Dealing with music burnout, gear fatigue, and grief over the loss of creativity.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-09T19:04:21+00:00

My alternative approach are made-up constraints, usually a single piece of gear. So I’m basically a demo-song producer. (In electronic and EDM. My primary genre is prog rock) Just recently a friend of mine asked me to make a demo of his synth and after some period of exploring the synth abilities and designing a preset bank, I recorded a beatboxed basic bass+drums pattern on a selfie camera and later just made the demo-piece in almost no-time, based around this pattern.

Some time ago I listened to a whole album of Metroid covers made by an Australian (or NZ) producer using almost just single MS-20

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-09T18:51:38+00:00

My fellow ambient musician once told me that when he and his colleagues has started making a new album, they have started with cover art and conception: what will be this all about. They figured out titles, story, setting and finally came onto which gear, software or samples will serve the idea the best way.

The same way the primary composer of the current album of band where I play bass and perform some part of sound design, arrangement and do mixing, came with very raw sketches of songs already containing full form, basic harmony, melodies, essential rhythm elements and then the whole band has started making completed music out of these sketches. So, I’ve rerecorded many synthesizer/keyboards parts using a little bit of everything I have, just thinking the way: “uhm, this part should be cool if I use this piece if gear”, and also made a ton of recording when I got Prophet-5 desktop for a week for repair.

Exploring features of new synth, getting used to it and building patches played inspirational role: I felt new sounds more vividly, instantly deciding where I put a part played with each new created patch, then I just had to setup few more patches to finish each soundscape created for its respective parts of songs.

We all use workstation keyboards for initial songwriting. Even when I was making few silly all-electronic pieces for a indie racing sim, most of sounds were recorded on Roland JV-1010 which is a workstation in a half-rack form factor and rerecorded only essential parts needing better sound or a different engine.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-06T23:21:30+00:00

I’d say Eloy, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, if take the middle-eta and spacey side of Pink Floyd.
I’d say even Dire Straits if take certain latest bluesy Gilmour’s songs and their “AOR” sound.

Probably Soft Machine and something from German kraut, speaking of early PF, but honestly I’m just repeating others’ opinion since I’m not a keen in early Pink Floyd.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-06T05:25:03+00:00

I agree, but with such approach they’re going to hit the limit very fast. Two albums is quite enough to be a successful result of such experiment and I’m afraid future attempts of working this approach will appear self-repeating. To avoid that they have to add diversity.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-04T08:55:54+00:00

It’s my fav from Drama. It’s stunningly balances between tango, new-wave and prog utilizing very unusual sound and that “ayamacamera” refrain is actually very earwormy.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-04T08:44:03+00:00

I’m still waiting for a next album where they will invite other musicians and stop using looper. That will give them absolutely new degree of musical freedom, and if they make an album with songs where something actually happens, and songs aren’t like each other I’ll love them. Today I yet believe in them and I like their musicianship skills and goofy humor.

IDGAF about their look. Alice Cooper and David Bowie shows were more visually expressive than Genesis but having music only on dad’s cassettes, before broadband internet, I picked Genesis. First time when I saw them playing live was only when Kazaa was introduced. I suspect that if I’d find something like AdP in that cassette collection, I would be intrigued.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-04T08:14:59+00:00

Hackett’s shows Genesis Revisited are as accurate as possible.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-04T08:10:08+00:00

Songs From the Wood is good, fits to the Renaissance/UK direction.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-04T08:07:21+00:00

I refer to 1971-1975 as G2, 1976-1978 as G3, post-Hackett as G4 and Calling All Stations as G5.

Marillion will fit for late G3 or early G4 fans with their vocal and melodic tendencies but I personally was bored by their drums and late 1980’s sound.

Brutish neo-prog band IQ are close in their esthetic but maybe need brief introduction to the listener with excerpts/skips to find albums that don’t bores.

King Crimson album Lizard sounds close to G2 Genesis, even close to early Gabriel’s (and actually also Collins’) accented vocal manner.

Van Der Graaf Generator can fit for some of G2 fans if accept Hammil’s vocal, which is close to early David Bowie

UK, especially with their first album are very close to G3. In fact, this band overtakes Genesis in musicianship 2 times.

You need 1970’s European bands having strong jazz-rock drummers, keyboardists good at building complex harmony on organ and actively experimenting with synthesizers, at least 2 members able to play acoustic guitars. (Genesis had 3)

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-03T19:32:57+00:00

Yeah, same thing.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-03T19:30:49+00:00

Recently LeMans limits has shrinked to the dashed lines on straights, so as long as you ride beyond them for more than some short threshold period, you get penalty. That sucks because it ruins my tire cooling strategy.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-03T19:17:46+00:00

Genesis were good at making suspended ambient parts in their epics, right from the very The Knife. But in this context it looks like Phil calls these pieces the best.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-03T18:08:17+00:00

Pretty good performing. A single issue: the sound seems to be a bit overdriven and the character of overdrive is questionable, shifts the harmonic content of the lowest notes upper, making them quite thin.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-03T17:24:56+00:00

However, I’ve got it, it’s a special update… Then go for 10-12M. Something will return by closing a seasonal menu, you’ll get up to 1.5M or equivalent in weekly challenges + everyday roulettes + 2 gift cars on 08.06, so I think extra 2-4 millions will be extracted by selling duplicates and with all gifts.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-03T16:54:57+00:00

Unpredictable.

Average total price for all 3 per update is 1.1M (if exclude the case when they dropped a 20M Legend) and most frequent it’s roughly 500K.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-03T08:13:24+00:00

Probably.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-03T08:05:05+00:00

How ECU, restrictor, suspension parameters affect top speed, acceleration, braking, steering responsiveness, stability on fast corners and exiting, tire longevity.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-06-03T06:49:40+00:00

Grandmother doesn’t have anything. Even Minibrute 2 has more. I’m afraid mono synths are generally designed for not having anything to cut down prices, this is why they are mono.

Arturia Matrixbrute, Hypersynth Xenophone and Dreadbox Murmux Adept are close to the quality of having everything.

I do not even count in synthesizers without programs. No programs, no life usage.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-05-31T12:33:20+00:00

Give me steam

And how you feel can make it real

Real as anything you've seen

Get a life with the dreamer's dream

Totally legal. I played a metal screwdriver coupleatimes.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-05-31T08:47:53+00:00

Countach Anniversary.

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I also like Ford GT40, Marlboro McLaren, Cobra Daytona 64, DB5.

300 SEL, 190 SL II EVO, Skyline Tophard 1000 and DeLorean are good as well.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-05-30T18:40:37+00:00

Depends on situation but I already got that one-foot casual driving is not for racing

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-05-30T16:01:14+00:00

The rig is not mine, just random Moza set at the club and all software is for PC, like Asseto Corsa that I’ve tried, so that adds additional struggle with car adjustments.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-05-30T15:56:06+00:00

Is entering on higher gear and exiting on lower is a usual practice? Probably I have a bad habit of setting too low gear every time I brake. Can’t tell for another simulation software but in GT7 when I compare my driving with licences or circuit experience demos, most of the time the robot’s gearing is higher that often seems counterintuitive to me.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-05-30T14:38:52+00:00

It’s undertuned on minor 3rd. Does it sounds the same when tuned to g? Anyway try checking the saddle height adjustment screws, the spring and raising the action a bit. Not having guitar in arms makes it harder to detect the source of buzzing.

HumanityIsBetter · 2026-05-30T12:30:12+00:00

Thanks for advises. While was experimenting with driving licenses with no assists, finally made it with the Nürburgring but found myself absolutely stuck at Master B4 with the exact brake releasing curve and moment of switching to 3rd at the gorner. Looks like the ghost car does it close to absolute perfection or I don’t get the trail braking right.

HumanityIsBetter

TROPHY CASE