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Step Off The G.A.S.!

5/17/2018

11 Comments

 
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The analog synthesizer truly came into its own in the 1970s, when R. A. Moog released the Minimoog, a fixed-architecture music synthesizer with a built in keyboard that was within the financial reach of middle-class people. Now the electronic sounds of experimental artists of earlier decades could be harnessed by a larger number of people. Shortly thereafter, simpler, more affordable synthesizers such as the Korg Micro Preset and the EDP Wasp hit the market, paving the way for the explosion of ‘80s synth pop.

The pioneers of DIY cassette culture also eagerly embraced these instruments, whose sounds would increasingly appear in the midst of their free-spirited audio alchemical concoctions. As synthesizer technology moved from the analog to the digital era, DIY musicians were able to snatch up the old analog gear that many musicians were dumping so the latter could enjoy the reliability and predictability of digital instruments. Gone were problems with tuning and remembering complex patches. With digital, sounds could be recalled with the press of a button and they would always arrive in tune.

Just as was the case in other advances in audio technology, however, plenty was sacrificed with those gains. Predictable can sound sterile. Listen to the same sound for too long, and the ear gets weary, the mind bored. Minimalistic interfaces on synths made “programming” sounds a time-consuming chore, and musicians increasingly relied on factory presets. Now the radio was filled with songs that had the same signature sounds from the same expensive digital instruments (e.g., Yamaha DX-7).

Eventually, a groundswell of interest, driven in no small part by DIY electronic enthusiasts as well as the persistent murmuring of musicians frustrated by the particular limitations of digital synths, eventually led to a new golden age of analog. Now the market is flooded with both analog and digital synths from scores of companies and cottage manufacturers to the point of a veritable glut. Korg’s Monotron series puts analog synthesis in the hands of anyone who has 40 bucks to spare. DIY artists have a dizzying array of choices, and the internet serves as a giant secondhand market. The Craigslist of any town might offer a used synth reasonably priced. Keep your eyes peeled!

Is there a downside to all of this? Only that you may become more consumed with the process of acquiring gear than with making sound art. It happens. A lot. Ever encounter the acronym G.A.S.? Gear Acquisition Syndrome. It’s a half-joking term. Half. Entire online discussion fora are devoted to people obsessing over gear. These fora suffer from the same problems many online discussion venues do—more heat than light. An unsuspecting artist can go to a discussion board to figure out how to solve a problem uploading the latest firmware and get caught up in interminable threads about what Dave Smith should have done when he made his latest flagship polyphonic dream synthesizer. The aptly named "gearslutz" is notorious for its countless pages of whingeing from guys who spend more time and energy collecting a picture-perfect assembly of pristine, exorbitantly expensive music gear than they ever devote to making music.

DIYers beware! In the DIY spirit, I don’t think it is anyone’s job to tell you how much or how little time or money you should spend anywhere. You’ll make your own decisions and you won’t take what I am saying as a prescription. That’s how we like it. But you might be thinking that you are not happy with where you are and you want to be inspired to create more art. In that spirit, I say: Pick up a soldering iron or a pen/stylus. Close that discussion board window on your desktop. Press the record button in your DAW, cassette deck, or micro-cassette recorder. Make art. Make or bend instruments. Now is the best time ever to bask in the light of your own creative spirit.

~ Lumen K (recovering gear addict)

11 Comments
Ditlev Buster link
5/17/2018 17:26:30

Very true! I’m mostly a guitarist, but consider myself a multi instrumentalist still. I spend alot of time finding the perfect chorus pedal, the perfect guitarneck, the perfect bass guitar to overdub with, the perfect casio keyboard. But in the end it does’nt matter to me if the gear is perfect. In the end every guitwr has a few songs inside it, you just have to find a main one that inspirew you more. And that holds true for every kind of gear!

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Lumen K
5/17/2018 17:43:01

Where I think guitarists do better than synthesists is in recognizing that every instrument is first and foremost an instrument. Synth folk can be overly obsessed with the latest technology and dismiss older instruments and technologies. The other day I heard such a sentiment on Sonic Talk. I welcome all the instruments and all the sounds.

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Chris Phinney
5/17/2018 22:24:25

Great piece, thanks man!

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Lumen K
5/18/2018 06:23:56

Thanks for the compliment, Chris!

Frank
5/17/2018 23:15:21

"Press the record button in your DAW, cassette deck, or micro-cassette recorder. Make art. Make or bend instruments. Now is the best time ever to bask in the light of your own creative spirit."

Amen!

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C. Goff III link
5/18/2018 00:51:33

Even if my awful financial history had not been the prophylactic that prevented me from ever getting GAS, my inner desire to push the limits of any sound making thing to places it was never meant to go has allowed me to consistently create art without much concern about the pedigree of my gear. It also helps that I'm more interested in creating art than in becoming a commercial success -- methinks the competition among true genre-ists breeds many GAS sufferers.

Your words are wise ones, Lumen K., and I am sure many Electronic Cottage contributors share your opinions. Sadly, I think GAS sufferers are not an easy bunch to cure, and even more sadly, the society we live in depends a lot on such sufferers to buy-and-sell its very soul.

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Lumen K
5/18/2018 07:00:14

Yes! Sigh. So true. You can track the history of synths, at some point, by the appearance of their presets in the charts. Hence, buy the latest synth, acquire the latest sound, and keep up with the Thompson Twins.

Also, even if you do not aspire to “make it” in music, there is the drive to recreate your favorite artist’s sounds by purchasing the gear they use. So you read up on the gear lists used in various recordings, then set off on a quest to acquire that gear. I once thought a synthesizer could make any sound. So if I bought a RadioShack Moog I could sound like anyone. Then you discover they all sound different. And you fall into the trap of trying to get all those sounds by buying all the gear. (I never had enough money to do that in earnest.)

There is a kind of false sense of power that comes with those acquisitions. Also, in the testosterone-drenched discussion fora “he can’t be a man cos he does not stroke the same keyboard as me.” And it does not matter that you don’t use the gear. It’s the fact that you have the arsenal and *could* do so much with it that makes you feel a rush.

I have too much gear. Nothing compared to some folks, but more than I use. I think about my recordings and live performances and, honestly, I mostly have used a very few pieces of gear—the most inexpensive bits—and the big synths have been used much less. Many things have been made with just a Monotron and a DAW. That’s it.

You hit the nail on the head in your final sentence. We are driving at top speed into a brick wall with the cycle of resource exploitation, production, acquisition of junk, and environmental destruction for the enrichment of the few, and the false comfort of a few more.

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Aimee Naworal link
4/30/2019 16:51:38

Something I needed to see I want to record now no more "waiting till the new instrument to get here" I want to make stuff now I tried that (beyond the first 2 tracks I recorded of my korg little bits synth experiments) and blew out some practice amps, ok well there is a bass amp I have ....I can play with that ....I will try again. Splits need to be made comps need to be submitted to :D

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Adam J Naworal
4/30/2019 16:57:30

Yep, no more instruments for a while, just a decent amp and possibly a 4-input mixer!

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B.O.N.K
5/3/2019 02:46:46

Who wants to buy an instrument from me real cheap (opens trenchcoat)

just kidding, i used to do this with just straight up garbage all the time but I sort of stopped

also circuit bending forums are often full of yelling people as well

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Kadhja Bonet link
12/2/2020 06:44:16

Thank you for providing these lists!

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    Lumen K

    is an electronic sound artist
    living in Gainesville, Florida.

    He has been making sound art since 1985
    ​but only recently shared it publicly,
    thanks to the encouragement of other Florida artists,
    especially Hal McGee.

    LK is proud to have collaborated with
    Hal McGee, Hal Harmon, t0rphy, Phil Rodriguez, Lucy Bonk, Andrew Chadwick, l.v. Martinez, William Spivey,
    and many other artists.

    LK has recorded and performed under the names
    Lumen Kishkumen, Pale Sunder, Grand Vizier, Petit Lafitte,
    and RumTumTum,
    among others.

    Contact email

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Electronic Cottage is a webzine covering independently-produced Experimental & Electronic Music, Space Rock, Audio Art, Video Art, Mail Art and more.