Since upgrading my Digitone 1 to the 2 I’m not touching the other gear I find. It makes me question if I even need my Hapax which is amazing, but I find the Elektron sequencer more instance, however the Hapax can do so so much. I sometimes think the DN1 + DN2 and Peak is more creative for me.
Do you get gear guilt where you spent so much money on something and know it’s good, but don’t use it is much as you want or gel with it?
That guilt usually leads me to sell the gear which I’m not using much, but more often than not I end up buying some of that same gear again years later…
I absolutly love Hapax, i sequence A4 , Rytm and Digitone with it - it was such a revelation. I love every bit out of my Hapax. If i would get a DN2 ,i would also Sequence it from Hapax.
Main pros: midi FX, easy layering, longer sequences, song mode is very usable - if you dont use it - sell it - but if you spend the time with it - its absolutly worth it.(I even used it to sequence Abelton /plugins.)
The best GAS cure was Iridium, i dont know what it cant do - so i dont need anything else probably. (Well ok more layers.)
I dont have any guilt - but i use most of my stuff. Or i come back to it after some time. With rising prices its better to store stuff than to sell anything imho.
I never bought anything cheap to fill a gap thou - i saved and bought only topshelf, its also a factor i think.
Do you have a record or book collection? Do you feel guilty because you have records that you don’t listen to or books that you don’t read every day?
When I’m not using a piece of gear, I generally clean it, box it up with all the cables and everything and store it neatly in my closet and leave it there.
Generally, after some months I’ll go digging around in the closet for something different to mess with. It’s almost like getting new gear – because often there is an update, a new idea or trick that I’ve seen or something else waiting when I finally power it on.
I’ve found this strategy helps with GAS – I don’t sell stuff just because I’m not using it much, especially if I like it. I like knowing that I have it and that I have options. I only sell the stuff that bothers me (Polyend Synth for example but I digress).
Easier said than done I know but it can be reframed instead as excitement to reconnect with a given piece of gear or setup in future. I haven’t used my Octatrack or Volca Drum in a bit, look forward to when those days are here.
There are more pressing reasons to feel guilty, but if you can’t imagine a specific scenario where you’d need and want another sequencer then maybe you don’t need it. Or if you can’t imagine any situation where you would need and want sampling then maybe you don’t need a digitakt, however as you already own this gear, it might be better to keep it all as a safety buffer against purchasing more new gear. I think that if something comes up that you really do want, then making it a decision of “should I sell this gear to buy it?” will probably force you to make a more considered decision than just having the cash in reserve which makes it that much easier to just press buy.
As far as guilt from not immediately using the gear, you can work on some ways to use all the stuff together but since there are workflow advantages to working primarily inside one box, if you’re productive with DN2 at the moment then I’d probably just go with that and not look for reasons to demotivate yourself.
Moments of introspective self analysis are good to a point, but don’t become the enemy of your own creativity in the process.
Just posted this in the Bitwig thread coincidentally enough. I guess the reality is that we have to focus on a few tools because there’s only so much time and bandwidth which means that there might be tools that we really love and think are excellent but just don’t fit or got pushed out by something else that hits the same spot.
Funny enough this doesn’t bother me as much with hardware because I feel like I rotate things in and out and use them situationally a lot more, so it’s not a big deal if a particular piece doesn’t get switched on for a few months.
Unfortunately my DFAM/M32 rig is sitting in a corner because my main trio occupies both sides of my brain and both hands. They’re wonderful instruments but you gotta be pretty hands on with them.
The secondary cost of GAS is space taken up in your head. Time never accounted for.
Time ballooned into infinity with handwringing and unnecessary guilt.
Sitting there paralyzed with self-inflicted neuroses is understandable but the only solution to them is acting and doing.
Beating oneself up is yet another excuse to not make art.
I’ve gotten better at this over the years, still not perfect but I can bullshit myself less and less at least before I break myself out of whatever whiny funk to be present.
I sold off my large 4x12 guitar cabs as I am not touring live nor playing stadiums with a band. I probably will sell off my tube amps and other cabs at some point and half my synths. Just need to downsize and focus.
I recently put together the final form of my home studio, where the Hapax is supposed to sequence DTII/ST/303 and a couple of polys, but ultimately I found myself enjoying working on one/two pieces more at most, sequencing the Elektrons and the 303 by themselves and so having the Hapax sitting mostly unused.
I feel guilty, yes, and with a DNII on the way (sold the Peak for it) I can see more dust collecting on top of the Hapax decksaver, but I really really hate the idea to sell it. I’m coming from a very big gear offload, with stuff I can’t still belive I’ve decided to part ways with (Perfourmer, OT, Peak and others) but if there’s one thing I learned cycling thru gear is that sequencers are a different animal.
I miss all of them: Torso T1, Pyramid, even the NDLR! They didn’t get used once I got the Hapax (and Elektrons) but their quirks, workflow and uniqueness make them specialized tools and the music I made with them was a precise reflection of their capabilities and despite having more powerful gear I find myself lacking that kind of specific output I had back then.
Never had a similar “feeling” with synths/drum machines no longer owned. They’re mostly just voices, but a sequencer is really the closest interface between the music in my head and the one I actually make, and having more sequencers is like being able to speak different languages, and for that time you wish to travel to let’s say Japan, you will be glad to not have sold your Japanese knowledge/pronunciation/skills
TLDR: don’t sell sequencers, you’ll miss them more than the rest of the other toys, IME.
About the rest, my rule is to sell everything I don’t use in months, but only if it’s easily obtainable in the near future
Life gets exhausting, routine gets broken by needs and domestic priorities, getting into a moderate POV if your partner is raw and has needs for stability.
I have a hard time getting out of neutral safe mindset in 2025, trying to avoid contact with the bitter, angry, shadow self that I need to do to make the kind of music I’m struggling with.
I had an acquaintance who would get into arguments with his spouse and then go bang on his drums.
Effective… in a ritual sense, but he’s now divorced.
How to regularly make the time to make art, without that “call myself an artist” is an unnecessary self criticism, but I need to just be showing up over getting lost in why I just can’t when it’s mostly other stupid rituals and attention robbery.
think of it like your vocabulary, every word wasn’t meant to be used all at once but when needed.
view your musical/instrumental vocab in the same way imho.
music and emotions go hand in glove so we become attached emotionally to objects that make music then we put that love in a drawer and feel things about it while we make lovely music on other things then we feel things about that too thats all normal and good as long as the music keeps flowing i guess
If I’m honest with myself, my music making happens solely within Ableton, augmented by an old Tascam desk, spring reverb and bucket brigade delay. Everything else that I have is nice to have but I don’t need any of it to make music.
The attachment to a Sub Phatty, MPC2500 or vintage Roland desk is very real and powerful, but I can - and almost always do - make music without any of them.
Sometimes I feel that I should sell one or all of them, but until I need the space or money I imagine that it will continue to pass.
