Hardware vs software synths take infinity : topic initial focus Andromeda A6

[Numanoid]

It is simple. No SW synth sound like Andromeda. Yet.

Andromeda only got monotimbral effects, software synth are much better equipped.

And just like sofware synths Andromeda lacks discrete components.

[wagtunes]

The snobbery in here is getting thick and sickening.

But that's par for the course for KVR.

[toine6]

you could still use free vst's and make music just as good though not exactly the same.

That's true paradox above.

You can not make free synth to sound as lovely as paid one. There is even greater difference between paid one and truly amazing hardware synth. Tell me free synth which can sound as Bazille? Give me one? What do you know what i am trying to achieve?

Yes i can make music with free synths but what kind of music exactly? If you will now claim that Kraftwerk would sound the same with free synths i'll just say Tuna-fish to that.

It's not a paradox, I didn't say it would sound the same, I said it could still be as good. Some people think caviar is the finest food in the world, and I would just argue that if you can't afford caviar or even if you can, you could still find something just as a good OR BETTER, for a much cheaper.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

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[Numanoid]

Someone once said: A thing of beauty is a joy forever

At KVR this saying is rather: A thing of beauty is a threat forever

[Cinebient]

why have i NEVER heard ANY plugin that can sound as good?

Because Alesis are really good in making reverbs. I mean, really really good. Most on-board reverbs of softsynths (including ours) don't sound as good as the Alesis reverb built into the Andromeda. The best fix for this is to buy a decent reverb and drench the sound of any synth in it, like it was done in the video you linked. Problem solved, huge amounts of money saved

I would totally agree here!
Maybe it´s more of a placebo effect
And i find even reverbs like B2 much better and any synth can sound fantastic with great FX on top. Of course a you-tube video is not good at all to compare sounds.
In general i didn´t find those sound better than a lot other synths in other videos/sound demos.
But if someone felt in love and says there is nothing better...it´s all fine and a personal taste.
Hardware maybe still can top any software in some areas but i like software more because of the flexibility.
In 5-10 years or so maybe each 5 dollar app sounds as good as that
Still waiting for the Holophone...

[exmatproton]

I love hardware. I love software. I used both and i don't really care what i (or others, for that matter) use. As long as the workflow and the sound are something i can use.

However, these days i use more software then hardware. To be honest, i don't use hardware (synths) anymore. I don't know why exactly, but i guess it is less versatile (for the stuff i do anyway). The music (my music, that is) isn't suffering by using software. But i think it depends on what kind of music one makes as well.
And for instance, for live stuff (in a band), i would rather pick a nice hardware synth.
But a good softsynth like Diva or Oddity2 would do the trick as well.

[chk071]

I probably would love hardware too, if i owned some. Pretty sure i'd fall in love with something like the Virus Polar for example. So i can really understand why people go for it. Obviously, the hands on lets you build up an entirely different relationship, than operating something virtually on a screen. If hardware sounds better, i cannot judge. But what i guess is that with building hardware, the pressure to build quality is probably a bit higher than with software, simply because the manufacturing costs are higher, and you need someone to build stuff for you, or delivers parts to you.

Anyway, i'd love to own something hardware. It's just the costs that put me off.

[exmatproton]

I probably would love hardware too, if i owned some. Pretty sure i'd fall in love with something like the Virus Polar for example. So i can really understand why people go for it. Obviously, the hands on lets you build up an entirely different relationship, than operating something virtually on a screen. If hardware sounds better, i cannot judge. But what i guess is that with building hardware, the pressure to build quality is probably a bit higher than with software, simply because the manufacturing costs are higher, and you need someone to build stuff for you, or delivers parts to you.

Anyway, i'd love to own something hardware. It's just the costs that put me off.

Especially costs, but also maintenance. Plus the extra cables, more power, space..etc....on the other hand, a good synth like (IMHO) sub37, is just awesome to play with. No midi controller i used trumps that. Not by a long shot.

[Mutant]

@ The ones saying "analog gave me such beautiful pads, i never heard anything like that from a soft synth".

Did you actually try to copy the sound having both analog and software on hand at the same time, hooked up to an oscilloscope and a frequency analyzer ?
If yes, then at what exact stage of copying the sound did the software fail you ?

Copying a single oscillator sound with a fully open filter is a childs play - i did that and posted the results on some other forum and no one spotted that there were 2 sounds, not 1.
But that is only the very first step.
Does it sound different when you add a second oscillator and detune it to line up perfectly with the analog synths second oscillator on an oscilloscope ?
Or does it sound different when the filter comes into play ? Maybe a different filter frequency response curve, or maybe the resonance behaves differently ?
Or are single notes exactly the same, but differences start appearing when you play chords ? (Which would mean some nonlinearities in voice summing - that is the step my attempts often fail at).

Tell me where the software fails, maybe software devs will learn something from you and next gen plugins will be even better.

[Numanoid]

So i am asking in all seriousness... if plugins are as good, why have i NEVER heard ANY plugin that can sound as good? In terms of raw tone and emotion.. playing pads on that thing literally had my entire body in shivers, i almost started crying at one point!

So, as Andromeda came out in 2001, did you waste 15 years of your musical life playing with inferior products.

[Cinebient]

I think posting examples of other synths would make no sense because all demos of analog synths i heard also makes no sense to me. They mostly sounds fantastic, full, warm, analog...whatever but that doesn´t make them sound better than most of the soft synths i played myself or heard in those demos.
I think no one could ever show a soft synth which the OP might like more since the sound in the demo is exact what he like the most.... just buy that damn thing.
I´m really much more impressed by softsynths like Dagger synth, U-he stuff, Dune 2, Falcon, Omnisphere and yeah also even some tiny iOS synth apps like Moog Model 15.
Best is still (and of course just my useless opinion) to use different tools and layer them all together in a DAW and using extern FX on top plus some automations and midi FX for moving that sound.
Take on top a controller like the Seaboard Rise or Linnstrument etc. and it´s just much more interesting....for me and maybe a few others.
But if it´s that sound from an old Hardware sound what you like....go for it!
Even if i really would like it more, the price is just so high these days compared to plug-ins and apps which are just great and will be even better in the future.
And of course it´s in general a personal thing. Crowd listens to crappy iPhone included headphones and compressed data. They even wouldn´t know a different between my cat cosing or a Moog filter.
Also what is a "good" sound.
All these sound in the demos sound really very good but if i want another timbre which i or another person think sound good or better you maybe even can´t produce that with those synths.
I mean i like steaks and a vegetarian might disagree It´s O.k.

[AnX]

Anyway, these are the analogs i currently have - jdxi monophonic voice, pulse 2 mono and 8 voice paraphonic, and 2 chained dsi tetra for 8 voice poly.. and in all three of the i find the bass end (pulse), pads(tetra) and rawness (jD) better than softsynth.

I may be wrong, but really its just the filters that are analogue in those units...???

[ObsoleteAcc99]

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[Numanoid]

no wasted time.. just seeking the best as time goes on.. does that sufficiently answer you?

So you owned an Andromeda earlier, but sold it, because of storage issues when you went travelling?