I've lost it. Really hoping its a short phase... with teenage kids, a stressful job, we've just moved house to a new neighbourhood... it's been one heck of a year so far.
Now we're settled in, but I have lost the desire to build pedals or play guitar. I have set up a nice new workbench in my garage, it remains un-used. I have a dedicated music room with guitars, amps and pedals set up ready to go... but no desire to play. All I do is watch Star Trek TNG re-runs or play computer games in my downtime.
Meh. Needs moar eye of the tiger :-\
I'm with you some what.. I have been so distracted by other hobbies or life in general that its draining me. I get home from work with intentions of working on pedals but I end up eating dinner and powering on the PS4.
I think the weather for me plays a huge part on how much motivation I have to work on things. When its super hot, I will populate tons of PCBs and test them but never box a thing since I hate being in the garage when its HOT! Its getting in the high 70's here next week and will be perfect for some building.
Hope to catch the bug again soon and get motivated!
Cody
I've found that now that I'm finally toying around with my Axe FX I've lost the will to build pedals. I built on average 4 pedals a month and overall the chance of any new pedal (usually a dirt pedal) actually making it onto my pedal board was slim. I had pretty much found my favorite pedals and sounds. But even that slim chance was enough to keep on building. Now that my pedal board is fully digital there's no need to include any pedals at all I find myself going why even bother build anything new at all.
I go through cycles too. Perhaps the thing I like most about hobbies is that they are things we can pick up or leave as we feel it, not feeling the pressure to make it work.
It doesn't help that a tabletop gaming store finally opened up in my city. Can't get enough X-Wing in these days.
Jacob
I think the desire is there, it's just getting motivated. You just have to make yourself do it.
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I go through phases as well. Sometimes im full of inspiration and ideas, others not. I used to worry a little when i was in a lul, like i was neglecting something that i shouldnt be. I dont these days because i always come back to pedals. Lately i have been playing mansions of madness 2 and painting the miniatures (please dont judge me for that :) ). The enthuasasm for painting was at a high and i thought it would be a good idea to try painting some enclosures as well. That sort of, cross hobby interest is good for rekindling the fires too i have found. So it can be beneficial to just do SOMETHING ELSE i guess. Just take a break from it, no one can be 100% enthuasastic about the same thing forever, its just not possible.
I think a lot of us around here have been going through that lately.
Juan recently got me doing some PCB layouts for him and I've been reinvigorated - mostly about pushing myself to try new things and challenge myself. A little success goes a long way, too.
Teaser shot ;)
(http://s15.postimg.org/6f7xf1hor/IMG_20160924_104137994.jpg)
I haven't had any time to myself the past 6 months. Kid, wife, broken shit around the house, best man ins a wedding, helping parents build a house blah blah. No pedals. I got 5 hours the other day Of FREEDOM and I canned 24 jars of pickles instead of building. Crazy. I know canning is for 70ydar old ladies but I love pickles. Gonna try sauerkraut soon hopefully.
It's phases. At some point you need to step back to appreciate what is is you do. It's healthy. Might take a week or a month or even a year, but it's always there. Do other things for a while, knowledge and experience are cumulative.
Right now, I'm completely had it with building overdrives, fuzzes, and distortions. Squarely in the "can't be arsed" basket.
Still not tired of playing around in eagle, though.
It's definitely a cycle thing. Most of 2016 I've not really been interested in making pedals at all. What's brought it back recently is getting a few PCBs done that have been on my wishlist for ages (two verified, one en-route) recently (many thanks Jason!). Before that it was the previous batch we had done which again piqued my interest.
There are a few reasons. I've been busy with other things for a long while (race/car stuff, retro gaming/console/arcade stuff), but also, I'd been building pretty much non-stop for a few years before that and just got bored. I'm back now. I've currently got a few builds in progress just awaiting parts to land now before I can put them in boxes. I don't see me getting back to the 'must build everything' stage. But I've got such a backlog of sweet stuff in the PCB box that it's not like I'll be short of stuff to do. There's at least one AlanP uber project in there, a couple of Fredrik's, a few Bean's, etc.
I also think that you get to the stage, having built hundreds of pedals, that you know what you like in OD/Distortion/Fuzz/Delay/Phase/Reverb/Tremolo/etc and have your go-to's in each category. Barring surprise new stuff, there's not really any drive to build anything outside that. Indeed all I've been doing of late is asking Jason to make optimised versions of my favourite effects for the way I build them.
I'm not sure how active I'll be in pedal building any more. The unusual and challenging stuff always appeals. But once it's all said and done and you have that core of effects, I'm not sure where to go from there...
I agree, it comes and goes.
As of late, I'm excited about the dminner cooperation a lot and also creating my own layouts have taken it a step further and rekindled interest. The last layout I did just because I had time to kill on a train ride and I was having fun, not because I craved the effect (DBA interstellar overdriver). I also don't build solely for the purpose of playing, it can also just be about the building process and the challenge it can come with.
What really brings the excitement back though is to really do something new, for me it's building my HiFi amp, which I planned completely on my own. It's a kick to switch it on and see if something goes up in flames or not 8)
Quote from: jubal81 on September 27, 2016, 01:01:55 AM
I think a lot of us around here have been going through that lately.
Juan recently got me doing some PCB layouts for him and I've been reinvigorated - mostly about pushing myself to try new things and challenge myself. A little success goes a long way, too.
Teaser shot ;)
(http://s15.postimg.org/6f7xf1hor/IMG_20160924_104137994.jpg)
That is nuts, man! I take it you're feeling settled in in your new home then... ;D
Quote from: chromesphere on September 27, 2016, 12:38:41 AM
I go through phases as well. Sometimes im full of inspiration and ideas, others not. I used to worry a little when i was in a lul, like i was neglecting something that i shouldnt be. I dont these days because i always come back to pedals. Lately i have been playing mansions of madness 2 and painting the miniatures (please dont judge me for that :) ). The enthuasasm for painting was at a high and i thought it would be a good idea to try painting some enclosures as well. That sort of, cross hobby interest is good for rekindling the fires too i have found. So it can be beneficial to just do SOMETHING ELSE i guess. Just take a break from it, no one can be 100% enthuasastic about the same thing forever, its just not possible.
I paint my Imperial Assault Miniatures. I wish I had the funds for Mansions. Looks like fun.
Jacob
I hear you. I moved to a new house last year, and we also had our 3rd child. My hobby time has gone back to cycling, which is my first love.
I haven't really finished a pedal in a year, but I spent a bunch of time pushing the pedals this summer. I'll end the year with about 2700 miles on the bike, which is my best year in a long time. I also finished the Shenandoah Mountain 100 (100 mile mtb race) which was a big goal of mine.
I'm hoping to finish up some builds this fall - I'm feeling the itch again.
I'm finding that I have a cycle that kind of follows the seasons. Summer is my low point for building because I have a lot of responsibilities related to work and family. Plus the weather is too nice to be inside at the bench.
I've had a bigger struggle this year. Part of it is that there has been a lot of death and sickness around me, and with it I've been trying to be as helpful as possible. I had to be with 3 kids back in December when they found out their mommy was never going to wake up again. I then had to officiate her funeral. I'm a pastor, but I'm a Kid's Pastor - as in elementary age kids. I never imagined I'd be doing funerals etc. Since that one, I've been asked to have some official role in 4 other funerals. It's been surreal. One was my grandpa's, but he was 103, so that one felt kind of good. The rest just sucked. My sister was diagnosed with cancer back in July. She's doing well, but that was a shock. Then, last month, my lifelong friend went down on his Harley. Pickup pulled out in front of him. He's alive but has brain injuries. I've been spending time visiting him in the hospital waiting to see if he will ever be himself again.
I came into the year with plans to have a really sweet 1590g project going. I've worked a lot on it, but I'm waiting on a piece of formed sheet metal that a friend is supposed to do for me. It's something I can't do myself, so I'm stuck. I could force the issue, but I've been kind of unmotivated anyway.
But, now that the weather is turning, I'm finding myself doing a lot of creative thinking/planning again and I feel like I'll be back in the saddle soon. My workbench is a wreck. I need to clean it up and focus on organizing. A few hours would do wonders to get me in the mood to build. Working on the Hammond project has really snapped me back into a music electronics frame of mind too, so that's good. I hope to get at least one good pedal build done before the end of the year.
One thing that bums me out about having so many of you guys in a slump is that I rely on you all for inspiration. I don't want to name any names, but some of my heroes haven't posted any build reports for a while. There's something about seeing an amazing new build that inspires me to join the party. eldzsi's 10th Anniversary Deluxe Wah (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=23712.0) build is a good example. He's my current hero.
Awww... This community never fails to inspire me! Y'all be good dudes, thanks for the replies. I guess when I look at what we've been up-to the last couple years, its no surprise I'm in a creative lul. It's encouraging to be reminded it's just a phase. There are still pedal builds inside me, I know it! Woo! ;D