Resist buying, save up for the big one

[druzz]

i have to stop buying every little affordable cool synth that passes by, otherwise i will never have a kick a*s uncompromising sound machine. i end up buying a cheap synth every month. now i am trying to save up to buy a Little Phatty but every week a new synth pops up on craigslists to test my will power.

anybody else is (or has been) going trough this. any words of wisdom to solidify my will to RESIST would be appreciated.
its hard to let a good deal pass by.


curently resisting: jx-8p . resisting arguments: already have jx-3p , mks7(juno 106), matrix 6r . i think i have the DCO field covered pretty well.

the little Phatty is not exacly an uncompromising synth if you compare it to the voyager but i dont want to save up for YEARS.

[0e0]

you don't need the jx-8p.

the 3p has a nicer filter...you got that DCO s**t covered....if you want what you could do is sell the mks-7 for a bunch of money and get an mks-50..which would have the same filter chip of the jx-8p (but better envelopes) but similar architecture/ethos of the mks-7. and put the rest of the money towards the little phatty.

a monosynth would be a nice addition to your setup.

j

[CfNorENa]

Oh man, yes, I know the feeling. I had been out of the synth game for about 10-12 years, and when I started up again (earlier this year), I set myself a firm budget, and decided, on principle, to get a fully functioning studio up and running instead of just getting one or two big things. So now I have the four synths in my signature, together with a Korg D888 for mixing/recording, a nice pair of AKG headphones, a pair of KRK RP5s with RP10 subwoofer, and two sturdy Quiklok stands to make it all nice and neat.

So far so good. I'm very happy with the setup (no computer!). But nothing I have is really big or indispensable, and sometimes I wonder if I should have put all my money into one really outstanding synth. Generally, though, I think I made the right decision, for my needs.

The idea now is to save up again, and eventually upgrade things *strategically*. I know I want a big, classic, American VCO polysynth (along the lines of a Prophet 5 or Obie), and will probably also want a solid analog monosynth (have been lusting after the Voyager Old School, for some reason). And down the road I'll want to upgrade the recording setup and sound system.

I think the key to resisting the temptation to buy anything affordable that comes along is to come up with a sensible STRATEGY for your studio, and then stick with it.

That said, one big temptation I have to resist is trading. I had a deal lined up to trade my Blofeld for a Virus rack, and then another deal to trade my JX-10 for a Polysix. But I ultimately pulled back from both deals at the last minute, and have decided not to go down that road again. I like what I have, think that my four synths work well together, and instead of switching things in and out, I'll bide my time, and add big things later. If I have the discipline!

[Malik]

Cfor,

Not to be a grinch and rain on your discipline ;-> but a Polysix for your JX-10 is a pretty sweet deal- especially if you don't have the programmer for the JX.

Given that you've covered a lot of DCO territory, maybe it's time to allow for one more trade to get you further into the analog realm. Nothing beats raw analog oscillators.

;->

-M

[CfNorENa]

Not to be a grinch and rain on your discipline ;-> but a Polysix for your JX-10 is a pretty sweet deal- especially if you don't have the programmer for the JX. Given that you've covered a lot of DCO territory, maybe it's time to allow for one more trade to get you further into the analog realm. Nothing beats raw analog oscillators.

Yeah, I had a feeling someone would call me on this! My logic: the JX-10 is pretty deep with those 24 DCOs, and I do have the programmer, which as you probably know makes all the difference in the world. I have spent hours trying to duplicate the JX-10 strings on my Korg, Blofeld, and Juno 60, but to no avail. And I LOVE those strings (so warm, so lush, so thick, so perfectly fitted into the mix). Also, it really does play very, very well with the Juno 60 (remarkably little overlap btw these two early/mid 80s Roland DCO polysynths). Finally, I was a bit wary of picking up a used Polysix from a stranger (infamous battery issue)...

[Sir Nose]

I know what you mean. Just think of the time it takes to get to know a synth well. That's what keeps me from taking the plunge on a good deal. On the other hand if it is way below market value, you can resell it for a profit to put towards what you do want. I have a touch of the pack rat disease so this is a problem for me. If you can get past this and let it go when its time, you can get some great experience.

[JMP]

i have to stop buying every little affordable cool synth that passes by, otherwise i will never have a kick a*s uncompromising sound machine.

Other than a LP what else in the 'big' territory you thinking of? Unfortunately, everything tends to be attractive until you've got one, tried and got it out of your system.

[CfNorENa]

Unfortunately, everything tends to be attractive until you've got one, tried and got it out of your system.

That is an excellent observation, and probably accounts for 90% of GAS. There is just something psychological at the root of our desires for the next synth. Plus we all remember that AMAZING feeling of fun and excitement when a new synth lands in the studio, and would rather re-live that experience than go through the harder -- but ultimately more rewarding -- work of getting more mileage out of what we already have. Oh well. Life is short.

[depulse]

Sure, I understand your question, I think we all been through similar challenges.


Skip the JX8p, get a MKS70 instead. Nothing can produce the sounds you get from a MKS70/SuperJX, DCO or VCO. The Junos can't. If you letting go of your MKS7 get a Juno60 instead.

[TrondC]

dumping everything but the ESX to buy the Monomachine was the best desicion I've made gearwise. then, not buying a couple pedals, a couple small synths, a couple fx racks for a whole year and then getting the machinedrum will hopefully prove to be the next best desicion ever made.

but waiting is a b***h!!!!

[nathanscribe]

Having hardly any money is a big factor in spending it all on cheaper things. If it's going to take eight years to save up for a P5/CS80/2600 etc, why start? Much easier to buy a LP/Juno/whatever. Of course, you'll still lust after the P5/CS80/2600, and you'll be further from them than before, but you will have something to play with in the meantime.

GAS is both ridiculous and painful. I keep thinking I'm over it, but I'm mostly wrong. I have about 20 synths at the moment, most of which have been bought on a whim, and most of which do very similar things really. But I still try to convince myself I'll get good use out of them all.

Partly, too, it's a search for happiness. The idea that a new toy will make you happy persists, yet the joy you feel as an adult is tempered by the financial burden, the burdens of time, responsibility, etc... so the search continues. It's the old grailquest. Material goods don't satisfy in the way we kid ourselves they will, so we look for the next solution. It's naive, foolish, midguided, but we do it because we have to believe that there's an end to the rainbow, and we have seen where it lands. But the end retreats as we approach. On the way we pick up trinkets that we hope fulfill part of that need, and maybe they do, maybe they don't. Either way, we know we want something else. Unfortunately, we don't seem to realise that what we want is not where we think it is - and we continue to pursue happiness as though it lies outside, vainly ignoring the possibility that really we can only rely on ourselves for it.

[CfNorENa]

Partly, too, it's a search for happiness. The idea that a new toy will make you happy persists, yet the joy you feel as an adult is tempered by the financial burden, the burdens of time, responsibility, etc... so the search continues. It's the old grailquest. Material goods don't satisfy in the way we kid ourselves they will, so we look for the next solution. It's naive, foolish, midguided, but we do it because we have to believe that there's an end to the rainbow, and we have seen where it lands. But the end retreats as we approach. On the way we pick up trinkets that we hope fulfill part of that need, and maybe they do, maybe they don't. Either way, we know we want something else. Unfortunately, we don't seem to realise that what we want is not where we think it is - and we continue to pursue happiness as though it lies outside, vainly ignoring the possibility that really we can only rely on ourselves for it.

Very nicely said! Is there another synth forum where one can read such wisdom? Methinks not. 1000 points for VSE.

[nuketifromorbit]

i have to stop buying every little affordable cool synth that passes by, otherwise i will never have a kick a*s uncompromising sound machine. i end up buying a cheap synth every month. now i am trying to save up to buy a Little Phatty but every week a new synth pops up on craigslists to test my will power.

anybody else is (or has been) going trough this. any words of wisdom to solidify my will to RESIST would be appreciated.
its hard to let a good deal pass by.


curently resisting: jx-8p . resisting arguments: already have jx-3p , mks7(juno 106), matrix 6r . i think i have the DCO field covered pretty well.

the little Phatty is not exacly an uncompromising synth if you compare it to the voyager but i dont want to save up for YEARS.

Welcome to my personal h**l . I'm trying to save up for some kind of modular. Hopefully this will put me off from buying anything for at least a year.

[Sir Ruff]

It is a tough balancing act...

On one hand, there are simply so many synths out there, one kind of just want to try them all. Nothing brings a supposedly "mystical" instrument back into reality faster than owning the damn thing. Often your own ears are the only things that can tell you if the person who said "the juno-106 is the best synthesizer EVERRRRRR!!!" was actually right or full of s**t.

On the other hand, you still have to have some degree of will-power: already having an mks-7 AND m6r, I would never even consider the jx8p... there's not much wiggle room for these lower priced synths, so buying to try, and then re-selling can become a tiring exercise in just trying to get your money back.

Ultimately though, once you've actually managed to try a fair (and diverse lot), you will be in a much better position to know where you want your cash to finally reside... for me, it did come down to wanting a big american analog poly (BAUP?). Only after having played or owned various DCO/digi-ana polys, and I realized that nothing would substitute (and maybe that's the incentive you need to want to finally save up)

[Stab Frenzy]

Just sell the little cheap ones and use the cash to buy the big ones. Works for me.