Long Live the Soft Synth, Hardware Synths are dead

[Vectorman]

I'm with you...and this is no joke. I just got a Casio VL-Tone for $110 What a steal!

OK, it was $30, but the Juno was $200 and D-550 with all cards and programmer $300. These are certainly cheaper than even a year before. It is happening...and I'm buying. I'd rather own history than emulate it if it's in the ballpark of affordability.

It's posts like this that really underline how things have changed when such an old thread gets bumped. $200 Junos. People casually saying they're in the market for an OB-Xa because back then you didn't have to get a second mortgage to snag one. When I think back to 2006, it really was a whole different world. SO much water flows under the bridge in 15 years.

[vurt]

well, this spiraled out of control

[Sinisterbr]

Never saw this thread before.
And it doesn't even make sense, as hardware and software synths are in completely different price ranges (not to mention other specifics).

Its specifically interesting for historical reasons. I mean 2004 compared to the quality of synths of today…

For me these discourses have a certain entertaining quality…

Yeah, I agree. It's really interesting to observe in what means things have changed in the course of 15 years. This thread has some historical quality, indeed.

And yes, it certainly has an entertaining quality, for sure. We all are not participating in this forum (and thread) just by chance, after all

[briefcasemanx]

I bought and sold a bunch of now really expensive synths back then. Still have my Juno 106 but never use it, only software.

I'd consider getting a Beringer prophet clone, but nothing else, due to space concerns

[chk071]

I feel that is not the case chk071, as the internet has been a total dumpster fire the entire time, I mean people were being total pricks on BBSes on sub-33k modems back before America Online was even a thing

Maybe, but, the touchy-ness definitely has worsen.

[foosnark]

Wow, that first post is quite a thing to see. Wrong even in 2004, and there's been a revolution or two in synth hardware since then...

Maybe not as much fun as "PC gaming is dead" or "by the year 2010, no one will own a desktop computer" or "cities will be rebuilt around the Segway"

[chk071]

I tend to avoid such ultimate and final stuff for a different reason: It could well be that I change my mind one day, and then I look like a complete fool.

[kobal]

over expensive.. depends when.. all the mono that cost a fortune today were very cheap .. pro one, ms 20 , some of sh serie all were around 400 / 500 euros when i got my first synths , cheaper than a nord lead 1, maybe half price i dont remember .. if i compare to today money it was less than 100 euros for a sh 101/202 / 09 , ms20 or pro one but with inflation.. it s around 400 /500e , at that time for ot of people analog was boring and theere was lot of hype with the first Va .. but not everyone was deaf luckily and some never sold their analog gears cause the sound was just better for them.. so we had some great goa trance for a bit more years...

[Examigan]

I still have the Moog I bought 6 years ago.

[zerocrossing]

The internet seems to be a place where small minded people can pretend their ideas are big because people are triggered by them. They’re sad and pathetic people who’s parents probably didn’t really love them.

[BONES]

lol here we are in 2021 and the hardware synth market has exploded overtaking the soft synth market.

Ha! Do you have any evidence to support this patently absurd claim?

Im not surprised as some of the hardware coming out looks amazing like the asm hydrasynth for starters.

What makes it better than a softsynth like DUNE, which costs one-tenth as much? ONE-TENTH!

Hardware synths seem to be doing alright in 2021, but software synths are amazingly dope too and have been for a while. I don't know why people bother with this comparison - you're gonna be into a hardware synth's worth of money to get a comp that can run soft synths with no latency and all the effects and stuff you want, it seems such a moot point to argue about this in 2004 or 2021

Until you make false claims, such as you just did, claiming hardware synths have no latency. This is simply not true and was proven to be not true by Scot Solida many years ago.

Wow, that first post is quite a thing to see. Wrong even in 2004, and there's been a revolution or two in synth hardware since then...

But software hasn't gotten any better at all, right? If anything it is software that has streaked ahead while hardware continues to navel-gaze, reinventing its own past.

I still have the Moog I bought 6 years ago.

And I still have DUNE, which I got about 12 years ago. So what's your point, exactly?

I tend to avoid such ultimate and final stuff for a different reason: It could well be that I change my mind one day, and then I look like a complete fool.

No need to change your mind...

[Agreed]

I should have said "low latency," it feels negligible to me but of course that is not the same thing as NO latency in fact, and I don't mean to be making a technical "false claim" - just chatting. I have no bones to pick with hardware synth fans or anybody

[Tj Shredder]

No need to change your mind...

That is why I didn‘t mind that this thread was necroed. I could have betted that Bones jumps in. Lets get out the pop corn for the show…

[Examigan]

I still have the Moog I bought 6 years ago.

And I still have DUNE, which I got about 12 years ago. So what's your point, exactly?

The original thread title mentions "Hardware synths are Dead", but they aren't to me, as I bought one only 6 years ago and still own it.

[Scotty]

Staring at computer screens at work, watching youtube tutorials on my phone, streaming netflix on my flat screen, and decreasingly not interacting with physical objects except for a "gesture" on a touch screen doesn't cut it for me in my artistic pursuits. There is a fun factor with the hardware. There is manipulation and tactile feedback that stimulates the ears, eyes and the hands. That is enough. There is more than one way to experience music making. My acoustic guitars, drums and bass belong next to my soft synths, computer and my expanding collection of hardware synths. Whatever makes me happy is worth it to me. Let's make some noise.

Here is Hanai Rani - live from Studio S2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFRdoYf ... iQ94AaABAg

I love the physicality of the performance as much as I love the sounds. There is room for hardware and software in this world. If it floats your boat and inspires you, have at it. Don't be an idiot and claim your approach is superior. It is just your approach and your preferences. Arguing that how you choose to experience the world of music making is somehow superior to the approach or choices of another is a fool's errand.