Posted by LaZZa:

Devo summed it up so eloquently in 1980.

"Freedom of choice is what you got. Freedom from choice is what you want."

In musical terms, hardware and software, choice is good...right? I could choose to buy any one of many hardware synths, both old and new. There are a myriad of software synths out there too. And all those synths, bar the vintage equipment, can store patches, sometimes thousands and the web is awash with patches, both for sale and free.

Choice, choice choice wherever I turn. Great.

But I dont think so and I will tell you why. I watched another great video on www.ted.com (yes, I do spend a lot of time on there). Here is the link:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choic...

Firstly, Barry Schwarz illustrates that too much choice is bad. It can lead to paralysis. As choice increases, the ability to choose becomes harder. Secondly, having made a choice, there can be a tendency to be dissatisfied, thinking that there may have been a better choice and you chose poorly. Thirdly, that as more choices become available, our expectations have risen. Our expectations are not always met and we feel dissatisfied. 

What does all this have to do with music making? Well, I use Reason. I have many Refills. Each Refill has many patches for Reasons instruments; samples, drum loops. Sometimes there are hundreds in a Refill. I bought a Roland JD800 recently and in the first few days downloaded over 1000 patches from the web. I am awash with options. But now my choices are more complicated. I have to try out all those Reason Refills, those JD800 patches to see what they offer. I expect there to be some fantastic ones there. When creating music I can spend ages trawling through patches to find the right sound and am sometimes less than satisfied, thinking there must be a better sound and I have chosen poorly. All this choice just slows down the creative process and detracts from the joy I receive.

So, what is the answer?

Personally, I am going to try and limit my choices. I am not going to download more Reason Refills nor JD800 patches. I am actually going to weed out those poor patches so they are not there to choose. I am going to concentrate on creating my own patches, a process that will result in far less but hopefully better results than downloading thousands at a time.

I am going to learn the instruments I have and I hope, having less choice I am going to be not only more creative, but actually enjoy the process more.

Too much choice is bad, as bad as no choice. 

Freedom FROM too much choice is what I want.

I will let you know how it goes...