New Gear's Resolutions

[McLilith]

New Gear's Resolutions:

In the coming year, I'll try not to neglect any of my gear. I want every piece to get some regular use, even if it's just a small amount.

If I can't find a good use for any particular item, it's time to find a new home for it.

I have some broken gear, and I plan to fix everything I'm capable of fixing.

And most importantly, finish more projects with my gear! I mean, that's supposedly why I have the gear, right?

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Does anyone else have some New Gear's Resolutions they'd like to share?
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[cryophonik]

Lots of new gear resolutions for me…

Definitely agree re: neglecting gear. I have a few items that keep getting stuck aside and not getting enough use (e.g., TD-3 MO, MPC Live 2). I really need to get fluent with them and start working them into my projects.

I don’t really plan to buy a lot of music gear next year and my biggest plans right now are to swap out two of my synths with different form factors/versions of the same synth, so nothing new to learn there, but I always strive to keep exploring my synths.

I’ve got a bunch of patch banks for different synths that I’ve started, so I’m hoping to finish some of them in 2024 and make them available commercially, but that’s a low priority.

My piano skills have gotten very rusty ever since I sold my Kurzweil PC-3X. I’d like to buy a nice Kawai digital piano for our living room in 2024 and get back at it.

Not exactly “music gear”, per se, but I plan to make YouTube videos my main focus for song releases from now on, so I want to keep improving my videography skills and get better at both shooting and editing videos. I finished three videos with three different singers/songs in 2023, but I’m hoping to up that to 15-20 new songs/video releases in 2024.

[bmanic]

I just organized all my hardware and made the "ideal" workspace, meaning I have absolutely everything connected both audio and midi so there really is no excuse now. I've also created a template in Reaper that allows me to very quickly record everything and sync everything.

EDIT: Actually the above isn't entirely true. I ran out of audio inputs so only about half of my hardware is connected but I chose the ones that are most annoying to connect and kept the small pieces that I can easily connect manually near the workspace. I'm very tempted to get the new Arturia Audiofuse 16 rig just so I could have absolutely everything connected in one go.

.. and naturally to make it even more cool, I just bought Softube's Console 1 mk3 to go with the whole thing so that I have immediate, low CPU mixing on the fly on every channel. Surely I will be able to finally make some finished music? Right? RIGHT????

[McLilith]

I ran out of audio inputs so only about half of my hardware is connected...

You're in better shape than I am. I can only connect about 1/8th of all my audio sources simultaneously to dedicated channels on my audio interface. Thankfully, I should never need to connect everything directly to my audio interface at the same time. Having a mixer helps. I might also add a patch bay in the future, but that requires a lot more cables! (It seems the need for more cables will never end.)

Surely I will be able to finally make some finished music? Right? RIGHT????

Yep! You and I should both be cranking out lots of finished projects... yep... any day now...

[foosnark]

On "neglecting gear" -- I mostly tend to sell it off if I'm not using it. Or if I catch myself using it only because I felt guilty about not using it.

There are a few things that I will just keep off to the side and get into them once in a while. My Thingamagoop 3000 for instance -- it can do some wicked drones, but so can a lot of other things. It's fun to mess with, but I usually don't.

I got into bass guitar in late 2021/early 2022, and ordered a really nice instrument that was perfect for how I play... and I don't play it that much. It might show up a couple of times on an album, and sometimes just as a single sampled note. Never got particularly good and I didn't keep up the practice (completely blew a previous resolution to do that), but I can do some ambient noodling with it. Sometimes I feel bad about that, mostly I don't.


Anyway, my resolutions plan for 2024:

1. Explore my stuff more. Last year, I did some deep dives into a few of my more complex bits of gear. This year I want to make a list and go through basically everything I have, hardware and software. That kind of ties in with the neglect thing, but this is more about two other things instead:
- I feel like I have enough gear (possibly too much). Getting more out of what I have makes it easier to avoid the temptation to buy something else or trade away the stuff that I already like.
- With some gear that does get used a lot, I tend to have a narrow range of habits for it. But I know it's capable of a lot more.

2. No new synths (hard or soft) unless they offer something wildly new and I'm fairly sure that I'm actually going to want to use them on a regular basis. Hardware synths have a higher bar to clear than software, mostly because of space constraints. Sumu qualifies, and Myth probably will qualify.

3. No more delays or reverbs unless they are something really unique and novel. Over the last couple of years I was susceptible to collecting them if they had a character that I liked. But the harem is full.

4. Continue to stay away from pedals.

5. Keep the modular fairly stable, unless something world-rocking comes along (like Spectraphon did in 2023). I have a few minor changes planned (Ana 2 for Ana, Toppobrillo Cluster for Blinds, Alia for Ataraxic Iteritas, and 8 HP free for something new perhaps).

6, and this is important: none of this is written in stone, don't feel bad if I change my mind because I find myself going off in some other musical direction or whatever.

[egbert101]

I will break my resolutions by 2nd January but here goes:

1. Continue going minimal.
2. Stop using plugins.
3. Stop using the DAW.
4. Hardware only (except for editors/librarians etc.)
5. Buy some hardware.

[McLilith]

I will break my resolutions by 2nd January but here goes:

If it helps, I think of a resolution as "a general direction to move in" and not a fixed destination to arrive at by a certain time—and nothing says you have to travel in a straight line.

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[chk071]

I will break my resolutions by 2nd January but here goes:

1. Continue going minimal.
2. Stop using plugins.
3. Stop using the DAW.
4. Hardware only (except for editors/librarians etc.)
5. Buy some hardware.

Sounds expensive.

[egbert101]

Either way, software or hardware, it's going to be expensive if you take a PC into account. But I already have plenty of hardware, so it should read:

5. Buy MORE hardware.
6. Get control of my G.A.S.

Of course, I'm lying about 6.

[chk071]

Either way, software or hardware, it's going to be expensive if you take a PC into account.

A PC, you buy one time every 8 years. In my case, for about 1.000 to 1.200 €. Any properly featured hardware synth, analog or digital, which would be in line with my needs would at least set me back 1.500 to 2.000 € (in the case of analog synths, probably more).

I think it's out of question which is the worse money pit. That's why we don't need to discuss this any further anyway.

[cryophonik]

6. Get control of my G.A.S.

Of course, I'm lying about 6.

I feel that. For me, 2023 was the year of conquering my GAS, mostly by just buying the gear I wanted to complete my studio, and too many items that I thought I wanted, but then resold pretty quickly. The Trigon 6 desktop was on my wishlist before it was even announced and I’ve finally got one on the way. The only remaining synth that has been on my wishlist for a long time is a MiniFreak, but I’m not in a hurry for one and will just wait for a motivated local seller selling one for dirt cheap.

The last few months for me have been mostly about getting my studio ergonomics right and finishing songs. I plan to carry that through 2024, with no major changes to my setup, but we’ll see how that goes with new product announcements from the upcoming trade shows. I’m sure there will be, at the very least, a new Elektron must-have in my near future.

[vurt]

I will break my resolutions by 2nd January but here goes:

1. Continue going minimal.
2. Stop using plugins.
3. Stop using the DAW.
4. Hardware only (except for editors/librarians etc.)
5. Buy some hardware.

Sounds expensive.

you can't put a price on happiness

[egbert101]

Going to be fun tomorrow when I pull out my credit card.

[Constructed Identity]

To spend more on experiences and less on gear.

[whyterabbyt]

finish stuff.