What's the point of buying the newest plugins once you already have your bases covered?

[MackTuesday]

For several years, most of the plugin releases I've seen have been rearrangements of the same concepts. Sometimes it's a new analog modeler, sometimes it's a new hybrid do-everything synth, sometimes it's a sampler, sometimes it's a physical modeler, sometimes it's a few selected parts thrown together. Nothing I've seen truly *sounds* new.

And when we hear innovative music, it's never because someone is using that new synth, it's because they're using their tools differently. When you go demo a new synth, you find it doesn't really do anything you couldn't get out of some previous one. And never mind listening to the demo music developers put on their websites. They really just show that the synth can do xyz kind of music you already care about.

And yet I see people getting excited about these new products as if the ones they already have in the same class aren't meeting some need of theirs.

Is it changes in user interface? Incremental improvements in sound quality?

What unsolved problems are the newest synth plugins addressing? Or what new results are they achieving?

[chk071]

I'm not sure why you feel the need to ask all these questions, noone will be able to answer them for YOU. If you feel like nothing you see will add anything useful FOR YOU, then, don't buy anything. I didn't buy a new synth plugin for quite a while now, because i feel like the stuff i have now is pretty great. But, if something comes along, which i feel like it adds something for me, ESPECIALLY sound wise, i won't say no. That's actually something most people in the forums don't seem to understand. You can't just go ahead, and replacing everything you have with Zebra, or Synthmaster (which both do most of what other plugins do). Unless you don't give a cr** about quality, and say that it's all good enough. Or you like the sound of Zebra, or Synthmaster. And if you do, you won't be able to replace those with similar synths, because, again, they will sound different.

[wagtunes]

chk071 said it about as well as you can say it.

For me, every synth has its own sound engine. So every synth sounds slightly different from another synth. It may just be another VA or whatever, but synth X doesn't sound exactly like synth Y.

Are the slight (and sometimes not so slight) differences in sound enough to justify buying a new synth? Depends on each individual. But nobody can tell me that...

Omnisphere sounds like Synthmaster
Dune 2 sounds like Diva
The Legend sounds like Wavemapper 2
Serum sounds like ImpOSCar 2
Bazille sounds like Mpowersynth
Zebra 2 sounds like MUX

I could go on and on and on but I think you get the point.

If one or two synths, whatever they may be, are good enough for you to make your music, don't buy anything else. It's that simple.

But don't come here and try to tell anybody that the above synths are interchangeable because they are far from it.

[exmatproton]

To me (as an addition to chk and wag), workflow can be very important with new synths as well.
If you have 2 VA synths with a completely different workflow, results will (or may) differ as well. At least, that's in my experience.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

For several years, most of the plugin releases I've seen have been rearrangements of the same concepts. Sometimes it's a new analog modeler, sometimes it's a new hybrid do-everything synth, sometimes it's a sampler, sometimes it's a physical modeler, sometimes it's a few selected parts thrown together. Nothing I've seen truly *sounds* new.

And when we hear innovative music, it's never because someone is using that new synth, it's because they're using their tools differently. When you go demo a new synth, you find it doesn't really do anything you couldn't get out of some previous one. And never mind listening to the demo music developers put on their websites. They really just show that the synth can do xyz kind of music you already care about.

And yet I see people getting excited about these new products as if the ones they already have in the same class aren't meeting some need of theirs.

Is it changes in user interface? Incremental improvements in sound quality?

What unsolved problems are the newest synth plugins addressing? Or what new results are they achieving?

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=476776

[KBSoundSmith]

I get where you're coming from OP, while still readily agreeing with what chk071 and wagtunes said.

Personally, I feel pretty content with the setup I have, minus drum samples, a physical modelling synth, and an Alchemy replacement for samples (all pretty low priorities...the last addition I made was Serum, upon release, however long ago that was).

But I always keep an eye out for the new, anyway. Workflow improvements are nothing to be overlooked -- time-saving features are money, especially in a professional context. Also, if the architecture and GUI/usability promote a particular way of working, it may naturally lead you to sonic territory you wouldn't have done otherwise -- even if a synth in your current line-up is technically capable of doing the same thing. Form follows function -- but function also follows form.

And even two synths with roughly the same architecture can really have a difference in sound. A skilled user can match them, of course -- but if one synth gets to a particular kind of sound faster than another, why take the extra time to get the same sound in another synth?

For example, I was using Serum just the other day, and just for the heck of it, I tried to make the same patch in Zebra. Because of their editors, this specific patch was MUCH faster to make in Serum, and to my ears, sounded better. There are enough small details in the way the editors and modulation options work that getting a 1:1 replica was going to be a nightmare.

So, I have a few synths with theoretically overlapping functionality. But in practice, they don't get me the same results, outside of the most basic of patches.

[Examigan]

Maybe it is just GAS.

[Ridan]

Not sure that the majority of synths are actually achieving "new results" but some people (like me) collect hardware and software for amusement and sometimes commercial purposes. A short example - all of the wavetables synths i own have their own character, which comes in handy if i'm looking for a specific type of semblance or quality that the others just don't have.

When it comes to music making i rarely use more than 2 synths but rely almost totally on effects. However, for sound design, rainy days, drunken nights, and sheer curiosity/boredom/excitement will load up as many as my DAW can handle and just get totally lost.. in a good way.

[egbert101]

<delete>

[fluffy_little_something]

Maybe there is always the hope that something new will sound slightly better than established stuff, or offer some feature missing from what one already has.

And many humans simply need change, be it a new synth, a new car, a new shirt, a new girlfriend...

[plexuss]

I would guess most people would hit a moment where what they have is good enough and any new products that come out are not considered for purchase. But this is going to be different for everyone. For example, a colleague of mine is perfectly satisfied with the stock Logic Pro plugins and has never, in his 20 years working with Logic (and it's previous incarnations) has been interested in 3rd party plugins. Where-as I, on the other hand, never use the stock plugins and have amassed a small fortune in plugin licenses because a) I enjoy working new and interesting variations on the same theme, and b) like to have an arsenal of tools at my disposal as I get bored with using the same tools over and over again. But I also hit a time where now I am more picky about what I buy: it has to have something different about it than what I already have and since I have so many, I don't often buy. But it's going to be different for each person because as much as there are people like my colleague, there are also people that just want to have everything that comes out for no reason than they want them.

So this is one of those things where I dont think you'll find a consensus and trying to average it out to a generalization will miss the important variations and details of people's motivations. I would guess, however, that "most people" would check out a new plugin, try out the demo and if they felt it offered something new and the price was commensurate with what was new for them, they'd buy it even if to just have a different variation of what they already have. But that as people accumulate more plugins, I am going to guess their purchasing subsides.

[Neon Breath]

Interesting question for sure. No value judgment here but here's how I percieve it:

It think basically it’s the same as all the stuff people buy non-stop, in general. Smartphones, computers, cars, electronic gadgets, objects & material stuff of all kinds we’re so used to buy without ever questioning ourselves. Same goes for music tools and software, which is a pretty big industry existing first to make money, it's all rooted to this one main thing: consumption.

I think it’s fairly safe to say that 95% of the time something new comes out, you probably don’t NEED it. And that’s not even the question here. The real thing is: you’ll WANT it. Some smart people understand that very well…

[do_androids_dream]

What you're really questioning is the nature of market/competition driven consumer capitalism.. Don't question it - just be glad we have it

[Chapelle]

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[Neon Breath]

Yup exactly. Sums up pretty much what I meant in my previous post in one image!