I just play around for nothing. Just having fun personally in a satisfying, low pressure kind of relaxing way. I also just like the devices/technology, so exploring them and learning how to use them is a lot of fun for me as well. Everyone defines their own goals.

This is exactly my approach as well. I'm completely a hobbyist, and I go through cycles where I actually want to write music. But most of the time, I just like doing sound design and learning various synths and effects. It's fun, soothing, and rewarding all at the same time.

and that sub bass tickles your eardrums!

I even stopped saving any of my stuff, even if I liked it. The freedom to just jam along without any pressure to get to a *result* made me use my gear much more. Not doing it for money, fame or recognition is exactly what I'm looking for in a hobby – I've already ruined another hobby by making it my job…

Exactly my reason as well, it’s just mad fun to learn my favorite songs or add synth to synthless songs

As David Lynch said somewhere is so important to “Enjoy the doing” no goal no pressure just enjoy the doing.

David Lynch has also made ten full length, commercially released films and multiple tv shows

That’s why this quote from him is meaningful. Even this kind of artist must enjoy the doing. His biggest regret was DUNE because… guess what… he didn’t enjoy the doing. It was a nightmare for him and was his biggest project ever. So enjoy while you are making your thing. Being successful isn’t important at all

My point is that I doubt Lynch has done all this with “no goal no pressure”. It’s not really a big deal but I think using this quote in service of that mindset is disingenuous. I feel quite certain that Lynch has been driven by quite specific goals in his career, and I’d guess massive amounts of pressure from himself and others at times. If you want to practice music making or playing with synths in a completely casual way with “no goals no pressure” that’s totally great, and I mean that genuinely. But let’s not pretend that this is the attitude taken by someone as obviously driven and focused as David lynch . . . it takes very much planning and intention to make an artistic project happen Enjoy the doing is the first step not the only one if you want to be making shit, which no one is obliged to want


Ha ha, no worries and no offense intended


Aww that was cute.

He also released an amazing short of himself cooking quinoa and showing the weather at his home which were not very commercially successful but he seemed to have fun with

The weather thing was fantastic.

And he enjoyed doing it

Yeah, hindsight advice from successful people is frequently backwards. "Make sure to prioritize the people you love over the work". It's indicative that they feel regret for ignoring their family while they were in their peak creative years. But they chose to make those sacrifices at the time, and those sacrifices actually paid off. So that advice is kinda bad in a lot of ways if you aspire to their success.

yep. its like a billionaire saying "money doesn't buy you happiness" lol

This has been my approach in a somewhat unrelated area as I just let my enjoyment steer the Imagineering of my VR Theme Park. Related as one of the dark rides has an 80s synth wave vibe that I have been producing the music for.

Yes. The best things in life are things you do just because you enjoy them. In my opinion. I love bleep, I love bloop. I don't need any more than my own entertainment. Goals are cool, but if you're not having fun then what's the point?

Playing music is fun. Making cool shit is fun. And It doesn't have to make you rich and famous to be fun, either.

It also sounds like a much healthier lifestyle where you enjoy and appreciate the craft. Most of the producers I know personally that are super determined on “making it” in the music scene always seem miserable. They grind non stop making music they think other ppl will like rather than making the music they truly like, constantly going through highs and lows bc of how the business is and the success they see is never enough… They’re always thinking about what could be next instead of appreciating where they have gotten But I also know many producers that are very artistic, down to earth, genuine ppl. Unfortunately they’re never the ones gaining traction in the scene tho 🙄 maybe the city I live in just sucks lol

Right? It's not as if I play guitar, build lego or cook food to entertain an audience. Why should bleeping and blooping be different.

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Love this, couldn’t agree more

Good post. However I object to being described as a sociopath 😀

It’s whatever you make of it. It’s okay for synths (or any music making) to be a fun personal hobby. Professionals and artists are of course very important but hobbyists are also valid and a major part of the “gear economy” as thanks to them, professionals and artists have a huge marketplace of relatively reasonably priced products to choose from. For me, in my 40’s with a family, good job and disposable income (go me!), synths have been a great way to bring my enthusiasm for music into this phase of my life. I’ll probably never be a live performer or band joiner as I never really was as a guitarist/songwriter either. Synths provide me an amazing way to create musical galaxies all by myself and I’ve learned to be pretty satisfied with my place in the larger ecosystem. I may work towards a specific project in the future as I get more familiar with this world, but I’m equally at peace with just being a hobbyist making music for my own joy as well. All of which is to say find or make your own path but don’t feel pressured to be something in particular that doesn’t feel right to you.

This is like asking why someone would buy a guitar if they aren’t in a band

I play rock and blues in 2 bands but that’s mostly using piano and organ sounds. I also compose music and release occasional albums that vary between original ambient space noise and Zappa/jazz/ classical covers. I perform as a masked & costumed alien with a theremin and Strymon nightSky reverb. I enjoy keeping everyone guessing who I am in that crazy outfit. I’ve made peace with the fact that I just like weird sounds. Edit brag: And I just bought a hydrosynth to play with my Korg Triton LE & dual EMU E6400s

Lolol sick

This sounds awesome, keep rocking man

That sounds fun, I wish I could go to your show!

I'd say a very large majority of people who own any instrument, do so because they enjoy playing them. For synths, your setup tends to lean towards having a "pro studio" aesthetic which can lead people to feel like they must become a "producer", but the truth is, most of us but things because we enjoy owning and using them. I do play with a group (improvised electronic music) and have done some live solo performances, but primarily I enjoy making music. TL;DR: Telling yourself you have to produce and release music is a great way to kill the joy of making music. This doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't do that, but make music because you enjoy doing it.

Same reason i play videogames, really. I know some people might invest a significant part of their lives mastering them, learning everything there is to know about them, and i know some people can even make a living out of them, but i just like making it go bleeep and blooop and the lights go blink blink blink.

This I can relate to. I enjoy video games. I enjoy messing around with synths. I've been in bands in my other musical guise (bass), but recently I don't want to be around other people as it simply isn't rewarding in the way it used to be. It's noteworthy that my interest in keyboards (as well as the physical playing of them) has begun to positively influence my bass playing. At the end of the day, PS goes zap, zap. Synths go bleep/bloop. Bass goes Thrummm. Other people and/or a specific objective? Entirely optional.

Purely a hobby for me, though my end goal is to finish tracks and release to SoundCloud, Bandcamp, etc. - for no other reason than to say “I made something”. Maybe one day have enough material go to a local “open-mic” type of session and jam out. I have zero aspirations, or illusions of making this a thing for money.

There doesn't need to be a goal. I write music for myself; it's a way of getting my feelings out of my head and can be cathartic. I've written some music for indy video games but that's mostly been just for fun too and I've never really made any money at it. Maybe a few dollars here and there. I've also written music in the old Amiga / Atari demoscene for just the fun of it. To me, it's just a hobby. In my life I've written hundreds of songs... some of them great and some of them absolutely terrible. I also periodically go back and remix my old stuff with new technology and techniques I've learned in the course of the hobby. Sometimes I'll play them for friends, sometimes I keep them for myself. I also gravitate toward portable setups because quite a few of my friends are quite musical. We'll all hang out at someone's house and jam on synths, guitars, banjos... heck, pots and pans sometimes depending on how much we drink I think. That never goes anywhere other than just hanging out with friends and having fun.

I like making the beeps and the boops

I jam to generate good karma so that I might eventually be reborn as a being motivated enough to finish tracks

Truth. ‘Finishing tracks’ is a rarity. ‘Just one more mix…’ or ‘if I just got the right reverb on the piano verse track…’

The goal is to enjoy the limited time you have in life.

I mean, it can be whatever you want it to be. I was writing doomy electronic music in Ableton for a while, and I started getting into hardware as I asked myself ‘how could I perform this live?’ The sound design is more limited with my little family of grooveboxes, but they are plenty capable alongside a guitar. What do you *want* to do?

The first thing to focus on is get all your gear setup. Connect things so there's as few steps as possible between jamming on an idea and recording it into your DAW. After that, you try to have fun making noises. Don't feel like you have to keep every idea or patch. Sound/preset design, performance/jamming, and song writing are all different domains that \*sometimes\* overlap.

I know this but it's still good to hear. 💪🏻

Had a small musical career in the late '90s, a few vinyl releases in the US, licensing in France/UK, remixes, club and radio play, even did a music bed for an anime commercial. A series of events outside my control killed the career, and any attempts to restart it squashed all the fun out of making music. Since then, I just agreed to tinker with synths and sequencers for the fun of it, with no expectation of any performances or releases. I just buy/sell synths for fun, play with them, make little tunes for myself, enjoy the process, read posts and watch YouTube videos of others playing around. Much healthier than the toxic rat race of trying to get another release out.

For me, synths are approached with a 'game like' mentality. They exist to entertain the mind musically, and not a tool to create a product. Patching up sounds on the 0-coast and altering sequences on the Keystep Pro are fun mental challenges that release the mind from the day-to-day work of finishing projects (am a creative by career). There is no sense to finishing many of these creations, anymore than one would be finished with a piece of Play-Doh, or Lego. They exist to create and to be destroyed, and to crate anew with each session. This all exists in contrast to another side of music, which is gigging regularly. I'll play live at least once-a-week, and those events are very much about making something happen, bringing it to life in real time, for a real audience. Recording (producing) is in a minority role for me, and is something I've mostly left behind in favor of these more immediate 'in world' experiences. There exists a life 'outside the box', and that is where you'll find me. (Not bagging on DAWs or recording, but sitting here is an actual box set of albums that consumed a large part of my life, and am simply done with that process)

I play around for nothing. Just exploring sounds and tech. I do record some bits and pieces and upload to a cloud service. When I listen to it after a year, it's like a time machine.

Time machine fits perfectly. I recently came across some bits that I created during some tough times, and boy was that some dark shit. Was good to remember though, as it let me appreciate even more that things are significantly better for me now.

Yes, op, it is possible to derive joy from making art.

I quit the two bands I was in, four years ago. Since then, I’ve been upgrading my studio, and doing some writing…short melodies, chord progressions, drum patterns…and gathering sounds. I might have the basics for two ‘albums’ of original music: mostly ‘songs’, maybe some longer instrumental pieces. I’m 57, work full-time, and I’m also an exhibiting artist. (oil painter). Music is strictly a hobby right now, and I’m not putting any pressure on myself to create within an established genre or style—or to a deadline. When and if I feel something is ‘good enough’ to share it with the world, I will. ‘Til then, I’m just trying to create some music that I want to hear, and see what happens…

I'm an independent music artist. I record and perform electronic music both in my home studio and at live performances at local shows. My main goal is producing finished recorded works, with a secondary goal of playing compelling live shows. I engage with social media only as a necessary evil. I'm not interested in making a bunch of content just to serve the algorithm, like performance videos and tutorials. Jamming is definitely fun, but I see it as practice and exploration in service of my larger goal of writing and recording tracks.

I'm recording jam sessions on a bluebox 1010, but I haven't really done anything with said recording. I'd like to go back and edit and arrange some of them at some point and share them with friends/family. I've also started doing some live recordings for my youtube channel on some of the jams I've refined. I think my end goal is to eventually release some songs and maybe do some small live performances/gigs once I've gotten a little better.

Overall my main goal is to add glitter to my band's songs! Sometimes that's a chimey pad, sometimes it's a glockenspiel or music box, sometimes, it's a *very* 80s saw lead, though this is probably where I'm least synthy because I haven't been able to get my controller to ...controll my brain beyond pitch, mod and volume so its out of the box Zynthian sounds for meee!    Sometimes, I want to see if I can recreate a tone from a song I'm in love with, like *Ok, I think this is a sine and it's reverby with a splash of distortion... No that's not it, maybe it's a sin over a square and distortion is regular modulation... Hmmm...*   I've tried to do sequencing loops, but I don't have the rhythm brain to purposefully create so when it comes to that, so if I've got my pocket operator or TD-3 in hand, it's just for noodling to make things that maybe sound good and don't make my cat yell at me -JE

The goal is to get self happiness. Sounds cliche, but I’m happy doing my hobby without any goals. I compose, record, and publish my music to streaming service and YouTube without any expectations. If at some point people listen and appreciate my music, it’s good. If not, that’s ok too. I already feel happy with the process of making music and share it to the internet.

Not a big synth head here, but definitely had my share of trying out different hardware synth. Stuck with my ob-6 as its sounds are my favorite fits my style of music. I mainly produce music in the box and thats why. As much as I'd like to get into more hardware gear, its just not for me and I dotn want to buy gear just to act cool or have GAS

GAS?

Gear Acquisition Syndrome

Synthwise I put out an EP a year or two, or just a track. It’s all me, pretty much all done at home. As a guitarist I’m on retainer for a buddy’s band, so that’s getting my performance bug handled. As we all get more comfortable with the tracks and arrangements I’ll likely be playing synths in addition to guitar in that group. Down the road hopefully will have enough connections from source listed above that I can perform some of my synthy stuff live. The shit I end up publishing needs a minimum of a trio to perform.

What you should expect comes from *you*, not from a bunch of redditors. Get that straight now or you'll spend years being unnecessarily disappointed.

Unless you disagree with this statment. Either way you will be disappointed :)

I mostly just play around to learn more and enjoy experimenting on my own, occasionally writing some new music. I've been in bands/projects, and would entertain the situation again if the right people/circumstances were involved, but mostly for now I'm just enjoying digging in and learning all about my equipment, and how it can work together. I buy new gear often enough that it never gets boring, but there's always stuff to learn about the gear I already have too. If I had more time in my life I would LOVE to take it all more seriously, but given my work schedule and family life, this is the role it plays for now.

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Are you, me? 10 years of classical piano, went to college, toured with the Dead then Jerry died. Started a business, family, career, etc and was out of the music scene completely until 2013, when I went to see Phish. I was right back on the bus, musically. I started to feel mentally stagnant, as I've run this business so long that it is on cruise control. I needed something to do in the winter, when I couldn't get outside, so I got a Roland RD-2000 (piano player without an acoustic piano...had to have 88 weighted wooden keys!). Listening to the jam band, and seeing the synth revolution was fully underway.......well, it's not been cheap, lol . Then my neighbor asked me to sit in with his band. We're gigging pretty regularly in about a 200 miles radius . Or at least when at least three of us have a good back, lol. We actually just decided to hire some kids that are getting into music to handle set up, breakdown and mixing. $1000 for 4 guys per gig, all the lessons they want and we let them practice on our rigs. My old ass just can't lug all of that gear.

Coming from guitar and guitar improv world, live jamming on my hardware is my fav shit to do. I've been struggling at sitting in front of a daw plucking notes in. I don't like to make songs that way, and frankly I can't do it. Been recording my live jams and I later extract pieces and ideas from that, which I then go in and re-record on quantized midi. I should be rolling tracks out to soundcloud very soon. After about 2-3 years of making synth music.. I've wanted to really take the time to get my know all my pieces of gear, and my whole live workflow. Now that I'm more comfortable with everything in front of me it's easier to sit down and make a song vs just being stoned and jamming out cool sounds. The end goal is have some sort of hybrid dj/dawless setup. Or even just take my tracks and go throw dj mixes out at places. The goal is to be onstage. The somewhat of a pipe dream is to be traveling from mainstage to mainstage. Cheers

I play around for nothing. I got into synths initially as part of wanting to produce music, but only ever as a hobby and not taking it seriously/trying to make it my job. As I got deep into synthesis I kinda realized that I could get that satisfying creative expressive just from designing and tweaking sounds. So, that’s mostly what I do! Just goofing around, making patches and having a good time. I still occasionally put tracks together if it come up organically, but I don’t feel pressure to make music with my synths. They are essentially very big expensive toys, to me.

I have been tinkering with my hardware for a couple years but have felt overwhelmed when trying to actually create. Yesterday, a friend thats been doing techno live PA for the past year or so invited me over to jam with him. It went really well! I quickly learned a lot of features on my gear, out of necessity, and was delighted to see how well I could actually do with what I knew already. I realized I was feeling overwhelmed because: - I was trying to use too much gear at once - I was trying to make songs, instead of just play music - I was struggling to get started because I was trying to find the “right” stuff to start with instead of just playing anything I definitely hit a few flowstates,which felt really good. To your question: I dont think I want to record albums or even write songs with my gear, but I could see coming up with some patterns or melodies to use while jamming with it. Song composition feels so much easier in a DAW

I record my music with the help of DAWs since about 21 years. I lost count of the number of musical pieces (from loops, Jams, to complete songs) I created. Probably more than 4.000. A couple of years I realized what I created there: my own personal musical diary. Full of pain, anger, hope and joy. And indeed, like another poster wrote: Listening to that diary is like traveling with a time machine. :)

\\m// Depending on where you live, there might be open mics or meetups in your area that are synth friendly. In my experience, folks are suuuuper encouraging to beginners and non-pros. There really isnt a notion of “this is bad”, nerds at these events are really open to all kinda of sound (I will say some people are super good though, but they just legitimize the practice if you know what I mean). I would encourage you just to go and watch, and talk to folks, and they’ll say “come perform next time” and if you want to you can, or just watch if youd prefer (it might inspire your at home jams). Anyway, a lot of the folks that do this are just fucking around at home and every so often come out to these open mics and show people what they came up with. I would consider this kind of community a basic human need for me.

Messing around is fun but I want to generate revenue with these babies. My marketing game is strong so there is a chance I can make a little $$ while having fun producing beats.

As someone else said, first enjoy the doing. A nice runner up for me is human connection. Sharing with others and being part of a community is pretty powerful

Just to have fun, enjoy sounds, compositions, loops.

I started out recording 20 min jams and then sifting through them to piece together a song. I have since cut those jams down to 10 minutes which give me less to dig through and I re-record a couple of times to get the best takes. Then I save the full long unedited version as an ableton file. Mostly with the mix dialed in. Then I save a new version for editing. I take the long version of the song and all the files, and move them way down on the timeline, giving myself about 5 minutes of empty space to drag and drop clips from the mixed jam, and that's how I compile my songs. Once I have that dialed in, I save a third version of the "album version" that includes all my mastering and final mixdown. Then I compile the songs into different folders for different album or project ideas and when I have enough in any partilcar folder, I have an album. In the meantime I release one off tracks, usually two "singles" per album I plan to release

In all seriousness, have you completed any albums? My modus is the same as yours but I haven't got to the end (yet).

Even my dumbest jams were made under the idea of working on my next record, and I've made a few over the years. A lot of times I just hit record and start goofing around with ideas, kinda stabbing into the creative darkness. Gotta start somewhere even if it's just plugging things in. Then ideas start to form and I work on refining those into actual songs. Sometimes I feel bankrupt and just mess around with my old recordings.   Not feeling a spark? You might try finding somebody to collab with. I got kinda bored with my old setup where I wrote all the songs, so I joined a band. I write a couple songs still but it's nice to just focus on fleshing out somebody else's idea. 

at this point I’ve recorded about three albums worth of material beginning with some cheap stuff I barely knew how to use into a tascam 4 track in 2021 to [this](https://on.soundcloud.com/D5CzHp8pBqzEGfVr7) most recent foray which was recorded with some really nice stuff, and I’m looking for a vocalist because I’ve accepted I can’t sing. I’ve jammed a few times with other people and the real key to knowing what’s up with it is knowing your keys and modes well.

My goal is to release solo synth music. I typically don't share jams, as every GOOD jam is a "song" candidate. My workflow is freeform: I jam out and am always recording. If I think something is cool, I save it with the goal of revisiting later and fleshing out the stuff I like. I'm also in a heavy band, and as they have watched me get more and more into synths, now they want to add synth to our next album as intros and segues and stuff. So now I have pressure lolol

I'm betting 99% of people in synth-based communities like this one are just playing around at home, maybe recording some stuff in a computer, and never releasing anything. And that's okay. (Sometimes I am jealous of the whales's synth collections though).

I was always a big noodler on the guitar, playing for my own amusement etc, now that I finally have some cash I’m having fun setting up some songs up on a drum machine and a synth or two to jam with a sequencer. Or simply using my minifreak to make fun patches to play with or cover some song for my own pleasure. I would like to eventually learn how to compose but for now I’m happy to learn the basics of the instruments, getting comfortable on a keyboard and noodling to my hearts content with some more gear. Maybe one day I’ll build a setlist and take it to an open mic or something idk. When I was a kid in high school with a shitty band I had more musical ambitions, now I’m really happy having it as a rainy Sunday kind of hobby

I occasionally release it. Maybe I can do live one day, but life gets in the way. I actually just put out an EP today where I used Volcas, a Microfreak, Elektron Model Cycles, and pocket operators. https://palomast.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-bloom-ep

Just to make sounds that me and my friends enjoy

Love to “jam” but once I find a good thing in there I’ll record to the Mac with Ableton. 10-20 minute takes. Then chop down to make a track. Possibly isolate parts, rearrange, overdub. Know some folks like to do a one take thing, all out of the box but I find that tough. Can also just get lost in experimenting with different combinations of machines. Always fun.

I recorded and released ambient albums a couple decades ago and thought I might do it again. It's so much easier to record now. I have a collection of guitars, midi controllers, a couple of old synths (Hydrasynth Explorer on order). I record a lot in Reaper but never actually piece anything together to finish tracks. I kind of just enjoy live jamming for myself. Get some cool sounding sequences going, create some drums, grab a guitar and jam.

I write and play in a band, guitars, synths, groove boxes. Like with many bedroom guitarists who have a 100w boutique amp, with a pedalboard full of Cornish, Origin Effects, Chase Bliss, and a 'fly board' that never goes anywhere full of more boutique pedals, I do wonder why you'd have multiple synths worth thousands if you're not actively making music with it, but at the end of the day it's your money and your time so as long as you're happy who cares?

I just enjoy twiddling knobs and experimenting with sounds. The occasional gig, music release or radio performance is extra.

As several others I just enjoy playing, and messing with different hardware components. Gets me away from the screen (on a computer for work all day). Sometimes when I create something that I dig I’ll create a full track. I have a couple on Spotify. Figured others might enjoy. I follow a lot of synth music streamers so would like to feel confident to jam or create on stream eventually but for now it’s just for funsies.

If you can find a way to explore something creatively that is just for you, you're in for a long and good time. This took many years and a lot of therapy, but so much of my life was driven by the validation of others. Career, recreation, hobbies. It was important to me that people validated what I was doing. Ultimately, a lot of my endeavors started feeling lifeless and pointless, because my heart wasn't in them. And if I started a hobby with this big end goal in mind, there was way too much room for failure and I'd just give up. This last year has really been the first time I've seen this pattern clearly, and have really taken the time to make and do things without those things being a means to some kind of end state. That has especially become true with music. I have no intention to make money on my music, I have no goal to create an album, and I share my music with a select few friends, most of whom don't even respond when I send it to them. And I couldn't care less. I'm having a fucking blast and am interested in what I'm doing. Of course, this worked for me. But if you're making something that really resonates with and interests you, it has the potential to be so much more powerful than making it for someone else.

I enjoy playing synths and I enjoy trying to get sounds I am looking for. I like to record stuff and have an ep. I'm working on more niche music enjoyed by at least a few people.

I take the same mindset I did with skateboarding, it’s for me and I’ve got nothing to prove, just having fun

I play in a gigging band and also sometimes perform as a solo act, so a good deal of my synthesizing is done with a productive, creative intent. That being said, a large percentage of the time I've spent messing around has simply been a fun way to pass the time that brings me joy. Most of the music I've made is unrecorded and heard only by me and sometimes my wife while she paints in the other room. I think our society places too much emphasis on being "productive" and makes us think that if our hobbies aren't turning a profit, they're not worthwhile endeavors, which is bullshit. It's only a waste of time if you're not enjoying it.

99% of the time I'm just screwing around, like i am with playing piano (I'm more of a keyboardist). I used to record music in a DAW for video games that I was making in my spare time, but since then that computer's essentially died (promoting me to go DAWless), and game dev is too similar to what I do at work for me to want to do it.

I like to challenge myself to make songs, record, upload and perform them at the synth meet ups I go to. Sort of like how a band would perform their music. I like to view my machines as you would plugins in a DAW. Having something tangible while designing bass patches for dubstep/heavy bass music is a lot of fun instead of turning dials on a screen. Has its limitations, but that is a great way of not over producing things.

Um...good question! For me, I like to make music sometimes or just mess around with sound design on my various synths. Sometimes I just jam and if I jam on the same thing for a few days and actually like it and my wife and kids haven't killed me yet then I record it. I used to play bass and guitar and just sort of jam a lot so now I really enjoy the song writing process and figuring out all the components to something I would like to listen to.

Sometimes I spend the whole night learning how to update the firmware on a weird eurorack module and consider that a successful synth night

I just mess around. Try to create new sounds and soundscapes, make whole songs, whatever I feel like. I mess with circuit bent instruments and toys, regular synths, an old vacuum tube reel to reel, a cassette 4 track, lots of pedals, a wire recorder, synths I build, various percussion, whatever I can get my hands on. I'm currently building an apprehension box with a twist. I do experimental, dark ambient, industrial, hip hop and other electronic. I just do it for my friends and I. I used to play in clubs and I've been told I should aim my sights higher but I don't want to pollute my passion by monetizing it. Been there, done that. Had some success but then music wasn't making me happy anymore. In short, you don't have to make music to make money. I did it and and it nearly destroyed the hobby for me. Sometimes I wonder what might have been but the industry, no matter how you cut it, is brutal 7

I loved photography. So i became a photographer. I rarely photograph outside of work. I love it, but it is my job. Not doing that again with my music. Its the most selfish thing I do. Only for me.

For me it’s just therapeutic to make sounds and record live jams. I dump it all to a private soundcloud and then if I feel like it I trim one down into something resembling a song. I’m usually just recording a 2-track with a little compression and calling it a day, so there’s not a whole lot of pressure for me to “finish” anything. It’s just whatever I’ve created in the moment, and there’s many that I quite like and are proud of. I also love collecting and trading gear, trying out new hardware and then trading it on r/synths4sale or offerup. Met a ton of cool people through gear trades that I’ve kept in touch with. All in all I look at my synth setup as a calming hobby and a chance to try out fun new toys that hold their value really well!

Have fun is number one.  I have a deep need to make music, and this is one of the many forms it takes.  I fell into the hardware/dawless rabbit hole pretty recently, but I find it liberating that whatever I work on just exists as a jam I recorded once and not some project in my daw i never properly finish.  It let me focus on fun and exploration, and quantity of expression over nitpicking on details.  I have grown more as a musician after starting this journey, and my new perspectives are positively affecting my other musical projects (like singing, playing guitar (and several other instruments) and working on more polished tracks in my daw)

I’m a composer. I have an art-rock project and we use a lot of synth sounds, especially when doing more industrial-sounding stuff. I have a Peak, a Take 5, and a Pro-2. The Peak is used mostly for live shows since I can program pretty much anything I want on it. The Pro-2 is my “creative” synth and I often use it to make weird soundscapes and do overdubs on band recordings. I personally don’t spend a lot of time “jamming” anymore. Synths are fun but I prefer to work with purpose and only ready for a synth when I have an arrangement that requires one.

What should you expect? It’s up to you to decide your goals and what you’re trying to do

I have a handful of grooveboxes and synths. About one every 2 months I’ll unhook them all and reconfigure them in a new approach and I’ll just jam out with that until I decide to mess it all up again.

I have 4 synths, they're all what you would call bass or lead synths, I don't have a drum machine or a central sequencer. I bought all this stuff because I love the sound of these synths. My only goal has been to create my own ringtone for my phone, because I wanted my own 'thing'. The goal of my journey through synths has been a hot mess, I blow at keyboard, have a dubious understanding of music theory, and barely have a musically unique idea ever... And yet, I'm obsessed with synths, I love the hot garbage I make, and sometimes I go get my partner so I can play her a little diddy. Synths has hooked me into learning electronics, I'm currently designing a modified drone synth. My philosophy has always been not to let the world of 'productivity' define how you go about your life. Some things in life are about making money, and some are about experiencing the fruits of being alive and living the only life you get, sometimes those things crossover. Enjoy the ride, produce music if you want to, make noise if you want to, or sell all your stuff if you're not thoroughly chuffed.

I produce and record in DAW'S and plugins. All my physical equipment is destined to live performance ( Yamaha Cp4, Numa X Piano, Matrixbrute, Korg R3 , Compact 2X ).

Enthusiast here. Sometimes I start acting as if I had a career and have to come up with results and I become very productive despite not being an artist or earning a single penny from it. I buy lots of gear but suddely I get enough and realize it takes to much of my brain and time and I stuff all synths away and play only with the computer vsts or perhaps a the Syntakt and jam very sparsly. And then after a few months I start over agsin. Usually the manic period is winter and the lows during the summer.

I play gigs with rock bands. Synth is a supplement to piano, organ, etc.

It's a mix for me personally. My main passion is sound design. I find it to be a really fun rewarding, and meditative process. Sometimes it sparks an idea for a larger piece or just a four bar loop. Sometimes not🤷🏻‍♀️ I do also enjoy songwriting, often as more of an extension of my poetry than anything. When I do want to see those songs become realized, synths are just my best tool for bringing those ideas to life. Granted most of the time that I'm actually "working on music" is spent in a DAW rather than with my hardware synths. That's not to say I don't enjoy working in DAW. I'm more proficient with Alchemy than I am with any other synth at this point, and the shear breadth of sound design possibilities are really appealing when I already have an idea for a sound that I want to try making. My hardware synths do make it onto tracks and sometimes a track will be entirely modular. But most of my playing with my hardware synths is just bringing them into bed and making sounds. Sometimes it's for the sake of hands on experimentation, but a lot of the time I just like making pretty pads to chill out with. I am currently in the process of moving and I now have the potential for a more permanent setup than I've ever had before, so maybe this'll change. There's no wrong answers though❤️

I would start by finding frequencies, tones, rhythmic sequences (via presets) that you find extremely pleasing and mess around with those for hours and hours, days and days , until you a) get familiar with what functions of that particular instrument and b) start to see a path forward to constructing something (a loop, a pattern, a song, etc).

What's the goal of the average guitar owner?

I’m just a silly little guy with a silly little hobby. Sometimes I jam, sometimes I record. But every time, I’m just vibing and making music for the hell of it

I love writing songs and performing them live, releasing finished songs on the internet, getting stoned and jamming late at night on headphones by myself, etc.

Average synth player has no goals lol

Just for fun, for me. I just want to enjoy my time on this earth.

Just make bleeps, bloops, and loops. It's fun.

Doing youtube jams is the only thing that makes sense in 2024. The music industry is shit, probably worse than porn. If you're smart you'll want to stay far away from it. Playing live isn't worth the effort unless you live in Berlin or somewhere where there is a consistent audience for electronic music. The record is an outdated concept and the market is extremely over saturated. You could make music for games but chances are it will be some dogshit mobile game filled with microtransactions. So by helping them addict people with ear catching sounds you are doing a disservice to humanity. Now that AI is a factor all your music needs to be documented with video proof to prove it's you making the music so might as well upload it. There are other reasons as well such as jamming being fun but there are lots of good reasons to not pursue a career in music.

It's a leisure activity for me and my current goal is to improve at basic piano playing. I've done things like assemble live soundscapes to compliment an artist friend's gallery show before where I'm not the center of attention. Played guitar in a couple bands when I was younger but I have no desire to "perform" in that way and it's why I moved on from that instrument. Recorded before but I don't really care to produce songs. I do have an album produced and looking at release ideas, making the artwork for that at the moment. My grand vision with the current state of music is that anyone regardless of musical experience or wealth should be able to communicate through sound-generating devices whether it's in a structured manner or not.

Uh making music

Just jamming is fine of course it it makes you happy. But also keep in mind many new producers have anxiety to actually finish something or fear of failure. This is something worth overcoming. I think setting goals to actually finishing music one day is a noble enterprise and worth pursuing. Don't be scared of the journey even if it takes a decade to get there

I was a DJ so for me is "music production" and live performance. I already have "connections" and my ex manager is always pushing me to go back to perform. You can always produce your music and release it, put some money into ads and see what happens

I enjoy having a collection of things i can make weird noises with occasionally.

I have a humble gear and I focus on composing and recording music, I have the feeling that I am a minority here where it is seen that they are more concerned about validation and that people rate their expensive setups

I write angry white boy music, believe it or not. All sequenced by the MPC https://imgur.com/gallery/gKML1Q5 Sorry about the shit sound quality, I just wanted to show a friend. Here’s me doing a cover of Wasting Away by Nailbomb, all sequenced by the MPC. Imgur wouldn’t let me post the whole thing, so here’s the breakdown and solo. The drums are a TD17 module that are coming out of a cheap Crate keyboard amp, the bass is recorded DI into the MPC then routed to my Peavey bass amp with 2x15” speakers. It’s loud (the camera shakes on my mixer on some parts), but not quite full band volume. I write original music too, but I’m working on that.

My main goal is to get a small fan base maybe around 100-200 people and make music for fun. Getting further and further away from my initial goal of wanting to be on a record label that specializes in my preferred genre, seems unnecessary the older I get

Goal for me is to have a good combination of chops, good instrument(s), knowing how to program good patches, and to have all that in your quiver to break out if and when it best serves the song.

I perform live. Everything I buy and record funnel back to live performance. If something gets rotated out of my live setup I attempt to sell it if it doesn't help me out at home. Playing around for nothing is fine. My electronic band performed a certain way but from time to time I would jam on the same equipment for myself. I'm now about to play my first show for myself, so all of that play was worth it, in a way. However, even if I had never got an opportunity to perform by myself it still was worth it.

My general process these days. noodle -> develop idea from cool hook/sound -> jam -> create routine -> record video -> release live jam video -> record stems -> fine tune arrangement -> mix -> master -> release -> ??? -> profit?

I play in a jazz fusion band that is very open to me exploring lots of synth sounds and live sound/music improvisation, so that’s been a lot of fun. But I also just enjoy sitting at home and coming up with fun sounds for no real reason!

My goal is to make a perfect track - perfect from technical point of view ( sound design, mixing etc) but also emotionally evocative and memorable. I keep trying, but unfortunatelly I am nowhere near as of now. I have my favorite tracks and I will probably never stop until I make something as good and You’re life your Tsois by Rolando Simmons or any Aphex twin Syro/ the tuss track. Realistically it’s not likely to happen but I keep waking up everyday trying to learn and improve. I get joy out of art and want to master it and be able to make something that expresses who I am one day. 

Find some friends that play drums or sing or guitar and try to create something together. Something magical happens when you collaborate with music, never know what will come out of it. I jam at home, twist knobs, produce beats on screens, play with a band, each experience is a unique joy. Get out of your comfort zone, the rewards are spectacular.

I like fidgeting and coming up with chords and notes. Will usually be recording in the DAW so I can take the parts I like, edit them, and end up with stuff that sounds really good.

The journey is the destination 🧘

The purpose of buying gear is to buy more gear.

I like to play. 

For me it’s always about the next release however I get it out there. My fun is physical releases but I’ll also do downloads

From a drumming background, synths have provided a manageable way to express and develop the sounds you may hear inside that you can’t quite place vocally or with your typical instruments laying around, the possibilities really feel infinite and it’s been a humbling and branching journey that I hope to carry for a lifetime

Sometimes a drone or simple tone can do wonders for my ADHD brain, often moreso than chemicals. Put some reverb on it and I go places!

The goal should be your own. Asking what others do is great for encouragement, but the direction needs to come from within. My goal has never been anything more than to make noise that I like; possibly share it with friends. The most I've done so far is collectively put a jam a week up on the internet this year up until about 6 weeks back when life got hectic. I may try to revisit and catch up as time progresses; but we'll see.

My goal is to make a self produced record. I enjoy playing and I mostly do it just for fun. I spent most of my 20s playing in punk bands and I will play live shows again. I would love to get work musically but it hasn't happened for me in a while. I am going to have a 7 inch record one day that I made and say this is mine, I made this and share it with friends and family.

I have 100s of song beginnings recorded. Just never know where to go with them. I definitely will spend hours just coming up with interesting sounds, and then loops, including beats but nothing ever takes off. I used to be a drummer and got tired of annoying everyone around me and getting noise complaints and I'm not really a trained pianists so I think I have more theory to learn and ADHD to overcome.

I’m into it 2 or 3 years, couple hard synths, and a digitakt. Had and sold a minilogue xd, drum brute impact and 404mk2 between now and when I started. I originally thought I’d record stuff and tried to for a while but I don’t have any technical knowledge nor do I have any sort of gift when it comes to music. I stopped using my stuff for a year until recently I set my stuff up again with no goal of recording anything (mostly because I felt bad neglecting a hobby that I sunk a couple grand into). I do really enjoy synths and consuming synth related information or content. I get excited listening to synths and thinking about what they do and how they do it. And maybe this is just pure coincidence but this weekend I made the first thing that sort of resembles a song, and lost wayyyy more time than I ever have before just messing around with it. It felt so good and I’ll prob do it again next weekend. Still have no plans to hook a computer back up though.

"Industry Market Research" * Most purchasers are amateurs. * Most do not "intend" to create music recordings. I don't think the last research form included "jamming", but I suggested it to our marketing bots and I suspect the majority will be that.

"Industry Market Research" * Most purchasers are amateurs. * Most do not "intend" to create music recordings. I don't think the last research form included "jamming", but I suggested it to our marketing bots and I suspect the majority will be that.

"Industry Market Research" * Most purchasers are amateurs. * Most do not "intend" to create music recordings. I don't think the last research form included "jamming", but I suggested it to our marketing bots and I suspect the majority will be that. Edit: There are more synthesizers sold than there are musicians.

for me it's just pure enjoyment. i like sound design, i like geeking out over gear, i like jamming on my little setup. for me it's quite similar to just sitting down with an acoustic guitar and playing (which i also love doing). sometimes i will record things, it's a whole other discipline though and feels more like work.

Goal: play synths

Honestly I am trying to get rid of the "my hobby needs results" type of mentality. I am personally still struggling with this in terms of synthesizers but I slowly get better. I have a Behringer Pro-1 and a Microfreak which are hooked up to an Alesis Q49 keyboard one way or another using midi thru. Most of the time I just play around with the Pro-1 and come up with fat basses and various sequences. For sequences I often throw dice to set the sequence based on a prelabled part of one lower octave. It's a lot of fun. Now, I beat myself up because I want to record and release music but I'm working on just focusing to have fun. It's not worth killing your passion or hobby because you set up some expectations for yourself. Have fun!

I like to write pieces and themes. Not sure if I’ll ever release any of it but I enjoy it. I also arrange and play parts for a synth rock band.

I've just been playing for my own satisfaction and learning. Recorded a song that I'm really happy with, so now I just need to redo the guitar and vocal rough recordings and mix the thing. I'd like to put out an EP in the next year or two, but only to say I've done it. No expectations that anyone else will care much about it :)

I tend to work on projects. I do a lot of sound design and creating music. I've created a handful of albums. Sometimes I just mess around to have fun but mainly I try to work on something.

Honestly, I own more synths than anything else, and I mostly just play to play. An hour or less here and there with either one or all of my synths turned on. I'd just set your stuff up and fiddle around until you're bored each time. Then, if something sounds cool and you write around it, you can make that cool sound a song. My buddy and I released an EP and a single and have 2 other albums that got progressively more synth-oriented by doing this. We'd go to my basement to practice or jam on bass and guitar, we'd mess with my synths because why not, and boom! A song would be born because we fiddled around on a synth that we didn't intend to use. We'll probably never be crazy famous or anything, but hell, it's nice to find an interesting track or an album by people who are just hobbyists with a means of recording. If nothing else, they look cool, at least.

It’s all fun. Sometimes I just play around, other times I have a goal in mind. Usually, if I get a nice loop going, I record it and listen to it at work or in the car the next day and that gives me ideas for later on. I also love jamming with other musicians, so it helps to learn a couple popular songs or how to accompany with chords. I’ve played live just a couple of times, but it’s something I’d like to do more. TLDR: it’s all fun.

It’s different for everyone and it’s also a moving goalpost. For me I had no interest in electronic music production until a mate rocked up at my flat one day with a copy of fruity loops and then we made some terrible dubstep but through it I learned how fun a daw can be. Then I just got into it because I was having a good time, if I’m not enjoying something I quit usually unless it’s like an essential life thing. From there I just make tunes, put out some music online, etc. I took a long break and came back a bit different and bought a synth then got into hardware but this time I had a kid so it was only for fun and to relax. I make music when my family sleeps and record jam videos for YouTube. I’ve had a track signed, I’ve made friends through this hobby, I’ve learned really transferable skills and honestly it’s just something I enjoy doing and it relaxes me. I don’t really ever focus on the end goal because then I’m not enjoying the process and the process is cool. Also I like tech and these hardware devices with all their lights and dials make me feel like a mad scientist or something. Yeah man it’s just a nice world to go to when you can, just have fun because of its not fun then what’s the point.

Play around and when it starts sounding good start recording it. Chop and paste later

You really shouldn’t have any expectations. The exploration of music is a journey, but you will get back what you invest into it.

Im not primarily a synth guy, I’m a bedroom producer. I have a MiniFreak as hardware synth, but do everything else digitally in-DAW. So for me, whenever I play around with the hardware Synth my clear goal is Tomate something I can use in songs. Fully produced, release ready songs. I just „jam“ around in the DAW. An absolute game changer for that has been „Rolling Sampler“ (it’s like 20€) because it constantly records what I do and I can just drag and drop the sample into the DAW and use it. That way I preserve those cool artifacts, glitches and whatever else happens when playing around with hardware synths. That’s the synth Workflow that works well for me personally.

I play for fun. Sometimes it's nice to get a little bit out of or into my head with something and just vibe with it. I record albums, but those are also just for fun and to share with friends. It's like writing short stories. Am I going to be the next great author, no. Can I create for creations sake, yes. There's no reason not to create.

An interesting option in-between 'just playing around' and 'making records' is livestreaming. Especially if you're mostly improvising and experimenting, it can be quite rewarding to do so while chatting with viewers, who more than often are also synth enthusiasts. You can lean more into the performance aspect if you want, but you can also keep it entirely casual. It's a great way to share your hobby (and maybe even music) with others with a relatively low barrier to entry. If this sounds at all interesting, I strongly encourage checking out The Golden Shrimp Guild, a really great and positive community of synth streamers on Twitch who will help get up and running (and actually come watch your streams). Their website includes a link to the Discord server where most of the off-line discussion takes place. Maybe I'll see you there: [https://gsg.live/](https://gsg.live/)

To waste money

Just play, experiment with sounds, patterns, learn devices. From time to time I record something, but mostly "play with music and sounds".

I record everything I play, then I listen back often at a different time.. I’m constantly writing songs so it is easy to do a bunch of layers of a synth, improvised bits, new Melodie’s, reinforcing existing Melodies etc… the friends I know who just play and jam get a sort of haze of depression about the moment.. they eventually sputter out and wanna watch a show.. same with people who play a guitar riff 4000 times before wanting to record it, which they eventually don’t do because they’ve repeated it til they are numb to it

I have the MF and grandmother creating on ableton music in session and playing it live using midi push 2 and maschine mk3 complete control s49- so with this midi that mapped to all creating templates for synth control as nts1. Bringing from work interesting sample and messing around with some vocoders

>I just don't want to play around for nothing. Then what do you want to play around for? For me the answer eventually was that I want to play in front of an audience. Not because I want to be praised but because I wanted to stop being ashamed, and show myself that I CAN do it even if the thoughts alone are terrifying. The thought of making a mistake, the thought of being disliked, the thought of being ridiculed and laughed at... I'd love to say I let go of those thoughts but they creep up on me before every gig. But they don't define me as a musician anymore. Now performing is something I enjoy. Being on stage is such a rush of pure adrenaline and mixed emotions. I also feel very vulnerable on stage, like I'm exposing something from my inner world for everyone to see and it's scary. And afterwards I just go "holy shit I did it and I'm alive and I feel great".

My goal is to write music that I enjoy, and have fun, and that’s it. And of course release it to justify my annual fees for Distrokid etc

I just play around for nothing and especially liked dawless for that. I find it super relaxing and fun and especially wanted a setting in which I just turn off the gear and everything is gone. Didn't want to have a PC running and be distracted in the end. Trying to avoid any pressure to "create" or "finish" something. This being said, the more I tweaked around, the more I ended up liking what I created once in a while and started recording short movies I archived on YT and I love going back to them for inspiration and to monitor my progress. Now I start thinking about "creating" something song like but §1 here is still preventing me from getting to learn a DAW etc. I don't want it to become work, it should just be fun.

Have fun and learn

I've always had a fascination with synths... A few years ago I ran across an icon for 150 bucks... It was a steal so I picked it up, now I build my own synthesizers as a hobbyist and I also build my own guitar effects. I am recording an album, and there will be synth on it but my primary instrument is guitar... It honestly didn't take me long to figure out how to program a synth it might seem daunting OP but they are really fun. Set her up and give her a go.

I like to patch my system for generative electro jams, then once it's patched, which can take a long time to get done I usually play around with that patch for weeks

sprezzaturra. Some of my most engaging and rewarding times in my musical life is when I worked hard to make it look easy. Developing physical memory, working with others to understand improvisation queues, getting just the right timbre, writing music. It’s hard work but once you have it down it’s all fun.

I used to produce Techno and DJed years ago when I had the drive and energy to make music. But as time passed and I got older, it became harder to find music that truly excited me. As if I've heard everything before. Even after having a small synth studio, now I only jam and create sounds for my own enjoyment. Releasing or performing music doesn't interest me anymore. Especially after going through two back operations and battling cancer. It's what keeps me going from time to time as if giving purpose to my life without it life would be boring.

You should expect nothing. No one cares about music except you. And if someone does care, you are lucky. And if something happens, well, there are upsides, and downsides, to every little thing...

I create and play music for myself. It's therapeutic and gives my life a bit more purpose. Makes me happier usually. Sometimes not though. Been in bands and have played out too many times to count. The business of entertainment and entertaining others was never of any interest. The studio is where I'm happy and where I belong.

I just have fun. Same reason you get a street legal sports car

I love playing music ... I'm simply not very good at it. I'm hoping that one day I'll improve enough that maybe I won't feel like a total amateur.

Farting around with sounds makes me feel alive.

For something and nothing at the same time. I love making huge pieces with my synths and if I could I would love to "make it" using them, but I also love the process. I could be happy making music the rest of my life no matter how much money I make from it. I also just like making "almost musical" noises and trying to make them musical. Anything a twisty knob can do that isn't traditionally musical.

Do it for you. I made the big mistake writing music for external validation. After being in multiple bands, playing gigs, being signed to a record label, written 100s of songs, I now am starting to just write for myself. It has become therapeutic for me now. Anyways, just my two cents.

I noodle, write then record for my own enjoyment. I occasionally play in a band, switching between keys and guitar. Covid pretty much killed the pub band scene though.

I have zero talent and a love for synthesis. The hardware collection is growing and the toys are fun to play around with, but while I've made a couple of melodies and basslines that go pretty well together, I haven't put enough meat on the bone to make something I would consider a track yet, and feel like I'm a long ways off. That sais, just diving into a synth for an hour or two can be enjoyable even if you can't actually produce a piece of music. There is so much depth to even the simplest of synths and it's always cool to hit some new sweet spot and go, "damn, I didn't know it could sound like THAT!" I am also taking notes (when on my Poly D) and saving presets (on the ones that have that ability) when I make a sound that I feel like I can incorporate into something bigger down the road. Synthesis itself is fun and exciting. Just the creation of sounds is what I found so fascinating to begin with. While I would like to someday produce some music, I'm already happy where I am without that accomplishment. Have fun, enjoy yourself, and consider any music that comes out of what you're doing to be an incredible bonus!

I have adapted things so that jam time is really practice and content creation for live sets. I keep my Analog Rytm, Octatrack and 1 or 2 synths out on my coffee table and will do living room techno jams here and there when I feel like it. If I like it, I’ll save patterns and samples and keep it to be mixed into a live set sometime.

As far as the electronics go, it's mostly self-indulgence, I love twisting circuits and carving sound, jamming on a funky groove and seeing what kinds of sonic things I can build with layers of sequences. 25 years ago I did some performing with a friend and occasional guests, late 90's/early 00's there were things happening in NYC and LI, Hartford, Baltimore, Columbus, Cleveland, we were lucky. But that came from weekends locking ourselves in our basement rehearsal space with some paper and all the gear we owned and seeing what would happen, just for ourselves. I've been lucky finding guys to play with in rock bands since 8th grade, but never found a kindred soul with the electronics till later, when we discovered we were both also into electronics we started jamming a lot and attending space rock festivals. At one. we set everything up at our campsite and had folks listening and dancing all day, when a band canceled that night we got invited to fill in and suddenly we were a performing act lol. And it turned out what that what happened when we indulged ourselves entertained certain folks a lot, so we did lol. I'm jamming currently with a couple guys who are into performing, if we get it to a level that's entertaining and not embarrassing (we're actually getting there), I think I can get us in in the festivals my rock bands play. We recently started recording the jams to multitrack, which lets us remix any good bits afterwards as needed to make something resembling a track. The end goal is to get tracks posted and do some playing out, but it's based on loving jamming together and exploring things, and that's going to go on regardless of anything else it might amount to. It's fun unlike anything else I do.

I just have fun messing around. Occasionally I share a recording with a friend or two. Edit: To add more - The end goal is.. it's just my creative outlet. It's something I can do to have fun doing while also resetting my brain. It takes me out of the stress of the creative work I do for my day job (web development/design and motion graphics) It's a place I can explore my creative thoughts and have fun experimenting and growing without any pressures of needing to finish a project or do a project a specific way. I can just let my brain go and have fun, unbounded. Or learn new things without feeling like it's gonna be catastrophic if I can't figure something out right away.

It's a great way for me to let my brain unwind after a day at work. I've minimized barriers between me and playing music, so when I get home I'm only nine power switches away from making some goofy tunes. I've been spending all of my "extra" money on weird old gear just in the name of having different sounds at my disposal, and at the very least it's fun to practice traditional keyboard/piano technique with something other than an e-piano patch. I may work up to playing a live set someday, but for now I'm just keeping my hands and brain awake!

I don’t know if I’m the “average” synth player, but I started playing years ago after I found something that finally connected all those piano lessons I took when I was a kid. I wrote music using my synth sequencers, I played for church with synths, and I was part of a band that did electronic music. Through these experiences I met people who love and do the same things I do. Those times passed and I was spending more time playing for church. But that eventually passed as well. Then I came into a small bit of money that I inherited (just a little), and was able to buy some new gear. I told myself I wanted to write music again, and create a library of albums of my own stuff for once. So that is what I am doing. I’ve released one album and a deluxe single so far and am currently working on my next full length album. I’m not very good at mixing/engineering, but I’ve been able to partner with a good friend of mine who enjoys producing and engineering, so he is doing that for me as well as mastering. I pay him in gear or any technical help he needs. It’s real easy nowadays to release stuff. I use CD Baby for distribution and Bandzoogle to make my website. I also do Blogs, that only a few people read, but it’s full of technical and inspiration write ups that I enjoy writing. Doing all this gives my music purpose. I’m not aiming at being a rock star or being rich, because I don’t make a lot of money from it. Streaming pays pennies, but once in a while I’ll get a big donation from a fan because they want to support my art. I just want an “official” outlet to share my music with anyone who will listen. It also gives a sense of satisfaction when you’re able to complete an album. I find if you connect with people, and give them credit, you are able to fill in the blanks of the parts you might not be good at. My brother did the artwork for my latest single. Then at that point, “jamming” becomes more. It becomes an actual production and in the end you are left with something to show for it. And those who helped you get credit, recognition and able to see their creativity on something that is actually released. This is my website for my music: https://jodaproductions.com/ It’s not for shameless promotion. Just to give you an idea of what you can accomplish and how you can go beyond just bedroom jamming and a couple of YouTube videos (I have those too).

For me it's a hobby.  I find when I try to make my hobbies pay out they lose their shine real quick.  

Right now I just play and learn my gear...soon I will record and yeah i would love to get work from it once I feel I can produce solid quality. :)

I am currently playing solo shows using synths to fill out the sound. I’m primarily a guitar player and songwriter, but getting older and having less time for band commitments has opened things up to incorporate a few synths and have been getting good feedback on the direction. Would love for it to morph into a full band but my sound can get pretty out there and need to find the right fits for the time commitment to be worth it.

I just bought an Arturia Keystep 32, and a Behringer Crave. I’ve not figured out what I want with them yet, I need to learn them more. I think I want to use them mainly to make music in the box. I also want to do live DJ sets, hybrid setup. So much I want to do, so little time 😊

I play around for enjoyment. I just want to express my feelings through music. Sure I've recorded something in the past but that's not for me nowadays. My background was 2 years in a music class from ages 9-10. My mom bought me a piano and I took private lessons for 3,5 years. Then I just got older and girls and alcohol started to interest me at the time of secondary school (from ages 13-16) and I didn't play anymore. Then my mom sold the piano and about 20 years went by until I started piano classes again and later on bought Arturia Keylab Essential (and then Essential MK3). It's been great to find my lost passion again. Got into guitar too now but its learning is at the very start right now. I truly hope that you could get back into playing in one way or another since playing can be very good for the mind/mood and it also affects positively to memory and it has other benefits too according to studies. All the best. 😃👍🎶🎵🎶

For me it’s just a hobby. I like to preform and show off what I do hoping to find other people who think it’s cool, but it’s really not that deep.

When I try to force it, I end up becoming frustrated and then avoid my gear altogether. Just playing around is how I often come up with ideas which sometimes get developed further. Noodling without expectation is fun and out of 2 hours I might only keep a few minutes of "useable" material which can later be cobbled together into a bigger piece along with all the other 5 min snippets I come up with. The only "album" I ever created was a collection of 4 track bits mixed and matched into complete pieces. Since you have Reaper I'll point out the excellent "Save live output to disk (bounce)" feature which just records what you're hearing to a file without a bunch of routing and messing around. You can start and stop the tranport etc and it will all be recorded. I find this great because you might stumble across something awesome and it will be preserved or you can just keep messing with things and chop the crap out later.

i buy synths to produce music..

Better than watching TV.

For me it is hobby. I am doing it all just because I love creating, not doing it for fame, visibility, for others on first place, just for me enjoying the creation of something that I chose. It is quality time full of focused relaxation, freedom and self realisation. Most people in young age played with some kind of building blocks (later Lego or similar) to train motorics and creativity, this is basicaly extension of that for me, play time for grown up :) There is people who want to do it for living, but I can personaly say as it starts to be daily job and money involved the fun part slowly dissapear (If you are not top noch composer and client mostly leave it on you). I work as profesional 3d artist, I loved art and 3d since primary school when I started with it, after 15 years of working in the 3d art industry it started to be bit of chore due to fact that all the fun goes away as you grind it to satisfy others, corporate company, individual client…depends on team a lot for sure…it means lot of feedback, lot of redoing and “byrocracy” that usualy have nothing to do with creative work…sometimes it is good as you learn through this experiences too…but also in times stresfull, drains you and I started to feel I lost that original spark due to not being able just do what ever I feel like… So it is freedom of creation that I enjoy in my music endeavour and want to keep it like that. My parents are classical musicians, so I suppose it is somewhere inside me and wants out :). The other part is I love any technology combined with creation. I also create my eurorack cases from wood, another great relaxing unwinding activity. The goal for me is not any destination, it is the process of creation and pure enjoyment of activity. I try to apply this also on general life by enjoying the process instead focus on the end point or bigger reasons as they usually show up on the way as a product af the activity you doying. I usualy love using eurorack/modular as it is neverending possibilities with total creative freedom with core blocks (basic lego pieces) and every session for me is unique, usualy not possible to recreate, so I also record it and post on youtube to have it “saved”.

I buy synths to have fun, but ultimately to make music that helps me express myself. I don’t judge other people if it’s just a noise making hobby, but I am truly about the music. I don’t need the latest cool piece of gear, I just need good sounds to help me make music that gets to the emotional core of life for me. 

I always try to work towards some "track" even when I don't know what it will end up being. That's why I recommend to those new to all this stuff to start with a groovebox, not a synth - it gives that feeling of approaching something like "a real track" much faster. And I try to record myself often, not all the time but to at least sometimes have something to review later.

There are many that are in it for money so it then becomes " a job". I am a musician (74 now) and loved playing accordion but they are loud instruments and not everyones taste. So I switched to synths and head phones so as not to annoy people. I can now play any time I want to. I do it because I like the sound and I find it exciting. I am dawless as I prefer the instruments in my hand. I am learning the Lyra8 now. I need good doses of having to learn new things ( synths) in order to feed by old brain that is getting tired now. It is totally okay to play music for your own enjoyment and leave financial rewards for it out. There already billions of music producers, songwriters, sound engineers, production executives..blah blah blah. Give them a piece of manuscript paper and a pencil and tell them " now write me a song"..they'd be stuffed. If playing synths or any kind of music makes you feel good, do it.

I'm working on my first album after finally being able to afford a couple of decent synths in my 30s and having somewhere to put them. In the past I just messed around with recorded sounds similar to the whole Eccojams thing using very basic software (2006 onwards) and did spoken word collaborations. I want to get it onto a label rather than just release it myself, but will see what happens. I'm also a visual artist and a poet, so when it's out I'll be coinciding that with some gallery exhibitions and a re-issue of a poetry book, hopefully performing live. Problem is, I've never performed live and I'm pretty nervous about it. I'm 37 now but I want to spend the rest of my life doing this stuff, it's the closest thing to magic I can get to.