One year, 100 tracks(*)

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I've done FAWM and NaSoAlMo a few times in the past, and found them kind of frantic but great creative exercise. But I've also had years where that's basically all I did creatively.

So for 2016 I decided instead to set the sustainable, but kind of challenging goal, of finishing one track per week, with notes for each track about what I was thinking and/or the gear or process I used.

Instead I finished 100 tracks between January 10 and today -- 23 of them in the last two weeks while I've been on vacation (9 of which were with a small subset of software on a laptop with none of my hardware).

(* actually 102; I also did two remixes for the taiko group I used to perform with, and those took quite a bit of time and effort to sort through hundreds of takes on multiple mics, piece everything together and be absolutely fastidious about everything.)

It's sort of an extended album, and a journal of gear I acquired, was inspired by, used the most frequently, struggled with, sold off, and so on. Overall it was a process of changing my attitude and habits, starting from "it's been 8 days so I guess I better do something even though I don't feel creative and would rather just play videogames today" and ending with multiple days where I got 3 tracks done, didn't hate them, and didn't feel the stress about it that I used to during FAWM or NaSoAlMo.

I'll continue this process next year without setting any particular goals beyond "at least one per week" just to prod myself if I fall out of the habit for some reason.

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A quick gear summary though:

-- I still sequence almost everything in Maschine standalone, "real DAW" or not. I also did the remixes in it, which was awkward in some ways.
-- MicroBrute was one of the best music gear purchases I've made, and that was before I got into modular.
-- TherapSID didn't work out too well for me, nor did the AY3.
-- Atmegatron is a lot of fun but also a bit troublesome. Not a love/hate relationship, but a love/"I can't take you anywhere, what the hell am I going to do with you" relationship.
-- The mini Bastl Trinity stuff is kind of fun but on balance, I just don't find myself using them much.
-- Thingamagoop 3000 is more fun, but also I don't use it very much; it seemed like it had a whole bunch of utility when I bought it but I only ever use it to chill and make weird noises.
-- Olegtron*4060 is a weird little thing and I like it because its approach is just so different from everything else.
-- Overall, cheap desktop synths and old gear bought off eBay can only do so much, and I feel like they were mostly just a stepping stone to modular for me.
-- Modular synths rule, and I don't see myself buying any fixed architecture synths anymore, nor software aside from effects. They can be expensive even if you don't get fancy, thanks to the infrastructure (case, power, cables, I/O, accessories) but if you use some discretion you can get a LOT out of even a small system.

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