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Music Minimalism
I’ve been considering paring down apps to only Moogs on my iPad to save space and force creativity. Has anyone tried uninstalling 99% of their synths to use just one for everything with the goal of mastering it?
Comments
I think I tend to get excited by most new synths because they have creative
internal FX options. Your plan to use fewer synths and master their capabilities makes sense in conjunction with mastering some additional FX apps to apply. MixBox would be a great mate with the Moog sound engines. Some might prefer even more creative FX like the Perforation and LFO driven FX apps. After layering on these extra FX apps and maybe doing some creative layering/routing in AUM you'll produce some very complex productions.
Maybe we can discuss top 3 favorites in categories:
Synth
Reverb/Delay
Compressor/Limiter (Dynamics)
EQ
Filter
Modulation
Combo-FX
I haven’t uninstalled them, they’re simply collecting dust! 😂
Find apps that you get on with, find your workflow and develop muscle memory. Have clear-ish objective of what you’re trying to achieve.
Wow! Great feedback, thank you all!
I’ve heard people in this forum speak of doing something similar for similar reasons, but not sure they ever went down to only 1%. I’ve never done that, I’m an app hoarder for sure, but it sounds like a good way to mix things up creatively, or to push yourself. I would just make sure whatever you delete will still be on the App Store in the near future. You can get something back if it’s been removed from the App Store, but it’s harder. You don’t want to lose any old apps you like, that are no longer available.
Since I stopped commuting last March and was on perma-wifi I wiped my ipad and installed apps only as I thought to use them. It probably did work out to being around 1% of everything I ever did install.
Yes indeedy. I always limit myself to, at most, 9 apps on my phone, one page of a folder. I have gotten down to BLEASS Alpha, EG Pulse, Bass 808, and Cubasis 3. I’ve also deleted everything and tried to just focus on my grooveboxes, though I always end up reinstalling the apps above as they are my “productive” apps.
I think ‘minimalism philosophy’ doesn’t work / no relevant on/to creative things like music. Creativity needs constant searching / learning / using new things.
If I could play and had something to say musically then all I would need is bs-16i / ThumbJam and a basic daw....
Sadly I have a couple of grands worth of app’s instead 😭
Nope. Exceptional art needs constraints to truly flourish. One can explore new things with constraints but the constraints are nonetheless important to encourage depth rather than width or breadth.
I like the way they look...
Definitely minimalism is the way. It was fun to test TONS and tons of apps during last year's Black Friday/Xmas sales but I have returned most of them because hey, only Synthmaster One itself has 1250 presets which you can FURTHER modify.
Too many synths = a headache (and an empty wallet)
Sure, it is fun to pick random presets from random synths and create music spontaneously but our brains have some limits. And having only a few synths / sound generator you can vibe with and master - as previously mentioned - is a good if not better way to go.
PLUS we have all these FX that can change and flip and put on another level the sounds/sequences created previously with synths. Sometimes the possibilities are overwhelming (in a positive way).
I would say first find a DAW/working environment that encourages creativity. So popular AUM may not be the best way. Fortunately we have a lot of possibilities in this area as well. Nanostudio 2 is amazingly ergonomic and quick to work with. Cubasis sounds great, on another hand.
Already with synths sample players built into these DAW, many things are possible.
Good point, reminds me of the Wolfgang Palm apps. I hope they come back one day.
Inspired by this thread, I updated my iPhone folder.
I'm increasingly sympathetic to this view of minimalism in app collecting being good. It's fun to try new things and you can learn a lot, but it is definitely easy to become a jack of all trades and master of none. Maybe you can think of it like dating. Good to play the field while young, see what's out there and what suits your tastes. but as you get older you might prefer to settle down (or not, as the case may be - each to their own 😂)
Wow, quite the collection! Do you find ways to use each of them at some point? What are your top three apps?
Nice! Is this your go to setup?
I was thinking the same thing about effects! Effects also have a much smaller footprint than synths, romplers and samplers.
I feel like I can shrink to:
Model D
Korg Module
Drambo
DrumComputer
Beatmaker 3
AudioShare
I remember Sound on Sound features, seeing people like Basement Jaxx still using old gear. They mentioned how they found ways to keep pushing the limits and be creative. They know their gear.
😆 Good point! We are probably using less than 10% of the possibilities on most these synths. An app like SynthMaster One is so deep it could probably be the centerpiece of most studios and thousands of dollars as hardware. Maybe I’m stretching in my thinking 😂
Endlesss, Pure Acid, and Flip have been staples of mine since they came out. I have AUM and AudioShare on here so I can start recording some loops. The rest are apps that I want to get to know better. I love the whole Groovebox concept and I’m trying to take a break from my usual beatmaking flow.
@Stuntman_mike. Lol, of course not, tho I have used 90% of them at one time or another. I I had to pick three apps for a deserted island.... encompassing the most sounds possible... it would be PureSynthPlatinum plus most inapps, BeatHawk with most inapps and Zeeon. I would add Cubasis3 as a DAW and MixBox for effects. I wouldn’t be happy, but I might get by.
I did just this at the beginning of the year, although initially for slightly different reasons. My iPad had been crashing on me frequently, to the point I thought it was bricked. This happened every other day for a couple weeks. I finally did what had to be done and did a full system restore. I think storage + ram was the heart of my issue, so I decided to stick to only what I need on this new time through.
Now my music apps take up only my first page (no folders) + 2 apps on the dashboard. I find that with apps such as MixBox, Drambo, miRack and Korg Module, that I have far less need for additional subtractive synths + FX. Also using powerhouse FX such as Saturn or Thafknar which have immense sound design potential. I feel like I've trimmed a significant amount of redundancy in my app arsenal, as well as sticking to the apps with the greatest flexibility.
I don't stick hard and fast to a 'limit' - if I'm working on something that calls for an app I don't have installed I'll just reinstall it. Usually deleting it again when I'm done.
Having worked this way for the past 3 weeks, I can say I definitely don't miss the apps I've uninstalled. I highly recommend deleting as much as you can, asking yourself 'what do I actually use?'
@aleyas wow! Your workflow is a great example. I find myself paging through my folders in delight, but it’s like a museum. Lol Most apps collecting digital dust. The other day I started with uninstalling non-auv3 synths. I can say it was a relief. This thread is motivating me to shrink more.
I don’t ever think about reducing what I have installed. If I want minimalism I’ll sit in front of the piano or pick up a guitar, or flute or something similar. It’s usually easier to sit with an acoustic instrument, and either stick with that or take what I put together to a software instrument and keep it just as simple.
Another way of sticking to a minimalist is to score music (if you are able to write on a staff), and then play back what you have written. Of course, that can sometimes develop into something that is far from minimalist.
Great way to focus @michael_m!
Do you have a lot of synths installed?
Yes, quite a lot, but I don’t really think about how many. I often just pick one randomly to work with and see where things go.
I pretty much only focus on a couple apps at a time, so that's all that's all I leave installed most of the time. It's easy enough to download things again if I feel the need.
This. Yes.
And you mentioned Bassment Jaxx using old gear. There's also a really good video of Chromeo showing all the gear they use. It's amazing. I'll see if i can find it. Also, Adrian Utley of Portishead is good to look up , he knows, owns and uses a lot of old analog synths. moogs et al.
One answer to all 3 categories: Drambo. With most other apps, I've sooner or later hit limitations that can't be worked around.
The only additional plugins that I wouldn't want to go without is Thafknar for using impulse responses, AudioLayer for sampled acoustic instruments and SpaceCraft for simply being the best granulator IMO. Optionally TB EQ because it's much faster for dynamic EQ'ing and multiband compression when I need it.