Hardware vs Software
A love of technology, sound design, and exploration
Hey friend,
I hope you've been well!
Lately I have been really enjoying playing some of my hardware synths. I upgraded one of them from a Moog Minitaur, to a Moog Subsequent 25, and I have sold a couple of the others. The more I learn sound design and synthesis, the more fun I have using my hardware synths.
For years I have always used virtual synths inside of Ableton, and this is great for being able to pull up projects and have all the sounds there, fully editable. However, there is something magical about recording automations by hand on my Moog that never gets old. I find that playing around on my hardware synths can be much more inspiring than using the same sound virtually inside of Ableton.
When I turn my Sub 25 on, I can immediately start playing music and designing sounds with my hands, and I get sucked right into making music. I find that I can even close my eyes and twist the knobs, shaping the sound with my ears only, which is something I can’t do with virtual instruments.
The other day I pulled up a sound I saved on the Moog and within 30 seconds I already had a cool sounding bass line. I loaded up one of my House templates and within 5 minutes I had the bassline and arrangement of an entire song laid out. Now I just have to fill out the rest of the song, but at this point, most of that will write itself!
For a while I had a Behringer Deepmind, which is a clone of the famous Juno synth from the 80’s. I recently sold it, as I felt it was not very inspiring to use or to look at. It was missing that piece of magic that the Moog synths have. It sounded fine, but the sounds I got out of it I an easily get out of my virtual synths, so what I really look for in an instrument is something that inspires me to make music the second I touch it. I find that the cheap Behringer clones just don’t scratch that itch for me, and it’s worth spending more money to get the real thing if you can afford it!
Routing
One of the biggest headaches when dealing with new hardware is how I’m supposed to connect all of it to my system. The more hardware you get, the more inputs you need, the more you need to upgrade other gear just to make it all work together. I feel like this is a trap that is easy to fall into, so I have decided to try to keep a fairly lean set up, so that I don’t run into issues with this over and over again. It can be very tempting to always buy the latest, shiny new synth, when in reality, a couple of nice instruments will do most of the work that I actually need.
My next upgrade is an Ableton Push 2 that I am trading a piece of gear for tomorrow, and I am really excited to get into the Push workflow! I will most likely write about my thoughts on it in the future, so look out for that!
Space
One of my biggest concerns when buying new gear is, do I even have the space for this? Before I bought the Sub 25, I really wanted the Sub 37 but it was just way too big for the space I had on my desk. One day I can see having a rack with a few bigger synths on it, but for now I like keeping things on my desk where I can use them quickly within arms reach.
For me, the most important question when getting new gear is, will I actually use this to make music or is it just fun to play? Either answer is fine, but I personally only want gear that I will use in every song. This means being a bit more selective, and falling prey to Gear Acquisition Syndrome.
G.A.S
Gear Acquisition Syndrome is something most of my peers know about, or suffer from in one way or another. It is the constant pull to acquire new products, even when you don’t really need them, and at worst, even when you can’t afford them. Some people rack up debt to fill their place with gear and this is something I am quite cautious of, as I have seen the tendencies in myself, as well as many people I know.
The thing with G.A.S is, it doesn’t only relate to gear. It applies to all types of collectors, whether that is books, decorations, clothes, or anything else that you can accumulate when you really don’t need to. I have found myself buying books, plugins, etc that I hardly use or read and this is the thing to watch out for. When you buy something new, are you drawn to buy something else right away, or do you spend time using the thing you just bought, learning from it all you can? The trap most of us fall into is immediately moving the goalpost to the next item before really diving deep into the thing we just bought. Watch out for this tendency in yourself!
Buying new gear is really fun, but using that gear should be the goal, not the continual buying of new gear to scratch that itch. It is a dopamine addiction that is responsible for this problem. We get a high from the anticipation that is more profound than the feeling of actually playing with your new gear. This is a dangerous route to fall down, but the best way out of it is to learn more about Gear Acquisition Syndrome, and actively look out for how you might fall prey to it in your own patterns. It’s ok to want new things, just make sure it’s something you will actually use!
Take care my friend,
- Niko