Wife threatened me with divorce if I ever buy....

  • Thread starter Thread starter anppilot
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Obi-Wan zenabI said:
Why not start writing songs for her, and when you come up with one that's not corny/cheesy, give it to her as a gift.
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This is a brilliant idea! However, there is a downside--what if she doesn't like the song? I wrote my wife a piece of music and she basically didn't like it. She was polite and everything, but there was no real enthusiasm. That sort of thing sticks with you, so be prepared just in case the response isn't overwhelming.

As far as the tipping/cheapness, I have to be honest with you, that would drive me *crazy*. I mean insane. I typically tip 20% or more, less only if the service was really bad. A while back I hit a hard time and had to deliver pizza's to get by, so I know what it feels like to have to depend on tips to pay the bills.

The bad tippers, and let me promise you this, they get *lousy* service. If your wife thinks those people in the hairdresser or nail shop are happy to see her walk in the door she is kidding herself. Anybody who tips well gets better service the next time around.

After all these years I still could drive directly to the homes of everyone who tipped me well, they stick with you that well. The good tippers got their pizza hotter and faster than the bad tippers, guaranteed. And it wasn't just me, every driver worked their routes out so that the good tippers were first and the bad tippers were last.

Same in restaurants. I tip well, especially when I know I'm going back repeatedly. Guess who gets seated fast at his favorite table, and who gets quick friendly service?

The thing is, I know how hard people in a service industry work, having done it myself. So I try to spread it around when I can. I really believe the cheapness begets cheapness, and that generosity begets generosity. It's a karma thing. If you go through life with fists tightly clenched on your money, little goes out, but little comes in too.

I understand frugality, because I'm pretty frugal too when I need to be. But there is a difference between cheapness and frugality. It's sort of what you have in your heart. You can make your budget and still not be cheap, I guess is what I'm saying.

Washing the car in the rain wouldn't work here in Southern California anyway, you'd only get to wash your car once or twice a year!
 
SonicAlbert said:
The thing is, I know how hard people in a service industry work, having done it myself. So I try to spread it around when I can. I really believe the cheapness begets cheapness, and that generosity begets generosity. It's a karma thing. If you go through life with fists tightly clenched on your money, little goes out, but little comes in too.
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Amen... the service industry can be a real pain in the ass... Hell - even tech support was pretty awful sometimes - working in a computer lab fixing people's computers gets mixed results... and people who treated us like garbage (because we gave them that virus they downloaded from Kazaa), got far less quality service next time around than those who were nice.

Janitorial services at a public pool was even more of an eye opener in terms of how people treat those they consider "lower" than themselves.
 
cusebassman said:
Janitorial services at a public pool was even more of an eye opener in terms of how people treat those they consider "lower" than themselves.
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Oh yes. When I was at the music conservatory there was a janitor that was about our age (undergrad). One night he got stuck in the elevator for hours, until someone came to open up the building the next morning. Me and a couple of my friends heard about him being trapped and asked him about it. That conversation turned into many more. We discovered that he was brilliant, a poet that wrote wonderful things, and just generally an interesting and great guy. A few of us became friends with him, and he just became part of our group. It really was angering to see how most of the students/faculty treated him though.

Also, if you wnt to know what's *really* going on somewhere, get to know the janitor.
 
anppilot said:
OMG Albert ! She tips 2.00 on a 25.00 dinner out, 2.00 on a set of nails when her friends tip 5.00, 10.00 on a 250.00 hair service.

I tell her she is the queen of cheap.

she waits til it rains to wash her car although i've proven you can wash your car at the self-car wash for a 1.00

steals matches although she dont smoke to light her candles so no need to buy a lighter.

dilutes a glass of sode coke 50%/water 50% to make it last longer ! Ok i do that too

will buy a pack of ramens for $.10 with a 50 can of spaghetti sauce for dinner !!! come home and doctor the sauce up so it tastes edible.

a bunch of white rice and soy sauce makes a cheap filling dinner !

I could go on.
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Things could be worse......much worse. Just be thankful she's not the opposite type who would rather run your finances into the ground cause then you'd have no money left for keyboards anyway. I'd take obsessively frugal over financially disasterous any day!
 
Yes, a frugal wife is a blessing. It's really just a question of balance, knowing when to be frugal and when to open the purse strings a bit. I'm lucky in that my wife is frugal and yet is also generous with me and others. She's a great saver, i.e. adding money to the savings account, yet she also spends *way* more money than I ever would on "quality of life" type things.

She saves and saves for months and months to buy something really nice, like the new bedroom set she just bought or various other things around the house. Yet somehow she still doesn't waste money. She also uses her credit card very little, does most everything in cash. I think that is the key.

I've gotten into the saving up *before* buying thing too now. I did auctions for months on eBay to put together the money to buy the new Intel Mac Pro I'm writing this on. I think it took around 30 auctions. The funny thing is, saving first and then buying makes the satisfaction quotent go way up once you finally have the item you've been saving for. Much more enjoyable than just slapping something on a credit card.

So yeah, you are lucky to have a wife that doesn't blow through your money. I had an experience with that when I was in college. I was dating a beautiful girl who was actually a beauty pageant winner. I was crazy about her and literally spent all my money on her, took my account at the bank right down to zero. The day I had nothing left was the day she dumped me. It was a big lesson in many respects.

Anyway, back to synths. The D550 is also one of my favorite synths, along with the Wavestation SR you asked about in another thread. I have two D550's and the keyboard version of the Roland. It is not like anything else you have, either. I think one of the best sounding synths Roland ever put out is the JD-990. Actually, I think it is one of the best sounding synths anyone ever put out. I have one JD-990.

The D550 and Wavestation SR would both be great additions to your synth collection, and don't duplicate anything you currently own.

In my opinion, you could lose the Yamaha FB01 and TG500, as the TG77 pretty much covers those bases. The Yamaha rack you really should have is the FS1R, which I think is one of the best sounding synths they made. A while back I ditched most of my Yamaha synths except for the TX802, TX81Z and the FS1R. I had a TG77 too, but I've not missed it.
 
I am dumping my MC-303, TG-500, TG-77, FB-01, MR-Rack, S3200XL, QSR in order to get a TX-802, D-550, Wavestation SR & Nord2 Rack.

I think the TX802 is a welcome addition

I think I'll be done for a while.

I think I have the bases covered for what I do.

Roland:
JW50, XP30, JV1080, JD-990, D-550, JP8080, Fantom XR Rack

Korg:
Triton Rack, M1R Rack, Wavestation SR

Yamaha:
Motif Rack ES, TX802, TX81Z

Access: Virus A

Clavia: Nord Lead 2 Rack

Alesis: DM-PRO (Awesome drum module)

I think I'll be set for a while.

I look at thing in a different way than alot of people.

I also view my setup in this way:

Master Controllers:

JW-50, XP-30

ROMPLERS:
Fantom XR Rack, JV-1080, Triton Rack, Motif Rack ES

Digital Synths:
JD-990, D-550, M1R Rack, Wavestation SR, TX802, TX81Z

Virtual Analogs:
JP8080, Virus A, Nord Lead 2 Rack

Drums:
Gigastudio32 & DMPRO ((HOWEVER - I am thinking of something else besides the giga daw and dmpro. I need to free up a few midi in/outs and I have been having a terrible latency issue between triggering the giga daw from my main daw - So I'm thinking about a MV-8000/MV8800/MPC-2000/3000))

So yeah, I think I'm set for a while.
 
Looks good. The only change I would recommend is getting an FS1R instead of the TX802. The TX802's are noisy, some more noisy than others. I had two of them, both bought new back in the day. I have one just because I hung onto it, I don't think I'd spend money on an 802 at this point.

Take my word for it, the FS1R is *much* better. It is super quiet and is one of the best sounding synths I've heard, definitely the best sounding of the FM synthesis synths.

I notice you have a JP-8080. I owned one for a while but for some reason never warmed up to it. It just never grabbed me, I like the Virus a lot better. And the Novation stuff.

Just for kicks, here's my current hardware synth list:

Akai S5000 Sampler (x11), S6000

Emu E4xt Ultra Sampler (x2), E5000 (x2), E6400, Proteus 2000, Vintage Pro,

Korg TR-Rack, M1REX, Wavestation SR (x2)

Roland A-70, Roland JD-990, D550 (x2), XV-5080

Yamaha KX-88, FS1R, TX802, TX81Z

And virtual instruments:

Stylus RMX
Stormdrum
East West Quantum Leap Symphony Orchestra Gold
Yellow Tools Candy Sax
NI Kontakt 2, Elektrik Piano, FM7
East West RA
 
anppilot said:
...another synth again if I am only replicating something I already have. She doesnt mind purchasing audio stuff (mics, pres, etc) but synths is a who other story.

YES YES, I'll admit it. I AM a gear slut. I admit, it's like drinking with me. I just cant stop buying synths. But I realize what the underlying problem is. I'm 32 y/o and I've been into keys/synths since I was 7. This organist in our church did me in. He had his normal church organ, plus he brought a host of goodies with him every Sunday to add to his "Church mix". Gordan Guntzleman was his name. I looked up to this guy like a God. I remember him having like Casio's, jupiters, korgs, yamahas, sequencers.

He was cool. He would do his sequences during the week, being his stuff in, and play the big church organ along with the sequences. It was tight. I'd watch him setup in the morning, and help him break down stuff after church. He had some old casio portable synth that ran off batteries that he let me borrow one time for a week. I thought he was so cool for doing that. He knew I was responsible and god good grades.

OK, I was a bit of a nerd I suppose back then (glasses, kind of chubby, bad haircut - wow - amazing what a good haircut, being thin and working can do for the old self esteem!)

But Gordan was the problem. I realize what I'm doing now. I think I'm trying to make up for it these days by buying all the stuff that I wanted when I was a kid. Which I know there isn't anything wrong with that, but why am I buying stuff that is thin, cheesy, and not suitable for a mix these days? Grant I want to buy stuff that I will use and make money from, but darn, I think I'm just collecting it !

Have any of you guys experienced this problem, you know, trying to get now what you could never buy as a kid?

Sorry about rambling like I'm talking to a shrink or something, but I KNOW that there HAS to be others suffering from G.A.S. (Gear Aquisition Syndrom) like me.

I'm looking to add something with "different" sounds to my setup. I was thinking of a EMU Planet Phatt.

Would I be gaining anything different other than what I already have?

Roland: JW50, JV1080, XP30, JP8080, Fantom XR Rack, MC303,

Korg: Triton Rack, M1R Rack

Yamaha: Motif Rack ES, TX81Z, TG500, TG77, FB01

Akai: S3200XL

Tascam: Gigastudio32

Access Virus A,

Alesis: DMPRO, QSR

Ensoniq: MR-Rack

Let me know guys.

Thanks.

PS, If you have a Gear problem also, I'd like to hear about it. Maybe we should start a thread for us with this problem.
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Seeing as you're buying real synths and not computer emulated versions I think you're ok for now. Don't sweat it.

By the way, if you don't have Ensoniq's first digital wave synth, the ESQ-1, you really haven't lived.

http://www.synthmuseum.com/ensoniq/ensesq101.html
http://www.vintagesynth.com/ensoniq/ens_esq1.shtml

Tell your wife if she divorces you all she’ll get is half your synths. And because of this threat you’re going to have to go out and buy two of everything just in case.

The key to spouse management is to compare your situation to someone else with a bigger problem. In my case I can show my wife your post and she’ll feel better about my comparatively modest collection.

In your case you might point to the fools that are spending their hard-earned cash on digitally emulated computer “Pretend” synths. You can highlight the investment angle of your approach. These are real classic devices that will likely continue to appreciate in value.

Also dump the FB01... you have the better TX81Z, so you really don't need the '01. Make a big deal out of giving it up... like you're meeting her half way. :)

P.S. I don’t see any of the great Kurzweil stuff like the K1000/k1200-Series racks or keyboards, so you have a ways to go.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr00/articles/kurzweilretro.htm?print=yes
 
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Ok check this out. I think I may be changing things once again.

I think I'm gonna say forget when I said this:

"I am dumping my MC-303, TG-500, TG-77, FB-01, MR-Rack, S3200XL, QSR in order to get a TX-802, D-550, Wavestation SR & Nord2 Rack."

I just watched many video demos on the MV-8800 and um...... Well, er.......

I'M SOLD !!!!!!!

BYE BYE GIGA ! ! ! BYE BYE DMPRO ! ! ! BYE UM..... anything else I can trade in on it. I just got off the phone with G.C and they will sell me one brand new for $1900.

So Yeah. I will be there this week if my settlement check comes in Wednesay as my lawyer told me.

I'm Tradin' a load of stuff in.
 
anppilot said:
I'M SOLD !!!!!!!

BYE BYE GIGA ! ! ! BYE BYE DMPRO ! ! ! BYE UM..... anything else I can trade in on it. I just got off the phone with G.C and they will sell me one brand new for $1900.

So Yeah. I will be there this week
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Hmmmm, maybe your wife is on to something...
 
I have a gear problem. Im poor and cant afford to buy more of it
 
A. If you think gear is expensive...wait till you see the divorce lawyers bill, and you can't even play it, record with it, or even sell it on ebay.

B. I have the Minimoog Voyager that does some awesome basses. Monophonic, but great sounds. Retail price is high but I got a demo in excellent shape with full warranty for $1750.

C. I also have a broken Ensoniq ESQ-1, won't boot when I turn it on. I've read that it is probably a power supply issue due to aging capacitors breaking down. Is it worth repairing...anyone feel free to answer.
 
anppilot said:
Hey Albert, she may be right...... but the MV-8800 is SWEET !!!!!

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
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the secret is you tell her its not a synth its a sampler/sequencer so technically she cant divorce u for that lol
 
I allways reply with the same question, when my wife askes me about my new gear.

Baby; I got this before we met, I think I have a few more of those lies left before she gets on to my lies :D
 
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