Spark after a year.....a reflection....

[chrisharbin]

It's been a crazy/good year of using Spark! Such a great value, and such excellent plugs If anyone has ever seen the AM/PM commercials... "so much good stuff".

But I find myself as the renewal comes up reflecting on where I'm at in music and what I actually use vs. "GAS". I'm at an impasse in many ways because there is so much excellent options and let's face it, I've spent WAY too much chasing tone. Do I really need this? I'm not sure actually. I think I'll likely go monthly this time because there are plugs I use allot (like the LA-3A for example) and I don't think I could live w/o it. But I'm wonder if I should just do perpetual, get the stuff I really use and be done. But ah the gas....will there be wonderful new things? I ponder....

I'll be 59 in less than two weeks. What am I really doing musically? Don't get me wrong, as stated, it's a fantastic value.

But since November, we haven't really seen anything. I'm a bit concerned actually, wondering why there hasn't been any new offerings. A quarter of a year seems like "a minute" to me. So I'm curious where others stand on this. Hopefully I'm making sense, I seem to be having a hard time getting a point across lately.

 

[hotspot]

Cool, just one thought…

Maybe I‘m wrong, but trying to heal GAS with the hope for constant coming new stuff might be a false hope. Not because of any delay like the current one but because GAS want to be fed by attraction to things you not have or could not have. And it is picky with the food you present. Which includes surprising and variety.
That will not work on the long run with automatic coming new stuff like from a sub.
Where's the surprise in that?

The only way to get away from it is…
Sanctify the purpose and give things real value: your time and effort.
As you wrote above: 'what am I really doing musically?

Answer the question for yourself in the form of concrete and achievable goals that you commit to.
Go and fucking do it!
Fuck the number of your age, it’s just lame excuses.

After all, the question of whether you need Spark or not is then also relatively meaningless.

Do you know the book „war of art“ by Steven Pressfield?

 

[chrisharbin]

No, I don't know that book.

As for the rest, I think music and music making is more spontaneous that "set goals", otherwise, not sure if I want to do it. It's not a job for me, all of this is a hobby these days. I make music, I play guitar and you've triggered a thought, I guess it's fun to "gas" over things even if you don't really need it.

I was a "professional" musician for decades. It sucked. Sucked bad. It was a chore, little to no satisfaction. I'm not competitive at all and that is all about the music industry mostly imo. I don't want that. Now days, all this killer tech is a boon for me mentally. "Back in the day" it was hard to be a self-contained" musician. Now, it's almost too easy, but I like it

 

[hotspot]

Got you. If it's just fun for the sake of having fun, all fine.
Then you spend the money on your entertainment. There's nothing wrong with that.

For me personally, that would be too little. I would like to realise a few of my own wishes and ideas, including on the hobby side. Of course, in the meantime it stops being pure pleasure and takes on a work aspect, but the pleasure is much greater afterwards when you've created something.

 

[swaite]

I haven‘t used Spark because I have purchased 88 plugins to date and UA gives me the Native plugins for no extra charge.

If I were a newbie to UA plugins, I suspect I would be a Spark subscriber and hoping for more additions each month.

As for a being a self-contained musician and liking it, I hear you loud and clear

 

[chrisharbin]

Something that you triggered while I was at the gym a few minutes ago, it's way more about the journey to me rather than finishing something, Once it's done, it's done. What am I going to do now, put it on soundcloud and maybe someone might like it? Yeah there is a sense of accomplishment, but it's more fun working on something to me.

And yes, Spark can be a rabbit-hole, but some of it is indispensable imo.

 

[chrisharbin]

So another thought just occurred to me, and maybe I should amend my OP because I'm about to compare sub to perpetual. But let's say you pay 299 (sale now) for 6 plugs. That is the price of 2 years of Spark. The advantage doesn't seem to be in favor of the perpetual license. In that two years, you may regret what you bought, or miss out on something that you'll use in the future. Furthermore, what if there was something in Spark that you ended up missing? Maybe you really do like the Rhodes version of UAD vs. the Arturia you already have?

Thoughts....pondering....quiet nice pleasant morning meanderings.....

 

[UniversalAudio]

I've posted this in other threads......

We've gone from 17 to 44 in 22 months. (soon to be 46)

The goal was to create a set of amazing tools for music production available as a subscription, similar to Adobe Creative Cloud. BTW, I know many will think subs are NOT popular, but I can assure you they are. There is a HUGE chunk of the population that prefers to deal with small monthly expenses and not large upfront payments. You may disagree and that's cool, but the data isn't with you in all cases.

So Spark will get a mix of new and ports moving forward, but lots of the heavy lifting has been done already.

 

[chrisharbin]

Yeah, I was wondering about that. You're right, most of the heavy lifting is done. Since I started this thread early this morning I've already made the decision to re-up. It's worth it.

 

[UniversalAudio]

Yeah, I was wondering about that. You're right, most of the heavy lifting is done. Since I started this thread early this morning I've already made the decision to re-up. It's worth it.

Excellent. We appreciate you seeing the value in the service and thank you for your support.

 

[klong]

@UniversalAudio
46 .. does that mean 2 versions of the same plugin or 2 totally distinct plugins coming soonish?

 

[UniversalAudio]

@UniversalAudio
46 .. does that mean 2 versions of the same plugin or 2 totally distinct plugins coming soonish?

2 distinct.

 

[chrisharbin]

See, I knew I made the right choice

 

[Gary D]

Some excellent thoughts / comments here from @chrisharbin and @hotspot relating to why we continue to do what we do. Nothing to add but to say thank you for contributing to things I have been mulling over lately in my own long working life within music. Sometimes this place is a great place just to hang out and listen.

 

[chrisharbin]

I decided to just do monthly for a couple of months, download EVERYTHING and give it all a good play

 

[dcarvak]

2 distinct.

Sounds like this Tuesday is gonna serve up something

 

[swaite]

Some excellent thoughts / comments here from @chrisharbin and @hotspot relating to why we continue to do what we do. Nothing to add but to say thank you for contributing to things I have been mulling over lately in my own long working life within music. Sometimes this place is a great place just to hang out and listen.

Indeed it is!

 

[chrisharbin]

I wonder if maybe it will be the same day as the Ableton Launch? This Tuesday would be fine though.