how many are using sequencers and pluings today?

[kovacs]

I guess what I'm saying is that the $$ issue is really moot -- I wouldn't discourage someone from going the hardware route because of it.

I'll be brief: A Motif costs about twice what my PC cost (I have built my PC over several years). I simply can't afford to buy a hardware synth.

And - this is the important part - I have no need for it. And I think that's what most of those who come into the PC market feels as well. If you're not first and foremost a keyboard player, a hardware synth is a rather extreme purchase compared to the cost of a PC (which most people will own already) and the abundance of good, affordable software.

My guitar cost $3,000 when I bought it 13 years ago...but guitar is my main instrument and I have no problems justifying that price.

So I guess we spend money on what we feel is most important for our personal requirements.

[kara]

I think that the way of looking at gear from hardware guys, as I am, is completly different then those software guys.
We are NOT looking forward to that weekly update (friday) of the software... we just make music with what we have !

Right or wrong ?

[waveriderarts]

No offense, but have you ever used a Motif?

I was a hardware guy untill I switched to an all software setup.

People who only used a computer setup do not know about the qualities of hardware. They assume the computer is superior. Well it is not true on all points. Those music manifacturers sometime do things right. There is some expertise in music making and sound qualities that are not very present in the software world.


But trying to explain the advantages of hardware is a lost cause on KVR!!!! People need to open up their horizons.

However due to constraints in space and money I am really happy about my setup. For sonic exploration it cannot be beated either. But from someone who had a museum full of hardware to work with, I can attest the qualities of a well designed harware musical instrument. Some hardware workstations surpasses a computer setup in many areas.

[Hybernation]

I grew up on hardware synths, organs, rhodes, etc. I resisted the computer thing in the 80's and early 90's, using a hardware sequencer and multi-track tape. After going to Cakewalk for Windows I thought that this combined with hardware synths was the greatest thing in the world, and this is where I stayed until March of last year.

In March of 2005, I finally upgraded my old PIII with a P4 3.2 with 2GB RAM. I had been avoiding the whole software instrument thing for several years, thinking it was a fad, or at least an area that hadn't matured.

I'm glad I waited, because now the industry IS very mature. I've spent close to $5K in the last year on software, and now I rarely use my Roland VR-760, emu PK-6 (loaded with expansions), Korg 05R/W or Roland JV1010. And I have a closet full of other synths I don't even have set up anymore. I try to incorporate the hardware sometimes, but without "Fast Freeze" I am so severely slowed down now! And as someone else mentioned, the "total recall" of VSTi's just cannot be beat.

Still need that hardware for gigs though. I'll be danged if I'll ever take a laptop (or even my Receptor) on stage! Not that I play out that much now that I'm an old fart

[kovacs]

People who only used a computer setup do not know about the qualities of hardware. They assume the computer is superior.

That's a rather useless generalization. I've been playing for 30 years and have written music on my computer for 4.

Why on Earth would anyone think the computer is superior?

It has opened up a lot of possibilites that weren't around before. Hardware will never go away IMHO but there are so many new options open now that we can't even imagine what they will lead to.

After all, my first instrument (apart from vocals) was an acoustic guitar. In contrast to synths, it doesn't even have a single chip or memory block in it. And I still play acoustic guitars without the need for computers, synths, or even power adapters.

[cfurlin]

I think that the way of looking at gear from hardware guys, as I am, is completly different then those software guys.
We are NOT looking forward to that weekly update (friday) of the software... we just make music with what we have !

Right or wrong ?

ROTFL!!! I was on the Cubase forums a few nights ago and all anyone ever talks about is when is version x going to be out or when will get a maintainence release to fix this or that bug. Same thing on Reason forums. Poor bastards! It's like living with a digital heroin addiction.

I love walking into my studio, flipping the power on, and getting to the creative process right away. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

[pHz]

I love walking into my studio, flipping the power on, and getting to the creative process right away. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

i love sitting on my couch, flipping the laptops power on and getting to the creative process right away ... i wouldnt trade that experience for anything ...

slainte rob

[cfurlin]

I love walking into my studio, flipping the power on, and getting to the creative process right away. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

i love sitting on my couch, flipping the laptops power on and getting to the creative process right away ... i wouldnt trade that experience for anything ...

slainte rob

Where is your instrume....oh, wait, your one of these "I can assemble loops and enter notes into my sequencer with a mouse so I'm a musician" types. I've got news for you -- you're a composer, you're no musician. A studio would be useless to you -- use the couch.

[Hybernation]

I love walking into my studio, flipping the power on, and getting to the creative process right away. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

i love sitting on my couch, flipping the laptops power on and getting to the creative process right away ... i wouldnt trade that experience for anything ...

slainte rob

I love walking in my studio, turning on my two honking Dells and my Receptor, waiting 2 minutes for the whole thing to boot, and getting to the creative process right away.

If I'm feeling really impatient, I'll play my Alesis QS8.1 while I'm waiting

[pHz]

not sure i should really dignify that elitist bollocks with a response but ...

... never claimed to be a musician ... but WOULD claim my laptop is as much an instrument as your room full of hardware gear (a little of which i also own ... which youd know if youd read the rest of the thread) ...

slainte rob

[cfurlin]

not sure i should really dignify that elitist bollocks with a response but ...

slainte rob

I know, and it really breaks me up to think you feel that way about me...sniff.

[bluediver]

People who harp on the inherent sound difference between software and hardware betray a fundamental misunderstanding of the technology. Digital technology, which accounts for most of the instruments used today (the number of true analog synths on the market today is miniscule) always incorporates software at its core. That digital "hardware" synth you're using has the same kind of signal-processing logic (crunching 1's and 0's) as a VST running on a computer. Neither one processes "sound"--they're both just crunching numbers, 1's and 0's. The "sound" domain (or, more accurately, the analog signal domain)is entered only when the digital data is converted to analog, in the DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), at the very back end of the signal chain. The DAC can be high-quality or low-quality in your computer soundcard or your "hardware" synth; neither is inherently superior or inferior.

Almost all of the processing in a digital "hardware" synth is in fact accomplished in software which happens to be embedded in ROMs rather than in computer RAM. 1's and 0's are 1's and 0's whether in "hardware" or software.

All of this is not to say that there aren't legitimate reasons to prefer hardware over software or vice versa. I'm just pointing out that people who claim that one is sonically inherently superior to the other really don't know what they're talking about.

[Ildon]

I love walking into my studio, flipping the power on, and getting to the creative process right away. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

i love sitting on my couch, flipping the laptops power on and getting to the creative process right away ... i wouldnt trade that experience for anything ...

slainte rob

Where is your instrume....oh, wait, your one of these "I can assemble loops and enter notes into my sequencer with a mouse so I'm a musician" types. I've got news for you -- you're a composer, you're no musician. A studio would be useless to you -- use the couch.

He's a composing musician, not a performing musician. A musician nonetheless.

[kovacs]

I love walking into my studio, flipping the power on, and getting to the creative process right away. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

i love sitting on my couch, flipping the laptops power on and getting to the creative process right away ... i wouldnt trade that experience for anything ...

slainte rob

Where is your instrume....oh, wait, your one of these "I can assemble loops and enter notes into my sequencer with a mouse so I'm a musician" types. I've got news for you -- you're a composer, you're no musician. A studio would be useless to you -- use the couch.

If you are here to be a complete dimwit and show your arrogance and endless egoism - you're succeeding.

*clicks mute*

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

I love walking into my studio, flipping the power on, and getting to the creative process right away. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

i love sitting on my couch, flipping the laptops power on and getting to the creative process right away ... i wouldnt trade that experience for anything ...

slainte rob

Where is your instrume....oh, wait, your one of these "I can assemble loops and enter notes into my sequencer with a mouse so I'm a musician" types. I've got news for you -- you're a composer, you're no musician. A studio would be useless to you -- use the couch.

Just what we need, another obnoxious twat with an attitude problem on KVR.

Go home to Mom, you microcephalic catamite.