Music • Sound • Video • Art

So. Exactly one year ago today, and despite the advice of a good friend, I publicly made a set of new year’s resolutions. So how did I do?

1) No new synthesizer plug-ins between January and June 2009. – Hah! Two weeks after writing that post, NAMM ’09 hit and then I wrote about a bunch of stuff that I wanted. (Incidentally, at least 4 of them I bought over the next few months.) My lack of time for music has not lessened my acquisitiveness for (soft) synths it appears. I even picked up a Roland JV2080 on ebay on the cheap recently.

It’s out of control. I need a 12 step program. That said I am looking forward to NAMM 2010…

2) I will complete the various tutorials and learning projects that I have started for the tools that I own. – Umm. Sort of. I did complete the NI DVD on Kontakt and almost completed the NI DVD on Absynth. (These are some great resources; unfortunately they were made for Kontakt 2 and Absynth 3 and are getting “long in the tooth.” There is still much that is useful however, and if you can pick them up on eBay, it is well worth it.) I also went through a lot of the MacProVideo stuff for Logic. Very helpful too. (I would have gone through more, but frankly their N.E.D player is flaky these days and I’ve started to explore alternatives like GrooveBox.) In any case, the list of tutorials currently awaiting completion is long: Propellerhead RECORD, LIVE8, MAX for LIVE, Omnisphere, etc. I have to figure out where this fits in my schedule.

(Btw, GrooveBox had/has a sale going on: $99 for 1 year of unlimited online access to its tutorial library (regularly $299). Seems like a no brainer.)

3) I will recommit to my piano practice. Nope. Not even close. I had to halt my formal lessons before the end of the spring 2009 semester. (It does not look like I will be able to start my lessons again until fall 2010 at the earliest.) More than anything else on the list, this bothers me.

Now, the above whining aside, the original resolution was about practice not lessons. Recommitting to practice should be something within my grasp. I need to address this in the context of schedules and priorities for the coming year.

4) I will complete my music theory workbooks and begin a formal study of counterpoint in 2009. What was I thinking? I’ll move this one to 2010.

5) I will write a score to a short video this year. Uhh…that would be a “no” on this one too.

So all in all at best a 20% success rate. Hmmm. I better pick more wisely for 2010. (More on that in a few days.)

How did you do on yours?