Studio equipment always on or not?

[Daemonix]

I would like to ask other not full time producers (people that have other full time and demanding schedules and just jam a bit for fun)...
if you leave your equipment (synth, machine drum, mixers etc) on most of the time even if you jam every other day, or you turned them off/on from a short jam?

What's better for music related electronics, monitors etc...?

Best
Tasos

[oblioblioblio]

leaving it always on is bad for the equipment as things wear out from usage.

But turning it on and off is also quite stressful on the equipment (notice that whenever a light bulb blows it always when you turn it on and never in the middle of being used).

I try to turn it off if I'm definitely not going to be using it for more than 2 hours.

[steevio]

i dont understand why anyone would leave anything switched on when they are not using it, what a waste of energy, money and how bad for the environment.

i have a switchboard in my studio with which i can isolate any part of my studio thats not being used, so say i'm editing, i can switch off all of my gear except for my monitors / computer / mixer, or if i'm practicing a live set, i can switch off my computer, and have my rig all on.

if you're only switching your gear on/off once or twice a day, there's no way thats stressful for your gear.

[tristos]

what a waste of energy, money and how bad for the environment

most definatley, also Ive recently brought a few secondhand hardware bits and whilst doing some low level maintenance opened a few bits up to find some bodged electrical repairs

on another note, ive been in a midi issue battle with an external fx unit which ive just sussed and that is staying on till tomorrow...

[mehta]

on another note, ive been in a midi issue battle with an external fx unit which ive just sussed and that is staying on till tomorrow...

midi can be such a headache eh?

gear is usually switched off

[tone-def]

i always turn my gear off when i'm not using it. although my mac is in sleep mode a lot.

[mr lee]

If I'm working on a tune I'll usually leave my gear on so I can take breaks, come jam, take breaks, sleep, etc. Meaning, If I'm in the middle of a project I don't see a reason to shut everything down (except to save energy/environment, etc...).

If I'm off a project I'll shut everything down except the mac. I recently re-wired the studio so I can have one switch for gear, one for monitors, one for mac, etc. So it's easy to isolate specific gear when I need it.

There is lots of controversy on this topic on GearSlutz. The debate is mainly over power cycling ruining gear, vs leaving everything on and getting heat soak... and then people complaining about energy/environment issues.

[Barfunkel]

Constantly turning on and off gear will shorten their life span, so you have to replace the gear sooner.

Keeping them on all the time increases your electric bill.

Either way, it costs money to maintain a working HW setup.

I personally turn off my gear when I don't use it, unless it's just a short break.