Wow. Nathan.. Thank you so much for making this and being honest about it all. This reminds me a lot of when I had 24 inputs with everything sync'd perfectly and I would press space bar to get the whole rig going and I'd have no clue where to put down the first note.. I made 0 finished songs with that setup.. Then in the summer my garage got WAY too hot and all I had was my MPC 4000 and made LOADS of tunes and put out 3 EPs on just that one box.. It was a big reality slap in the face.. also, sick hat haha! I appreciate it. I'm happy to be Sub #81!

This is like a warning from myself in the future. 😂

Have you seen what some people with no hobbies do with their money? I personally am unable to make popular music, but the experimental crap that I do make is a source of happiness when it happens. Due to my craft being unmarketable, I have a day job doing high end painting in very nice neighborhoods. Many times I have witnessed large scale kitchen remodeling projects that turn out beautifully. To my surprise, the remodel starts over. All of the subtle complaints about workers always being in the house and the remodeling taking too long, only to start again. Acquisition syndrome seems to have various forms that never produce any music at all. If the kids are fed and it makes you happy, is a wall of test equipment really that bad?

I saw in the comments that a person claimed to be the 100th subscriber just 11 hours ago, this kind of growth of your channel due to the subject matter has me thinking you've got a kind of support group thing that might be growing. So, let me be the next person to say, "Hi, my name is John, and I might be a gearaholic too."

There is some deep psychology behind this issue. I feel it too for sure. It’s a perfect example of how something so positive and exciting can turn on us. Things we think we need in order to protect us and create a successful outcome. People do this with food, sex, money, drugs, attention and now ….gear. It will take away talent because the high isn’t coming from the creating journey anymore but from the building journey. These are toys and we are children and we mustn’t spoil ourselves. We must give. And in this video, my friend, I see you giving.

I couldn’t agree more with this. The creativity paralysis that comes from too many options is very real for me

If you have the money-enjoy! It's a passion, don't regret.

Great vid, appreciate the sentiment. I have had pump the breaks on plugins. I open my DAW and the number of vst3 options is getting overwhelming. I made a spreadsheet of all the basic options. Say Delay, Filter, Reverb, etc. And the i listed every single plugin that meets that criteria. So when a "must have" plugin hits my rader or goes on sale i look up my spreadsheet, and i can see hey i have 4 plugins that do exactly this! I am happy to say i did not purchase a single thing from the recent Plugin Alliance sale!

Definitely the truth… too much gear turns making music in to a chore and takes the fun out of it.

As soon as you said Electrician by trade, I knew your collection was gonna be wild 😂

Amen brother! I'm a drummer sitting with his bass player mate watching this video nodding our heads off in absolute agreement with everything you said. We feel you all the way here in New Zealand. Brothers in GAS

Thank you for sharing this. This very much resonates with me. In the past I got high off just buying a piece, currently I have more than enough gear, and truth is, I use VSTs 80% of the time. I do appreciate sharing your candid talk... I know so many who struggle, and it's hard. All adding more gear had done is create more technical problems which I have a harder time solving since there's so many places the tech issue could be located. Less is more.

GAS was a coping mechanism for me, I had other issues in life and buying gear was one of the things that made me happy. Making music is fun and for a while I tried to go the dawless route, which is fine and very rewarding, but in the end was getting too much of a hassle. You just keep buying gear to solve problems, but the problems never really go away. Plus if you keep on buying things you feel you don't know your gear very well (not all of it at least). The last two years I've been on a mission to simplify it all. I still use my elektron boxes, some mono and poly synths, a couple of pedals and a mixer. I've sold pretty much all the major pieces of equipment about 2.5 years ago and I haven't bought a new piece of gear in over a year now. Everybody should decide for themselves, but for me. I just want to be happy with I have.

My advice is sell most of it keep literally what you need and the pieces you like most are have learned the best. Ive done this and i can't tell you how big of an impact this has had on music making. There is a saying all gear no idea and its true.

Great video. Would still love to see a studio tour, or especially a breakdown of your end of the world machine

I feel the same with video games. I have a bunch that I’ve put less than a couple hours into and then something new comes along and I utter the words, “I’ll get back to this game later”

You had me at asr x pro 😍

Apologies for the squeaky chair! The sad part of this video is I actually have an upstairs smaller studio I don’t show that is piled up with gear so much I can’t even use it at the moment 😢

Hey Brotha this video was amazing. I literally sold a lot of my gear the other day because of this same thing. I’m glad that somebody spoke on it much love.

I suffer from this. More equipment definitely doesn't equate to more productive output. It definitely hinders creativity

wow, man. I could hear and feel the despair in this video. the problem with GAS is people tend to think it has something to do with music. it has absolutely NOTHING to do with making music. I was struck by the justifications you were still making throughout the video, and could see and hear the patterns of behaviour that led you to this point creeping back up. seeing a Linnstrument and keystep pro on the floor, seeing the MPC X SE come into focus (which I would not be surprised if you do not use at all....) - it's an addiction. you said "but this stuff makes me happy" .. it's making you miserable. you've built a fortress of bad decisions that you need to face and justify everyday. I hope you're able to talk to someone and address the underlying issue here. and I think it would be beneficial for your health if you got rid of the almost all this stuff. powerful warning to all who fall down this rabbit hole. thanks for posting.

You’re always stopping by the channel and showing love, so it’s dope that the algorithm flipped the script and put you in my feed 🦾 Great video man. I’ve mentioned before in my videos that I’m blessed in a way because unused gear gives me anxiety these days. It keeps me from functioning when I get something I don’t use so I sell it and I feel instant relief. I wasn’t this minimalist until I was forced to sell all my gear 12 years ago and move 700 miles to another state with only what I could fit in my SUV. After that I started to feel like my possessions started to possess me by requiring so much space, maintenance and security. I settled on the MPC as my home base, and everything else just feeds it. That might be a good solution for you. Just feed the instrument you’re in the mood to use into the fun, choppy place that saves everything in one tap. It’s done wonders for my organization and peace of mind. Salute to you being a single dad as well 🫡

I like long form gear talks like this!

Everything you said is word for word how I felt. I remember when I first started producing all I had was a laptop. No gear at all. Not even an interface. And I was getting publishing deals left and right and I was constantly being creative. Since I bought my roland fa 06, roland system 8, prophet rev 2 and mpc live. I've probably made 3 beats. I don't have that discipline. And I been trying to tell myself no on this and that. Only thing I do want to upgrade is my actual interface and get some 500 series modules to allow for me to do more mixing(but I mean...why even do that when I ain't even made no damn music smh lol). I feel everything you said😭

This has developed within myself this past year. I completely understand. since got into music I can stop buying every thing see that makes sound. nothing top expensive, but Ive accumulated so many organs, keyboards, guitars and so many random things, and I really feel lost sometimes when I want to start something. everything you said I 100% understand.

Addiction is a powerful thing. Admitting you have the problem is the first step to freedom. Good luck my friend!

This comments section is one giant support group. We don't value our possessions as much as we should, because they are too easy to obtain. 100 years ago, a guy would save up to buy an accordion, violin, saxophone, or guitar, and he would master it and keep that prized possession in tip-top shape. And he probably made better music than any of us. I had a consumer-model Casio keyboard, an Ensoniq Mirage sampler, an effects machine, and a drum unit, and I recorded dozens of albums with that gear. After 25 years, I decided to "treat" myself by researching synths and building a "proper" studio... and I've barely recorded anything. I am deeply ashamed of my inactivity. Maybe I bought too much at once, and got intimidated by the learning curve of a dozen new machines. The act of researching and acquiring the gear became the new hobby that replaced the act of composing music.

If there are old*ER* musicians watching this video, and you relate with this, you have an opportunity to give so much to younger musicians. I've been self-teaching music production for 3-4 years now, and I just don't have the money to move past the digital stuff (which I can't actually afford either, but we don't need to go into detail about how I get all that...). I don't even know where I would start if I had one piece of gear from this room. I hear and empathize with so many from older generations who feel like younger musicians are overly-reliant on digital music making programs and DAWS and plug-ins, etc. But I speak for many of us when I say that, even if we find reasons to prefer using DAW programs along the way, we're just using what we can afford! FL studio isn't the most popular DAW because it's the best! It's just cheap! I truly don't say all this as a poetic way of begging for free gear, but it would provide such purpose and connection and fulfillment to be able to inherit a piece of equipment that has been used and loved by another musician before me, and then to be able to turn to that person for guidance, or just to show them what I did with it. How I can infuse the music I am influenced by with the modern digital platforms and tools I have lived with my whole life, to give a new life to their loved and worn equipment. There's just such an opportunity for intergenerational solidarity here. TLDR: I offer free collection and counseling services to anyone with excessive amounts of free music hardware 😂.

this video is soooo spot on and accurate that its scary that I'm not the only one who suffered(s) from G.A.S. My GAS is so out of control it can be scary

I can recognize it did to me with used pa aquisition during these 4 last years. Tyvm Sir. Will be aware of myself more often now. GL

Many of us are creating and recording music alone, which is not always a bad thing, but it often means the creativity suffers from too many distractions.

geee.. i was beginning to question my GAS... lol, but after seeing your gear... my acquisition of gear pales in comparison... so i feel alot better knowing seeing your tour *smiles look on the bright side... you can still walk through everything!! *smiles

This is a beautiful space you have there. Focus on one routing per part of a track, another routing for the next etc. And you should be able to use all of this amazing gear with much less frustration. Thank you for this video, it takes courage to make what you did here. Godspeed !

I really appreciate your perspective. Loved listening to the story of your sybth journey. You got a good way of telling stories.

i'm glad that the algorithm pointed me towards your video, GAS is a real thing and its refreshing to see a video talking about it and not pushing gear. It seems like every youtuber got a MPC X SE last week and became a MPC guy overnight it can be triggering, i agree limitations breed more creativity and helps you find your workflow. From One GAS sufferer to another i champion your video and wish you all the best and i love your set up by the way peace

Just watched this video and had to subscribe. I appreciate honesty and had to share this with others. Thank you 🙏

this topic is deep and I never thought about it like this, GAS is actually like an addiction and it does stop you from creating music if you don't learn the gear

Your authenticity Make me feel good Thank’s man

Your honesty has earner a new follower. Cheers

Thanks for sharing and allowing us all to contemplate a challenge we all face. You have so much cool stuff but you struggle with organization as we all have / do. Here's what I do when I redsign my work space. First I take as much equipment out of the space as possible. Experience a blank canvas again. Then I focus on what kind of tables, racks, etc. I will use so I can re-imagine my work areas again . I like to think of in terms of workstations where I have gear that will need to work together (modular, 90's vintage, analog, gutiar, etc.) grouped so as to allow me to focus on one part of my eclectic collection at a time. When I tried to mix it all together it never worked for me. I map it out on paper, take pictures, take measurments, make drawings and formulate a vision. Then I put all my tables and racks are in place. Next, I focus on electrical. I Mount power strips everywhere. You will always need more outlets than you think. I hard mount power strips so they are not floating around. I velcro tie all my cables to keep them as neat as possible. I don't like zip ties as it makes reconfiguration harder. Now I bring back only the gear that will fit in my new space in an uncluttered manner. Eronomics are critical. Each piece of gear is placed where my hands can develope the muscle memory to know the functions without having to look. Overall, the space has to look and feeling good. Less is more as you stated. Lastly I wire in all my audio (and Midi) cables. I use as much velcro as needed to keep my cables neat. I look for natural paths where the cables want to sit. I try to aggrigate individule cables in bundles (snakes) that lead back to patch bays, mixers, etc. Of course there's so much more to the process but maybe these tips will help someone reading this to get started organizing so they can get back to making music again.

I'm overwhelmed just looking at all your gear 😂 Thank you for making this video. I've definitely been there.

back in the 80 in Mexico city american style supermarkets started appearing and they were the "thing " to shop. As it was so expensive most families stuck with a more traditional diet, in a way that prevented us from eating processed crap. Is a balance to be found between the most written comments in KZfaq: "i buy new gear for every project" and "just learn one box and that is all you need" peace. thanx for sharing..

Glad to see your video blew up with all these views! Clearly too many of us tend to overemphasize the tools rather than craft or the outcome. Limiting the gear options for any given creative effort helps with focusing on just getting to work on the task at hand. Using a random number generator can be one way to select which tools to employ on a new musical endeavor.

Nice video, interesting to hear someone with experience on this matter. I agree, it's best to strip down to bare essentials, which also helps forge a signature sound. It appears to me like you've earned the indulgence of exploring a myriad of electronic instruments considering your history, occupation, long work hours, and serious responsibilities that you meet the demands of. It's impressive you find the time and energy to be creative, well done.

This is going from G.A.S. to early onset hoarding. If it was me I'd sell all those ROMplers, all of the lower end stuff including the samplers and all the late 90s/early 2000s virtual analog synths like the SH-32, rave-o-lution etc and, for example, use the money to buy something like a SH-2. It looks like you have multiple bits of gear that more or less do exactly the same thing, which is pretty redundant imo. I'd also ditch all that outdated storage stuff and old media, if need be backup all your stuff and use gotek drives instead.

Great topic and a really honest take. Great stuff.

I use to have GAS back in 2005. I had the MPC 2000xl , triton rack , asr X, a bunch of sound racks. And then the computer got more powerful and I developed GAS really hard for plugins and DAWs. Long story short after years of just thinking “ only if I had more gear my sound will sound better”. I realized and told myself get rid of all this stuff. “ then I just focused on one or two piece Logic Pro and a handful of plugins. Creativity flowed and I still live by that lesson learned. I keep it minimal and when I feel like I’m getting back into GAS I stop. Lol it’s hard but still I don’t need all that stuff to get good sounds.

Just want to say I’m a fan of your music and video creations. Please keep ‘em coming! Looking forward to that acoustic sampling project 🤘

Wonderful video, well articulated points, definitely the down to earth talk we all need to hear from time to time. Can't believe I wasn't already subscribed to you, just fixed that!

hi brother, i get it. gas is like a drug. constantly making you happy for a short period in time. it can and does stifle creativity, however if your having fun with your hobby and doing no harm, neglecting your family. getting into debt etc. then i don't see a problem. keep on keeping on bro. best regards.

I loved this video. You’re an extremely relatable guy. Thanks!

Gotta Love your honesty. I had to sub, not only for your awesome content, but as soon as I seen the Yamaha DJX ll-B on your table, I was like, that ma’ boi! I have not seen that thing in about 20 years. Thanks for putting a smile on my face. I completely forgot about the existence. It was my first piece or toy that i owned, what got me into this place, lol. My gateway groovebox into gas, so to speak. Awesome tour btw. What a wall you built there. It must have also been a Zeitgeist thing. I witnessed this with a lot of people during the pandemic and then the sudden panic to stop at the ⛽station within the last year or so is pretty remarkable. i'm probably going down a whole other rabbit hole here, but who knows, maybe we all felt this intense rush to pull the trigger on gear during that time because we went through some type of collective trauma of not knowing what to do next with our lives, time and money. so we might as well spend it on cool toys that makes bad-ass noise, right? It felt more or less like a cry or a symbol for preserving time within a box. We were being confronted with ourselves and re-evaluating goals on a global level, all at the same time. Plus I don’t think we just buy for the sake of it, we buy into feelings and when we get the feels, we get the feels. there’s no real explanation to why we need another guitar or sampler other than what we experienced while using it or whilst fantasizing over it. Funny enough once we go back into the flow and hang of normal life-routines again, we suddenly wake up out of our purchase paradise.. with an overwhelming urge to lay low on our spending spree’s. Apart from the odd mpc x here and there 🫣😅 otherwise I can’t seem to explain this need to want to apologize for what we have built up over several years. Speaking of mpc, Autosampling your favorite analog-gear/modular patches into keygroups can also help with cleaning up a little in the back of your mind. it’s by no means the same as the real deal but it can help with creative restrictions, regarding the limitations at tweaking & sound designing. if you haven’t already considered looking into that feature. I guess you’re doing the right thing though by owning up and acknowledging this phenomenon. So thanks for sharing with the rest of us, as this brings people together in order to come up with more creative strategies and solutions. The third step would probably be not to beat yourself up about it and more or less have fun along the way, whilst implementing what we've learnt about our gas observation. Sorry for this book, I just felt I had to share my thoughts on this topic too. Looking forward to more videos on your channel!

Thanks for sharing this Nathan, I was having serious GAS, even after I stopped buying hardware gears, I started to collect midi controllers... all kinds from all brands... Now I decided to sell most of them and come back to instrument playing and composing, it can be REALLY helpful for curing one's GAS. (Also making videos bashing on stupid gear design makes me move forward too 😄) Tbh, most groove boxes overlap with each other functionally, using them all together is like you're trying to sync up GarageBand + Logic Pro X + Ableton Live + Reaper + FL Studio all together, and they're all in lite version. For me for now, I only need a GarageBand.

It’s a big problem, thanks for sharing

Been there... thanks for sharing. Thankfully, I was selling gear as I went along, and tried new gear that came out. I did buy back a few things I had sold. I learned that you can always buy that same gear again pretty much, if you really needed it. Best wishes.

Thanks for this, I can empathise, having become a "sufferer" of G.A.S for a while. I've brought a halt to buying for now, and this post is a reminder to have a clearout...

Good video. I learned this lesson last year. I have never had even 1/4 of what you own. I use Ableton with a Push2, an SP404mk2 and maybe three VST synths now, and I've found less is more and making more music than ever

Thanks for sharing this. I went down the rabbit hole during lockdown so I get it.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for posting this very honest video. I agree with you 100%. I remember reading an article in a well known music magazine and the advice was don't sell anything, as you upgrade let your studio grow in power. This was good advice then as we couldn't afford much gear and even big studios had only a few high end items.However, today it is easier to get high quality instruments and audio gear at relatively affordable prices (apart from vintage synths and gear where the world seems to have gone mad). It seems that even before you have learnt how to use something, the new updated version is available. I bought a single Elektron box as I liked the analog sounds, before I knew what was happening I had three others. Great machines with a learning curve thats like climbing Mount Everest. The workflow seems to draw you into expanding. My best period was when I had a Rhodes piano, an Arp Odyssey and a Clavinet. To record, I had a four track tape recorder and a home made spring reverb and compressor. I wrote loads of tracks then. I couldn't get more that 7 tracks down before the tape noise started to drown out the music. Happy days! Still G.A.S is great problem to have and it doesn't hurt anybody. We just need more space and more time to enjoy it all.

It stifles creativity.. period. thanks for being real.

Thanx Nathan for honest words and sharing your experience with gas! Wish you much further creativity with your music! Greetings 🖖☺️

I feel as if collecting the things that make the sounds that make the music, and learning how they work, or watching others working with them; can be just as interesting as painting a picture with the paint brushes you already have. My two favorite examples of minimalism done genius are Chelsea Wolfe's "The Grime & The Glow" (recorded straight to Tascam 8 track), and Bon Iver's "For Emma..." While it's perfectly possible to create great music with nothing more than good monitors and a good microphone, it doesn't mean that this is all the tools we should use, either. Something we CAN do is double-over our collections and see what it is that we can actually live without, without regretting it. I have two electric guitars, each with slightly different characteristics, but I can afford to live without one of them and not regret it. Then there's a drum machine that does SOME things, but not all the things this other one does, and a lot more. I can consolidate the sale of those items for a down payment on a house, put it in an investment portfolio, retirement account, or... I've been desiring a 10,000-ish dollar outboard, analog mastering set up. I have it all planned out. I want it, so much. I can empty my checking account right now and get most of it, or I can just pace myself, get just one piece or two, once a year when the taxes come back and make Diligent, Purposeful Cuts all year long to help save up for it more responsibly. What you're saying is so true, about how this synth over here needs to have it's software updated... now this MPC does as well... and then this other thing could use a firmware update, and heck, I could clean all of this equipment, too. Restring this guitar, and that one... it could become a chore in itself to maintain the space, and the equipment too. My salesman from Sweetwater called me up not long ago, "Do you need anything right now?" is the basic question. Not necessarily, as I am right now, even a year later, STILL learning how to get more deeply involved in the menu-diving, functionality or sound design aspects of the two items I bought A YEAR AGO! lol I feel as if G.A.S. manifests So Greatly in the synthesizer community, for the simple reason that this machine over here has a characteristic sound that another one doesn't, and in most cases, the easiest way to get that sound is to just buy that thing with those specific sounding filters, or chip-set. But if one is patient, they can find somewhat similar sounds, or perhaps even ones that are more pleasing to one's ears ultimately, with the synth they already have; and often times, it's that folks in the synth community aren't taking the time to learn synthesis themselves, relying mainly on presets, or perhaps playing no more than arpeggios, or using the sequencer feature. There are many videos of synth collectors who could afford to spend 30,000 dollars or more on synthesizers, but they buy this other one over here because "It Does X!", and I'm seeing a synth they already have that CAN accomplish that task already, but they just don't realize it! But at the same time, I don't think judging is the way to go either, unless one has gotten to the point of losing their house. Then, by all means, try to go a bit cheaper. And, anyhow, perhaps as a regular exercise; we should all put every single piece of equipment we own into a hat, drawing 2 or 4 pieces and vowing not to use any other piece of equipment but those 2 or 4, for an entire 12 song album BEFORE buying anything else. This way we can ensure we absolutely know the limitations of our devices, know for sure what colors we have on our palette, or do not, before buying more paints. As much as I personally would hate to lose any piece of gear I ALREADY own, the plus-side to owning equipment that maintains it's value (or increases over time), is that if the worst possible situation were to occur, just selling one or two pieces of gear guarantees an entire month to find a new job, buy some groceries, whatever- and is, in a sense- a guarantee against homelessness. As someone who had found themselves homeless in their early 20's, because I was- like most people- living "paycheck to paycheck", just losing one paycheck meant I was literally on the street. So this is also, kind of how I view the equipment I have in this room at times, lol ... A sort of, extra guarantee. A sense of Peace Of mind. And also, in a sense, why I may find it easier to say to myself- like right now off and on I have been, "this mastering compressor is 3,000 dollars, that's a lot of money, I should be more responsible... but I can always sell it, and that's two months not on the street, that's two months to find a new job, etc. etc." I think it also comes down to how we view money, in general. And, perhaps, even more intangibly; our sense of finding demonstrable/measurable emotional, psychological value, or worth in Things. One time, I needed a "bell" or "chime" type of sound, but I didn't want to go digging in digital synthesizers or take the time to make it in the analog world with a synth either; so I just picked up my coffee cup, hit it with a spoon, placed a little reverb on it, lowered the volume, and it was EXACTLY what I was looking for, in the nearest mic. So, I think we should also be Okay with thinking like that, as well. And there's always a sense of the fact that, no matter what our age, life is short and we must enjoy it. We must also place emphasis on Quality Of Life matters, as well. My Father was dying, as a diabetic in the hospital. He had approx. 6 months to live. He wanted me to get him some Jack In The Box down the street. I did, but didn't want to. He realized he was going to die anyway. I was in denial. He realized: what is this going to cost me... a day? two? a month? Would that month on hospital dialysis of been any better than that combo meal or those tacos? really?! G.A.S. is such a deep, philosophical question. Some of us also have watched Bob Ross, and have never really got into painting. Dali was discouraged from getting into Surrealism and became the most famous of the bunch. DaVinci in his later years burnt all his works he considered would lessen the affect of his legacy over a fire, things that would be considered priceless to us, today. Some of us have jerked off to the Cindy Crawford work out tape from the 90's. A lot of us have perhaps also done this, and not yet admitted it out loud. Other people favour the Richard Simmons work out tapes. Ultimately, who am I to judge?

I don’t think people talk about the other side of GAS enough. That one piece of gear really CAN change your entire process and help you achieve your (logical) goals. The Octatrack was that for me and it makes it so hard to tell yourself “no” to that next piece of gear.

Hardest thing to do is let go of your GAS, hanging on to gear you've out grown and arent using anymore. I was never of the Collector mindset and ive owned lots of gear over the past 50+ years and I still buy new tech but i always try to apply it to my sound. haha. It is fun learning new tech and figuring out how to apply it to your music/writing. It also helps you defind your sound. Redefind the music and create working setups is what I really enjoy doing. My lastest little rig is completely battey powered as well so I can hopefully do a little busking with it this Summer/Fall. That's what I do brother hahaha Having a blast too! I really enjoy setting up systems and exploring their potential and it always boils down to the groove for me. There are so many ways to use electronics with music, I'm a fan too and glad i saw your video. Thanks for sharing and it will cool watching and hearing more of your jams... 🎶💯

I find having to go to work hinders my creativity, not having too much gear. More is more and will always be. Nice walk through thanks. Heinbach has a lot to answer for. (its good to have you back!)

Suddenly I don't feel so bad about my own gear buying issues.

I totally relate Nate. I had a position in wich I had every ingredient available to me. As a Chef it was awesome, overwhelming, and at times cumbersome. So much it would make my head spin and I found it to harness or finalize specifity in what I was trying to portray or present. Options are nice though Brother. Looking good ya freak!

Sick man. Its all about the passion and love for music and man do you have a bunch of stuff to fiddle with. Great video and we need to get together when you have time and hang out.

nice video, man - we all have the GAS problem the good thing is you still use most of it and you are having some fun, clutter and annoyances aside 🙂 keep up the good work

I didn’t have the time and money to get that deep. But I went through plenty of gear. I was fortunate that I had a goal and the elektron Octatrack with a few external pieces and software is more than enough for me. I’m glad I was able to get past this. Best wishes on your going forward.

Step 1: Problem, I don't have a problem! Step 2: Ok, I might have a small problem. Step 3: Ok, I have quite a significant problem and have found acceptance about it. 4) I sell lots of stuff. 5) I fall off the wagon, spend the money from the stuff I sold, then some!

Well said,Thank you for sharing, I finally narrowed my gear down to what kinds of sounds and tones I wanted to make as an artist, what I do and what I`m good at and love. I had way to many options and like you said ,soon as I got something I was already researching something else. It has been a long road I know you know.Nowdays I just want the best of what I mainly need,Its been hard to let some things go. I have learned alot about the products though, It`s an expensive education,lol.thanks For the video.

There's hope for you. I still have G.A.S. Once acquired it never leaves you, but there's ways to make it better. I think you're suffering from clutter overload. Go through your studio. Unplug everything. Coil up the cables, label them with a label maker, etc. Put anything away that's unsightly in a designated spot. Get some Rubbermade storage containers if necessary. hen start placing your gear in places you want it to be. Sit in front of it. Move the gear around until it's in the optimal place you want for your workflow. Then start wiring things in one at a time. Wire the power in first. Then wire in the USB. Then wire in the MIDI. Finally, wire in your audio cables. Use velcro strip ties to do it all neatly. This all takes time, but once you've done it your room will be a lot less cluttered and feeling so overwhelming. It may mean you have to devote a whole month to rearranging the studio and it totally sucks, but once you do it it's invigorating and I suspect your creativity will flow!

Yep. Got the Raveolution 309. Great video.

Excellent video. Feel like I'm looking into a mirror in regards to your buying habits.

Nathan Famous! Great video, an issue many creatives and collectors share. I think you hit an algorithmic opportunity, hopefully this is a good inspiration to start making more music for your expanding audience. You’ve also got great screen presence, well done.

This was a good video. G.A.S affects almost all, but in different ways. For musicians it is instruments, gear, pedals, etc. Photographer, it could be more lenses, bodies...gamers...the latest graphics card or their console collection. I think one of the parts that most resonated with me was how we buy stuff and before we even learn it thoroughly, we add more gear. Alot of times, we don't get full usage out of what we have before adding more. I think psychologically, we are getting the satisfaction from the thrill of seeing something we want and then getting it. Deep down, once the satisfaction of getting it wears off, it is no longer exciting. It is like the excitement of opening a gift, and then being bored of it. I think it is fine to buy, collect, etc as long as it brings joy. When it causes problems, gets in the way, turns to hoarding, etc...time to rethink. Sometimes less is more and having less choices is easier to make decisions.

I bought a book called How To Overcome Gear Acquisition Syndrome,followed by Have I Too Many Synths ?I've had the chimney swept so that if Santa brings a sack full of synths - dust ingress won't be an issue for them.On reflection i realised i hadn't got enough resources to control GAS so i bought a copy of How To Stop Buying FX Pedals.It's A Gas was half price,so i bought that and i saw a review on youtube of Buying Synths - How To Get Poor Quick - couldn't resist that little gem, which referenced Making Synth Sandcastles - Life's A Beach And Then You Buy ( More Synths ) which was right up my street.This left me feeling exhausted so i tucked down for the night with a mug of hot drink and fell blissfully asleep counting......sheep ?......no,you guessed it.....SYNTHESIZERS !

That’s a lot of gear my friend 😌. I don’t have have any hardware myself (other than a couple controllers) and I feel bad for spending so much money on software… I have also come to realize that for every instrument that we get, even software instruments, we really need time to learn it well. But there is always something new and cool out there. It is hard to be practical and disciplines… your video is very relatable. Thanks.

The gods of the algorithm saw fit to present me with me your G.A.S. video and I appreciate what you've done here. One note: when you said "Eurorack is expensive," i thought YES! Because that's where my G.A.S. took me at the onset of covid lockdowns (from a background not too different from the way you described yours, in fact.) But I'm pretty sure Eurorack isn't quite as expensive as whatever THAT is you're doing. Looks like you've got as many thousand dollar groove boxes as I have modules ;) Anyway, this is super relatable, even if I don't have as much stuff as you. And there's no doubt that in the throes of a serious bout of G.A.S. I end up doing a lot less recording (or especially FINISHING recordings) than I probably should. Sometimes it feels like it's a cycle, and adding all the equipment leads to a later fertile creative period; OR maybe that's just what I tell myself so I don't feel so idiotic shopping for eurorack stuff 24/7. Great stuff here, glad to start subscribing, looking forward to hearing some of what you record with that stuff.

Hitting the nail on the head Nathan! At some point late last year I effectively gave up being a guitar player (of 40+ years) so I could become a guitar pedal player instead. Just like you said, you get one, barely even take time to figure it out before needing the next. Glad to say I turned that all around a couple months ago after getting my Ibanez RGKP6 (has a built in Korg mini KP2) and I have barely even touched my overflowing pedal board ever since. Practicing every day and now my callouses are growing their own callouses and I have gained much confidence in my playing overall. "Bob" said, "Too much is always better than not enough." I hate to call Him wrong, but apparently he also never had to deal with GAS! Power to you bro!!!

Great perspective... I agree 100%... I came out of a 20 year hiatus from makign music about 6 months ago and it started with an ipad when I was in a hospital for a few weeks then i came out and started buying more and more... I get the ideas to expand then i went DAW and more and more... Long story short my creative hobby has turned into a rabbit hole of credit card debt... 6 months recorded absolutely nothing... OCD maximizing... Good/bad news is my tiny Manhattan lab has become so overcrowded I have to stop adding physical gear... I start to make memos for my days off from work now on what instrument and/or process i will attempt to limit myself to...

Great video! I have a basement filled with gear from over 30 years. I am in it for the love of music making. About 5 years ago I finally made a rule that if I bought some gear I had to make 10 songs with it. It’s been a shockingly rewarding rule (recommended). I never feel anymore that I am wasting money as I always get something out of it. I next added a rule that if I buy something, I first have to sell gear to fund it. That’s been going well for a few years. Don’t get me wrong… I am not perfect or preaching… just trying to share a couple things that have worked for me over the last few years.

From the early years of playing I had this problem of being hungry of new Ibanez guitars... Gibson acoustics... and Fender basses... I'm still fighting a little bit but I decided to speculate on used instruments... buying and selling... to at least profit on it, to the point that I no longer play guitars , but I enjoy the look of them . But I would agree that KZfaq has changed a lot... it is a very addictive place... f.e. multi-effects sound better on YT than in reality and better than guitars on many classic albums . Even the fact... that YT algorithm suggested me this video (from your tiny chanel) shows best that YT knows me very well...

I feel for ya, I pretty much did the same in the last few years. Sadly, my experience turned into what I believe was like a twilight zone story. There was one about a man that has collected a massive amount of books, and just when he sat down to read, he broke his only pair of glasses! For me, I put together a whole studio and then my illness progressed and now I cannot sit down to play.😲 I wish you well in weeding out all the duplicative pieces. And then, Play On😁🎶🎹🎶🎶

I knew I was fUp when I sat in front of a Sp1200, akai Mpc 3k and a couple of synth… it was fun banging but I’ve always accomplished more on one system. That was mostly the mpc 4K. Most underrated in my opinion. It’s the goat. Stay up thanks for the inside

Really appreciate you taking us along on your journey. I’ve stopped buying stuff over the past few months for similar reasons. My YT channel was gear focused and is stalling because I’m not buying the latest gear anymore. Time to pivot I suppose. Or maybe create gear reviews for what I already have.

Such a brilliant video and so well said. GAS is legit, and I can’t believe I have it haha. I need to just focus on a few things and get epic with them.

Ive spent the last 12 months gassing , purchasing , assembling and patching similar hardware setup that has grown too large . its taken 6 months just patching and connecting everything . but its coming together . I have started focusing on a few pieces at a time , learning , connecting , developing workflows . then moving onto the next group . I've had periods of less gear with more productivity , periods of writing , producing and releasing a lot more . But sometimes its ok to focus on other things in the process instead of focusing on just releasing music . focusing on learning physical gear , connections , configurations , different hardware can be just as rewarding

You are a sick man, I love it! Thank you for the EuroRack advice. Almost made that mistake this week! Still need a few more things before I quit ha, lol!

This is a warning for myself to stay thankful

This is a honest man. describing things perfectly. my issue i had to downsize living accomadation. so half my stuff is in boxes. A pleasure and a curse. Note to self Think first 🎶buy later.👍✌️ . nice talk. minimal set up is always good.

Thank you for posting this vid. I think G.A.S. is a legitimate issue that can stifle creativity as you had mentioned. More folks need to know. I’m sure it was not easy but appreciate the look inside your world. I wish you the best on your musical journey.

Yeah man , thanks 🙏🏽

I've been through it with camera gear over the pandemic because I thought I was going to use it for my business and as a additional creative outlet, and I probably used it a few times, i've got lights, lenses cameras that would be perfect for a youtube setup. Maybe one day I will get around to it. But yeah, for now its just sitting in a cupboard. I dunno if its just me, but I found the gear that I bought lived rent free in my head for months, i was regretting and at the same time I was trying to find ways to be creative but deep down the photography thing wasn't for me. I've since let go of it now and come to terms with it. I am a musician at heart (guitarist) but never really got bad GAS for music equipment as I was pretty much broke, Now im financially good and I purchased a MPC one and I've never been more content with a piece of music equipment. I love it so much.

Nice thing about Eurorack (and modular in general), I have a drawer where I put modules I don't use or get tired of using. I'll swap them in/out at times. I will NOT buy/build another case, I just swap modules - 5U as well. Old rack gear (WS A/D, samplers, etc) I get out of the main room. Cluttered workspace == cluttered mind.

Very good points! I went the same GAS rabbit hole, but not as crazy as you. Now I am thinking about getting rid of stuff. 10-15 years ago I made most of my music just using the FL studio with no outboard gear, even without audio interface. I am still most productive when I use just Ableton and Push 2. Using hardware is nice, but it usually takes for me from 1 to 3 years to really investigate what piece of gear does, to find its role, to understand it from a to z to get maximum from that. Hooking up everything for recording is kinda overwhelming. I play dawless techno live sets, but reality is that I am struggling getting that music into the PC to finally record it and arrange it. I stopped buying synths for a year and focused on what I have - got my inspiration back. If I want to play with new piece of gear, I am just getting myself some free VST to kill the urge of pointless knob twisting :D I gave some of rarely used pieces of gear to my friends, so they can use them. Its always better if the device serves a purpose rather than lie in my drawer for years. KZfaq videos spark GAS easily, but I am always questioning myself: what is unique about that particular piece of gear? Can I replicate the sound with VSTs that I have? Can I replicate that sound on my hardware? Just a reality check :) Usually most of functionality overlaps. KZfaq videos are there to entertain, it always seems fun to have more gear, but in reality its not. Arturia Pigments and Ableton can replace almost all of my equipment and do that much better, leading to actually finished music.

Totally agree, I have more than 30 hardware synth/drum machines, but I’m still much more productive with a computer or when I limit my setup to just a specific few, and as I get better at producing I feel that I need much less, because I learn to use the right tools. Better to think synths/drum machines as a band, and limit the equipment to mimic a band where one equipment equals a musician.I think the most important thing is to have a proper monitoring system or at least one that you know you very well, because at the end you want the mix to translate and buy synths/drum machines with a specific purpose. Bottom line, proper listening environment, proper levels and minimal setup goes long way, IMO.

This type of music gear discipline is what I needed today. I’ve had my eyes on the pulsar 23 and millimetric instruments guitars for a while now, and I’ve somehow managed to say no to myself