Why Are You So Petrified of Silence?

Yes, yes, I've been silent.  But not idle.  Not at all.  So here's an update.

My music is in a state of metamorphosis.  I'm... playing a lot.  In the background.  Recording a little, but nothing worth posting (I have much to learn).  My style is changing, becoming much more rhythmic. In fact, I've been using my Alesis Control Pad almost as often as my ReMote. I think this is born of a change in listening habits: Hybrid, Max Cooper, Booka Shade, Boris Brejcha, Deru, Yimino, Thom Yorke, Trentemøller... and a relative increase in spins for old friends like Vibrasphere, Sasha's stranger side projects, Massive Attack, and Aes Dana. And, yes, I still listen to an uncomfortable amount of Nine Inch Nails. ...he's just got such an acute sense of rhythm, tonality, mood and texture. He's brilliant. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.  :)

And now for the abjectly gear-headed update:

I've slowly acquired a few additional synths in the past few years; namely U-he Diva and Tone2 ElextraX... and those two have changed the way I think about music, really: they have helped attract me to purity of sound instead of adding a bajillion layers to make things interesting.  They're both beautiful, in their own way.  But I'll go into that in another post. I will add that I've narrowed my overall pool of synths as a result: those two plus Omnisphere (for which I recently wrote a review), Absynth, and D-CAM.  Yes, of course, I occasionally reach for Komplete or Largo for the occasional click, boom, klang, or tinkle... but rarely, now.

I've also been spending quite a lot of time at the local hardware stores... and I've decided that hardware does sound better. ...But I suspect much of that (not all) has to do with better D/A than comes standard on my iMac, so I'm planning on "upgrading" my D/A ... in the form of a Virus TI Snow. Yes, yes, I could have gone with an Ultranova, but I figure the sound of the Virus (which I am quite fond of--I used to own one, sort of) would be worth twice the price.  ...I also hear the D/A is better on the Virus.  Go figure. Yes, I'm selling out and joining the ranks of the Virus-lovers.

I also need (heh: "need") to pick up a Korg Wavedrum to assist in the percussive, rhythmic department. But beyond that, there is only one more thing on my Christmas list. A secret weapon, even: something to further turn my software into hardware (to a degree). ...I'm choosing not to mention it, even.  :D

Of course, I am presently--as I have long been--very poor.  ...But without going into the messy specifics of the problem (which would just piss me off anyway): my budget should slowly start crawling out of the abyss at the end of this year.  So the expansion of the studio, barring any serendipitous boons or frustrating travesties, shall begin in 2013. ...apocalypse notwithstanding.

I am rather excited about music, though. That's a safe assertion.

"Watch this space," as they say.