It's really easy to squander an unbelievable amount of time and effort on choosing gear.
It really cannot be understated how true this is. I've been trying to get back into digital music composition and arrangement and spent way more than I thought I did to get myself off the ground. I'm fortunate enough to be able to have the financial reserves to spend what I did, but in hindsight... man was a lot of it unnecessary. I've spent more time reading about and following discussions involving tools and sample libraries than I have re-studying music theory, orchestration, and actually producing something.
It doesn't help that in this day and age, there are a ton of choices a person can make. Both choice-paralysis and "screw-it-just-get-everything[-if-it's-on-sale]" are absolutely real phenomena.
Every hobby I had, from woodworking and metalworking to poker, to photography, to telescopes, to piano, everything that requires practice and hands-on work: there are internet forums where you can talk about the hobbies and the gear an the tools and the tactics, and research and endlessly debate and compare, but they all will eventually grab you by the shoulders, shake you and say “Get off the Internet! Turn off the computer! Go and actually do the thing over and over!” Best advice you can get.
It really cannot be understated how true this is. I've been trying to get back into digital music composition and arrangement and spent way more than I thought I did to get myself off the ground. I'm fortunate enough to be able to have the financial reserves to spend what I did, but in hindsight... man was a lot of it unnecessary. I've spent more time reading about and following discussions involving tools and sample libraries than I have re-studying music theory, orchestration, and actually producing something.
It doesn't help that in this day and age, there are a ton of choices a person can make. Both choice-paralysis and "screw-it-just-get-everything[-if-it's-on-sale]" are absolutely real phenomena.