One more plugin - avoid this mistake!

[bobhva]

I started this journey October 31st, 2015 when Steam had a sale on Sonar(steam/artist version) + Zeta+2 for only $99. I had a passing interest in music so I thought this would be a great option to test the waters. Since then I have spent so much time shopping for that "one more plugin" that would get me where I wanted to be that I have neglected actually learning the things that I should have. I have no delusions of being a great musician/producer/mix engineer... I just enjoy playing with all my toys and if I ever make something that 1 person enjoys then I will have more than accomplished what I set out to do. The problem was(is) that I have spent more time researching plugins, buying plugins, updating plugins, etc. than I have learning what I need to actually make something. Don't get me wrong, I have learned so much in this time and I have made some progress. I just want others who are just starting out to avoid this trap that I fell into. I have so much stuff that I don't really do anything but tinker with it. No, seriously I have more than most people that actually make music probably have. It is ridiculous... Serum, Spire, ACE, Bazille, Hive, Zebra 2, EZ-keys, EZ-Drummer2, Addictive Drums 2, TAL Audio synths, all AAS products, several Native Instruments and UVI products and so many more... Then there are the presets, and sample libraries... and effects plugins, 142 plugins from Waves alone. Oh, and lets not forget Ableton Live which I have hardly used. I am not bragging about all this stuff! Even though I love having it all, I would probably do things differently if I were to start over again. On a positive note I could never purchase another thing and have everything that I could ever "need" for a lifetime of playing with music. I know that people joke about there being no such thing as "having too many plugins", but it is true that you can have more than you need. I am trying so hard right now to break this pattern that I have fallen into and I just wanted to share my personal experience. If this post can help just 1 person avoid this problem that I have created for myself than I have done a good thing. I am going to try to start doing much more learning and a whole lot less buying from now on! Wish me luck...

[Aloysius]

So basically you're just like everybody else at KvR. Good luck ...

[Zexila]

Kevin: "Hi, my name is Kevin and I'm plugin hoarder fueled with GAS, help me."
KVR: "Welcome Kevin, we have second hand market place"
Kevin: "Awesome, let's keep buying than, woohooo taught I was sick for a moment"

[bobhva]

That is some funny stuff guys(no offense taken by the way). I was actually thinking of using the support group introduction: Hi, I'm Bob... and I am full of GAS;-) I was actually being serious though as I am sure many people go through this same thing. It is true that if you are already here at KVR reading this then the situation is probably not a bad one for you. For me personally I am really trying to break this cycle and I thought it might help for people to know that this happens to a lot of us.

[Aloysius]

bobhva: My name is bobhva and I'm an addict.
KVR Members: Hello bobhva

[zerocrossing]

Yeah, many have fallen pray to G.A.S. I know for myself that I spent most of my life broke, scrounging for what ever I could get my hands on to make music. I started making a little money about the time when plug ins were really coming into their own and even decent hardware was becoming cheaper, so I went a bit crazy with both. Luckily though, I had some education, formal and otherwise, before that stage, so I'm fairly good at learning what ever I get. In other words, once you learn what a filter is (or any other element of an electronic instrument), you know what it is for all instruments and the rest is just figuring out the particulars. If a designer is good at their job, it's usually pretty obvious.

Here's what I recommend before you sell off a ton of stuff and lose a bunch of money. You must have acquired a modular plug in by now, eh? Zebra? Reaktor 6? What ever one you have, start watching tutorials and reading the manual of that instrument. There's even a good book I've seen called "Becoming a Synthesiser Wizard" or something like that. Grab that book if you can. It'll translate to pretty much any synth anyway. This way, instead of trying to learn all your synths, you learn what all the modules do. Imagine trying to learn to read by memorizing each word. Super hard. Instead, we learn what each letter sounds like and a few basic rules (and their exceptions) and before you know it, you're reading. Yup, you'll have to hit a dictionary (manual) from time to time, but for the most part stuff will make sense out of context. Then, go back to all the stuff you've amassed and see what your overlaps are. Then you can make some more informed decisions as to what to keep.

[lnikj]

Get yourself an iPad Bob, then you can experience the joy of buying everything you think you might ever use all over again

I need

[bobhva]

G.A.S. is definitely what I have, but I am trying to get it under control. When I run a VST scan Sonar reports that I have 732 plugins, but it is more than likely in the 600's accounting for duplicate vst2/vst3 that sometimes get installed and really even less since many Waves plugins have 2-3 components or more per plugin. Thank you for the suggestions and the info on the book, I will look into that. I have no intention of selling anything that I have since the money has already been spent, like you said no need to take a loss and I love all of my stuff:-) I have gained so much knowledge in the last 9 months. Though I am no expert at any of it yet, I understand gain, compression, filters, routing, oscillators, waveforms, etc.
What I feel that I need to work on mostly now is learning more music theory and playing the keyboard(practice practice practice). I know I still have a very long way to go but the good thing is that I do this for fun. I have no intention of making an income from it or becoming the next pop star. I just love it for my own personal gratification.
I am in no way upset about what I have done buying all this stuff, I just wanted to let other beginners know that it is not necessary and it can actually stunt your progress.

[bobhva]

Get yourself an iPad Bob, then you can experience the joy of buying everything you think you might ever use all over again

I need

We all need help. haha

And I will never own anything Apple, so I am ok there.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Get yourself an iPad Bob, then you can experience the joy of buying everything you think you might ever use all over again

I need

My desktop system is extremely lean, such that I might not actually be a real kvr'er.

My iPad, however...

[recursive one]

Now add one or two expensive and highly acclaimed hardware synths...

Then you will know that there is no magic in them either and you will be able to stick to one or two plugins you've bought first and start actually making music

[bobhva]

Nope, no hardware synths for me. I can have 100's of soft synths in the computer and my wife will just see 1 computer. If more hardware keyboards than my one MIDI controller shows up, I will have some explaining to do;-) I will continue be 100% in the box for the foreseeable future.

I do love the fact that I can have all the synths in software form that I only dreamed of when I was a teen in the 80's. I even have things that I never even knew existed back then like the Fairlight and Synclavier. I got to borrow a Casio CZ-101 from a friend for a couple of weeks back in 1987 and I thought it was the greatest musical device ever. Even if I didn't know how to play keyboard back then... and I still am only beginning to learn now so I would not even say I can play today(yet).

[chk071]

What is kind of annoying for me is not to buy so much stuff, it's rather the thought that that new, shiny, plugin will make you so much more productive, because you think you will finally gte something done with it. And then when you own it, you realize that it's like with the lots of plugin you purchased before, and in many cases, when the new and shiny has worn off, you realize that you actually prefer the stuff you already own to it. As this is merely a hobby, i therefor have really sworn to myself that i will at least not buy any more synth plugins, except when something really special and extraordinary will surface, because, really, i own some excellent "noisemakers", so there's no real point in getting something on top of that. I feel like i can get any tone out of it that i want, so why bother. It will most likely only be "new and shiny" anyway, and will wear off quickly.

[bobhva]

That is another point that I would like to make. You probably already own some great soft synths, get to know them and learn to make them do what you want. Basically up until now I have just purchased new synth plugins as a new set of presets. You don't need 5 different FM, VA, Modular, etc. of each type of synth. I think this is very hypocritical of me to say, seeing that I have so many. It is still very hard for me now to just use one or two and stick with just those for even a day or two. Having so many toys is fun, but it makes it harder to progress than if you only have a few.

[cron]

I feel you here. I've found that the amount I spend is pretty much inversely proportional to how much music I'm actually making.

In around 2006 I decided I had everything I needed to make absolutely any sound in my head, and that held firm until around 2012 - right about the time my creativity went through the floor. I decided to wanted to make more 'synthy' music so started out buying a couple of synths. Then the creativity dropped further, effects crept in, then the sample packs... My creativity has dropped to the point where I'm just idly 'playing' with plug-ins instead of making music, and once the novelty of that new plug-in wears off, sure enough my debit card is deployed and another appears in its place. Still trying to get the creativity back. Hopefully I'll stop spending money then .