OK, I'm not just looking for a HW vs SW slinging match, this is a choice I am trying to decide upon. In this case obviously cost is a big difference but ignoring that which provides the best option ( I do kind of late 70s early 80s synth and guitar pop). and why?

imho size matter !
do you have any space to install any hardware, do you have enough audio input ?
do you already have a midi controller ?
i prefer software in 2012 !

either/or is silly, get them all, leaving just one out would leave too big a deficit

In my case, size is not really an issue, plenty of space and capability of handling more inputs. I guess what I'm trying to find out is that in users opinions, does Diva really cut the mustard well enough as an alternative to the combo of a HW polysynth and a mono lead?

Diva cut the mustard at the price of a big CPU !
one diva by core should be right your need !

Been demoing Diva, sounds nice and to my ears quite authentic. However, for all the talk about the difference (or where it really shines) in Divine mode, I have to be honest, I'm just not hearing it. Now it may be a result of my too many years playing LOUD rock in pubs and clubs, but for my money all I see is an increase in CPU hit (computer handles it no problem though). I sure as hell doubt that I will notice this in a final mix. Am I the only one who's ears are so lacking in the golden touch or is there a bit of the Emperor's New Clothes going on here?

No u aint alone , even though I've only made it into great mode , I prefer draft over great for most sounds , except for basses .

Diva sounds good to me in Draft mode! I definately cant tell the difference between good and devine.

Imposcar 2 also sounds great, as does the arturia SEM V.

Hardware is always tewmpting, but the reality is, by the time you have 'digitised' that anologue Prophet 08 in to you DAW and mixed it, you probably wont be able to tell it started life as a real instrument.

Incidently, I just got REASON 6 yesterday (had 3 kicking around for ages and hadnt upgraded)- some of the best sounding VA I have heard with the combiner (mainly using THOR) at a very low CPU cost- check it out, it has a great demo version and download somew of the free combiner refills (moog, try 'nightclub series 4 combinor pads, woth it for the 'blakes 7 patch )

I've got Reason 6 but not got round to using it yet. This is a result of not being arced with the cramped GUI on my old MBP. Must give it a go on the new 27" iMac...lots of nice real estate here. I guess one consideration is of course the immediacy and playability of HW....yeh, yeh I know I can map Diva to my Remote SL II but it is not the same. It is interesting to discover that I'm not the only one who can't really justify (or worry about) some all but imperceptible difference in Diva's Modes.

The other pertinent thing here is I consider myself more a performer than a producer!

The difference is only audible with high filter resonance, where "Divine" has less noise in the resonance than "Great". Otherwise Great and Divine are identical. Thus, for most times, there's hardly any difference.

"Fast" may exhibit a bit more aliasing than Great, but it's good enough for soft sounds with little to no distortion.

Draft is, well, not as balanced as the other modes, e.g. the volume of self oscillation does not correspond well to the analogue counterparts. It's still up there with other digital synths, quality wise.

Urs

May well be why I'm not getting it. I tend to play very middle of the keyboard, hooverish leads and thick bass sounds mixed with guitars and drums. Not tweaking the hell out of the filter res/cut off EDM thing...much more of a straight player with only the occasional and subtle tweaks live, however I do like to use a variety of patches within one song and I find it easier to do this in HW....glad I'm not just missing some significant point that everyone else is getting though.

Just out of interest, can you suggest a patch and a knob to tweak where the difference may be audible to an uncouth (guitarists) ears like mine; I bought Diva and just like the way it sounds and works, but I am curious to try and hear what others hear......now if you want to talk valve amps

For some presets there is no significant difference and you may as well use the lower settings and save cpu.

It is really with high resonance and the Cross Mod/FM where you will hear a meaningful difference with Divine mode. Also extreme modulations will stand up better. Various basses will sound more coherent in Great or Divine as well.

Turn up the noise, add crossmod or filterFM and some resonance and do some modulation. The noise in Diva stays coherent and musical and doesn't turn into fuzz. For example:

http://draigathar.org/sounds/Diva-12.wav


It may be that if you do not hear a difference that matters to you, that you do not need to get an expensive analog either (no offense meant).

As for the original request, if money is no concern, get all of them!

Probably right in the not "needing", but wanting is another thing. I'm not going to be making hit songs anytime (nor trying to for that matter), this is a hobby, has been for a long time. The best part about the software avenue is that I don't have to try and sneak it into the house past the wife, however I was more curious to see if Diva is considered a worthy alternative to the HW combo I'm considering.

As a Prophet '08 and Slim Phatty owner, I can say that these two synths sound very different than DiVA and have a pretty different feature set. So, even if you go to the analog v digital debate, it's kind of moot in this case because you're just talking about things that are too different in the first place. So, I own DiVA as well (yes Urs, I'm putting the VA in caps, because it pains me you missed out on such a slam-dunk marketing trick ) because, well I just like to have a lot of options.

But back to the a/b comparison, as Urs said you don't hear much more of an increase in quality in divine mode unless you're using a high resonance sound, and in all honesty, that's where DiVA and all software does tend to trip up. There's a cherpiness in the DSI filter that I haven't heard in any software. A "wooliness" when you make a big pad that doesn't seem possible in software. There's a sweetness in the Phatty filter that I don't hear in software either. Also, DiVA doesn't even try to emulate an overloaded filter stage, which to me is half the fun of the Phatty. Maybe it's me, but I still also feel there's a basic weight and presence in analog that software does't quite pull off either.

So, if you have the cash, get the Prophet/Phatty combo. You can't go wrong there. Later, when you're hanker'n to mix and match modules from yesteryear in ways not possible in the real world, get that too.