There's too many choices AKA the minimalism thread

[mathias]

Hi all,

The thread about the Downward Spiral and other modulated delays made me think about how we've never had a better time for guitar gear: There's lots and lots of great pedals out there, especially in delays and modulation that just didn't exist before. (Where we had years of just tube screamers, muffs, and fuzz faces for a long time..) If I move on to reverbs, there's tons that I haven't tried that are out there: ridiculously complex beasts from Industrialelectric and Ezhi&Aka, all sorts of spinchip-based reverbs and things that do various types of modulation. Things controlled by CV and expression pedals and MIDI.. the list goes on and on.

So it is a great time! It's also a time to be overwhelmed by choices. And I think sometimes too many choices, and the indecision over which one thing to buy or use, clouds us from our true purposes of making music. Chasing a particular tone or trying out new pedals can be a distraction (note that I said CAN BE not ALWAYS IS.)

With that all in mind, I'm curious: What have you done to constrain yourself? How do you use minimalism in music? What about big-versus-small, simple-versus-complicated, loud-versus-soft, night-versus-day have you experimented with lately?

This is the minimalism thread.

[actual]

What have you done to constrain yourself?

Been broke.

[Chankgeez]

It's easy to get lost in effects. I have a good idea what I want the music I make to sound like. That limits the number and type of effects I use.

[D.o.S.]

Chank for ILF Press Secretary.

[DRodriguez]

What have you done to constrain yourself?

Been broke.

Amazing.

I find I do my best writing with no effects or just distortion or fuzz. I then add all the fancy stuff in post.

I'm putting together a minimal board right now I plan to use 90% of the time. Rat > Muff > delay > spring verb.

[Chankgeez]

Chank for ILF Press Secretary.

Does this mean I win a motorized podium?

[mathias]

I've been enjoying a Pedaltrain nano. I had a Pedaltrain Pro set up in the past. I think I'm going to go a little bit larger (more square board that will fit in an old suitcase) but 6 pedals (8 with volume pedal and mini looper) seems like a much more reasonable setup, covering a lot of ground sonically, than 15-20 pedals I used to run on one board.

That said, some of my stuff now can get lots more sounds out of one spot on the board (the BitQuest, mainly.)

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

i think when i slimmed down, i start to find all those in between sounds that i can make w/ just a few things that maybe i missed w/ a larger setup .
not to mention all the workarounds uncovered u realize that u can get by w/o xyz...
(and like u said, things like bitquest that can cover a lot of things are v. useful)
allows u to explore a smaller territory w/ a more detailed compass kinda thing.

i usually try to limit myself to 1-3 device setups. make some tunes w/ it then usually get bored w/ the same same after awhile, so i switch it up and repeat.
its nice having some options around, even if u don't use them all the time always.

[Kacey Y]

Been broke.

Variation on a theme. Had a kid, wife stopped working, then had another kid. So I kept my super cheap (worth more to keep than I could sell them for) and really nice custom stuff and sold pretty much everything else, slowly over 3 years. I just started buying new gear this month and the only way I could really justify it was that it was synth related stuff, which I didn't have any of anymore. Used to have a Hammond and a Korg synth version of one, Leslie speakers and all that, but those and my drum kit(s) were liquidated even longer ago, as they were instruments I had to stock my old recording studio and not for regular personal use.

[Ugly Nora]

Lately, more and more, my stuff has been just using multiple delays as the only effect, plus maybe very light spring reverb at the end of the chain.

[neonblack]

Right now I'm running 2 dirts, a green ringer, and a delay. The music I play isn't very effects heavy though. Riff based mathy noisy stuff. I want to trade one of my dirt for a Gray Channel so I'll basically have 3 levels of dirt in 2 boxes. I also want a delay with presets and/or some tap subdivision options. And I wouldn't mind a spring verb and a pitch shifter. So my ideal chain is shifter-dirt-ringer-dirt-delay-verb. I might add one more crazy fuzz in the future but I can get most of the sounds i want with this chain.

I also do vocals so less stuff to stomp on means less stuff to get the timing right on.

[BossMann73]

Ah, my favorite subject and one where my opinions have gotten a lot of hate. My overall attitude is that no one (or hardly anyone) gives a flying fuck what you're using on your board and certainly no one (or hardly anyone) is going to be able to tell that your pedal is on the germanium setting rather than silicon. So even though I love buying (and selling) pedals, I never get into the weeds and thus only allow myself 3 pedals on my board, and I am trying to get away with just two.

As a fairly traditionalist musician and bassist, I just don't see the need for any more than that, and 99% of the people I see using large boards for bass are, IMO, approaching the instrument wrong. To me, anything that eliminates the bottom and the groove is not worth using. Now, I fully realize this is a conservative approach, but I honestly have heard very little "noise rock" or "post rock" or "ambient textural playing" that didn't sound like some kid having a temper tantrum, so I just like to keep it as simple as possible......two dirt pedals and a tuner. Zero modulation, zero delay, zero noisemakers. Instead, I prefer to write simple solid songs with structure and I try to wow my listeners with a good song rather than a "zany rad noise swash."

If anybody disagrees (and I expect a lot), please remember that my appraach is my approach and I am not saying it is better or worse. Just that it works for me and my music.

[neonblack]

Honestly, unless I'm writing something around a certain effect, I only leave a light OD on when I'm writing. Unless I'm trying to see how a particular thing sounds more dirty or something.

[PeteeBee]

I'm putting together a minimal board right now I plan to use 90% of the time. Rat > Muff > delay > spring verb.

Same. More stuff is fun but I can't write as well. For me it's harmonic perc > rat > delay > verb.

[BossMann73]

Honestly, unless I'm writing something around a certain effect, I only leave a light OD on when I'm writing. Unless I'm trying to see how a particular thing sounds more dirty or something.

Great approach. Reminds me of how some bands write their songs on acoustic guitars and then translate it to electric and a full production. I think the mindset there is "if it ain't a good song stripped down on an acoustic, it ain't gonna be a good song with a full blown production."

Very glad to see this topic because I think overthinking and overproduction is the bane of so much music nowadays. Good to see some of us at least are getting fatigued by all of it.