JD Torian

Optimizing is total BS. Play More

If I spent half as much time playing my rig as I did designing it in my mind, I’d be on the big stage somewhere.

I need to stop thinking about this stuff and just DO.

Woke up late this morning (slept in, well rested), had my coffee, read a little bit, and then went straight down to it. I used the Behringer Crave, the TT-78 drum machine, which is an analog copy of the old Roland CR-78, and my System-1, all into the L6 mixer, and I got something fantastic because I didn’t have a chance to think about jack.

I recorded about 18 minutes of music (to chop it all down to about six). Never once did I think about how bad the drum sound was. I just thought they worked. Maybe they were a little loud because I’m recording just two-channel audio, but I didn’t think about the machine itself.

Just yesterday I was shopping for a new drum machine. I was gonna change out my trusty TT-78, which was the first analog drum machine I ever got, and by all marks it should be the last. But for some reason, yesterday, I didn’t think the sounds were up to par, so

But I did waste an hour or two yesterday thinking about what I should change it to, maybe the TT-606. It’s also ridiculous.

So like any other anxious thought, I’m gonna try to cut it out. I’ve cut out a lot of shopping, but one of the BS things I tell myself is that I’m optimizing, looking for something else. That’s also shopping. I don’t know what that is.

If I spent more time playing this drum machine and learning it intimately, someone would say it has the best sequencer. See here. If I knew this gold-medal sequencer intimately, would I even think about another drum machine?

Ridiculous. Waste of time. All of it. No more optimizing.

For now.

#discipline #drum machines #gear #music