I'll admit it -- I've never been much of a music producer. When it comes to writing and composing my own stuff, I've come up short far more often than not. From talking to other musicians, it's a very common problem.

For me, the problem is that I love music and performing. So much so that I don't always want to put in the time needed to really get into my productions; I'd rather just go listen to music, or spin records, or screw around on the guitar. I need my musical outlet, and it's simply easier to just pick up and play than to hunker down and do actual work.

I have ideas. Lots of them. Dozens of them. Just sitting there waiting to be finished. So I've promised myself that I'll start getting some of these ideas completed. How will I do it? Buy new toys! I've been trying to move everything in my life away from my Windows PCs to my Macs. I've always used M-Audio products, and I have 2 M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 PCI cards that work well. But I can't use them with a laptop, or my G4 Mac Mini. So I hit Ebay and got an M-Audio Firewire 410.

Will it help me actually make music? No, of course not. I have a very strong belief that most people who complain about their gear being the limiting factor to their music production are full of shit. People make great music on all kinds of old crappy gear. My (new) rule, after many years of fighting with Reason (too limiting, no VST support) and Cubase (too complex for my needs, too hard to do simple things) is simply: pick something, learn everything you can about it, and stick with it!