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

[DrGonzo]

Quantumania sounds like the next level GAS.

[Songwriter101]

It has struck me lately, that I really don't get remotely excited over new releases of pretty much anything music related anymore. I didn't even get the traditional foaming and shakes around last Black Friday. I started to think about why...

I have come to the conclusion that, given the multiple D.A.W's I own, the monsterous amounts of VSTi and effects, the vast sample libraries and hundreds of thousands of beats, not only could I barely scratch the surface of learning any of them to a comprehensive and expert level, I would most likely not even have time to noodle on the presets of them all if I spent 30 seconds on each for the rest of my waking life.

GAS got the better of me over the years, I became more of a collector of new shiny stuff rather than selectively buying the tools I needed and only those tools, which is strange really, because when I was still gigging, I got by for many years with one guitar, one amp and a couple of pedals without ever considering the other stuff. In those days I could churn out 5 or 6 songs in a single session...

But for whatever reason, I have realised in the last 6 months or so I don't really care about new gear, I have way more than I will EVER need or use (my poor old HW stuff that hasn't even been plugged in for an eternity, but I am too tight arsed to pay FeeBay their 13.5 % final valuation heist). Maybe I am just getting old, I dunno, but my bank account appreciates it for sure.

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

I am over with it, too. Keep most sounds mono, write a great melody and great lyrics. With the right sound, performance and arrangement choices it mixes almost itself. Light compression, a bit of EQ, verb or delay you are good to go. This is the most important thing to do. That's why I started with music anyways. To play and create songs. GAS really distracted me for years

[vurt]

Quantumania sounds like the next level GAS.

very tiny gas.
whole universe on the head of a pin tiny.

[zerocrossing]

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.

Damn it! We didn’t watch it because friends invited us out to dinner and we haven’t seen them for a while, so I literally hung back to wait for the pizza to be delivered, threw it in the fridge and then met up with them. So instead of pizza and Antman, it was friends and bistro. Tonight. I shall make it so.

[zerocrossing]

That's why I started with music anyways. To play and create songs. GAS really distracted me for years

You sound like my brother, though he never went though any sort of GAS phase. I envy that aspect of him. He bought some Yamaha weighted key ROMpler decades ago and that was all the synthesizer he could ever need. He’s got a few guitars and a bass. If the sound isn’t in there, he doesn’t have it. He’s disinterested to the point of not even tweaking the presets.

That sounds so boring to me, but to each their own. My brother finds a ton of other things to distract him from ever doing anything.

[Songwriter101]

That's why I started with music anyways. To play and create songs. GAS really distracted me for years

You sound like my brother, though he never went though any sort of GAS phase. I envy that aspect of him. He bought some Yamaha weighted key ROMpler decades ago and that was all the synthesizer he could ever need. He’s got a few guitars and a bass. If the sound isn’t in there, he doesn’t have it. He’s disinterested to the point of not even tweaking the presets.

That sounds so boring to me, but to each their own. My brother finds a ton of other things to distract him from ever doing anything.

It works. I used to compose a lot of songs on my Technics 2000 and 5000 keyboard. Easy and quick. Almost all VST synth patches sound too fat and too wide. Funny, the less I cared for equipment the better the recording translated. I recorded directly on Minidisc. Sounded good on every system

[Milkman]

In honor of the GAS, I have just bought the Vector Synth. Ponied up my 21,000 CZK Koruns and hit the CHECK OUT button just now, and I feel all the GAS rising into my head as we speak.

[zerocrossing]

I have this theory that we always try to impress the kid/teenager that we were.

Oh yeah, definitely. Sometimes I’m at work and I think, “I bet if I went back in time and told my 5 year old self that my job is to make people feel like they’re fighting robots in space, he’d be impressed.”

I used to ask for toys based on their appearance as part of my pretend starship’s bridge. Did I really want a Talking Viewmaster? Not really, but that would be an excellent piece of pretend scientific equipment.

I think it’s pretty good way to be. I saw my father not really have anything like this, and at one point he sort of flailed and take up horseback riding and even acoustic guitar lessons (you know, like all good Italian men from NJ) but they never took. He’s retired now and from what I can tell, he just reads the NYT from cover to cover every day and annoys my mother. The best part of their lives seems to be that their neighbors have small children who have adopted them as auxiliary grandparents. I hope I can one day be a crazy old dude with a bunch of cool antique instruments. Maybe I already am.

[vurt]

I have this theory that we always try to impress the kid/teenager that we were.

Oh yeah, definitely. Sometimes I’m at work and I think, “I bet if I went back in time and told my 5 year old self that my job is to make people feel like they’re fighting robots in space, he’d be impressed.”

time travel isnt going to be invented any time soon.
ive tested it.
ive told my son, if it happens in his lifetime, he was to go back to me at 21 and tell me, and i have now informed him, to pass it on to my granddaughters.

as neither of them visited me at 21, looks like im never going back to the fifties to introduce the world to psychedelia and write star wars

[zerocrossing]

I have this theory that we always try to impress the kid/teenager that we were.

Oh yeah, definitely. Sometimes I’m at work and I think, “I bet if I went back in time and told my 5 year old self that my job is to make people feel like they’re fighting robots in space, he’d be impressed.”

time travel isnt going to be invented any time soon.
ive tested it.
ive told my son, if it happens in his lifetime, he was to go back to me at 21 and tell me, and i have now informed him, to pass it on to my granddaughters.

as neither of them visited me at 21, looks like im never going back to the fifties to introduce the world to psychedelia and write star wars

It doesn’t matter when they invent time travel. As soon as they do, it will have always been.

[FranklyFlawless]

In honor of the GAS, I have just bought the Vector Synth. Ponied up my 21,000 CZK Koruns and hit the CHECK OUT button just now, and I feel all the GAS rising into my head as we speak.

I hope you have fun with it once it arrives. Please keep us informed if you end up returning the Arturia MicroFreak.

The firmware update from Arturia did not mention any upcoming bug fixes, only new and enhanced features. It will be released May 30th.

[Jac459]

I have this theory that we always try to impress the kid/teenager that we were.

Oh yeah, definitely. Sometimes I’m at work and I think, “I bet if I went back in time and told my 5 year old self that my job is to make people feel like they’re fighting robots in space, he’d be impressed.”

time travel isnt going to be invented any time soon.
ive tested it.
ive told my son, if it happens in his lifetime, he was to go back to me at 21 and tell me, and i have now informed him, to pass it on to my granddaughters.

as neither of them visited me at 21, looks like im never going back to the fifties to introduce the world to psychedelia and write star wars

It doesn’t matter when they invent time travel. As soon as they do, it will have always been.

Tsk tsk, haven't you heard the news? Time travel exists and create multiverses...

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

GAS stopped for me when, after spending thousands on VST, VSTi, and DAWS I was LESS productive than when it was just me, a Roland U-20, and a Yamaha TG-33. Being an ex-guitar player, for ME making music is inherently a physical activity (despite being a retired software engineer now and living most of my life in my head). Trying to spend hours to set up a bloody knob box to work with different instruments is frustrating as I'M NOT MAKING MUSIC!

For shits and giggles I got a used Volca Beats. In minutes I was sequencing beats and smiling like a stoned pig in a muddy garden of weed Then I got a Volca Bass, and a Volca Sample 2. Oh boy, KNOBS THAT DID WHAT THEY SAID ON THE TIN!

I'm still learning but I've done several live jams now and am hooked. No firing up the DAW, picking which of over 20 VSTi to use, setting up tracks, fiddling with knob box configurations, deciding which of 100s of timbres to use, and then - possibly - hours later (if at all) tracking something in. FEH FEH FEH FEH FEH.

This DAWless approach is not for everyone, for sure. Won't work for huge cinematic or orchestral pieces... but I've done ambient jams in hardware (not good enbough due to lack of practice, but that's on me and not my tools). I can do what I need to, with less fuss and bother than ever before.

And new gear? Sure, I'd like a Volca FM 2, and will get one someday, but it's not a primal urge. Just a whenever thing. Maybe a Volca Keys for Christmas. MAYBE. I still haven't mastered what I have, that's FAR more important.

So, there's my story. Years of GAS.. cured. Weird and wonderful!

You're mileage may vary, as always.