Hardware vs. Software

[Guest PiNG]

I am just wondering... Do you believe that Hardware machines and stuff are better than Software Like VST's and stuff or the software has alreaday the same quality of the hardware like virus, Nord Lead, etc etc...

 

i am a guitarist and in terms of analogic and digital processing, in these days the digital processing still dont have the same quality of the analogic...

 

plz post your opinion

[Guest soliptic]

a while ago i bought an emu synth because my computer couldnt handle vstis and i needed more synth sounds/polyphony.

 

now i wish i hadnt bothered, my new computer can run vstis, and z3ta+ and absynth and fm7 and v-station kick the shit out of my emu, and i dont have to mess around with cables across my room either.

 

in theory i think software can easily equal or outdo hardware. on the other hand ... perhaps it takes 80% of your CPU for a synth to sound like a virus... this doesnt leave much room for other fx or synths, does it? So in that sense there is always room for hardware - it will work to full capability , ALWAYS, no matter what else you have happening. In some cases (convolution reverb, physical modelling) native power is not enough to rival dedicated hardware, but in theory there's no reason why it wont be in two years time (and no reason why u cant do it in software so long as u dont need to do it real time).

 

and then of course there is a certain amount of hardware things that can never be replaced: good mic preamps, good A-Ds and D-As, good control surfaces, good monitors ;-)

[Guest Andreas of Amygdala]

Analogue synths can't be replaced either - it's the same as vinyl vs. CDs... Digital audio will NEVER get as good as analogue - unless you use infinite sample- and bit-rate. The pros of digital synths (and plugins) are of course no trouble with tuning, noise, richer possibilities, and no cables when using software...

 

I use hardware for the most parts, and I don't think I will ever switch to software. I love the millions of knobs, just begging me to turn them. With a mouse, you can only turn one knob at a time - okay, one could always get a MIDI-controller with sufficient faders and stuff... Hmm... I guess I have no point here after all

 

Oh well, I'll think of some

 

.oO Andreas Oo.

[Guest Negative Time]

I agree with Andreaas about hardware.

 

Here is my two cents:

 

I think the majority of people who use software, use it because it's cheap or free (if you warez it). Software by itself is _not_ professional. If you want a professional sound, you have to invest money. A professional VSTi/Protools setup will cost you thousands upon thousands of dollars. I feel that software takes the fun out of "playing" an instrument. Sure you can have a MIDI controller or what not, but it's simply not the same.

 

Same goes with hardware. You can buy shitty roland grooveboxes or rompler (sampled based) keyboards (like the EMU mentioned above) until your blue in the face. You'll never get a true professional sound. Being professional is about spending the most you can afford on the best gear available. Keep in mind the best gear out now isn't the newest most expensive gear. Something that is 10 years old now can still be better than alot of new gear (Eventide H3000 for instance). My Virus indigo has better DAC's that most soundcards do. It's a dedicated unit specifically design to do one thing.

 

Software relies on computers which crash, slow down, seg fault, etc etc. Software also relies on how good your DAC's in your sound card is, leading up to the professionalism aspect mentioned above.

 

WIth software you don't learn as much either. You never know what it's like to have a full MIDI rig, where you actually need a MIDI patchbay to make it manageable. It's not just limited to MIDI connections, but setting up a hardware sequencer, setting up samplers and synths to all play nice with each other. It gets more complex when you add analog modular synths, analog sequencers, cv/gate analog synths to a MIDI rig. You learn by doing, and software takes the "doing" out of the picture.

 

In one of our live pa's we had 9 digital/analog synthesizers and drum machines, 3 samplers, and 4 hardware sequencers. I would like to see some laptop kiddie even try to manage that whlie playing infront of 150 people! The point is, by not taking the easy way out, my buddy and I have learned sooo much.

 

Most people I see playing a live pa from a laptop look like they are surfing the freaking web. Come on! The only energy is in the crowd. My friend and I do live pa's under the name Negative Time in the Boston, MA, USA area. We use _all_ hardware, not one soft synth is used or even sampled. We don not use computers on stage or DATs. Sometimes we arrange our PA in Logic Audio, but this is all in teh studio and is recorded into a hardware sequencer for live use. Logic is just used for MIDI data, not digital audio is used (unless we are recording a track in the studio).

 

I think watching live pa's that involve gear are alot more fun to watch, because you're actually playing and doing 1345903 things at once, instead of having a computer do it for you, or have 70% of your PA on a two track wav file.

 

Hardware will always have a market, I think the software market is just a trend right now. Hardware will always have it's place.

 

Pat from Negative Time

Boston, MA, USA