must be said, and some will call me crazy...the modx organ is better than I thought, and there are ipad organs...so part of me wants to sell the Electro and go for a synth (novation, dave smith, prologue etc)...just in that mode I guess! I've been in the same 70's-heavy piano/organ band for 7 years, and we just now are adding more synthy 80s stuff...

 

At home, I'm all in on software, and have called a moratorium on buying more until I use and become proficient with what I have now...which will take me until the year 2179.....

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I pretty much reached "the end" myself.

 

I've been on enough learning curves that I prefer to keep my old stuff running. It doesn't hurt being an EE armed with schematics.

 

Do I need to replace old stuff? Let me count the ways:

 

AP/EP/orchestral samples... been happy with my Kurzweil 1000 romplers. Tried the newer Kurzweils, found no compelling reason to upgrade.

Hammond... XK3 and XK3c have suited my needs and they sound great. Hard to top my Dynacord CLS-222 leslie simulator. And I *STILL* have real tonewheel organs and Leslies.

Synths... got plenty of Moogs, Oberheims, and ARPs. I got rid of a few redundant pieces. Still have the Andromeda. The Moog One is the one future purchase left to buy.

Drums... happy with Alesis DMPro

Processors... hard to beat the Korg SDD delays, Eventide 2016 digital reverb, legacy Lexicon digital reverbs, etc I went into pro audio processors years ago, the ecomony stuff just doesn't compare.

Sound reinforcement... good there, no compelling reason to replace what I have.

 

I certainly don't ignore new gear or plugins... I try a lot of stuff.

 

I don't subscribe to the upgrade treadmill nor do I grab gear because an artist made a hit single using them.

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Paul, I"m glad to hear you"re OK. It sounds to me like you"re doing this for the right reasons.

 

mike

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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From now on I'm just going to hollow out a potato and make an ocarina. :D

 

Now that's a real minimalist!

 

This is our version of "potato modification." :laugh:

 

http://caribbeanpot.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Curly-Fry-Cutter-review.jpg

 

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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Paul, I"m glad to hear you"re OK. It sounds to me like you"re doing this for the right reasons.

 

mike

 

I didn"t want to go overboard. If i had the money, i would love to own an ARP2600, but I"ll wait until Behringer releases the version.

 

Behringer is also working on the UB-XA.

 

I almost jumped on a used Roland VK-09.

 

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Other than a couple of spikes, my hardware ownership has been on a slow downward trend since the early 2000s. A lot of that is due to the evolution of software instruments. I've usually had limited home studio space, so keeping nine keyboards and fourteen modules around became wearying. There are three modules remaining in my home workspace, and normally two keyboards. But between an iMac and iPad, I seem to have more instruments than ever.

 

Hardware-wise, my history wih Yamaha is all in one place: an MODX 8; same goes with Korg - an original Kronos 61. And for the past two years I've used a Stage 3, 76 a lot, live; still have a Hammond XM-1/1C for puling real drawbars though (and nothing quite sounds like it). Love my Roland gear, but am finding too much duplication these days. The Jupiter-50 has been a workhorse since 2012, and an RD-2000 has covered well live for piano (and occasional synth support); but I'm thinking of turning both into a Jupiter-80, then using the MODX 8 for live 88 duties when needed.

 

Where continual GAS has still been present - and with no small amount of 'horse trading' - is with analog or VA synths. That's been happening since 2014, and thankfully with lower-budget gear (though perhaps picking up a Prophet 12 would've solved things in the first place...). I have the black Blofeld keyboard, but have not quite connected to it. That UB-XA, though... Always have regretted selling my OB-Xa 8 in 1990 (for $700 :cry:)

'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo.

 

We need a barfing cat emoticon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I almost jumped on a used Roland VK-09.

 

I know the VR-09 can be polarising but...

:D

 

I'm with you on the UB-XA, although we're in a synth Renaissance I'm perfectly happy with what I have, but I like the idea of the UB-XA

 

Actually i was referring to Roland"s lesser known VK-09 not the VR-09.

 

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