Why do producers still use hardware ?

[dea-man]

I'm pleased so many have piped up about useability. I think this is where newbs don't get it. That blanket h/w vs s/w argument has no meaning to anyone who has serious history (i.e. long years and old-fartedness) with h/w. None of us actually enjoyed silly LCD 2-line screens and one stupid circular knob. None of us enjoyed some of those stupid 90s S&S synths with all buttons. We enjoy the old analogues not only because of the sound but because they let you make good sounds easily and quickly with one knob/slider per parameter. We embraced DAWs because DAWs are so much more visual and easy to work than stupid h/w sequencers with multipage edit systems. It's not about whether it's h/w or s/w. It's about what it sounds like and how much it draws you in to actually play with it and use it, and make life easier. My DAW with a huge screen makes sequencing easier. My analogues make life easier because they have lots of knobs and no mouse. My s/w effects make life easier because I can see what I'm programming in big visual pictures without using reading glasses (or a microscope). I really don't care whether they're 0s and 1s or hamsters running a generator in a giant ferris wheel.

Amen.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

external knob box

[Axis1~SL61]

I still have an EPS.

I have an ASR-10r (had, it's awaiting repair). but it'S large LCD , though only alphanumeric (no wave display), was rather easy to work with (maybe due to the many buttons on it's front panel), especially when compared to any of my Yamaha modules.
Ah, and even the ASR10's sequencer was rather straightforward, even for a hardware one.
But I think that's more the exception than the rule, anyway...

[dea-man]

Now that I said that, as awesome as my first Micromoog was and as fun as my last Memorymoog was, I still appreciate what we have today as far as technology goes.

If you're in the lovely position of making music in today's world, you've literally hit the powerball!

We have so much, and are so (for want of a better word) "blessed", by what is capable with a common desktop computer, that if you're having trouble making music in today's tech climate, then the problem is somewhere you haven't looked. The problem is so close to home, you may have missed the fireworks.

And no, all the analog on the planet, won't help.

[OzWozEre]

You _need_ an answer?

The answer is D.U.C.A.P.

Which stands for Direct Usage Control And Performance.

That's why hardware is better than software.

That's precious. My first vorays into sampling, on hardware, was all about a display SMALLER THAN MY THUMB and describing loop points in hexadecimal on that thing. THEN, there was software for the 128k beige Mac but it was still describing all points in hex but I tell you what, it was an improvement. ET CETERA.

And it_sounded_like_shit.

If you haven't edited a loop point on a 2 digit hexadecimal display you ain't a pro!

[jancivil]

I love how those taking their first steps in music call themselves producers - it's just so weird sounding to hear people call themselves something that you once had to learn through blood, sweat and tears before you got the respect and the chance to apply your talents as one.

I'm sure it won't be long now before those who have completed a first aid course will be calling themselves 'doctors'.

jancivil approves of this message.

Well musician hasn't changed in meaning as far as I know for hundreds of years, but I think producer has...

Evidently both definitions have changed, the whole thing I still get singled out for /such as right here was people badly out of joint for even the suggestion that 'musician' as a self-definition isn't automatically "valid" for the world. You don't have to have ever played a musical instrument or sung or anything, if you have a computer do that as per your instructions, that's enough. It's the same as "Producer". Fine, I sez.

However if you only ever did sports in virtual reality, how convincing is "I'm an athlete."? But I get it, music is different than all things in the world, nothing is true, everything is permitted.

[kmonkey]

Why do people still ask irrelevant question?

[Sendy]

Why do people still ask irrelevant question?

Because they're not making music?

[jancivil]

You _need_ an answer?

The answer is D.U.C.A.P.

Which stands for Direct Usage Control And Performance.

That's why hardware is better than software.

That's precious. My first vorays into sampling, on hardware, was all about a display SMALLER THAN MY THUMB and describing loop points in hexadecimal on that thing. THEN, there was software for the 128k beige Mac but it was still describing all points in hex but I tell you what, it was an improvement. ET CETERA.

And it_sounded_like_shit.

If you haven't edited a loop point on a 2 digit hexadecimal display you ain't a pro!

What are you trying to convey there? I didn't know what hex was. The guy that taught it to me was a manager of the computers for the ATM system for Bank of America. So he was paid to know how to read and write hex strings. I was not.

I think what I said addressed the point. There are a lot of people with a false dichotomy here. I think the Ensoniq Mirage, 'vintage hardware' to somebody, is not superior in any way to things I use today. I think the DX7 is not the end-all to Chowning/Yamaha FM synthesis.

Both of them up in here and me having even to dust them, that's a no.

[jancivil]

Actually you could plug a mic directly into it and literally 'sample', which will be a couple of steps here. But the result was 8-bit. There are people that think that's wonderful, I'm not one of them.
Some of this contention is fetishers of tools vs users of tools it starts to look like to me.

[faun2500]

I'm pleased so many have piped up about useability. I think this is where newbs don't get it. That blanket h/w vs s/w argument has no meaning to anyone who has serious history (i.e. long years and old-fartedness) with h/w. None of us actually enjoyed silly LCD 2-line screens and one stupid circular knob. None of us enjoyed some of those stupid 90s S&S synths with all buttons. We enjoy the old analogues not only because of the sound but because they let you make good sounds easily and quickly with one knob/slider per parameter. We embraced DAWs because DAWs are so much more visual and easy to work than stupid h/w sequencers with multipage edit systems. It's not about whether it's h/w or s/w. It's about what it sounds like and how much it draws you in to actually play with it and use it, and make life easier. My DAW with a huge screen makes sequencing easier. My analogues make life easier because they have lots of knobs and no mouse. My s/w effects make life easier because I can see what I'm programming in big visual pictures without using reading glasses (or a microscope). I really don't care whether they're 0s and 1s or hamsters running a generator in a giant ferris wheel.

Amen.

Word

[trimph1]

I'm pleased so many have piped up about useability. I think this is where newbs don't get it. That blanket h/w vs s/w argument has no meaning to anyone who has serious history (i.e. long years and old-fartedness) with h/w. None of us actually enjoyed silly LCD 2-line screens and one stupid circular knob. None of us enjoyed some of those stupid 90s S&S synths with all buttons. We enjoy the old analogues not only because of the sound but because they let you make good sounds easily and quickly with one knob/slider per parameter. We embraced DAWs because DAWs are so much more visual and easy to work than stupid h/w sequencers with multipage edit systems. It's not about whether it's h/w or s/w. It's about what it sounds like and how much it draws you in to actually play with it and use it, and make life easier. My DAW with a huge screen makes sequencing easier. My analogues make life easier because they have lots of knobs and no mouse. My s/w effects make life easier because I can see what I'm programming in big visual pictures without using reading glasses (or a microscope). I really don't care whether they're 0s and 1s or hamsters running a generator in a giant ferris wheel.

Amen.

This is why I use both.

[trimph1]

I just call myself a hobbyist.

[OzWozEre]

You _need_ an answer?

The answer is D.U.C.A.P.

Which stands for Direct Usage Control And Performance.

That's why hardware is better than software.

That's precious. My first vorays into sampling, on hardware, was all about a display SMALLER THAN MY THUMB and describing loop points in hexadecimal on that thing. THEN, there was software for the 128k beige Mac but it was still describing all points in hex but I tell you what, it was an improvement. ET CETERA.

And it_sounded_like_shit.

If you haven't edited a loop point on a 2 digit hexadecimal display you ain't a pro!

What are you trying to convey there? I didn't know what hex was. The guy that taught it to me was a manager of the computers for the ATM system for Bank of America. So he was paid to know how to read and write hex strings. I was not.

I think what I said addressed the point. There are a lot of people with a false dichotomy here. I think the Ensoniq Mirage, 'vintage hardware' to somebody, is not superior in any way to things I use today. I think the DX7 is not the end-all to Chowning/Yamaha FM synthesis.

Both of them up in here and me having even to dust them, that's a no.

"Ensoniq Mirage"

Yeah, that's what I was refering to, and I was joking of course

[jancivil]

so you're a pro too?

that was insane, but we were grateful to have it. and we walked twenty miles to school on ice uphill both ways. you kids today don't know.