Stop Talking to Yourself and Just Make the Set
I build systems to make a group of songs and that will typically work if I think it through.
What doesn’t work is when I try to shoehorn the systems into a piece of gear that I want to buy. I don’t think I really do that anymore, but that’s the problem with having old stuff lying around, and honestly having sold a bunch of stuff recently I’m really enjoying having less stuff.
Like yesterday I finally got around to trying the SE-2 and I knew it was going to work or it was not going to work for several reasons, so I sold it that day. Cheap. Which is also awesome, to sell stuff cheap if you bought it cheap. I’m not a store. I don’t have a P&L. It’s fun to give people good deals. It just feels good. Who cares what they do with it, maybe they resell it and try to make some money, I don’t care.
There’s a difference between thinking through a problem and just chitchatting with yourself.
Today I got a call for a dub reggae DJ gig and it’s the perfect opportunity for the EP-40 to go in and learn it deeply over the next two weeks. I’ve already admitted to myself that I bought it for fun and it is fun. It makes me laugh and it makes me smile and that microphone is also hilarious.
So now I get a chance to see if it’s got a practical application. Even if it doesn’t, I’m keeping it. It’s really cool and I know at some point it will be a good BFF for the OP-1, which is probably my all-time piece of gear besides my Rickenbacker bass and my Strat.
So I’m going to figure out how to use it. See how it works in the workflow. If it doesn’t work, I’m not going to bring it. But otherwise I’m not going to sit around and think about it. I’m just going to spend time with it.
Stay off the freaking videos and all the nerds telling you how to use it, which by the way if anybody ever says “use case” in a video you’re watching turn it off immediately, you’re doing yourself no good.
A bit of confluence and I’m going with it.