When I was younger (aka FREAKIN' NAIVE), I wanted to have as many control surfaces as possible. I was utterly obsessed with having stacks of sound modules and so many knobs and sliders to control them with. As time went on and the soft synth revolution (it really is) demonstrated how much power you could get out of a computer, I became more concerned with WHAT I WOULD ACTUALLY USE and being able to control MANY things with a FEW tweakers. (Side story of this is, with so much stuff, you never have enough time or patience to get around and try it all out… that's why I no longer collect free audio plugins voraciously, I tried so many and go to know a few very, very well. But I do look at everything I can on the market.)
I think that's to say something about growing wiser, not necessary feeling older, but MORE REFINED about how I choose the tools I use to be creative, and WHY? FOR WHAT REASONS?? The above video is mostly related. If you've ever lived through the same processes, you can resonate.
Gosh, this short hair takes time getting used to and my keyboard's batteries are dying out!
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Great haircut, Torley – looking good
Gear Acquisition Syndrome aka GAS is a true problem for many of us. I've had it… bad. Primarily with soft synths since they are more affordable. But I see that some of the conclusions I've come to after merely staring at a screen, testing presets for hours and producing nothing isn't my problem alone. Even Vince Clark was talking about this in an interview I read. Made me laugh. So I've limited myself to 3 primary and about 7 total. Of course there is the Ohm64 controller and that jazzmutant lemur.. yes it is still a disease but my pocketbook keeps me from total junkiedom. However after that demo of the bt Iphone app.. I will of course justify that purchase as business
@Tourma Thanks, kudos to my wife.
@cmh GAS, NOW we have an acronym! Those Ohms look beautifully designed, so tempting but I haven't found a real need for them. I'd get a Lemur (or APC40, I could go on…) if I performed live. Coming up with reasons to validate your purchases is (at least) half the fun.
You know someone on youtube did a video of just his Mopho limiting himself to sequencing and the mopho for all tracks and it came out sounding really good. The limitations of technology on the artists I loved the most growing up is something to be valued honestly. Thomas Dolby was talking about it on his blog as well, that set limitations honestly causes more to be more creative in the music making process. So I'm trying to follow that. Synplant was too delicious to pass up though.
This reminds me of when I counted and compared the numbers of buttons on each videogame console's controllers as the years went on. By my "young logic", the one with more buttons must have been better, because as the games got better, more buttons were added on to the controllers (there was some confusion over how many buttons a D-pad or a joystick counted for. Heck, the Dualshock joysticks pushed down as buttons too!). I've since then grown out of that thinking, but in this latest generation of gaming, buttons have not been added. We've added instead motion control and touch screens, which can do as much as a THOUSAND buttons.
Good point thattagen. More buttons isn't where it is at but having a more integrated experience is! I actually feel we are at a very interesting time in electronic music as there is an explosion of possibilities with OSC. What this means to me is that artists are having better options about how to interface with their music visually as well as with tactile surfaces. My apc40 should be arriving any time. What makes it a good option for me is that it is mapped out already however with max for live and with the monomulator there is also some flexibility for those who want to take it outside of its intended parameters. (I'm tired of using the mouse.) While the jazzmutant lemur is certainly one of the coolest things I've seen, $2000 bucks would be better spent on a macbook pro. However the new touchscreen computers can open things up for a lot less than the lemur. I'm just loving how people are streamlining their work flow which is what this really is about. If it is too complicated, if it isn't fun, you aren't going to want to play it.
@cmh I haven't played a Mopho yet but Dave Smith has a legendary reputation to me (along with John Bowman and other synth stars…). Some of my fave musicians tend to be adept at both full-on, orchestral (or orchestral-like) arrangements as well as confined solos.
I disclaim how really phat sounds often sound great on their own, but are hard to fit in a mix. It's a similar principle to removing frequencies instead of adding them.
I forget the name but there's an iPhone app that looks VERY similar to the Lemur and it's cheap.
@thattagen In my naive youth, I was asked, "What would the next game system look like?" and I drew a SNES pad with… far more buttons than anyone could expect to remember. It's so funny you had a similar experience. Similarly, certain analog (variable) controls take the place of binary (on-off) states, providing more FLUID experiences.
Huh? Try a Moho. Those are cheap AND affordable.
Also,thermins have no knobs. why does your face light up when you found the name of the instrument you could not speak?