KVR Audio

Aff · Post by **Aff** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:41 pm

it occurred to me today how far removed i am now from my lovely hardware set-up i used to have. lots of glistening lights, lots of solidly constructed beige boxes which did exactly what they said on the tin, lots of black and white keys staring at me from all directions. a room devoted to my true love.

then there were the manuals (remember them), cables everywhere, big rack and so on.

wow, i used to feel so musical. so.....involved.

well zoom forward two years and my once divine studio is now no different than a computer programmer, a pc gamer, a home businessman/woman, your dad, your sons or anything else that can be done on a pc.

so with the slow march of software taking us over, we all become one. add to that the dire state of the music business in general and we're nothing more than no-hopers.

however, i'd not say i'm not happy with software, far from it, it's great that eveything can be saved to one place, that was my ultimate dream.

but something died when i sold all my stuff. my manuals turned into pdfs, my twiddly knobs on instruments suddenly became twiddly knobs not attached to anything particular, my keyboard turned dumb, my midi know how seemed old and my bedroom i called studio suddenly didn't quite warrant the word studio anymore, as my g/f makes a beeline to put a bed where the rack was.

ah well, as long as the music is not affected. would i ever know if it was?

well i think that staring at a computer screen for every single moment of composing and producing music is detrimental to the process. yeah, you might get the job done and be happy. but how much happier would you be doing it differently.

hardware sequencers are a good argument to bring in here. a very different and more natural way of working (imo), but it's true and i believe any person that's used one would agree.

does anyone feel they miss something from taking down their hardware set-up and replacing with software?

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:43 pm

does anyone feel they miss something from taking down their hardware set-up and replacing with software?

What hardware setup?

t-willy · Post by **t-willy** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:46 pm

Aff wrote:...as my g/f makes a beeline to put a bed where the rack was.

is that a sign?

seriously though, never got into the hardware synth thing myself (love soft synths though), but i could never imagine trading my guitars/bass guitars in for software.

lates

t-willy

invitia · Post by **invitia** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:03 pm

You're very right. I'm going back to hardware synths etc now. My old stuff that was collecting dust are all back in the rack again. Yes, with software we might have more options but restritions are sometimes good. Too much choices and nothing gets done.

I have two "workstations" now. One laptop based with just a small controller and a pair of headphones, i.e. 100% software based.

The second workstation still has a PC as the hub but also a hardware mixer, hardware effects (incl the lovely Lexicon MPX550 for reverbs), a some well selected analog and digital rack synths. I really notice the difference when working with these two stations. It's not a matter of better or worse, just plain different.

With the laptop I can take it with me everywhere incl the livingroom, on vacation, on the train/plane etc, etc. This lets me compose on the run and when and where I have inspiration.

With the more hardware based studio I can mixdown, add real analog synths etc and I have much better monitors. I have DVD burners in both computers so moving data between them is easy, for smaller things I use a USB stick.

With the decline of hardware prices lately it is really cheap to buy hardware boxes. I predict there will be a hardware revival just as there is/was a analog revival after everyone had sold their analogs for digital synths in the end of the 80s. Soon there will not be many companies producing hardware (try buying a new hardware sampler today, not much choice anymore) and the prices for new stuff will rise. This will affect second hand prices also IMHO.

scuzzphut · Post by **scuzzphut** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:07 pm

It's funny, I was looking at Kristal today and thinking - what use is that to anyone? It's just a multitrack audio recorder! How could you do anything on it without midi and vstis?

Then I realised that me and my mates/bands were in hog heaven in my old studio with a 4-track cassette and a Boss drum machine.

Yeah - I think we've lost something. We've gained a whole lot more , though.

The gains are easy and don't need listed here.

Here's what I think I've "lost"

The ability to work out a songs arrangement before I even start to record any of it.

The ability to play a whole song through, in time , on the first take, with no mistakes - be that bass, guitar or keyboards.

That touchy-feely hardware thing. Sometimes I just get fed up with constantly clicking the mouse and lose the patience to work any further on a track

jens · Post by **jens** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:11 pm

scuzzphut wrote: Here's what I think I've "lost"

The ability to work out a songs arrangement before I even start to record any of it.

The ability to play a whole song through, in time , on the first take, with no mistakes - be that bass, guitar or keyboards.

That touchy-feely hardware thing. Sometimes I just get fed up with constantly clicking the mouse and lose the patience to work any further on a track

well spoken

same here

where have the days gone when I sat for hours at my
piano, composing whole songs including vocal melodies and lyrics?

pschelfh · Post by **pschelfh** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:12 pm

invitia wrote:Soon there will not be many companies producing hardware (try buying a new hardware sampler today, not much choice anymore)

I would never go back to hardware samplers.

The horror!

I sold my Virus B last month because I was saving up for a C, but I did a remix of Fleetwood Mac with a couple of Z3ta+'s now and I seriously don't know if I should get a Virus C!

Didn't miss it (yet).

It hurts though.

Peter.

M Gardner · Post by **M Gardner** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:14 pm

Not so long ago I was in just that same boat - room litered with wires, 19" rack gear, big fat mixer, keyboards aplenty....

Now its a few hidden away computers, an MP9500 and a couple of TFTs, with a laptop for on-the-move- recording. And I f**king love it!!

No more cluttering wires (and I seriously hate wires), no more fortnightly cable checks, or ducking round the back of the mixer to check nothing's come loose. No more high maintenance time cleaning contacts or tracking down the dreaded hum. I could go on.

Now, its just simple, un-cluttered, and easy to get on with making music. Software synths sound better to my ears (yes that includes over-blown supposed classics like the minimoog!) and whole orchestras can be loaded into the computer. Best of all - I've been able to convert 30 square floor space into another recording room so I can record the best thing of all - real acoutic instruments.

Its never been better and my output has quadrupled.

warbug · Post by **warbug** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:22 pm

well why does it have to be one extreme or the other.

i like both HW and SW.

i think you need them both for a 'complete song'.

i started out on nothing but HW.

-linn9000
-korg prophecy
-ensoniq FIZMO
-electron SID station
-yamaha MD4

i thought it could not get any better. but i felt like i was limited with just the sequencer in the linn. my friend has just bought cubase and i went and tried that out..... have not been the same since.

no matter what SW innovation comes out. i will always have some sort of hardware synth.

Sicklecell666 · Post by **Sicklecell666** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:25 pm

I've never owned hardware, aside from bass/guitar, which I will always stay with.

My first softsynth experience was the NI release of Absynth. When I demo'd those presets I was instantly hooked. I've been tempted in the past to try hardware just for the experience, so I can visualize better the hardware argument, but beginning in a softsynth world has made me a kind of purist, & I don't want to tamper with that mentality.

Aside from that, the only place I'm hard is between my womans' legs

gmstudio · Post by **gmstudio** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:35 pm

sickle666 wrote: Aside from that, the only place I'm hard is between my womans' legs

Hey! The only place I've been hard is between your woman's legs too!

Sorry.

Seriously, I've the same experience as you...very little hardware when I started out (just an Alesis QS 6, which I still have but just use as a controller) and Absynth was the first thing that opened the doors for me to software synths. That was back before it was even an NI product!

I think it would be great to have a really nice hardware keyboard, perhaps something like a Karma or a Fantom or something. I don't know. It's all good.

putte · Post by **putte** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:39 pm

Here its like "i dont want to have any outboard stuff but gitars, bass and mic" .. and that´s what i can find here.

computer+sequencer+Plugins gallore!

putte

SuitcaseOfLizards · Post by **SuitcaseOfLizards** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:41 pm

Well, for me I use the PC as "hardware" and my sequencer as a "multitrack recorder" - I don't sequence in anything, I play it "live" and try not to go back and tweak Each Damn Note because that crushes the life out of the performance! The only exception are drums, as I can't drum to save my life - but I've pretty much dropped drum programming and use loops that were performed by a live drummer.

I used to have a Roland U20, Yamaha TG55 and Yamaha TG33, and while I miss some of the sounds I don't miss trying to remember which patch I used on which song when! Besides, now that I have Rhino I can get "that sound" that I loved my hardware boxes for. As to knobs, my PCR-80 has plenty and now that I've set the damn thing up properly I can twiddle knobs in Orion Platinum as well as z3ta, Rhino, and most of my other soft synths - so I'm not missing the knobby thing that much. Not to mention editing on a teeny tiny screen!

Of course, you have to understand my background is as a guitarist/bassist with keys thrown in last and latest, so I'm more performance-oriented than "sit down and diddle the piano roll note by note" which I consider composer-oriented. I'd never make it as a dance music producer, but since I tend to soundscapes, new-age and general ambient stuff on the electronic side I don't need to quantize everything tighter than a ducks ass.

Argh, I went off and typed a book! This is what I get for posting before I have my first cup of coffee...

Beardedone · Post by **Beardedone** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:53 pm

seriously though, never got into the hardware synth thing myself (love soft synths though), but i could never imagine trading my guitars/bass guitars in for software.

What he said in spades! Nothing can replace my axes.

I never got into synths until they became all soft &friendly.

See ya,
Gordon

Lady J · Post by **Lady J** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:55 pm

Just get a Mackie Control

and all will be well.

Aff wrote:it occurred to me today how far removed i am now from my lovely hardware set-up i used to have. lots of glistening lights, lots of solidly constructed beige boxes which did exactly what they said on the tin, lots of black and white keys staring at me from all directions. a room devoted to my true love.

then there were the manuals (remember them), cables everywhere, big rack and so on.

wow, i used to feel so musical. so.....involved.

well zoom forward two years and my once divine studio is now no different than a computer programmer, a pc gamer, a home businessman/woman, your dad, your sons or anything else that can be done on a pc.

so with the slow march of software taking us over, we all become one. add to that the dire state of the music business in general and we're nothing more than no-hopers.

however, i'd not say i'm not happy with software, far from it, it's great that eveything can be saved to one place, that was my ultimate dream.

but something died when i sold all my stuff. my manuals turned into pdfs, my twiddly knobs on instruments suddenly became twiddly knobs not attached to anything particular, my keyboard turned dumb, my midi know how seemed old and my bedroom i called studio suddenly didn't quite warrant the word studio anymore, as my g/f makes a beeline to put a bed where the rack was.

ah well, as long as the music is not affected. would i ever know if it was?

well i think that staring at a computer screen for every single moment of composing and producing music is detrimental to the process. yeah, you might get the job done and be happy. but how much happier would you be doing it differently.

hardware sequencers are a good argument to bring in here. a very different and more natural way of working (imo), but it's true and i believe any person that's used one would agree.

does anyone feel they miss something from taking down their hardware set-up and replacing with software?

So have we gone all soft?