Perplexed by Complexity: Why Simplifying Your Setup is Essential

With modern worship being so driven by electronics, electric guitars, keyboards, and synths, the need for a setup that provides you with a wide palette of sounds is essential.  For guitar players this often results in gigantic pedalboards all with the hopes of getting anywhere close to sounding like the Edge. For keyboardists it typically means having 4 keyboards and virtual synths running on a computer that rivals even the best Bon Jovi cover band’s keys rig.

I’ve found that a lot of times people who have tons of gear consistently add gear because they’ve yet to really learn how to use what they already have. There’s value in having every VST under the sun, but if you’ve got a good understanding of synthesis and how your software/hardware works then you can get some great sounds without a huge amount of gear.

I feel like it’s more important to mention that the more complex your setup is and the more elements you add into it, the more likely it’s going to fail. I’d even venture to say the more you’re inviting it to fail!  You could probably get by with 1 maybe 2 keyboards. If you’re doing loops it’d be worth getting a good controller like the Akai APC20 or the Novation Launchpad but anything beyond that may not be worth it.  So before we head into the weekend and our services, how can you simplify your setup? It will give you less to think about, and in turn will help reduce the risk of something failing.