Friends With GAS

Has this ever happend to you?
A good friend of mine goes through a pattern every 4-6 months where he raves about a new DAW he has acquired. Each time that product is better than sex, chocolate, free beer and Jesus combined. He insists " You HAVE to get this!" and goes on about how much better it is than the last "greatest thing ever". This is followed by a couple of weeks of updating me on tutorials he is watching and links to his new songs which he insists sound so much better now. Honestly his stuff sounds exactly the same. In fact, every person who has ever told me their stuff sounds better after getting a new DAW or plugin has pretty much given me material that sounded about the same. Maybe louder but still the same. The only time someone approaches me and claims improvement and it turns out to be true is usually because of one of the following:

1) mixed in a better environment
2) got someone else to do their mastering
3) they really dived right into getting better at understanding the eq and compression plugs they already had

He's running out of DAWs to claim are supreme unless he goes Mac or Linux. I'm not saying all new plugins are useless. Obviously there are great third party plugins that, in the right hands will produce more desirable results. I just don't see it often.

I'm still using Logic 9 in the studio and I do think it may be the most capable of creating the most genres out the box out of the various DAWS I use. My familiarity with Sonar and third party plugs compensates for that and thus it is my DAW of choice but if I ever went MAC at home I would go with Logic.

dubdisciple
I'm still using Logic 9 in the studio and I do think it may be the most capable of creating the most genres out the box out of the various DAWS I use. My familiarity with Sonar and third party plugs compensates for that and thus it is my DAW of choice but if I ever went MAC at home I would go with Logic.

Yep. It's all about making it do what you want it to do. Instant gratification is nice but knowing your tools is always a better option IMHO, whether it's Sonar or Cubase or Fruity Loops or Logic... 

Nah, seems all my friends are like me and are stubborn about DAWs. We has what we likes and don't want to change. It's not that I don't like new toys, I'm just too comfortable with Sonar.

Rain..good point. Fruity loops is not my cup of tea but I have seen good results with people that go beyond using it as a sooped up drum machine.

Fleer
Tell your friend to go Logic too ;)

That might work. I got some relatives to stop flooding me with daily emails trying to save my soul by flooding them with emails recruiting them into another religion. They got the point.

Mod Bod
Changing DAWs has helped me but I think a big part of that was having to adjust my approach to mixes and the process of learning that particular DAW led me in directions where I encountered a different level of professional and I had to step up my game a bit.  Having to search for answers to questions and tutorials was very enlightening.
 
That said, I believe that returning to any of my previous DAW products will benefit from this experience.

I think like Rain, it sounds like you took the opportunity to approach your new DAW like a beginner and got away from the bad workflow habits you were using to get around frustration with previous DAW. I wish that was the case with my friend. His new love is studio one but I expect to hear the gospel of bitwig in about 6 months.

Great points Jim,
 
Currently I am not getting anyplace because I don't know which New vst/vsti to start working with. My G.A.S is making Bank of America happy but I'm not sure I am getting as much out of it anymore. I really am getting burnt out on new plugs and currently there isn't anything else out there I even have interest in much less want...  I think I have exceeded that fine balance... 

I do remember those days. The first real Guitar I got was a Gibson SG and I played that thing every spare minute I could find. It was the only guitar I had...  Then I wanted to play keyboards so I got a Hammond B3 and I played it every spare minute I had plus more. It was the only keyboard I had... I was a much better player in those days and could squeeze everything I could get out of them.
 
Now I spend more time trying to figure this stuff out than I do playing... Major step backwards.
 
But, You're also right about that Pro-Q2 cause it is Really Sweet. My New goto EQ! 

I never really changed from Cakewalk or had a reason.  Back in the early days of DAWs, I groked it and never really saw a need to change with all the re-learning necessary.  Hell, I still don't know SONAR as well as I should.  I did really like P5, which was a great platform for electronic/loop music and could still record audio.  But Cake let that die, although they did incorporate a lot of the functions into SONAR.
 
And I've pretty much given up on new software effects.  The PC is about as good as it gets and works most of the time.  Soft synths - that is a different matter.  Still, I've got just about all I need and I have all the major synth types - VA, sample, FM, Additive, wavetable and granular.  Like Sonar, I'm still learning Alchemy, which does most of the above all by its lonesome.  I still get a kick out of new sounds/presets, like Heavocity's stuff.  Such is always good for inspiration and new songs.
 
What I do like is new analog hardware - I ain't a guitarist but a new hardware comp or preamp is where I'm putting money these days.  Digital saturation - blah.  Analog is where it is at for me.  My wife thinks I spend too much but I don't question her shoe-buying so we have peace on that front.
 
@

I recall the difference when I started playing trumpet as a child when I moved to a betyer instrument. The tone was so much better that I practiced more.

I will note that different workflows can force you to work in a different manner which might inspire new results. And there's definitely been synths that have inspired me. 
 
That being said it's easy to spend WAY to much time jumping from synth to synth, and never making much music.
 
Side note I never was much of a musician, every couple of years, I start to work on my keyboarding but get distracted, though I guess the same goes for my music production.  Stupid real life interfering with hobbies.  Where's that lotto ticket again...

Let me say this about that....
 
  As a human, and a consumer, I am in a perpetual state of GAS.  However the extent of the GAS, whether it is a severe bloat or just a minor percolation, depends on my wants in relation to my needs.
For instance, when I come to the software forum I am in a profound state of GAS.  It can get mighty windy around here.  Sometimes I feel like I am watching a 24/7 fast food dollar menu cable channel...so many choices, so little time or money.
 
  As much as I want to get the “FF Pro Q2 super freekin magic... line in the sand difference maker,” I am at a loss as to how I could justify buying it considering that I do not want to live in poverty, nor do I wish to forgo sharing a portion of my meager earnings with family and friends. 
So, I am left with the available tools in Sonar.
 
  I love women, but as I have come to realize there is no universal perfect woman, I have also come to realize that there may be the “perfect woman for me.”
 
  The perfectness of my woman, in a large part, depends the perfectness of me, and my abilities to meet her needs and desires, both physically and emotionally.  The better I know her, and execute the moves I have learned, the stronger her love towards me will be.  We are symbiotic.
 
  Don’t get me wrong.  I do not believe woman are software, or that they are plug ins.  What I am trying to convey is that “like women,” plug ins need to be understood, and the learning should never stop.
 
Each plug in has specific characteristics that make them sing.  It is dependent on the mix engineer to learn which buttons to press and knobs to turn that will achieve the desired result, be it earth shattering or smooth.
 
   I have a friend who drives a Porsche.  When I see that car I nearly lose my mind.  People fawn over him when they see that car.  He can get into and out of situations because of people’s perceptions about the car, which they transfer to his personae.  Ultimately though, it is just a car. 
 
   On the other hand, I drive a very old car. It starts every time.  I don’t have to park at the far end of the lot for fear of getting a ding, and the cost insurance is much less.  Of course, no one fawns over me, but people do comment on the frugality and practicality of using what I “have” to get me from point A to point B.
 
   Plug ins are no more like cars than they are like women.  But learning what makes them tick, and makes their engine purr, is the holy grail for me.  I need to listen better, and tweak those parameters that make me one with the vibes.  Within and without, when you can do that...KAPOW...music.
 
the blind horse

Nice post and big ole +1.   I drive a 2001 Saturn wagon with about 180K miles so I can identify.        But I'd rather have Komplete than put that $$ towards new car savings because I believe I can get better "mileage" from Komplete.   And I already have, many times over.   But it's also the only major software purchase I've made over the last six months.   And it'll take a lot more time before I've learned it's ins and outs.
 
 
BTW.... I'm really surprised there haven't been more posts commenting about this thread's title.   Y'all are missing a lot of opportunities...   
 

I'm not friends with GAS...I AM GAS...

I feed the fire and make it burn...and burn...and burn...