Hardware synthesizers make me wish I had Software VA

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Hardware synthesizers are fun for a while, but difficult to upgrade, high maintenance costs, and most importantly their sound is overrated.

I've been playing a bit with DS Tetra lately, it's nice in a toy like way, but I'm just amazed that somebody can ask that kind of price for such a thing. Give me a freebie soft synth anyday, I'll take that hands down.

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Numanoid wrote:Hardware synthesizers are fun for a while, but difficult to upgrade, high maintenance costs, and most importantly their sound is overrated.

I've been playing a bit with DS Tetra lately, it's nice in a toy like way, but I'm just amazed that somebody can ask that kind of price for such a thing. Give me a freebie soft synth anyday, I'll take that hands down.
The Tetra is one of the cooler DSI boxes, if not a little expensive, but, all of his current products share a commonality with the most basic analogue synths of the mid to late eighties. They're hardly a gold standard. Do you have other analogue hardware, or are you drawing your experience from just the Tetra?

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ghettosynth wrote:The Tetra is one of the cooler DSI boxes, if not a little expensive, but, all of his current products share a commonality with the most basic analogue synths of the mid to late eighties. They're hardly a gold standard. Do you have other analogue hardware, or are you drawing your experience from just the Tetra?
Minimoog Voyager, tested that out some time recently, and man does the knobs and buttons on that feel cheap, luckily Arturia and Nat Inst has long since nailed that sound, so those buying into such monsters now, are basically going for the bling factor

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I don't like Tetra, but I do like Mopho ;)

That being said, to me hardware synths are something to do and have some fun with besides the VSTIs, so I don't want (nor afford to) to invest a lot of cash in them. My policy is simple: whatever costs more than 300 Euros (and I just might lower the bar to 200, heh) = not interested ;) So when I do hunt for a hardware unit I go either for the "cheappos" or used market looking for old gems. I've recently scored a Yamaha RM1x and that box is a lot of fun :) I also have a Korg MicroX & Kaossilator and a Novation XioSynth. All bought dirt cheap new. Next on the list is either M-Audio Venom or a Roland/Korg rack module. I have very limited space (so small footprint is mandatory as well) and like I said I rely more on software than hardware because all my VSTIs are freeware so that keeps my hobby costs down :)

All in all, whatever makes you happy - be it expensive analogue, or freeware software. The audience doesn't care what instruments you use to make music as long as the song is good ;) This kind of debate is only for us, the tech geeks; the audience couldn't care less :)
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Hardware synths never made me want a softsynth.
Owning a computer did (and does).

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A look into my portemonnaie, and reasonable considerations that this is only a hobby, make me use software. :P And sound examples like these convince me that, even though there's so much hype around them, hardware synths don't necessarily sound better than software, and it's more a matter of the right use: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 3#p5708073 In fact, i even think Sylenth1 and MUX sound better in these examples, but i guess that's more a matter of taste.

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Last edited by jacqueslacouth on Tue Sep 30, 2014 10:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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jacqueslacouth wrote:I tend to agree with Numanoid on this. I have a fair bit of Hardware and haven't bought much in quite some time. The other week I bought a Casio CZ1000 on impulse because it seemed cheap (considering the Australian market) at $200 based on a lot of love for the CZ range online and a few quite good video demos. What a meh sounding POS! Then I thought about any one of the soft synths that I have (especially in the $200 bracket…..FFS, I picked up Blue II for $150. The sound of my software in recent years far surpasses the mountain of Hardware I have and so I think it is time to rationalise my studio a LOT….Ebay firesale coming up! This could clear some space in my man cave so I can put a large TV in with a PS4 and a fridge with beer….YAY for me

:party:
I agree with stuff like the CZ. I've been saying for a while that there's not much point anymore in owning what was once budget hardware. You're better off with software. If you're going to own hardware, get the stuff that is really good. The stuff that was inexpensive in the 80s was all about manufacturing shortcuts to reach the mass market.

I just setup a rack of DCO based synths to do some sampling and testing. Even a stack of them sound sterile compared to a good VA. For the most part, I much prefer a good plugin or the Nord Modular.

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gone
Last edited by jacqueslacouth on Tue Sep 30, 2014 10:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Numanoid wrote:Hardware synthesizers are fun for a while, but difficult to upgrade, high maintenance costs, and most importantly their sound is overrated.

I've been playing a bit with DS Tetra lately, it's nice in a toy like way, but I'm just amazed that somebody can ask that kind of price for such a thing. Give me a freebie soft synth anyday, I'll take that hands down.
I am totally opposite. I can't stand that sound not even with commercial synths let alone free ones. I do use them though. I don't know what you mean by "difficult to upgrade". Out of ten hardware synths i have i need to upgrade two of them and that is maybe once in a year. Which is something quite smaller then very often software issues and upgrades. And i am not considering 5min job as something difficult either.

Seriously if you can't hear a difference between Tetra and free soft synth you shouldn't buy any hardware synth ever. I am not saying you are inferior etc. We are all different but to me difference is huge but in your case if you can't hear a difference therefore you can't utilize it and in your case your actual statement is pretty much valid.

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jacqueslacouth wrote:I tend to agree with Numanoid on this. I have a fair bit of Hardware and haven't bought much in quite some time. The other week I bought a Casio CZ1000 on impulse because it seemed cheap (considering the Australian market) at $200 based on a lot of love for the CZ range online and a few quite good video demos. What a meh sounding POS! Then I thought about any one of the soft synths that I have (especially in the $200 bracket…..FFS, I picked up Blue II for $150. The sound of my software in recent years far surpasses the mountain of Hardware I have and so I think it is time to rationalise my studio a LOT….Ebay firesale coming up! This could clear some space in my man cave so I can put a large TV in with a PS4 and a fridge with beer….YAY for me

:party:
If you guys are going to marginalize and over-generalize comparison of hardware synth world vs plugins and doing that with CZ1000 you are seriously odd. No disrespect intended. It's just that i am finding it very weird. PM me with the list of your gear i might buy it (i am not kidding). At least ebay won't rip you off with their fees.

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My adventures going into hardware (or rather, back to hardware, since I used to be all HW before 2000) have always ended in pain.

I picked up the Alesis Ion. Great synth, semi-rare-ish, very capable.. then a month later the buttons have started to go home. And they're really crappy buttons that are hard to replace - and of course the most important buttons are the first to go since they get touched so much.

I picked up a Roland JP-8000, all was fine for months, then it got the weak output bug and sounds like poop now. So that's something else I'll probably end up selling for a loss.

The three HW analog synths I've picked up have faired better, but I still don't use them as much as I thought I would, because of synths like Diva and the other usual VA suspects - they honestly sound so good that I only grab the hardware when I fancy a change.
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Sendy wrote:My adventures going into hardware (or rather, back to hardware, since I used to be all HW before 2000) have always ended in pain.
I hear you, hardware=pain.
The three HW analog synths I've picked up have faired better, but I still don't use them as much as I thought I would, because of synths like Diva and the other usual VA suspects - they honestly sound so good that I only grab the hardware when I fancy a change.
Do you mind sharing what they are?

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cryophonik wrote:I use both. Problem solved.
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The first one I got was the Nanozwerg. For raw sound this is my favourite, and the cheapest.
Then I got the Analog Four, which I had very mixed feelings about. I didn't like the initial filter sound either, but they've fixed that in a patch, and they have SW integration coming later this year, so big thumbs up to Elektron, great company, I just made a silly impulse buy.
Then lastly I got the Minibrute, because analog wavefolder. And I wanted something that was knob=function, which is something I realised after I got the very complicated A4.

Another thing with me is that I honestly feel quite at home turning knobs with the mouse. The only problem is you can't turn more than one knob/slider, but this is studio work - we can do as many passes as we need. The only thing that's annoying about the mouse is when you want a specific value and you can only get either side of it - that can drive me mad :)
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!

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