# Too much time spent on tech?



## NYC Composer (Jan 20, 2019)

Do you think the amount of time you spend upgrading/fighting your computer and your daw, researching, installing and learning new libraries and plug ins that are incrementally better (or not) than your present libraries, building new templates, etc. has helped improve your workflow to the point that you write more and better music? Or do you think that it’s distracted you and detracted from your compositional time and quality?


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## Farkle (Jan 20, 2019)

Yes. Absolutely. I just rebuilt my rig, and uninstalled a ton of "pretty but not useful" plugins. The goal is lean, mean, and writing. I'm doing my damnedest to not purchase any libs this year. Working with what I have.

Get lean, and make something good with what you have. Oftentimes, it's better than you think.


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## dgburns (Jan 20, 2019)

When I’m on the clock, it seems like I curse myself that I didn’t do like Charlie Clouser and organize myself to the utmost detail.

When I’m not on the clock, I harvest sounds. I piss around with stuff and feel like I’m just taking up space and time. Wasting my life away dreaming and messing with insignificant things like updates and presests and IT crap and software sales when I should be concentrating on getting work and/or studying theory and practicing.

I suck at being an entrepreneur.


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## String-for-sale (Jan 20, 2019)

For me, I'm spending too much time updating plugins than playing music.


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## Alex Fraser (Jan 20, 2019)

God, yes. The tech is a distraction for sure. It can absolutely get in the way of being creative, or kill creativity stone dead.

The sheer amount of choice too. So many libraries and plugins. It all gets in the way and serves as a distraction. Like Farkle above, I'm on a personal mission/vendetta to get leaner.


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## CT (Jan 20, 2019)

I don't think it directly wastes my time or interferes. I don't do gear stuff to the exclusion of music, or anything like that.

Now, with that said... I think some of the VI's I've bought *do* distract me. I've fallen for a few pretty but niche sounds that soon stop being fertile for me.

I'm actually in the middle of "downsizing" too, to solve this. Trying to sell what can be resold. Most of what can't be resold, I don't really want to part with permanently anyway, but I want my drive to have the bare minimum on it. No excesses, no distractions.

This is actually useful for me, in that it's pushing me further towards "my thing," whatever that is, and away from my usual meandering.

I honestly think I can get down to about four VI's and one synth, and it will be sufficient for my music. If I'm ever actually scoring, rather than just doing my own music, I can justify re-installing the rest, and getting some new stuff.


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## ism (Jan 20, 2019)

Richard Feynman, when working on the Manhattan project, claims to have witnessed the first instance of what he calls “computer disease” - where people start using the technology for its own sake instead of something that actuall needs to be done.

His example is a mathematician so enraptured by these new “computer’ things that he got distracted by writing a computer program (that at the time would fill rooms) to calculate logarithms instead focusing on actually important parts of actually building a bomb ( double checking that a nuclear explosion wasn’t going to ignite the earths atmosphere eradicating all life on earth etc).

But I’m sure the same principle applies to messing around with sample libraries.


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## JohnG (Jan 20, 2019)

NYC Composer said:


> Do you think the amount of time you spend upgrading/fighting your computer...has helped improve your workflow to the point that you write more and better music?



yes

all these libraries create a lot of complexity but, if you get the right amount (not sure exactly what that is), you have a possibility of exploring a part of the amazing range of natural (and unnatural) instruments. 

Without a lot of sounds, you can still produce very energetic stuff but it's very hard to paint subtly.

Not that everything is supposed to be subtle, either. Trollope said, of Dickens, apparently, something like, "if you paint for the masses you must paint in very bright colours."


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## Michel Simons (Jan 20, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> I'm on a personal mission/vendetta to get leaner.



Me too....Oh wait, you weren't talking about your body. 

I have way too much stuff. Especially the last couple of years I bought too much, often forgetting what I already have. The future has become financially less secure, so maybe that somehow solves part of the problem. Getting leaner sounds like a pretty damn good idea. 

Mind you, I am "just a hobbyist", but still...


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## Alex Fraser (Jan 21, 2019)

michelsimons said:


> Me too....Oh wait, you weren't talking about your body.


Well, there is that too!

A far more insidious effect of tech is that it introduces procrastination on an epic scale.
If you're sat at a piano, there isn't a great deal of distraction. Whilst sat at your (likely internet connected) DAW, the distractions come thick and fast.

Aside from the housekeeping stuff like updates, there's the temptation to tweak, research, buy, read about and argue over all the new toys. Inevitably, it ends in a YouTube death spiral or 7 pages deep into a salty VI control thread.

Ultimately, I don't think there's a single person on this forum who doesn't already have an amazing set of music making tools. So actually, I think this thread is really about procrastination. And here I am, procrastinating by writing a post about procrastination. I'll leave you with this.
A


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## Nico (Jan 21, 2019)

I wish there was a program to check which libraries and plugins I actually have a use for


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## whiskers (Jan 21, 2019)

Nico said:


> I wish there was a program to check which libraries and plugins I actually have a use for


How on Earth would they do that? Each person has different wants/needs


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## Gerbil (Jan 21, 2019)

I find tinkering with tech, doing updates, making templates etc quite therapeutic so it actually helps in a bizarre way.


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## Parsifal666 (Jan 21, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> A far more insidious effect of tech is that it introduces procrastination on an epic scale.
> If you're sat at a piano, there isn't a great deal of distraction. Whilst sat at your (likely internet connected) DAW, the distractions come thick and fast.
> 
> Aside from the housekeeping stuff like updates, there's the temptation to tweak, research, buy, read about and argue over all the new toys. Inevitably, it ends in a YouTube death spiral or 7 pages deep into a salty VI control thread.
> ...



It is that...but it could be argued that's what this forum is all about, at least after you've already bought everything up. One of the most amusing (in the "good" way) things for me is the apparent prevalence of people whom seem determined to use this forum as their multiple-instrument manual. RTM first, and *really* *read it*. Then it's a good idea to come here if you want, sometimes you can deepen your knowledge even further that way. And of course there are non-manual libs like Uist, for which it's best to look up info online, but that's the exception that proves the rule imo.

Please keep in mind, I'm all for people doing whatever the hell they want to do on this forum (within mature reason...though I'm quite guilty of boo-booing in that particular area). And if folks like talking about, shopping, and collecting gear more than figuring out and/or composing with the libraries bought, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.


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## mauriziodececco (Jan 21, 2019)

I have a personal theory: the 21th century civilization will go down on an update crisis; around 2050, anything vaguely driven by firmware/OS/software will be stuck in a continuous cycle of updates, that will consume the whole computing power available, and bring us back to medieval times.


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## jbuhler (Jan 21, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> Inevitably, it ends in a YouTube death spiral or 7 pages deep into a salty VI control thread.


You say that like it’s a bad thing.


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## whiskers (Jan 21, 2019)

Gerbil said:


> I find tinkering with tech, doing updates, making templates etc quite therapeutic so it actually helps in a bizarre way.


You're not the only one. I work in tech, so I suppose a lot of times I enjoy tweaking things. But there are certain states where I find it is not so (especially after work):

when you have an idea that you want to get down quickly, but get bogged down tweaking certain things. Likely more of a personal workflow change, focusing on writing the parts in my head down first then tweaking the sound/properties later
the general nature of upgrades and troubleshooting when you just want to write something, and not worry about the technical aspect. I spent way too long recently trying to figure out how to get the stupid VST Plug-in manager to show in Cubase 10, when it wouldn't detect Omnisphere. Ended up removing an XML file instead lol.
Would be nice to have a unified updater for products, but if you have VSTs from different providers, which most of us do, that wouldn't really fly. Just have to remember to stay on top of the emails when they come in re: updates and downloads.


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## rrichard63 (Jan 21, 2019)

I think this issue can affect (and afflict) professionals and hobbyists differently. As strictly a hobbyist here, I find that the tinkering is nearly as much a part of the hobby as the music making. Almost by definition that doesn't apply to those who compose and produce for a living. It does apply to some -- not all -- hobbyists.


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## dzilizzi (Jan 21, 2019)

Yes and no. All the time I spend trying to get my DAW to work I would gladly give up to make music. And I definitely spend to much on researching and buying the (not so) latest and greatest (when they are on sale). But this year, I finally got enough stuff that works and I've actually started making music more than just writing down lyrics and humming a melody into the recorder on my phone. I don't know if it is that the newer vst instruments actually work well enough to sound almost like what I hear in my head or if it is because I finally built a computer just for music that doesn't crash every time I use my DAW. (It only crashes about every 5th time now).

I do like playing around with libraries. They give me ideas. But it doesn't always end up as a finished product.


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## jneebz (Jan 21, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> If you're sat at a piano, there isn't a great deal of distraction. Whilst sat at your (likely internet connected) DAW, the distractions come thick and fast.


Yes.....so very true.


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## Akarin (Jan 21, 2019)

I work in tech. I code for a living. Actually, I teach it but you get the idea: solving tech problems is my job. When I make music, I want to do just that: making music.

But the problem is that DAWs and sample libraries are so powerful today that you are bound to face issues, config, routing, more config, and so on. So, I sat down for a few months and learned my DAW through and through, went to learn everything I could about mixing, positioning and balance. And then I built my massive template, tons of macros and shortcuts. Now, I am proud that my rig is a music instrument and not a computer anymore. I can do just that: sit and play without caring (too much) about tech.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jan 21, 2019)

And in spite of all that wasted time, I still have spaghetti cables running all around the place when I'm working on a project.


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## Parsifal666 (Jan 21, 2019)

Akarin said:


> I work in tech. I code for a living. Actually, I teach it but you get the idea: solving tech problems is my job. When I make music, I want to do just that: making music.
> 
> But the problem is that DAWs and sample libraries are so powerful today that you are bound to face issues, config, routing, more config, and so on. So, I sat down for a few months and learned my DAW through and through, went to learn everything I could about mixing, positioning and balance. And then I built my massive template, tons of macros and shortcuts. Now, I am proud that my rig is a music instrument and not a computer anymore. I can do just that: sit and play without caring (too much) about tech.



Great post +100. It took me years to really get my head as much as I could around Cubase, but the payoff has been tremendous and ongoing. I don't even bother with what's above Cubase 8...that program is completely perfect for what I want (despite persistently-niggling-but-not-deal-breaking issues such as a bafflingly-blah and limited notation variable, unable to automatically undo certain things, etc.).


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## ironbut (Jan 21, 2019)

With the capabilities of the hardware/software these days, I wonder sometimes if my system tweaking and upgrading is just out of habit. 
I mean it's not like my system is crashing all the time. 
But still, I resist spending a lot of cash on upgrades and to tell you the truth, I kind of enjoy messing with this stuff sometimes.
Do I think I spend too much time and energy on tech, probably. 
But it's harmless for the most part and I have worse character flaws I'd like to address before I'm going to beat myself up on this one.


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## artomatic (Jan 21, 2019)

And I thought I was the only one! I've been spending too much time trying to resolve issues with my DAW, newly installed or updated software, configuring/routing hardwares, tweaking samples, reading manuals, watching tutorials when nothing else works...

I will finally get back to creating music soon!


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## Synetos (Jan 21, 2019)

I think I waste a ton of time creating the "perfect" setup, only to re-create the next "really perfect" setup...and the cycle repeats.

I probably spend 80% of my time just fiddling around with gear...hardware, software, instruments, blah blah blah. Probably only 2% of my time actually writing something new. But...when I am inspired, I can slam out song ideas is short order.

I went from gear-itis, to configuration-itis. I stopping buying a ton of gear and libraries, because I truly have more than I could ever use.

Perhaps the fact that i don't "need" to make any money from my music has taken away any sense of urgency to truly accomplish what I set out to do.

I just need to actually do something useful, musically, in 2019.


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## AlexRuger (Jan 21, 2019)

Yes, 100%. After years of being very deep in huge racks of gear, multi-PC rigs, outboard synths, etc etc etc, I'm just so over it. It's a complete distraction, and can even affect the music that you write.

But more than "lots of gear" (easy to solve in a vacuum -- just be honest with yourself and sell the gear you don't use/stop randomly buying stuff you know you won't get much mileage out of), the thing that I'm worn out from is the never-ending arms race of optimization, and the effect it has on your gear.

You spend a ton of time building a template. You find that you prefer more tracks with a single instrument/articulation each, so now you need to buy another slave PC. The template gets too big and unruly so you start finding novel ways of getting around it, such as macros, but now you need a way to remember them all, so you get into touch screens. It never ends.

As much as I enjoy writing the perfect script to accomplish something, an ecosystem as simple and effective as, say, Pro Tools on a Mac with an S3 controller is looking more and more inviting everyday. Simple, straight forward, vertical integration. Is it the most "optimized" workflow for composers? Probably not, potentially far from it. But who spends less time on their work -- the one with the slower workflow, or the one always chasing the faster one?


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## joebaggan (Jan 21, 2019)

I have 2 hobbies that I consider almost entirely different : writing music and collecting toys. If you have ability and work on the craft of actual music composing, you can make quality music with the most minimal of setups. The toy collecting is a fun pastime but it can be a huge time sink (all that buying, collecting, organizing) and in the end, I think most people can spot quality or crap whether it's made with 1 or 100 toys.


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## JamieLang (Jan 21, 2019)

In the 90s, I was given what was referred to as "professional subscriptions" to every recording and Keyboard magazine made--and there were a BUNCH back then...at some point, after I got my home rig all together, I realized I was spending all kinds of time combing the magazines and reviews for the latest gear--that as a musician, I couldn't really afford anyway...I had to call all the publishers and ask them to stop sending them. 

I often think that internet forums, and similar newer social media is likely like that--giving EVERYONE a free "professional subscription"--for the same reason. I feel confident that was to bolster "impressions" to increase ad revenue. 

#sameAsItEvahWuz


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## Saxer (Jan 21, 2019)

I spend a lot of time trying stuff... but mostly fall back to old habits again. In the moment I'm fighting with Dorico. So many sub-windows... well structured but in a way far from what I expect... I even don't have the right words to look for in the manual. Nothing intuitive for me... so when I'm in hurry I go back to Logic and do my notation there. Not that sophisticated but fast. But is that wasted time?
I try templates with more libraries... but when a job has to be done I'm back to my used libraries that just work as expected. But I wouldn't know if I didn't try.
I'm learning clarinet... hard job if you are used to sax and flute. Extremely non-ergonomic. Time consuming and I won't reach a professional level anyway. Is that wasted time?
Between all that I really like the time watching a progress bar when doing downloads of updates. Same in this forum here. It's quiet and most of the time without ambition... just nice and relaxing communication.

I think the tech part for me is a kind of parallel world. Different playground. Solvable problems. It has a psychologic function. If you like it, do it. If you don't like it, get someone else to solve the problems and get another procrastination heaven. Brain needs time.


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## Robo Rivard (Jan 21, 2019)

Since I built my first template in 2018, my life has changed quite a lot. I used to spend countless hours scrolling thru my libraries on the hard drive in order to make a usable Multi inside Kontakt for a particular piece. What a waste of time... Now I have access to all my favorite sounds in Cubase's inspector, and everything is so much faster. I just Enable or Disable the tracks, and Voilà!... Templates are worth the time. I also have everything on SSD drives now.


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## NYC Composer (Jan 21, 2019)

I an not a tinkerer by nature,and I think a lot of people are, so you have to take anything I say with that caveat.

Some years ago, I just quit the tech arms race. I had moved into writing library music and realized my only shot was to produce in volume, so I couldn’t fuss too much and needed to write about one two minute track a day, 6 days a week. I’ve done that, using a 2008 Mac Pro and Cubase 6.02 from 2011. Since then, my big tech adventures have been these:

1. Buying a Mac Mini slave and setting it up.
2. Upgrading gradually from Mac OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard to OSX 10.11.6 El Capitan.
3. Buying and learning VEP. It still confuses me sometimes, but it is absolutely magical.
4. Building a few VEP/Cubase templates..

....and that’s about it.

Of course, there have been small issues that I’ve dealt with. I tweak a template here and there. I add a drive, I bought a new interface recently. Etc. mostly though, I just write and record. My setup is ancient but VERY solid.

My biggest time wasters are these-too much time browsing forums, and buying and learning new libraries that are almost always (to varying degrees) redundant. I have an idiotic number of string and piano libraries, for example. 
Can I write string parts with full LASS, CS2, Hollywood Strings Gold, Soaring Strings, CSSS, Cornucopia, Albion 1, British Drama Toolkit, Sonokinetic Ostinato, OT Met Ark 1, Session Strings, CH solo violin and Embertone solo strings EWQLSO, etc etc etc?? I have cues PRESENTLY on the air using only EWQLSO and a few with strings from the Roland 700 series hardware samplers, for chrissakes (btw, I had templates for Roland samplers back in the day.)

All that said, I bought Adagio violas. They were $28. I spent three hrs dling them and messing with them. They’re fine. I don’t need them. They didn’t inspire me to write something new.

I do still buy libraries, usually small ones. I am distracted by tech, though much much less since I came to the above conclusion. I’m what my pal Guy Rowland calls “steady state”. The more time I spend writing music and not cursing at hardware or software, muttering “why is it DOING that” in an aggrieved tone, the better-for me. Charlie Clouser, John Graham and a host of others hold a different view and make their cases convincingly. YMMV, it’s all good.


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## AllanH (Jan 21, 2019)

I think tinkering is a good thing. I've spent many hours experimenting with diva, falcon, and all the various other instruments I have. I'm not even sure that I have tried every patch in Hollywood Orchestra. It's part of learning how I can best use them to express my ideas.


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## chimuelo (Jan 21, 2019)

I plan on tinkering like a maniac with a hardware sampler I’ve dreamed about for years, the Akai Force Pro.
Recently have been tinkering like a fiend on 3 x Strymon FX Pedals.

But before that I was like Larry, but I play with 2 different live bands, one Jazz the other dance. 
So I was glad I tinkered prior to that because for 11 months I had to program multiple parts using a single controller at the gigs, and learn then perform 112 tunes. 

So until the Akai is in my possession my tinkering is on hold.


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## Jeremy Gillam (Jan 21, 2019)

AlexRuger said:


> Yes, 100%. After years of being very deep in huge racks of gear, multi-PC rigs, outboard synths, etc etc etc, I'm just so over it. It's a complete distraction, and can even affect the music that you write.
> 
> But more than "lots of gear" (easy to solve in a vacuum -- just be honest with yourself and sell the gear you don't use/stop randomly buying stuff you know you won't get much mileage out of), the thing that I'm worn out from is the never-ending arms race of optimization, and the effect it has on your gear.
> 
> ...



I spent a bunch of time last year building the ultimate Cubase disabled track template with 3500 tracks or something, one articulation per track, integrating new libraries as I bought them. I don't pay my bills from music yet and much of my free time when not doing photo retouching went into building this thing. But by the time my schedule opened up a bit and I had more time for music I realized I really prefer working in Pro Tools, even when it comes to MIDI, and since pretty much everything theoretically ends up there anyway, why not just do it? So I basically didn't even write anything with this great template I built. Maybe I will in at some point. But in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy not being constrained by some preconceived idea of how I want my sessions/templates laid out and try to actually invest my time into writing and producing music, and not into building templates.


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## Alex Fraser (Jan 22, 2019)

NYC Composer said:


> Charlie Clouser, John Graham and a host of others hold a different view and make their cases convincingly. YMMV, it’s all good.


Absolutely agree. I guess the difference with those guys is that they're able to compartmentalise the technical and artistic parts of the job. I think that's key.


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## dgburns (Jan 22, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> Absolutely agree. I guess the difference with those guys is that they're able to compartmentalise the technical and artistic parts of the job. I think that's key.



Nothing like having deadlines to motivate you to write. Nothing like downtime to kill your productivity, i.e. mess with your stuff. And them there's that little voice in the back o' your head telling you to get out there and find WORK, dammit! Not that soliciting for work ever really works out anyway, lol.

To be fair regarding downtime, I keep trying to remind myself to make to-do lists of stuff I encounter while 'in the heat of battle'. I also use downtime to go back over past work and try to extract useful stuff I 'think' I might need or want access to easily in the future. 

Harvesting your sounds is like building your brand in a way. It's no surprise to me that the successful composers harvest their palettes with such enterprise.


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## robgb (Jan 22, 2019)

I love tech. I love that music and tech are intertwined.


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## NYC Composer (Jan 22, 2019)

robgb said:


> I love tech. I love that music and tech are intertwined.


Understood, Rob. Could you respond directly to the topic? (That’s not a scold, I’d like to hear your POV).


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## robgb (Jan 22, 2019)

NYC Composer said:


> Understood, Rob. Could you respond directly to the topic? (That’s not a scold, I’d like to hear your POV).


That is my response. I love the tech, therefore it doesn't interfere with composing. It enhances it. Even the tinkering before and after the music-making.


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## NYC Composer (Jan 22, 2019)

Got it.


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## Polkasound (Jan 22, 2019)

For me, all the installing, troubleshooting, learning, and tweaking is tedious work. I don't particularly enjoy it, and if I didn't have to do it, that would be great. But I _have_ to do it, because I am driven to produce the best music my brain can muster. And when I am satisfied with what I've created, I never regret a single second I've spent on the tech side of things.

I'm currently working on a modern pop song. The music is 95% done, and I've got a professional vocalist from Chicago lined up to come in next month to sing it. While working on the music just last week, I felt a particular-sounding rise effect was needed in one part of the song. I could hear in my mind what I wanted, but now I needed to figure out how to create it. So production on the music came to a halt while I monkeyed around with soft synths and plugins. It took some time to develop the sound I wanted and just as much time using plugins and applying a few editing techniques to make the rise match what was in my head, but I eventually got what I was after.

So if I were asked if the tech side of things slows down my workflow, yes, it does. But the technical knowledge I gain from those interruptions is something I wouldn't trade for anything.


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## NYC Composer (Jan 22, 2019)

Polkasound said:


> But the technical knowledge I gain from those interruptions is something I wouldn't trade for anything.


Whereas I, who has been recording music on computers since the Commodore SX-64 with Dr. T software, would trade it all in an instant to play B-3, acoustic piano and Rhodes in a kickass r&b or rock band (but not for free, I’m a mercenary and always will be.)

It’s continually interesting to me how many horses there are for so
many courses.


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## marclawsonmusic (Jan 24, 2019)

Larry, you know a bit about my experience in the 'tech' aspect of this stuff, but I have found it absolutely gets in the way of writing. There is no better procrastination excuse than installing / learning a new library or building a new template or trying a new reverb or...

In 2017, I also went 'steady state' - stopped upgrading, purchasing, and just tried to make use of what I had. I wrote a bunch of tracks just to audition the libraries already on my hard drive and decided that 'blank slate' is my favorite template. PS - I look forward to learning new libraries like I look forward to going to the dentist - it's a lot of time, pain and work. I used to feel the opposite.

I broke my rule and did a bunch of upgrades this Christmas, but that was during down time anyway. 

In summary, tech might be what makes all of this stuff work, but tinkering (for me) always means less writing / creating.


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## AllanH (Jan 24, 2019)

NYC Composer said:


> Whereas I, who has been recording music on computers since the Commodore SX-64 with Dr. T software, ....



Another commodorian  I got my start on the Amiga, even though I had a C64. The programmers manual for the C64 is what inspired me to pursue computers as a career.


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## kitekrazy (Jan 24, 2019)

Nico said:


> I wish there was a program to check which libraries and plugins I actually have a use for



I use note pad to create notes put them on my desktop. Even with a limited budget it is so easy to have so much stuff. Every time I buy something it's supposed to be archived on external drives. I have those for specific purchases. Even that is time consuming.


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## kitekrazy (Jan 24, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> Well, there is that too!
> 
> A far more insidious effect of tech is that it introduces procrastination on an epic scale.
> If you're sat at a piano, there isn't a great deal of distraction. Whilst sat at your (likely internet connected) DAW, the distractions come thick and fast.
> ...



Then we buy stuff when 5 people recommend it.


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## NYC Composer (Jan 25, 2019)

marclawsonmusic said:


> Larry, you know a bit about my experience in the 'tech' aspect of this stuff, but I have found it absolutely gets in the way of writing. There is no better procrastination excuse than installing / learning a new library or building a new template or trying a new reverb or...
> 
> In 2017, I also went 'steady state' - stopped upgrading, purchasing, and just tried to make use of what I had. I wrote a bunch of tracks just to audition the libraries already on my hard drive and decided that 'blank slate' is my favorite template. PS - I look forward to learning new libraries like I look forward to going to the dentist - it's a lot of time, pain and work. I used to feel the opposite.
> 
> ...



On the other hand, Marc has REALLY helped me with my networking issues, so I'm grateful he tinkers "at work" 

Good to hear you finished that project, Marc! Hope it bears fruit...


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## A3D2 (Jan 25, 2019)

@NYC Composer I kind of "gave up" updating and upgrading because of the 'unproductive' side of it. I understand your dilemma . It tends to take up so much time (also because I'm not super super great at computers) that I cannot use to compose. That's why a couple of years ago I decided to:

1) just stick to 1 version of macos (and not upgrade anymore)
2) just stick to the version of my daw that works the best for me (and not upgrade anymore)
3) always always have my composing computer offline without browsers installed (for some reason this makes my computer still going as fast as when I bought it new in the store)
4) get better at using the sounds I already own and transform them with plugins until they sound the way I want them to sound

Of course this means you can't use some of the newest audio toys, which is a downside, but instead I've been investing that money in hardware which doesn't need all of that "updating" and can also bring some new creativity if you feel that you are not evolving anymore musically 

That's how I see this issue, hopefully it helps


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## greggybud (Jan 25, 2019)

Polkasound said:


> So if I were asked if the tech side of things slows down my workflow, yes, it does. But the technical knowledge I gain from those interruptions is something I wouldn't trade for anything.



This would be my reply too. 

In 1998 I dropped Seer Systems Reality, one of the first soft synths backed by Dave Smith, and dove into NI's Reaktor (at that time called Generator & Transformator). "Too much time spent on tech?" The Reaktor user guide, if you could call it that, was a joke. I had weekly emails going to Berlin continually for months. At one point, they asked me if I wanted to write an English manual for them. No thanks! Learning Reaktor and developing ensembles distracted me from what I loved to do best which is write pop songs. Besides, I quickly noticed ensemble geniuses that could create them, and the corresponding patches in a fraction of the time it took me. Do I regret Reaktor? Today I'm not sure. I have late 90s pop songs interspersed with unique sounds that I hope sets them apart. But I think of all that time spent learning Reaktor instead of writing and producing. If I did it again, I would try to wait for the geniuses to do the prep work for me. Today you have Reaktor blocks LOL.

A similar thing for me happened with Kore, but I don't think I regret it. Kore is a fantastic tool for sound/patch creation and it has never been replaced. But IMO, the manual was poorly written, and I spent way too much time in the Kore forum trying to sort things out. Also, IMO, the abandonment of Kore was the fact that it was a bit difficult to learn. Kore is a tool for a more narrow group of users...the opposite of Maschine that was developed out of Kore. Today, I'm glad I spent the time to learn Kore because morphing, even with 3rd party VSTI's and VST's is something I do very often, and this type of morphing between patches is not found anywhere else. And to this day, the sound browser is more detailed and "better" than the Maschine/Komplete Kontrol stuff where NI borrowed the more simple concepts from Kore.

Today, I'm much more aware of the pitfalls, but it still happens because I guess I allow it to happen. For example learning Cubase Media Bay, and Cubase Logical Editors...something I struggle with and often ask experts. Other times, as weird as it sounds it can be fun, for example creating templates to accommodate Toontrack SD3 and EZD2, plus all the drum maps. 

Like anything, ultimately you have to ask yourself whether or not the pay-off in the future is worth the time spent now.


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