Ableton Forum

"These forums are populated by a bunch of gear freaks"

...which producer (for arguments sake defined here as 'with music released & available to buy') on this forum has the simplest setup?

Never mind Operator, who's got next to no gear AND a good back catalogue?

The gauntlet is thrown down...

Also see poll - who has made themselves stop buying music magazines so that they concentrate on making music with the gear they have got?

Me,I use Live 4.1 with waldorf plugins PPG, ATTACK,plus RECYCLE sofware from propellerhead,on a PBOOK G4 667Mhz with 768MB RAM,oxygen8 for midi controler,RME HAMMERFALL Multiface audio card,external Firewire HDisc 7200Rpm 80Giga,GENELEC 1029 nearfield monitors with Subwoofer.

I love the technical point of electronic music making. Getting gear, tweaking, fiddling, noodling, selling it, getting new gear, repatching, trying to come to a finish, getting some more gear, bending, browsing old Sound on Sounds...

...and I'm proud of it! It's a great way of spending me free time. I have a great job as a university teacher - don't really aspire to make my living as a musician.

As of now I have:

Live 4.1 on self built DAW
Wusikstation
the 10$ OhmForce plugs (from way back)
EnergyXT
ERA
Augur
FreeAlpha
microTonic
Akai MFC42 filter
Roland SPD-8
Nord G2
Behringer mixer, patchbay, pre-amp
Nostromo N52 Speedpad

...and an Elektron Machinedrum coming in!

I've been wandering from setup to setup for a few years but recently stripped it down a lot, went mixerless and now only use my Modular G2, a Kawai K5000S and a Frostwave Resonator as outboard. some soft (u-he plugs, psp, etc) on the powerbook. helped the productivity if that comes as a surprise =p

I stopped reading music mags like Sound On Sound ages ago, and I make more music now than I did then (I used to spend more time reading about muic than actually doing it!).. its a while since but I used to think to myself "when I get that Compressor / EQ / Reverb / Keyboard (or whatever) I will be ok then" of course its a load of crap... I mean you do need the tools for the job, but reading the mags for me was like feeding a drug habbit, I used to spend so much money (though the bits of gear ended up sat there & ive slowly sold most of it off over the last few years, which has come in handy money wise) the local shop must have loved me....

The magazines can obviosly be good for things but personally, I try not to read them anymore.... some products really are inovative & sometimes you miss out on stuff (like I didnt find out about Ableton Live till it was on version 3) but I think most of the products for sale / being reviewed, are either just rehashes of what you already own, or you simply do not need, and for me getting a new piece of software / hardware means ive got to learn how to use it so that would take up time...

Dont get me wrong im a gear freak at heart (a super freak actually) but making music is more important to me, so im kinda like a drug adict stating away from the dealer

edit

(Just thought id add) I think its all about balance, I do still buy the odd thing now and then (usually plugins now & not very often) but It doesnt get in the way of me making music.. I suppose its a personal thing, some people might make more music the more gear they buy & the more options they have... its just for me it works the other way around...

Live + Reason + T-racks and thats it for me , oh the beauty of simplicity

I used to have just an Akai s2000, PC and waldorf pulse for years, then when I finally got a well paid job I went crazy on ebay and got a load of old and new gear, mainly analog stuff... i'm quite addicted to the sound of hardware, VSTi's rarely please me. Cutting down now, and I agree about the magazines... they can be evil, esp those Turnkey + DV ads!

Hmmm if only I had xxxx my music would be so much better!!! BOLLOX!

Main Sequencer/Recording
Ableton Live 4.0.4
Rewire
Reason 2.5
VST Effects
T-Racks
Anarchy Effects
Spektral Delay
Kjaerhus Phaser, Flanger, Auto-Filter
VST Instruments
Korg Legacy Collection
Moog Modular V
Juno X2

i love having more gear. the more gear, the more options.

using just a computer with live and reason, sure i could make something with it, but why would i want to limit myself?

my favorite albums used an arsenal of gear on them. music done completely on a computer with all digital sources sounds dull to me. i need to have analog gear. especially for the guitar, seeing as all the digital amp modelers sound like total shite. the overall standard of sound has gone to hell i think, and i blame computers, but thats only because we rely on them too much. i was watching pink floyd "live at pompei" a few days ago, and the sound quality blows away what we have today, and it was because they had talent and a million dollars worth of gear.

it seems that people like to brag about how much music they can make with as little gear as possible, which is ignorant especially if you use samples that were created with alot of gear.

how about this, make music using entirely original sounds, with nobody elses samples or loops or synth patches. construct everything from scratch. run that gauntlet.

Okay, as you wish, try this...

http://www.trypnotic.net/files/slabhead/extinct.mp3

All made with real field recordings, then programmed on the simple setup listed in the signature. It's not to everyone's taste but it's got plenty character!

ms

Macrostructure wrote:Okay, as you wish, try this...

http://www.trypnotic.net/files/slabhead/extinct.mp3

All made with real field recordings, then programmed on the simple setup listed in the signature. It's not to everyone's taste but it's got plenty character!

ms

its a cool piece. very dark and ambient. the sounds definently have alot of character.

Macrostructure wrote:Okay, as you wish, try this...

Thanks, my friend. I like!

ableton live - FM7 - arturia minimoog

back catalogue: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Global+Goon

By the way, just do you know, none of the mp3 links from http://globalgoon.com/listen.php seem to work. This site is referenced from discogs.com
But congratulations on your music

i should sort that out ---> try these:

fAMILY GLUE: http://globalgoon.com/familyglue
JUNIOR GLUE: http://www.globalgoon.com/download/A2E7C5AED9F4