Why does having "too many" soft synths bother me?

[Ingonator]

Ingo, since you are a preset programmer having various synths makes more sense than with a regular musician who just wants to make music.

Hi,

in theory you are correct but in reality i could not do sounds for every synth (or there ere are already tons liks for e.g. Sylenth1, Massive, Alchemy etc.) so i have to focus on certain synth to get anything done.

When not doing sound design for softsynths i usually enjoy using my hardware synths like Motif ES 7 (with tons of 3rd party patches + samples), Blofeld desktop (with sample expansion), Waldorf Pulse 2 and Korg Wavesattaion EX.

If i would not be interested in doing any sound design for softsynths and had to choose a minimal setup i would maybe go mostly harware (except DAW/host and drums maybe). If i would have saved the money i spent for software synths i would maybe have an awesome setup of hardware synths today. Still wish i would have kept the Jupiter 8 and the Minimoog (sold back in 2004/2005). When i purchased the Motif back in 2005 i also had the choice to get a new Andromeda A6 for the same money (or even less, they were quite "cheap" around that time). Would have been a nice choice too...


Ingo

[fluffy_little_something]

You know, sometimes I think maybe I should get myself one of those mediocre arranger keyboards, I guess I would be more productive and it would definitely be more fun
Something like this...
http://www.rolandus.com/products/details/828/459

[damoog]

For me to many soft synths means switching through thousands of presets,however owning a couple means mastering your tools efficiently and creating awesome sounds

Less is without a doubt more

[Arglebargle]

I don't like having to come to grips with a dozen different interfaces. 2 or 3 is quite enough.

[SODDI]

But then there's "the sweet spot" - the synth you know you probably won't use anytime soon, BUT you know it's worked in the past and it's got that absolute RIGHT sound and that when you need it you need to have it. You could try to program that exact sound in one of your main synths, but... hey you got it now.

My short list:
Crystal
Podolski
Charlatan
Minimogue VA
Redtron
Zapkit

There are probably a dozen others, and several dozen FX plug-ins, and defunct instruments I can probably keep running just a little bit longer.

So I'm back to having too many plug-ins - a real first world problem.

[goldenanalog]

Ingo, since you are a preset programmer having various synths makes more sense than with a regular musician who just wants to make music.

Hi,

in theory you are correct but in reality i could not do sounds for every synth (or there ere are already tons liks for e.g. Sylenth1, Massive, Alchemy etc.) so i have to focus on certain synth to get anything done.

When not doing sound design for softsynths i usually enjoy using my hardware synths like Motif ES 7 (with tons of 3rd party patches + samples), Blofeld desktop (with sample expansion), Waldorf OPulse 2 and Korg Wavesattaion EX.

If i would not be interested in doing any sound design for softsynths and had to choose a minimal setup i would maybe go mostly harware (except DAW/host and drums maybe). If i would have saved the money i spent for software synths i would maybe have an awesome setup of hardware synths today. Still wish i would have kept the Jupiter 8 and the Minimoog (sold back in 2004/2005). When i purchased the Motif back in 2005 i also had the choice to get a new Andromeda A6 for the same money (or even less, they were quite "cheap" around that time). Would have been a nice choice too...


Ingo

I dunno, Ingo. There's the whole rather nasty cost of ownership thing that can go with relatively complex old hardware like your 8.

All it takes is one defunct chip, usually involved in arcane digital support by today's standards, to turn a beloved beauty like a Jupiter 8 into a nightmare.

Plus: We are all so jaded being in the center of this digital audio software revolution thing that sometimes we can't really grasp the progress that's happening around us...yeah: it can be a two steps forward and one step backwards sort of thing sometimes, but try to do a real apples to apples comparison with what we have now to what we had especially DSP-based say: 10 years ago...

An A6 would certainly be nice, until it breaks...does Alesis still adequately support it? (That's a real question, BTW)

[pdxindy]

For me to many soft synths means switching through thousands of presets,however owning a couple means mastering your tools efficiently and creating awesome sounds

Less is without a doubt more

I've had Komplete 9 for a while now and have not even opened the box... Who knows when or if I'll do so... I'm happy with what I have and I still have so much to learn with the tools I currently use.

[aciddose]

All it takes is one defunct chip, usually involved in arcane digital support by today's standards, to turn a beloved beauty like a Jupiter 8 into a nightmare.

Completely true of course, although things have been looking up the last few years and we can expect that with more failures we will see better replacements come on the market. It is really down to accurately reproducing the IR3109 and BA662 mostly, as we now know the exact internals of the epoxy chips. It is already far more difficult to locate synthesizers with bad voices and when you can the prices have increased substantially. No more 150 for a broken juno, it's now more like 1400 for a working juno, 800 for one with a bad 6th voice.

Of course yes, analog hardware is absolutely not somewhere you want to go if you're afraid of dealing with electronics or the huge cost associated with having them repaired.

[danbroad]

I occasionally feel a little overwhelmed by what I have - Komplete, Omni/Trilian/RMX, and Alchemy. Still, screw it, it's all paid for and it doesn't take up space I don't have. I look over at the Gearslutz 'pics' thread and I know that I have a pretty manageable version of this hobby. I just couldn't look at 20-40 hardware synths without feeling overly decadent and self indulgent. Hey, that's me I guess. Of course, the Prophet is both controller and synth, but my hardware now numbers exactly one. I feel cleaner because of it.

[vurt]

its all about the funk.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Oh. It's not an art discussion anymore? Glad that was resolved.

For me to many soft synths means switching through thousands of presets,however owning a couple means mastering your tools efficiently and creating awesome sounds

Less is without a doubt more

I've had Komplete 9 for a while now and have not even opened the box... Who knows when or if I'll do so... I'm happy with what I have and I still have so much to learn with the tools I currently use.

I've never understood how sometimes people but something and then don't even open it or install it. Aren't you curious about some if the toys in there? Or did you want to keep it unregistered for easier resale?

At first I though wow that takes some restraint! But then I thought wait, maybe it's lack of restraint pushing the buy button when you don't really need/want it that bad.

[gamecat666]

in the case of Komplete it could be explained by the knowledge that it'll take an entire day to install and update.. enough to put anyone off!

[Echoes in the Attic]

in the case of Komplete it could be explained by the knowledge that it'll take an entire day to install and update.. enough to put anyone off!

True. In fact it is worth buying ultimate just because if how much easier it is to install! Komplete standard keeps growing in size. They should really do a hard drive for it as well. It's getting way to big for CDs.

[vurt]

or saving it for xmas so i have something to open