why do hipsters think its cool to use shit equiptment?

sirch - when i say "expensive equipment" i am referring to the alternative of cheap gear like the monotron, etc.

@soundwave: spoken like a true hipster :sup:

  On 7/26/2011 at 5:15 PM, soundwave said:

I watched a hipster band my mate was engineering for this weekend and the shitty portable amp they used started to make a horrid noise just because it was shit plane and simple. Why not just spend a few quid if your doing gigs?

 

my mate then winged about all the shit little xylophones,small 80's casio keyboards and other toy like junk in suit cases that stripey hipsters seemed to find cool for some reason?

 

I'm also branding the OP1, onmichord, circuit bent toys, Microkorg and Monotron in this brackett too.

 

Tell me why babylon?

Analord and trickle-down socioeconomics?

  On 7/26/2011 at 6:39 PM, luke viia said:

sirch - when i say "expensive equipment" i am referring to the alternative of cheap gear like the monotron, etc.

 

@soundwave: spoken like a true hipster :sup:

  On 7/26/2011 at 6:39 PM, luke viia said:

sirch - when i say "expensive equipment" i am referring to the alternative of cheap gear like the monotron, etc.

 

@soundwave: spoken like a true hipster :sup:

ah, you were being sarcastic and not sincerely having a direct go at hipsters for using expensive equiptments. i see.

edit: btw, nothing wrong with circuit bending, imho.

nah not quite, i can lay it out for you. 1. soundwave starts the thread with the question "why do hipsters use shit equipment?" which includes the premise "hipsters use shit equipment." 2. noticing that soundwave seems to be implying that if he were to play a gig, he would use more expensive equipment than these hipsters with their xylophones and monotrons, and also noticing that soundwave has just recently started a thread asking for help finding samples of chords because he can't play chords and doesn't want to learn, i posed the counter-question "why would you want to use expensive equipment if you can't even play chords?" 3. the hidden commentary in my first post/question in the thread was "are you sure you have your priorities straight? nice gear ought to be secondary to musical skill." because i truly do believe that someone has no business spending lots of money on music gear if they can't play music. that may seem harsh, but i think it's true. it's embarrassing to watch a rich kid failing at his attempts to play Smoke On The Water on his new $4000 les paul guitar, and it's probably equally embarrassing to watch a rich kid suck ass at programming beats or mashing buttons on a monomachine and nord.

NOW, with that laid out, i was not being sarcastic about "expensive equipment", that is just the phrase that seems good to use as an opposite to "cheap hipster gear." (cheap =/= expensive, as you know).

as someone who grew up with cheap gear and still uses it to this day, i find it a lol to talk to electronic musicians that can't play music but spend large amounts of money on trying to make music.

maybe the hipster band that soundwave went to go see was in fact a noise band, or bordered on some sort of electronic punk/junk band. ftr, junk bands have existed as long as bands have. jug bands, mountain hollers, punk rock, jaw harp/harmonica/folk instruments, etc. i see no serious issue with this, but apparently it's a real first world problem.

dude this is electronic music you don't 'play' you control

so you're not happy with the way these kids were controlling their xylophones?

  On 7/26/2011 at 7:07 PM, luke viia said:

i truly do believe that someone has no business spending lots of money on music gear if they can't play music.

most of the iDM 'superstars' who this forum is based around, who also have their own subforum's here, aren't exactly classicly trained pianists or anything though! most of them started out using samplers and drum machines and doing one finger stabs on a cheap keyboards... and still do! lol

edit: and now they also have some/a lot of expensive stuff and make/play good music. so........ *shrug*

yeah i didn't mean classically trained. i bet they know how to play chords though.

What's wrong with monotrons btw? They're very cheap and fun to play with, nothing wrong with that..

there is a lot of form over function kit about. looks cool, does the job okay-ish, but looks cool.

I think maybe there's a few different hipster schools of thought. k suspect that there are some who use shitty warn out kit because they are so raw, and that their sound is all about being raw, and they don't need good kit to sound any more raw-er or something. I suspect there's another group which use they kit they do because it's like what the the guys in "mama tangle & the infinite kumquat" use, and they are super cool. does seem like a lot of those kinda artists and bands idolise musicians from a long time ago, would suppose that some of them want to copy them. and of course, probably a lot of it is just being clueless.

  On 7/26/2011 at 7:20 PM, luke viia said:

yeah i didn't mean classically trained. i bet they know how to play chords though.

ah ok, and all hipsters don't know how to play chords....... i get you now.

this thread makes no sense! lol

cya

makes sense to me, but yes, you seem confused. perhaps you should lie down

  On 7/26/2011 at 7:17 PM, luke viia said:

so you're not happy with the way these kids were controlling their xylophones?

I wasn't happy that thier equiptment was letting down the performance

All to many times i'e seen junk fail on stage simply because it is junk

If your going to do a deceng gig at least use some half decent equiptment is what i'm saying

the playing of chords subject is also irrelevent because i don't intend to make hipster music with them i just need to fill my mpc with something different so i can jam with my housemate

After all this I want to say that in my previous post, I don't think said guy is bad for using "toys" I just think he is very very short sighted about the gear he purchases and doesnt look too deeply into what they are/can do.

I can side with Luke that nice gear doesnt mean anything without having that spark/ear/drive in the first place. I grew up in a wealthy part of town and knew a handful of beginners with les pauls. It was very frustrating at the time to see all this beautiful equipment in naive hands. Maybe that was just my ego tho?

But yeah, learning a few chords never hurt nobody.

  On 7/26/2011 at 7:29 PM, soundwave said:

I wasn't happy that thier equiptment was letting down the performance

If anything that would be simple to solve like this is hurting anyone's performance then they'll either wise up and buy some new shit/repair it, or they'll remain shitty because they don't have enough drive to try and do well anyway. There's no point in going off about side-chaining, OR hipsters, OR shitty gear, the real "problem" is that some people are bad at the things they claim to have a passion for and they should try harder. But that's always gonna exist.

and some people are simply confused at what they have a passion for. for example lots of people aren't really into producing musical or are musical at all, they just want attention and want to feel loved and important.

Is

  On 7/26/2011 at 7:48 PM, hardcode said:

and some people are simply confused at what they have a passion for. for example lots of people aren't really into producing musical or are musical at all, they just want attention and want to feel loved and important.

Very, very good point. I think a lot of people feel this way at first (me included, especially when i was 11 and really into electric guitar more for that fact that it meant I was something cool than that it was fun) and a lot of great, successful artists of all trades have jumped this hurdle just by falling in love with the process. But that has to happen. If you don't get a huge release from whatever hobby you have you should reconsider it for sure. I have seriously considered quitting music a few times when I've been in a deep funk. Don't be afraid to turn yourself around if you need to!

  On 7/26/2011 at 7:51 PM, gNAT said:

Is

guy a hipster?

You can see it in his "animal collective-y" finger nails...

anyone sees me wearing something like this.....

you know what to do.....

As a hipster I feel I must

i think there are three reasons hipsters think it's cool to use shit equipment:

1) Leftover hippie DIY cobbled-together-from-junk ethos from the 60s/70s (for the xylophones and bits of junk)

2) People like Squarepusher and Autechre blabb on about Casio SK-1s. They obviously have the cash for good gear, yet they're using this crap still. Consequently, you get this attitude of, "I could afford much more expensive stuff, but I use this because it is simply BETTER and i know this because i know what i am doing." (for the omnichords, portastudios, etc.)

3) other hipsters do it (for everything)

  On 7/26/2011 at 7:20 PM, luke viia said:

classically trained

this phrase is a huge load of bullshit. watch your wallet around anyone that claims to be "classically trained"

This whole thread kinda irritates me, as someone who uses a lot of cheap gear and toy instruments in live performances. My reasoning for it is partly due to the fact that I can't afford a lot of expensive equipment (and why would I take expensive gear to small indie gigs anyway?), and partly because the cheap gear that I do have is quite unique in sound. For example my $10 phaser guitar pedal sounds absolutely nothing like any other phaser I've heard. If I wanted crisp-as-fuck effects I'd use VST plugins.

As for the equipment failing, well that's just lazy. There is no excuse to not take good care of/maintain your equipment.

  On 7/26/2011 at 6:08 PM, sirch said:

  On 7/26/2011 at 5:56 PM, Promo said:

Personally I don't get why anyone would waste money on a Monotron. To my ears it sounds like a piece of useless dung and is doesn't even have midi.

 

i agree. it's a piece of shite. and so is the new one!

get rid of the silly ribbon and pen thing, give it midi and some proper keys, make it a bit sturdier and less cheap lookng and you might just have something

Yeah, you might just have something four times the price, which kinda negates the whole "cheap analog monosynth" thing, right?

there are not enough facepalms in the world for this thread

they spend the rest of their money on coke?