I sold ALMOST ALL of my music gear and it feels GREAT!

[midierror]

I've been making electronic music since the 90s, and collecting gear ever since. I always got excited by new gear, and owning the classics - I loved buying new synths and drum machines, and I firmly believed this got me closer to what I wanted. I slowly realised in recent months that this is not true, and while I had built an impressive collection of incredible music gear - I'd also slowly built a lot of guilt and feelings of inadequacy along with them.

I released a few tracks, played and DJ'd live a lot, and even had a song pressed to vinyl last year - but I feel like I was always chasing a dream of being a producer who 'makes it' and I fully admit that is not my skill set at all, and that change has been very liberating.

All the times I moved house with boxes of gear (lets say 20-30 synths at any one time, including Volcas etc) I felt a new sense of starting again with my music. The music came with it, but certainly not on a professional level. I loved making music as a hobby and a form of escapism, but I didn't ever cut it professionally - though I had all the toys the best producers used. Yet I still felt like I could justify the expenditure and space.

I found through VJing that I could express myself very easily and clearly - and people loved it, more than anyone had loved my tracks!!

Don't get me wrong, I love making electronic music and still perform live... I just now know EXACTLY what I need to do it, and it isn't very much at all.

I wanted to share this because I think some people may similar urges to buy gear which aligns them with the success of others. That perceived success may not feel the same way that it looks to us when and if we get there. We all have talents in something, we're all experts in some area and producing electronic music is not mine, and I am ready to admit that - while laughing at all the times I pretended I was, to myself and others!

I am not suggesting anyone else needs to do what I did.

Enjoy making music! Do what you love!

[BillB]

So now we all want to know what pieces you held on to, so we can go out and add them to our over-large collections


Seriously - well done. I expect a few of us (me included) could learn from this, so thanks for sharing.

PS - what did you hold on to?

[shufflebeat]

I just now know EXACTLY what I need to do it, and it isn't very much at all.

I wanted to share this because I think some people may similar urges to buy gear which aligns them with the success of others.

This could be direct from one of the many acoustic guitar fora, so the impulse seems pretty universal.

I had a serious clear-out a couple of years ago to the benefit of a couple of local schools and churches that friends of mine had some allegiance to. It was a very cleansing process for me, partly because I had/have no reason to have contact with the donatees.

[midierror]

Seriously - well done. I expect a few of us (me included) could learn from this, so thanks for sharing.

PS - what did you hold on to?

That's great to hear! I want to make a short video about what I've decided to keep. It's mainly groove boxes and tabletop gear, all lightweight stuff which can be used standalone and carried easily

[midierror]

I had a serious clear-out a couple of years ago to the benefit of a couple of local schools and churches that friends of mine had some allegiance to. It was a very cleansing process for me, partly because I had/have no reason to have contact with the donatees.

It feels good doesn't it? Especially if the person who takes it is really happy to use it. I had so much stuff gathering dust.

Less is more, and it's something I'm employing across all my possessions at the moment

[Arpangel]

I'd also slowly built a lot of guilt and feelings of inadequacy along with them.

Why do you think you have these feelings?
Also, the very act of posting your thoughts about what you’ve done may indicate that you’re looking for justification.
I think the whole issue of equipment and how we relate to it is a very complex one, there can be many misunderstandings, not only about us personally, but also about how we'd like others to see ourselves through our possessions, this applies very much to potentially addictive and expensive things like music technology.
My personal thoughts are you shouldn’t have to think about this at all.
If it’s an issue, ask yourself, why is it an issue? and be brutally honest with yourself.
But there "aren’t" any issues AFAIC, only what we read into them. For instance, if you like synthesisers and just like looking at them all day and you have the money to buy them fine if that’s your pleasure, why should you feel guilty about it? plenty of people collect rare cars and never drive them.
There seems to be this quite common belief that if you’ve got a lot of expensive music gear kicking around and you’re not really using it much, it’s some sort of a sin, and you're not worthy of owning it. If you think like that then it’s down to other issues, and if anyone says anything like that to you it's probably jealousy.
If you are a pro or an amateur, home studio or massive complex, no one cares, if "you" enjoy what you have, and what you do with it, on any level, then life’s wonderful.
The amount of gear I have, or lack if it, makes no difference to the music I make, or the quantity of music that I make, our music and our attitude is all that matters, our music will come out whatever we have at our disposal.
And one of the challenges for some of us, is coming to terms living with material possessions, that’s just as much a challenge for some us as loosing stuff, or getting rid of stuff.

[tea for two]

It was a very cleansing process for me, partly because I had/have no reason to have contact with the donatees.

This is one of the best ways. So that the less people know what you did the more the cleansing.
There is a particular freedom arising from letting go of material things : from becoming emotionally mentally inwardly more and more materially detached.

It's possible to get to a point whether we have 0 gear or a room full of gear makes no difference to our inwardness as our inwardness has risen above these.

::

I want to make a short video about what I've decided to keep. It's mainly groove boxes and tabletop gear, all lightweight stuff which can be used standalone and carried easily

There is a very recent thread on ere Keyboard foruume OP requesting options opinions on Groove boxes. Your video would help I feel.

[OneWorld]

I also feel I am on the verge of decoupling from much of my hardware. If I had the spoace to keep it I would, some of it is rising in price anyway, so may as well dis-connect and stick it in a corner.

I set myself a challenge some weeks ago - write a song in a day. The first result is ok'ish, the second attempt and I am quite impressed, I am of course focussed on the music instead of typically being so easily distracted by trying all sorts of 'alternative' versions to see if this sound, or that sound, sounds superior - what makes a song sound impressive, fulfilling etc is the song itself, not the equipment used to represent it.

We see professional studios with all sorts of equipment, yes, that is because they have to meet the requirements of disparate artists

I think it's a brave decision to offload your hardware so best of luck and go forward to works of artistic merit now you have less to distract you

[RichardT]

Getting rid of stuff feels great, musical or otherwise. We recently moved house and we took the opportunity to get rid of loads of stuff, mostly to charity shops.

Some people thrive musically with immediate access to lots of gear, some people with minimalistic setups - I’m in the latter camp. It’s a case of finding what works best for you.

I have lots of synths, but they are all of the software kind!

[shufflebeat]

I had a serious clear-out a couple of years ago to the benefit of a couple of local schools and churches that friends of mine had some allegiance to. It was a very cleansing process for me, partly because I had/have no reason to have contact with the donatees.

It feels good doesn't it? Especially if the person who takes it is really happy to use it. I had so much stuff gathering dust.

Less is more, and it's something I'm employing across all my possessions at the moment

Wish I’d said that.

(Formatting joke)

[BigRedX]

I can most definitely relate to the OP.

Ever since I started making original music with others I have also been a home recordist. Originally in the 70s because my band didn't have the instruments amplification to play live, but we could fake it well enough for our needs on tape, and then into the 80s because studio time was expensive compared with our cobbled together 4-track set up that we could use whenever inspiration struck.

Then at the beginning of the 90s I found myself in a situation where I had a property with a decent sized room for a studio and sufficient disposable income to do something useful with it. Over the decade I must have spent 10s of thousands of pounds on equipment and building work. The band I was in at the time made plenty of use of the facilities rehearsing recording (we didn't have acoustic drums and therefore sound levels weren't too much of a concern) and programming. The band released a single, had several tracks on various compilation albums and was working towards releasing a full-length album and second single, when unfortunately the singer left and that ended the band.

However I had never been completely happy with how my recordings sounded, no matter what new hardware or software I bought the results never had the extra sparkle and presence of my favourite records or CDs. This was brought home when my next band who had acoustic drums that I neither had the space or equipment to record, booked some time at a local studio to make what would turn out to be our first EP. The engineer there got a brilliant sound for the whole band in a fraction of the time it would have taken me to get anywhere near and with technically less impressive gear than I had at home. This was the story that was repeated at subsequent session over the next few years and unfortunately I had to resign myself to the fact that I (and not any of my gear) was the weak link in my recording and production.

In the end I sold all my studio equipment, turned the room into an office that I now do my day job (graphic design) from. My "studio" in now the same Mac that I do my day job on and is used just for drum programming, rough songwriting demos and tracking my guitar and bass parts. Apart from two 3rd party plug-ins I only use what is available within the standard Logic Pro X install. My hardware is just the instruments and effects I also use when my band plays live. Any vocal recording and mixing is done elsewhere under the supervision of people with better engineering skills than mine.

Now that I have disconnected the songwriting process from the recording one I feel that my songwriting and arranging skills have improved. I can concentrate on getting the right notes in the right places and let someone else worry about making it sound fantastic. For me it has been a very liberating experience.

[Watchmaker]

Over the years I have gone through ungodly amounts of gear and used to purge every three to five years. People used to love it when I went through a clean out phase, deals galore.

Gear represents alot to me: tool, fantasy, envy, disappointment, nemesis, obstacle, challenge, failure and success. I can't separate playing music from using gear though and every piece of gear I've had or still have must only teach me something - even if that lesson is I'm lucky enough to have a bunch of stuff I'll never use collecting dust.

Whatever it takes to keep you centered and growing!

[midierror]

tool, fantasy, envy, disappointment, nemesis, obstacle, challenge, failure and success.

Whatever it takes to keep you centered and growing!

What a fantastic response, thank you. It felt hard to openly express that I had guilt and inadequacy related to gear, it kind of feels like many people do the same.

You've almost inspired me to write a track using that list as a chorus!

[midierror]

I also feel I am on the verge of decoupling from much of my hardware. If I had the space to keep it I would, some of it is rising in price anyway, so may as well dis-connect and stick it in a corner.

We see professional studios with all sorts of equipment, yes, that is because they have to meet the requirements of disparate artists

I think it's a brave decision to offload your hardware so best of luck and go forward to works of artistic merit now you have less to distract you

You're totally right, and once we've hear a piece of gear was used on a track - I believe it may reinforce that it will 'do the magic' for us.... subconsciously.

It didn't feel brave per-se - the hard part was letting go of some pivotal gear. For some reason a Sub37 and a Microgranny we're the two pieces that set me off. Once I could let go of these the ball was rolling.

Worth mentioning too that some reasonably bug producers ended up buying some bits, which was really inspiring.

[Arpangel]

Gear represents alot to me: tool, fantasy, envy, disappointment, nemesis, obstacle, challenge, failure and success.

Tool? that’s me using it sometimes, Fantasy? something that rarely becomes reality, Envy? a feeling I have a lot but shouldn’t admit it, Disappointment? a feeling I have a lot but shouldn’t admit it, Nemesis? never underestimate anyone, Obstacle? everywhere, Challenge? everywhere, Failure, always present, Success? never present.

[midierror]

Tool? that’s me using it sometimes

[Kayvon]

You did keep an Arpie though right?

[RichardT]

Over the years I have gone through ungodly amounts of gear and used to purge every three to five years. People used to love it when I went through a clean out phase, deals galore.

Gear represents alot to me: tool, fantasy, envy, disappointment, nemesis, obstacle, challenge, failure and success. I can't separate playing music from using gear though and every piece of gear I've had or still have must only teach me something - even if that lesson is I'm lucky enough to have a bunch of stuff I'll never use collecting dust.

Whatever it takes to keep you centered and growing!

Nice!

[Arpangel]

Whatever it takes to keep you centered and growing!

Equipment has made me anxious and poor.

[midierror]

You did keep an Arpie though right?

You've got a good memory!! YES.. .having made hundreds of them for other people, I could not let that go.

[Kayvon]

You did keep an Arpie though right?

You've got a good memory!! YES.. .having made hundreds of them for other people, I could not let that go.

Heh, I never got round to purchasing one though. I was waiting for the Super Salop edition...

[Watchmaker]

Whatever it takes to keep you centered and growing!

Equipment has made me anxious and poor.

srsly. It's my retirement fund in liquid assets guaranteed to return -50% on my investment

[BillB]

srsly. It's my retirement fund in liquid assets guaranteed to return -50% on my investment

Too true, which makes it rather a hard sell to my better half.

[kybdguy]

Early in my playing days there were fewer options of instruments, so less different sounds were accessible. I was able to use an acoustic upright piano and later the household acquired a reed organ that used foot pedals to pump air. Units tended be large, cumbersome, expensive to maintain and costly to purchase. For playing jobs you had to factor in portability, size of stages for your set-up, durability, stability of intonation and very important was the capacity to change settings quickly. This is before presets and program libraries were happening. If a 'house' instrument was provided chances are it was in barely functional condition. In my early teens and amateur bands I rented a 'Combo' organ, usually a Farfisa, Hohner, Acetone or Wurlitzer. Later when I began playing full-time and needed to improve the quality of sound production my 'road' instrument entourage included: starting with a Hammond organ with Leslie cabinet, progressively adding Yamaha Electric Grand, Wurlitzer piano, Hohner Clavinet, ARP Omni (strings and horns), Arp Odyssey. Minimoog, tried a Mellotron but was not stable enough, plus flanger, phase shifters, reverb units and graphic equalizers. Eventually as new items were available I was able to reduce my set-up with Korg CX3 (Hammond clone), Oberheim 4 voice, Korg Poly6, Roland Juno106, Yamaha DX7, and much later Korg SGproX. This was costing tens of thousands of dollars to process.
Most significant changes included: patch memory presets that you can tweak and store, MIDI interface (competing manufacturers actually agreed to make their products compatable), technology that miniaturizes bulk, weight and cost plus more stable since components do not generate the amount of heat that older equipment created (using less electricity).
Back to the topic - what can be approximated with a laptop and controller, or if preferring a workstation with keyboard and digital data processing, this is so less complicated than working with reel to reel tape. Where things can bog down is having to put in the time and effort with tutorials so that the potential of a keyboard like a Kurweil K2600, Korg Kronos, Roland Fantom, Yamaha Montage, etc. can be fully realized.
I am settling more into wanting to spend time on my more accessible boards and guitars that I enjoy playing, and parting with the gear that requires a lot more research and letting someone more willing take it on. I have created some new resolutions in recent years. When I obtain a piece of equipment it should be a solution and make things easier, not be a complicating factor (ie. if it is going to need a repair it is 'no-go' - do not want to spend travel time, money and energy locating a reliable service guy). I need to be able to carry this item without assistance up or down stairs and it has to fit it my car. Research before buying - are there chronic issues, as in capacitors that will need up-dating, poor resin glue used, voice chips with epoxy that deteriorates, replacement parts that are no longer available or have become excessively expensive? To reconcile releasing gear not used enough to justify keeping I can compare it to having a 100 gallon aquarium that was installed ten years ago and provided enjoyment and a sense of tranquility when observing but now the algae and floating debris is nagging you to do a filter and water change before the fish perish and it is otherwise just taking up space. Want a different analogy? - a 35 year old non-running muscle car rusting in the garage so other things get stored on the driveway.
As in playing - sometimes less is more. Instead of lamenting what you are leaving behind be enthusiastic with where you go. Choose how you want to spend your time.

[sonics]

Thanks for that first post, and welcome!

Your history sounds a little like mine. I do miss when the rigs was so simple you couldn't waste any time programming or choosing sounds because there were few or none to choose from, or the controls were simple or limited. You simply had to get on with the music. But the Hammond did sound better than the combo organs, didn't it?