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With the phenomenal number of software and hardware products available for today's musician, it is very easy to fall victim to what I have personally come to know as "Gear Mania." Gear Mania can be a chronic, relapsing disease characterized by
compulsive gear-seeking on the strength of a dangerous - albeit ridiculous - premise: Every new product is going to be the one that enables the sufferer to realize their musical abilities and show the world what they're capable of.
I personally suffered this condition from approximately 1994 to about the time the first Yamaha Motif was released. Readers of my first book might recall the intro in which I stated I had owned just about every workstation and sampler in existence since the early 90's. I wasn't kidding. I was lock, stock and barrel convinced that my success as a musician was hinged the advancement of technology. I reasoned that when the "right" board came along, I was going to break down the technical barriers that had imprisoned my creative potential.
What a crock of doo-doo.
I listen back on compositions and covers I did on my Ensoniq SD-1 back in the early 90's (see attached image from a benefit concert I did in 1993) and they are not much better than those I did with a full blown Cubase workstation $5,000 and five years later.
Yes, the Motif has certainly been a blessing to me because it is more stable and reliable than any piece of gear I have ever owned; but at the end of the day, I can compose a listenable piece of music on a Casio now if it has a sequencer and some decent polyphony. And it's not because of my experience with gear, it's because I'm a better musician than I was in 1993.
I look back and wonder what might have happened if all the money I spent on gear was invested in becoming a better piano player and producer. I simply can't even fathom how far along I might be. I still have to overdub my piano parts on many occasions because I don't have the chops to play them live. But man do I have a laundry list of worthless gear I have purchased over the past however-many years.
Here's some advice to the younger guys/gals out there: Find something you can make music on and MASTER IT. Don't buy anything else until you can say with confidence that you have complete COMMAND of your instrument.
Or better yet (and I thank Melvin Hare, a fellow Motif owner and musician, for bringing this to my attention) take heed to the wise words of one Mike McKnight, Keyboardist and Writer for Keyboard, who provided this code of sorts to live by..
1.) I will not buy anything major until I have utilized what I have to
its fullest.
2.) I will not buy anything new until what I have actually works.
3.) I will learn to play again!
Recite those words every day three times. They are words to live by.
See you at the Grammys
mj
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About Mark Johnston
Singer, producer and songwriter since 1989.
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