Why do people go DAWLESS? Why make electronic music without VSTs & DAW?!

Gear recommendations for going DAWLESS (feel free to comment with your favorite gear!) Synths & Samplers with good sequencers (can control other synths!) Polyend Play (epic!) thmn.to/thoprod/543481?offid=1&affid=623 Elektron Syntakt (analog/digital groovebox) thmn.to/thoprod/541892?offid=1&affid=623 Roland MC707 // 8 track synth and sampler: redir.love/ZXvaPQxT Novation Circuit Tracks // 4 track Sequencer & Synth: redir.love/VmtyAXa5 Elektron Digitakt // 8 track sampler, 8 track sequencer: redir.love/MiLNj6yp MPC One // standalone sampler/synth/sequencer thmn.to/thoprod/482641?offid=1&affid=623 NI Maschine+ // standalone sequencer/sampler/workstation: redir.love/JdfuRpF0 Synths I really like and that are a good starting place for a hardware synth setup Minilogue: redir.love/JjsQmfX1 Minilogue XD (my top 1 pick): redir.love/dlk50GPM Cobalt8: thmn.to/thoprod/506277?offid=1&affid=623 HydraSynth Explorer (portable synth!): thmn.to/thoprod/527778?offid=1&affid=623 Microfreak (very affordable): redir.love/j9fxu250 Drum Machines: LXR-02: thmn.to/thoprod/522842?offid=1&affid=623 Roland TR8S (very versatile!): redir.love/9IYrzQ0b Analog Rytm MK2 (pricey but amazing!): redir.love/qGmO7p0i Sequencers (These do not make sounds, instead control other gear) Novation SL Mk3 // 8 track keyboard/sequencer/controller: redir.love/OpiiymOF Arturia Keystep Pro // 4 track sequencer/controller: redir.love/wcdKr2aG

What I fell in love with is the ephemerality of DAWless. I have created music that will only ever be heard once. There’s something romantic about that idea that I love so much, whether it’s just for me or for a small group of friends. It’s very special and the one thing I cherish most about being in control of all aspects of my music.

Seems like there's happy medium where you can use hardware and just use the daw for some effects and recording. No need to make life harder than it needs to be.

This is a great video. I'm very much a DAW guy - the modern DAW solves almost every problem we had back in the 70s and 80s. I learned analog synthesis on a huge Moog system in college, where I recorded to half inch four track tape. I couldn't afford a digital reverb or a DX 7, couldn't afford even an 8 track machine let alone 16 track, couldn't afford to make and release music, certainly couldn't afford a Linn drum machine. I make traditional drums/bass/guitar/keys/vocals music, and the modern DAW has opened up every door for people like me. I'm not making electronic music. I don't mind being on the computer for work and then for music any more than I mind using electricity for both. BUT I bought a X-Touch to mix with and I love it, and I bought a Arturia controller because it has knobs and sliders. I bought a Yamaha MX88 because I wanted to have a standalone keyboard with great sounds and no latency. And my next keyboard will be an analog hardware synth, though not with patch cables - I'm not making electronic music, so I want to get and recall sounds quickly. I love computers, but I'd much rather mix on the X-Touch than a trackpad. Why did I type this big long post? Just to sort of provide a different perspective. I don't think anyone should have to justify how they make art. I watch this channel because even though I don't make electronic music, I love synths and I love music, and this channel is awesome. I don't need to want to make electronic music to appreciate how it's made and to learn more about it.

Love this, and it made me think of one of my favorite quotes from Prince. He told another musician who was worried about whether their new album would be "successful" or not, that "your record is successful by virtue of its existence". I think that's such a beautiful thing to say to any type of artist or musician. Whether you're trying to create a "finished product", or whether you're just looking to jam after work, you were successful by virtue of that which you brought into existence.

Really happy to chip in! Thanks for inviting me Bo❤️

I think you really hit on so many key points, with a significant one being that I just don't want to sit at a computer to make music after sitting at a computer all day to make work. I want something that is tangible and sometimes a puzzling challenge to interact with (in a good way!) to make music...and have fun.

Every point made here is so valid! 🔥😃👍 Going DAWless was a mind-blowing transformation to me. For me it's two things: Sitting at a computer and clicking things is uninspiring, and always 'feels a lot like work'. Also I work as a software architect which keeps me glued to a keyboard and mouse all day making it feel even more like work. On my weekends when I want to jam out, using a groovebox and a maybe a minisynth or two and a portable recorder gives me the ability to instantly create what I actually want and record it in one or two takes. Some tracks I will complete in just a couple hours, on my couch and at no point in the process does it have ever feel like work. I could never get to that point with a DAW despite learning several of them. I find I do actually finish my tracks because my sequencers store multiple patches and typically I apply the hero's journey story telling principles to my tracks and generally end up with what I feel is a great track with 12 parts that evolve and don't just 'drone on and on' contrary to popular myth. DAWless can produce wild variable full tracks just like a DAW with the right gear and in far less time while you have more fun. I know for me: if I'm having fun the music always comes out better. You can't force inspiration and applying limitations to the workflow helps to enhance the creativity. 😃👍

I think describing DAWless as a reaction against a "hyper-capitalist music industry" is stretching things a bit, given the rampant consumerism that it almost inevitably involves, and which has reached new heights with the modular craze. Having said that, each to their own, and good luck to all music-makers, DAWless or otherwise.

That was an awesome video, bo! Absolutely spot on about not always needing to be productive. I play some much and make a ton of music and I often struggle with "who even cares?" When I feel like I might record a song. Sometimes I get pissed and it's like I completely forgot how to make music and can't get in a groove. And then I remember, it's not about being productive. I have a day job, a beautiful family and I'm literally making music to release energy for me to be me and that's how I human. I've been making music and sound for almost 20 years and synths came to me when I thought I had lost passion for making music. Turns out sound design and drum machines are so damn fun

Thanks for inviting me Bo!

DAWless jamming is a great example of "the art is in the process"

Good stuff Bob, lots of great guests 😅😂 Especially agree with Ihor's comment, part of what excites me is experiencing the design & engineering of these objects. Great topic!

I just make music to have fun! Great video, Bo! Many great creators! Thanks for featuring!

When I was in college in 1980's, DAW's didn't exist. There was only making music. I learned on a Huge Buchla that cost $20,000 in college. the DX7 and a sequencer on a Commodore 64 came out the year I graduated. and our teacher got a DX7 in Japan because they weren't available in the states yet. Of course, once it started digital and DAWS showed up very quickly. I was a beta tester for Cakewalk which was an exciting company back because you could combine audio and midi recording in the software. Before I had Cakewalk, I had a yamaha sequencer and I recorded to VHS tape because they had a type of VHS that had high quality audio. I had a soundblaster sound card in my Gateway computer running Cakewalk. I had an Oberheim Matrix 6, a Yamaha TX81Z, but the center of my set up was a Kurzweil. I am blanking on the name but it was the first time Kurzweil that was affordable (and it still cost $2,000) it used their VAST architecture which as amazing for the time. I could make a sample and then process it with digital effects. Made me sound like the pros this set up did. And yet I could make the kind of music I wanted to make, Electronic Music. My influences ran from Pierre Henry and Morton Subotnick to Tangerine Dream and Fripp and Eno. Heck, Tangerine Dream were my introduction to electronic music in the early 70's. That and an obscure Kraftwerk album and old boss turned me onto where they played flute and organ, using the percussion settings on the organ for a drum machine.But in the early aughts I sold all my equipment and focused pretty much entirely on acoustic Jazz and Free Improvisation for the next 15 years. Until Covid, when I started buying gear again with my Covid money. I had bought a Microfreak, a Model:cycles and a mixer before I even realized doing everything in a DAW was an option! lol. But I've played instruments my entire life and doing it in a computer was something I couldn't wrap my head around. I play an real instruments and mix in the computer. That my brain understands. I don't cables anymore but I love turning knobs and creating my own sounds from scratch. there is nothing like it.

Bob, this has been a treat to watch. I love this aspect of your becoming more and more 'human' in your communication. This piece is a perfect example of why people DO consume "long" content: because it's valuable. It reminded me, in the middle of running a company and a career, that at then, and at the beginning of it all, the only objective I had/have when creating is enjoying making music. Thank you for the reminder. Cheers!

I am proud to say that I went DAWLESS (or as DAWLESS as I can get without mixing and mastering my jams in Ableton) and I managed to take 6 of my hundreds of 20 minute jams so far and edit them down to an EP that I have on the way. I am having it mastered as we speak and can't wait to put it out there! I owe a lot of what I know to channels like yours Bo, which helped me overcome my initial fear of taking the dive into DAWLESS which I used to always be very intimated by and now I can't imagine my music without it.

Thank you for this video. I really needed it. I'm still trying to switch from production to "having a fun" state of mind after doing former for years. From my experience, the "anti-dawless" crowd is mainly made by people who doesn't work with computers in their daily jobs. Some of us even work 8h per day in front of a DAW in our daily jobs. It's exhausting. I had to go to dawless for my own sanity. I'm still building my dawless setup. Sadly digital mixers with compressors and extended EQs are not in my budget range thus I'm getting effects (mixing tools) one by one. It's a long process but very rewarding.

Waauw Bobeats, nicely put. I now realise I’m in the Dawless stream as well. Music for the music !

Wise words. As someone who is a hobbyists with no goals to produce, I just want to have fun. I had to learn there are many others in this space on different paths. Perhaps those in this space can learn from hikers. When crossing each other on the path, hikers say hello. We aren’t focused on the gear or speed at which one hikes. The distinction is never important. It’s we are out here moving and grooving with respect for what nature has to offer us.