Why I Think I am finally over years of G.A.S

[T-CM11]

edit: wrong topic

[Jac459]

I realized a long time ago that I have art, which is part hobby, part vocation and gear… I don’t want to call it “collection,” because I don’t hold on to things that I never use, but… churning? I got into electronic music because I love the exploration part. I just really do. Sometimes I’ll get something new just to have something new, even if it’s not too different than what I have. I had a Kemper Amp Profiler for a decade and I swapped it out for an Axe FX because I wanted dual amp/effects paths, but I also just wanted a different way of working. I wasn’t unsatisfied with my Kemper’s sound, but I find a lot of value, and actual happiness, in mixing things up.

I do have my “core” stuff that doesn’t change much. I’m not a DAW hopper like a lot of people. For whatever reason, I just want that to be a constant. I’ve got a set amount of things it needs to do, and beyond that, I don’t care. I’ve had the same three guitars since the early 90s, and I actually got one in the early 80s. For whatever reason, I don’t crave new guitars like many do. My hardware synthesizers seem to stick around these days, mostly, but even those are subject to getting swapped out. (Peak left for an M last year, 00R is leaving for a Super Gemini soon) Mostly, the issue is no one is making anything that I feel surpasses them, IMO. Not for a price I’m willing to pay, at least. I thought they might be tax deductible, but I found out that although I was a contract employee for the last year, using my own studio and gear, the way it was set up basically got me nothing. I guess the Republican tax law changes weren’t so awesome for small businesses after all. Still, I wouldn’t have changed my behavior, had I known it. I just like swapping stuff out and occasionally getting a new toy to explore. Beats spending money on luxury cars, and other status symbols, IMO.

Thanks man, it is an interesting perspective.
I have this theory that we always try to impress the kid/teenager that we were.
I couldn't care less about car and other status symbol neither, because as a kid I was not caring at all about that. I was 200% into electronic music and my dream was to have a studio full of instruments (or more specifically, synths...). So now, when I have GAS, it is also my kids part which is enjoying that. It is a new toy to explore and actually, I also agree with you, in electronic music, exploring does matter a lot for creation. And I don't give any s....t about the fact that maybe, I could have obtain almost the same sound with composing one or many of my current gears...

[MadDogE134]

i agree with the inner child theory lol my last two purchases in the past few years were a Martin parlor and a Les Paul Standard. did i need them? no but i always wanted them when i was a kid and could never afford them. i could afford them even less when i was raising a family. now as an old man i just need to sell off my other 7 guitars since i don't perform anymore but i will keep one strat and tele for variety of sound lol

cheers

p.s. as of late i am doing my level best to NOT look at Guild 12-strings lol

[audiojunkie]

What about Reverb.com? Is there something wrong with that place?

They take a ridiculously high cut for basically doing nothing.

That makes sense. Thanks for the info!

[audiojunkie]

The thing that is increasingly pissing me off is that there is really no decent platform to sell off the extraneous crap I have accumulated in Australia. I just want to de-clutter, I'm not looking for profit, don't even consider close to breaking even, I just want to be rid of all this stuff. At the same time, I'm not going to entertain some amoral f#ck who would think it a great opportunity to rip some stupid old geezer off....I am NOT a patsy!

I sometimes use Gearspace’s marketplace, but it often takes a long time to sell. I’ve not tried Sweetwater’s used site yet, but the next time I try to sell something, I probably will.

How is Sweetwater's used site compared to reverb.com? Does anyone who has tried it know? I have a bunch of mint hardware that I'm getting ready to get rid of, and I've never sold any before

[jocknaethick]

00

[audiojunkie]

What about Reverb.com? Is there something wrong with that place?

They take a ridiculously high cut for basically doing nothing.

That makes sense. Thanks for the info!

Interesting.... I just looked things up to compare fees. This is what I have from my country:

USA

USD

3.19% + $0.49 USD

2.99% + $0.49 USD

This doesn't look anything like the 13% I saw posted for ebay.

Edit: It looks like what I listed above is just the processing fee. There's also a 5% selling fee:

There are two main fees associated with every Reverb transaction:

Reverb 5% Selling Fee
Payment Processing Fee
Additional fees may include Bump Fees , Reverb Shipping Label Fees, or cross border fees.




But either way, that's still less than 10% on Reverb, compared to what is being said about ebay:

How much does it cost to sell?
Once your item sells, we generally charge 10-15% of the final value. Your first 250 listings each month are free and, after, there’s a $0.35 insertion fee per listing. Learn more about fees



So, I guess I'm still confused why Reverb is considered worse than ebay. What is a normal acceptable consignment fee percentage for you guys?

Edit 2: Digging in further, it looks like they "Type" of thing you sell determine's ebays's store selling fees, depending on category.

Most categories are 13.25% of the total amount of the sale, but interestingly enough, Guitars and Basses have a 6.35% of the total sale.

I can't seem to find any information on more specific things like musical equipment and gear that "aren't" Guitars and Basses. It is strange that they would limit this special fee pricing ONLY to guitars and basses......

[audiojunkie]

It looks like Sweetwater's Gear Exchange fees are cheaper than reverb.com and ebay:

What are the Gear Exchange fees for a seller?
Gear Exchange transactions have a 2.5% transaction fee and a 5% seller fee.

When you choose a Sweetwater Gift Card as your payout, we will waive both fees! That means more funds available for you to use on purchases at Sweetwater.com.

If you choose Hyperwallet as your payout, then the total seller fees are 7.5%.

Pro Tip: Keep all your earnings, get a faster payout, and turn your old gear into new gear with a Sweetwater Gift Card redeemable at Sweetwater.com!

[vurt]

Pro Tip: Keep all your earnings, get a faster payout, and turn your old gear into new gear with a Sweetwater Gift Card redeemable at Sweetwater.com!

which is good so long as they also give a decent price.
private sales p2p tend to be the most profitable, ie "hey pal, you know that guitar of mine you like? im thinking of selling..." as theres no fees and the guy is wanting!!

then would be somewhere like ebay or reverb, if it wasnt for the fees because again, its people looking for the thing!!!

shops, mostly do that "ooh we get a lot of these and they never move fast..."

basically, second hand, every f**ker is looking for a bargain, except your mate

this is why i have a house full of stuff, i just cba with all that messing, to get low balled

[Bombadil]

I use eBay classifieds. They're free unless you want the item pinned at the top of the searched item. I've run into a couple of scammers and dealt with them as necessary. I'll be putting up an Eastman guitar this week, then I'll be through with buying and selling guitars.

[FranklyFlawless]

Well. Back to what you said a few comments back, to do with returning... the Microfreak.

I have run into an issue, and this issue may be a show stopper for me using the mF. The mF has, and the issue is well known among the customers who have posted on the Arturia forums going back... years.., a problem with its arpeggiator when used inside any DAW.

In standalone mode, the mF works perfectly and I love the thing. Inside a DAW, using the mF's midi sync, the arpeggiator does not work. Patterns/sequencer works, but arp does not. It plays a single not, then stops. If you tap on the keyboard at a rate higher than the current arp, you hear the arp at regular speed. If you hold them down, you hear nothing. According to other users on the arturia forums, this is because the mF SENDS midi sync out of the same port it should be RECEIVING it, and this cannot be disabled for some... reason.

I have a ticket in with arturia now, and if the new firmware (coming in about 10 days, the 5.0 firmware) does not solve this, I will for sure return it.

I wish you good luck with the upcoming firmware update. It is unfortunate that this issue has been neglected for years.

I actually spent a LOT of time getting familiar with the Vector Synth. https://www.vectorsynth.com/
Now I dont have a proper MPE or poly AT controller *if* the mF doesnt work out, but the sounds and features of the Vector are to DIE for, coming from my perspective. If I send mF back, then I must buy a good poly AT/MPE controller + Vector synth.

With MPE hardware controllers, you pay for what you get. A handful of LinnStrumentalists have the Vector, but I have not heard audio or video demonstrations of it from them using MPE.

What about Reverb.com? Is there something wrong with that place?

I sold the MicroMonsta 2 and Deluge OLED each within 12 hours on Reverb. All of the processing/selling fees were high, so I raised the listing prices to adjust for all of that.

[surferman]

I have also found getting back into skateboarding in my late 50s has proven a massive distraction from any and all indoor activities AND I don't feel any need to be shopping for new decks, trucks etc...one skateboard, never ending fun.

Fellow skateboarder here, though I never completely stopped skateboarding. But I really picked it up at 52 or so. Now going on 63 and still at it!
Gas has definitely dropped because I have all I need.

[Milkman]

Do others here find their GAS fades with age or is it terminal for you?

I don't find it fading with age but rather transforming.

I've become much more picky with just about everything, friends, drink, food, gear, movies etc. I can't stand watching another Marvel movie. Most of the cakes in cafes are just based on sugar and have no depth. Almost nothing presented at Superbooth grabbed my attention.

But when I find something made with passion and love, I can obsess over it with my entire heart. It's like I've narrowed down. Focusing much more on specifics. The GAS is still there, but my radar is scanning on different wavelengths these days.

Yeah, it takes a lot more to get my attention these days too, at least with musical equipment and software. Movies… I can still appreciate a Marvel movie, though the last Black Panther one was dismal. It’s pizza and Quantummania tomorrow night. Looking forward to it. I hope it doesn’t suck, but the last two Antman movies were really enjoyable.

I have to break thread flow and say QUANTUMANIA WAS FANTASSSSSTIC!!!! Instantly one of my favorite Marvel movies. Special effects on par with star Wars or Dune, and just a rip roaring wild ride!! On a large 4k HDR OLED (75") it was mind blowing!! Saw it last night.

[BONES]

Yeah, my bandmate said it was way better than he'd expected it to be, too. Good to see someone else who enjoyed it.

Sometimes I’ll get something new just to have something new, even if it’s not too different than what I have. I had a Kemper Amp Profiler for a decade and I swapped it out for an Axe FX because I wanted dual amp/effects paths, but I also just wanted a different way of working. I wasn’t unsatisfied with my Kemper’s sound, but I find a lot of value, and actual happiness, in mixing things up.

I don't know about "value" and I have no need of "happiness" but I find a lot of inspiration in mixing things up. Doing the same things in the same way with the same tools all the time just leads me to making the same things over and over again and, eventually, to running out of inspiration entirely. I suppose if you are doing genred EDM, that might be a good thing but it sounds like the death of creativity to me.

I do have my “core” stuff that doesn’t change much. I’m not a DAW hopper like a lot of people. For whatever reason, I just want that to be a constant.

That's an easy thing for me to explain - DAWs are far more complicated than the plugins I use within them so, to me, it makes sense to stick to one and learn it inside-out. OTOH, I am confident I can pick up any synth and work it out quickly enough that jumping around from one to another isn't normally a problem. Learning Studio One inside-out has been transformative for me in terms of getting better results faster, which is not something I could say about any synth I've ever owned, software or hardware. Of course, when I say "inside-out", I am really only referring to the features I actually use. There are plenty of aspects of Studio One I have looked at but not seen much value in, so I haven't explored them fully.

I couldn't care less about car and other status symbol neither, because as a kid I was not caring at all about that. I was 200% into electronic music and my dream was to have a studio full of instruments (or more specifically, synths...).

I'm the opposite. I'd sell all my music making gear, and my computer, before I'd think about selling my car, or even downgrading it to something cheaper. My car is my most prized possession by a long, long way and listening to music is way more important to me than making it. As much as I love getting up on stage and belting out a set, belting my car up Macquarie Pass at full roar is twice the thrill and requires a lot less effort.

[Jac459]

I have to break thread flow and say QUANTUMANIA WAS FANTASSSSSTIC!!!! Instantly one of my favorite Marvel movies. Special effects on par with star Wars or Dune, and just a rip roaring wild ride!! On a large 4k HDR OLED (75") it was mind blowing!! Saw it last night.

Ha ha, happy for you mate!
Well my 4k hdr oled is only 65.... that may explain... lol.
Actually it is extremely well done, the "aliens" are really really fun and I think even better than starwars.
But it didn't entertain me. I failed to be interested by the story and there was no good jokes like in the first ones (maybe the "hole part").
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't love it... we are all different... did you see guardians 3? Did you like it?