I have seriously downsized the last few years and I am doing so again. There are things I want to get back which I sold many years ago as I realise their value more now that I have more time again (better grid than I have and an Arc for example).
I sold off all my Euro, Grid 128, Arc4 (from the first run I believe), a bunch of pedals, several guitars and I have all but my actually used guitars up for sale.
When I didn’t have the time to make music much, I think I bought stuff as a subconscious replacement. Now that I have time to actually make more music I am trying to shed stuff i haven’t been using and replace it with tool to help me achieve what I want. Had a couple of mis-steps along the way but I definitely like have a focused set of quality tools.
Sounds like you are very hands on person with a hands off instrument
I’m not sure TT or crow suit themselves easily for improvisational workflow, I think it can be done but requires mastery of the tools and also ability to extract enjoyment from typing on the keyboard.
I suppose something much more simple and “knob per function” might work for you and rekindle the interest
i’ve been ruminating on this. you’re very right, but thinking about it like this has reminded my of my original goal - i wanted to be playing drumset with my modular, and had intended for my system to operate with active but minimal manipulation from me - since my hands are busy over on the drums.
maybe i haven’t given my system the time it deserves yet. i might still sell much or all of it… but maybe i need one more push first.
i think a process issue for me has been a constraint i placed on myself - i wanted to be able to play any additional instrument by itself as well as with my drums - maybe that’s getting my further from the goal. through my whole electronic music journey, i’ve learned over and over that things go FAR better when i keep myself at the drums. funny how we learn the same lessons over and over…
well hands on process does not necessarily mean you have to actively do everything by yourself all the time.
keyboard and scripts are awesome, but the process mostly happens in your head. I can do it as a work, but not as an exploratory practice. To do scripting i have to know exactly what i want, but to know that i have to explore first.
What i mean by hands on instrument is that it allows you to explore and then once you find a spot you like leave it to do it’s thing.
I found the background on this album to be really interesting, especially regarding the interaction between drums and modular:
I think teletype can give you the improvisatory element if you plan ahead and write the scripts in advance. The Walk module was designed primarily for foot control of the teletype, so that might also facilitate some ‘playing’ of the teletype. You’d have to figure out a way to get the triggers into the system, but there are a lot of ways to do that.
I have officially sold everything, UPS have just collected the last box to be shipped.
I didn’t have a huge amount of gear, but what I had ended up feeling like it had been accumulated by accident & certainly wasn’t conducive to any proper workflow.
Huge sense of relief to be able to start again with a clean slate, with a much better idea of what I want/want to achieve - and probably as importantly - what my budget is
Had 24u frac modular and loads of outboard and hardware synths in 2011. By 2012 I had no synths.
In the last decade have slowly tried a few things and finally settled on a pretty minimal configuration, for recording backing tracks. One mono synth, one poly synth, one drum machine. But I’m all about the acoustic guitar these days.
Chuck Feeney has ‘[given away] (nearly) everything’:
(i realize it’s not quite what the thread is referring to, but just sharing a very inspiring read here; it just feels so good when you discover people like this, “The James Bond Of Philanthropy”, are out there - admittedly, he’s still got something to live on, but damn: %375,000 of his current net-worth now given away - bless that beautiful soul )
I sold 85% of my guitar shit to fund modular and it was the best decision Ive ever made. Now Ive sold a lot of my euro and I’m down to a setup that can fit in a backpack if it needs to and loses practically no expressive capability.
As of now, I am down to just Ableton and Quneo (and I don’t know how effective Quneo will be).
Every time I hear something amazing in a gear demo or a published track, I think about it then wonder if it would actually be any better than Ableton.
I have definitely given up synths in favour of Wavetable and Operator but I keep wondering about other hardware. Morphagene and Arbhar look great but I can’t deny that I could probably get similar results by playing with Simpler and Sampler.
Although I’ve done the “sold everything” before, it hasn’t been out of a desire for minimalism but more of a periodic need to radically shake everything up. 15-ish years ago I had a bunch of hardware and got rid of all of it (including some stuff I wish I hadn’t parted with, like a Microwave XT and Sidstation) in favor of an entirely in-the box setup. I was happy with that setup until last month when I started building a eurorack system, and I’m sure that in 15 years I’ll feel the need to sell most of it and move to something else. Too little familiarity means I can’t make music easily but too much familiarity is stagnating, for me at least.
To be fair, I never really had a TON of gear, but I have sold many things I’ve tried just for space and simplicity reasons. I’ve come to learn I like being in the box for electronic music since I don’t have much space in my apartment and I like the immediacy of writing software to pair with my MIDI Fighter Twister or 3D. Besides that, I mostly work in VCV Rack and Ableton and Max/Pd.
I have a nice Roland FP-90 that sometimes I use as a midi keyboard but often standalone. My horn (French horn) is my main acoustic instrument and I have a cheap 3/4 classical guitar and a Seagull S6 acoustic guitar for times I want to just pluck around.
Sometimes I think I’d like some new toy, but I always end up realizing the parts I’m interested in can be done on my computer. I guess I don’t mind not having a physical device so much. Luckily it keeps me from falling down the modular rabbit hole or guitar pedal hole.
I find this so inspirational to make Ableton the instrument.
I’m not there with Ableton, despite having it for many years.
I feel delightfully fluid with Logic Pro. Specifically: horizontal zoom and horizontal scroll, start from selected region. I can rip around the arrangement and my thoughts are manifested.
And then when I tab into the Ableton arrangement, I feel like a moron. I feel as graceful as if my left and right arms were swapped, and I’m just flapping. I guess, I feel like a seal? That feels right.
i love tips like these! makes me wanna hop in ableton asap. maybe we should start an ‘ableton recipes’ thread.
one of my goto methods is to stretch the sound a ton and play with the warp modes. i especially like using transient warp to get cool glitchy stutters and repeats.
I feel the same way (but instead of Logic, Cubase). I feel like I can work at the speed of thought in Cubase, but in Live I feel like I’m trying to grip something without thumbs.
Unless I’m missing something, I think that Live just isn’t that conducive to working fast and fluid like that. The capabilities to do so literally aren’t there.
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