As a music producer, I’m always tempted to buy the latest synth or some shiny new outboard gear. I like to read reviews and listen to demos, even though I won’t buy most products that come out every year. Staying up to date on gear is a pastime - when it isn’t a pure source of procrastination.

When I do buy gear, though, I’ll often use it a couple of times and then leave it on my desk, feeling guilty for not taking the time to learn how to integrate it to my workflow. I do most of my production on my laptop, in the box. I love being mobile and having all the tools I need at my disposal, so most of the hardware stuff I’ve purchased hasn’t done much for me, except for a few that have survived my many spring cleanings and garage sales.

Here are a couple of the things I’ve purchased that have made me more creative. If you’re considering purchasing something new to inspire new musical ideas, feel free to check them out.

Maschine

I’m not breaking any new ground with this. Native Instrument’s Maschine has been a staple of music production for over a decade. But, here’s why this groovebox is so important to me. First of all, it comes loaded with more great sounds that I could use in a lifetime, and if that’s not enough NI as well as third-party developers sell expansion packs that are worth their weight in gold. (I guess they don’t weigh anything, but you get my point.)

Maschine is also fairly user friendly. It took me a while to get into its mindset, but having to take that time to switch my focus and get accustomed to it is part what made it important to me. Let me explain: I’m used to producing in Ableton Live. I know Live inside and out, and I could pretty much use it with my eyes closed. That’s a great thing when I know exactly what I want, but it’s not so great when its time to experiment. I’m set in my ways and I’m sometimes in danger of creating in a linear way and connecting the dots a little too mechanically.

Maschine pulls me completely out of that mindset. It’s as if the proverbial “studio as an instrument” was at my fingertips. Maschine has to be connected to a computer, but it’s conceived to take you away from it as much as possible and to be used as an instrument. (In fact, as I was writing this, NI announced the Maschine+, a standalone version of the box that doesn’t need to be plugged into a computer at all). I don’t use Maschine to sequence a track from start to finish, mostly because I find its software a little clunky and counter-intuitive, especially compared to the hardware that - even in its Mikro iteration - has a good workflow. 

I use Maschine to spark ideas that I then tweak in Ableton's environment. It doesn’t integrate as well with Live as the Push controller, but in a way, that’s that incompatibility that manages to take out of my comfort zone. As with anything else, the goal is to stick with it long enough to learn to express myself differently.

A Hardware Synth

Don’t worry, I’m not an analog purist. I love my soft synths, and I think they sound just as good as their physical counterparts (and sometimes better, let’s be honest). This being said, really learning how a synth works, from the first oscillator to the last envelope, has really opened my mind to the possibilities of electronic music.

The first synthesizer I really took the time to get to know was Roland’s SH-201, a horrible piece of junk I was only intending to use as a MIDI controller. Twiddling it’s cheap knobs, I really started understanding how to create a patch from scratch, and the role of each module. Until then, I dealt mainly with presets that seem to appear magically in the menus of my favorite VSTs. I prefer synths that require little to no menu diving, I like to have as many knobs at my disposal to be able to get creative.

Since then, I’ve played on many instruments, from Moogs to Prophets. I’ve bought and sold many used machines. I sold everything before my move, last year, and once I arrived in my new city, I got myself a Korg Minilogue on Kijiji.

I love this romantic idea of having different synths for different periods of my life, and once I feel I’ve explored all the possibilities of this one, I’ll sell it and get myself something else. I don’t like hoarding gear and the idea of having a wall full of underused synths bums me out.

My favorite way to use a hardware synth is to record long improvisation sessions on a click and then use some parts of that jam like I would a sample. When I’m composing, if I know exactly what I want, I’d rather use a soft synth to get the job done. For me, a hardware synth has something magical that’s meant to inspire ideas, rather than conform to a preexisting track.

A Portable Recorder

Finally, the most inspiring tool when I produce electronic music or hip hop tracks isn’t an instrument, it’s a portable microphone. I love the liberty of a field recorder because it allows me to capture sounds from around the world without carrying an audio interface and a laptop like a nerd. I have a cheap Zoom H1n, but if you don’t want to spend money on this, just use the mic on your iPhone. No one will know the difference, and if it does sound cheaper (which I’m not convinced it will) it’ll just add some lo-fi sparkle to your track.

I find there’s something really special about recording ambiances, noise around the city, and even the voices of my friends. I modify them, or I hide them in my productions. It’s like little snapshots of my life I’m reminded of anytime I listen back to my music (which I rarely do, but still…)

I also use my field recorder to record acoustic instruments. I’m one of those producers that can’t play any instruments correctly, but I still manage to get some form of sounds out of the instruments I can get my hands on. With a bit of processing, I can get some pretty cool textures, samples, and sound fx out of them.

I like to carry my Zoom around and to record sounds for a couple of weeks until my SD card is about full, and then I unpack and label them. I keep the ones I can use. I laugh at the ones I definitely won’t use. It’s like getting a 35mm film developed and being flooded with memories of the recent past, all the good times that were had.