Roland has released some new SRX expansion boards for the XV/Fantom series. Since I got into soft synths I have a hard time justifying hardware ROMs. For the price of one SRX ROM I can pick up Vaz Modular or a group of cheaper soft synths. I have quite a bit of software for making music and keep getting more. In an attempt to stick to a budget I decided to list the software I still want to purchase, grouped by type (upgrades, soft synths, utilities) and prioritize each item. To my surprise my list came up to $1900. Add the sample category with SampleTank XL, Atmosphere and Vocal Planet and I hit the 3K mark! Now I am afraid to total up what I have already spent.

Does anything believe they save money buying soft synths? I spend the same amount on music, which is every penny I have.

Has anyone counted up how much they have invested is their soft synth system? I’m afraid to.

Does anyone know of an organization for those of us addicted to soft synths? I’m desperate.

Robert

Economy is the false lure of the softsynth to be sure. Yeah, I got into it when my Dad sold me a pretty powerful recent Gateway for 300 bucks, threw in the cheap soundcard and figured I know had an extremely flexible, cost-effective, and, how to say it, Multi-mult-timbral "tone generator" Midi'd up to my main sequencing audio machine.

Well, I don't have a huge stable of softsynths. I have hardly even ventured into the pricey NI stuff (except for Dynamo and B4) but, yeah, my total investment in the softsynth machine probably could have gotten me a Motif or something.

Which is not to say I regret it.

My total softsynth spending, not counting stuff like Cubase which I would have even if I had a K2600 (my dream board), is about $2000. This includes a speced out but yet to be built new computer. It covers the gamut of instruments, from subtractive synths to ROMplers to soft samplers. There is no way I could get that variety of sounds from a hardware setup at that price. Remember, I would probably still have built that new computer (actually I would have done that even if I wasn't making music, and at almost the same price). Add my Alesis QS7 and I am still at $2500, which is fairly reasonable, and spread out over a year or so.

prog

well for me so far, its sampletank L, stylus, sonic synth, tons of loop cds, and about to get atmosphere when I have enough saved...............so thats uh around 1,126$

Mighty_Hero wrote:

well for me so far, its sampletank L, stylus, sonic synth, tons of loop cds, and about to get atmosphere when I have enough saved...............so thats uh around 1,126$

Yeah, but imagine the sound you will get out of that setup!!!

...and to think I paid, £1300 for and Akai S2000 & CDROM to go with it when they first come out. Now sold. Still got my XP50 Keyboard though which i never used - paid £800 second hand a few years ago.

That's $3250! in your money! However, there were no VSTi when I paid this.

I must now go add up the content of my 'Purchases' folder which never stops growing... yes I'm addicted to VST instruments.

We need a support forum.

It's not really a problem I don't think. We'd all spend the same money on hardware as we do on software if there was no option, we'd just get less for our cash.

acidman wrote:

It's not really a problem I don't think. We'd all spend the same money on hardware as we do on software if there was no option, we'd just get less for our cash.

Very well said. The total spent probably will be the same, just more bang for the buck. I am actually wary about the day I have some money, cause I am likely to buy some hardware (like that oh so sexy mimimoog voyager).

prog