The anti-GAS thread

jessenator

jessenator

Well-known member
So I've been feeling the GAS coming on, more than usual, these past couple of weeks.

My spawn have taken to music which warms my heart. They've got enough guitar adjacent gear for obvious reasons, but they're branching out.

They recently got really into Kraftwerk (that's what they get for letting Dad fill their music players), and it really took off once I got my Behringer D set up for them and showed the basics. I've also realized how out of practice I am and no brainer things have left me.

Now I want to buy more synths…again. (And maybe more guitars)

Over the last decade I've had to sell them to pay for various things, and now I'm fighting the GAS. I want to buy every Behringer synth. Almost.

Give me reasons not to expand synthland again…
 
Stay off the credit cards, stay off the internet content that tells you that you need a specific thing.

But if your kids have a genuine interest in doing a creative thing and hanging out with you, I say strike while that iron is hot because it might not be for long.

Probably just the algorithm telling me what I want to hear, but I've been seeing some heartwarming content about the youth getting interested in ancient technology like ipods and dumb-phones. Obviously all the sounds are in the ipad these days, but if you can get them interested in doing some stuff the hard way I think that's cool.
 
Erik S said:
youth getting interested in ancient technology
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Oh, you can bet your bottom paper dollar that I'm going to keep the rot out as long as possible. I kinda want to go to the thrift store and buy a wall phone. I think our line got cut "accidentally" by a cable company that shall remain cursed

Erik S said:
I say strike while that iron is hot because it might not be for long.
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Yeah… I'm definitely not a "cool dad" so I'll take advantage wherever, whenever.

jwin615 said:
I could have a wall of vintage reimaginataions for $200-2500 real quick!
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I kick myself for not buying a 2600 when they were <$300 at Sweetwater 😭

Harry Klippton said:
I think synths are awful and you shouldn't waste your time or money
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1774021577613.png
;P
tegendemuur said:
Digital synths, let them pull those out of their phones and tablets.
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I actually looked at Alesis Ion prices on Reverb (had one new when they debuted). why are they so dang expensive? As far as digital, it was great. except for the modwheel that Alesis refused to RMA the second time.
 
jessenator said:
So I've been feeling the GAS coming on, more than usual, these past couple of weeks.

My spawn have taken to music which warms my heart. They've got enough guitar adjacent gear for obvious reasons, but they're branching out.

They recently got really into Kraftwerk (that's what they get for letting Dad fill their music players), and it really took off once I got my Behringer D set up for them and showed the basics. I've also realized how out of practice I am and no brainer things have left me.

Now I want to buy more synths…again. (And maybe more guitars)

Over the last decade I've had to sell them to pay for various things, and now I'm fighting the GAS. I want to buy every Behringer synth. Almost.

Give me reasons not to expand synthland again…
Click to expand...
I just hoover new free iPad synth apps and keep a few of the best ones on my Pad, changing up every few months. But one of these days I'll get around to replacing the battery in my ancient Roland GR-09 and firing up my even older EMU rack sampler...LOL.
 
To anyone looking to delve into the world of synths, whilst achieving most bang for buck, I would suggest:

• one or two hardware synths (physical knob twiddling is undeniably fun)
Looks like you could find a Behringer Pro-800 around $300, if you’re after a poly

• iPad - loads of excellent synth, drum machine, sequencer, fx Apps and the even most expensive ones pretty much top out around $20
** I just got a good condition used 5th gen. (circa 2019, last one with a headphone jack!) iPad Mini 256GB on EBay for $135, still updatable to current iOS

• some kind of basic MIDI interface, like this
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/U2MIDIPro--cme-u2midi-pro-smart-usb-cable for interfacing iPad with hardware
Or you could go Bluetooth:

• wireless MIDI controller keyboard:
https://a.co/d/0bzdR0lF

And if the kids already like Kraftwerk, be sure to get them going on Tangerine Dream, Neu!, La Düsseldorf, Faust, Klaus Schulze, JMJ, etc. ASAP! ;)
 
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pricklyrobot said:
To anyone looking to delve into the world of synths, whilst achieving most bang for buck, I would suggest:

• one or two hardware synths (physical knob twiddling is undeniably fun)
Looks like you could find a Behringer Pro-800 around $300, if you’re after a poly

• iPad - loads of excellent synth, drum machine, sequencer, fx Apps and the even most expensive ones pretty much top out around $20
** I just got a good condition used 5th gen. (circa 2019, last one with a headphone jack!) iPad Mini 256GB on EBay for $135, still updatable to current iOS

• some kind of basic MIDI interface, like this
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/U2MIDIPro--cme-u2midi-pro-smart-usb-cable for interfacing iPad with hardware
Or you could go Bluetooth:

• wireless MIDI controller keyboard:
https://a.co/d/0bzdR0lF

And if the kids already like Kraftwerk, be sure to get them going on Tangerine Dream, Neu!, La Düsseldorf, Faust, Klaus Schulze, JMJ, etc. ASAP! ;)
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One of these days I’ll probably build up some modules, it’d kind of complete the circle back to my time working at ARP in the late 70s. I got to build a few 2500 wings, the only ones even ordered that year IIRC. This was right when Close Encounters was released and one of my bosses was the keyboard nerd in the movie. It was a great place to work in many ways, really cool crew and facilities.
 
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This is why my wife and I do allowance. It's a set amount of discretionary spending that's built into each paycheck for both of us. There's no fighting about spending the money because it's already budgeted. There's no guilt about what it's getting spent on because we've already determined how much discretionary spending we can afford.

Want to blow it all on cheez whiz and beer? Go for it—it's your allowance! Want to spend a grand on synths? Go for it! Don't have enough allowance saved up for that Mini Moog? Better keep saving your allowance, then! You might even be able to budget for a family instrument fund, depending on how much the wife and kids are into it.

I can build all the fuzzes and partscasters I want...I just can't store them in the bedroom.
 
Aleph Null said:
This is why my wife and I do allowance. It's a set amount of discretionary spending that's built into each paycheck for both of us. There's no fighting about spending the money because it's already budgeted. There's no guilt about what it's getting spent on because we've already determined how much discretionary spending we can afford.

Want to blow it all on cheez whiz and beer? Go for it—it's your allowance! Want to spend a grand on synths? Go for it! Don't have enough allowance saved up for that Mini Moog? Better keep saving your allowance, then! You might even be able to budget for a family instrument fund, depending on how much the wife and kids are into it.

I can build all the fuzzes and partscasters I want...I just can't store them in the bedroom.
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I have very well defined space limits, to the point where getting anything new would require getting rid of something else. And I’m fine with that, actually.
 
pricklyrobot said:
Hopefully you’re not the guy who pitched them the Avatar! 😬 ;)
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Nope, most of us knew it was a wonky POS and we also knew that digital tech was inevitably going to be the way forward.

The Chroma was another failed product that could’ve been great, I got my hands inside one after Fender bought the rights and it sounded killer when it worked. Pretty much the last nail in the coffin for ARP though. It was a rockstar culture from top to bottom, already kind of doomed by the time I started working there.
 
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