The real reasons why analog synths are superior to softsynths

[Bonteburg]

Analogue, by definition, is the last refuge of pure, unquantifiable, unrepeatable chance. That fact alone makes it more interesting than digital for artistic purposes (audio, video, the graphic arts).

Whether the difference is big enough to justify it and put up with the drawbacks - other story

[risome]

From Tom Ellards Blog "Fleacore"
"Thanks to hhhneil for the inspiration; a name which acknowledges the flea market in the history of electronic music.
If you are serious about ideas such as 'legendary' and 'vintage', if you are impressed by the antique, concerned with overt quality - you do not understand fleacore. If you distinguish between the earlier and later filter of the MS20, if the weighted action of a 102 key controller is important to you - you do not understand fleacore. If you think MOOG is ever the answer - you do not understand fleacore.
The history of electronic music is fleacore. When people now buy a TB303 for $1200, they are spending $40 for the box and $1160 to emulate the man that once went into a pawn shop to buy the $40 box that no one wanted.
That's how art works. No one bought a Van Gogh from Van Gogh.
Fleacore is the joy of limitation. The misuse of an intention that is best forgotten. Fleacore is hilariously thwarting the engineering designs of a decade; disco, acid house, nu jack swing, hip hop. It is the decade that taste forget - forever.
Fleacore is an insignificant box, preferably without keys. Better still, it runs on batteries. It is never bespoke, never modular, never impressive. It is a cheap, plastic, wobbly, flawed, inscrutable array of LEDs and bezels. It is a piece of crap.

No one wants fleacore, except fleacore.

Fleacore is the badly written Roland manual, leading to useful mistakes.

Fleacore is not smug and ironic. It is making do and muddling through. It is doing the best under strained circumstances, like darning a pair of socks. Fleacore is humble.

You have heard fleacore and you admire it. You have heard it in the works of artists before anyone said a kind word to them. The press would have you think that 'youth' has something to do with it - but while there are still youths, they now think they are worth something. Youth has nothing to do with darning socks.

Spend very little on an implausible box. Confronted by its garish sullen face, you shake your head and sigh at the stupidity of it. You try to find something here and there, and on the verge of giving up, a miracle takes place. Then you 'get it'.

[DSmolken]

But analog gear makes girls think you're really old. Old and boring.

Ummm... I am really old and boring...

Right. My whole reason for playing music is to make girls think I'm less old and boring than I actually am.

But analog gear makes girls think you're really old. Old and boring.

Absolutely, but software makes girls think you're really nerdy. Nerdy and boring.


:D

OK, point taken. I did put a Louis Vuitton monogramouflage wallpaper on my tablet's desktop, though. I hope that helps...

[Sendy]

Analogue, by definition, is the last refuge of pure, unquantifiable, unrepeatable chance.

You obviously haven't seen how I work with my digital DAW

(plus: computer can make pseudorandom numbers. That's as good as random to people who aren't Spock)

[ZenPunkHippy]

The real reason analogue sounds better.

[spaceman]

No one gives a rat's ass about synths.

[awol9000]

honestly the only fact is their resale value is better.

[IncarnateX]

No one gives a rat's ass about synths.

I will have you permantly banned for this deeply insulting abuse remark, spaceman. You are going to be SO sorry. Writing the mods right now!

[VitaminD]

No one gives a rat's ass about synths.

Really? I'd give you a WHOLE rat (rear included) for a synth...

[foosnark]

9. They are much more expensive, which makes them feel more valuable.

That part is right. "I paid $800 for this thing that a free plugin can do, therefore this one is better because I'm not stupid. Right? ...anyone?"

You also forgot:

- Because other people say it's better, and people don't trust themselves.

- Having and/or hauling around a bunch of heavy, space-consuming crap makes synth players seem as important (e.g. worth all the trouble) as drummers.

- It's a magical talisman/fetish object. Mysterious boxes with flashing lights and cables snaking out of them are much more impressive than a laptop. Everybody knows what a computer is, but that pile of stuff with knobs on it must be really arcane and complicated and you must be a wizard or something. (Though this isn't analog specifically, so much as hardware.)

(Seriously, a friend was visiting a couple weeks ago and I was playing with Maschine and she found it fascinating. Because a resolution of 4x4 with 16 colors is apparently more hypnotic than two monitors at 1680x1050 in 32 bit color.
)

[osiris]

I think your reasons are all tactile. That can be important. But I was thinking about this last night. How far VST sound has come. And it all comes down to code. I've demo'd a few synths recently which I consider quite rough. To me, they sounded like software. But then you have things like Zebra and Massive and DIVA and Spire and .... that rival hardware units. We're not there just yet, but it's right there.

[bailees7irish]

But analog gear makes girls think you're really old. Old and boring.

Absolutely, but software makes girls think you're really nerdy. Nerdy and boring.

Being a keyboard player in general makes girls think you're really old, really nerdy, and really boring.

[macmurphy]

circuits. lovely, crusty dusty circuits.

[Ned Bouhalassa]

Risome, thanks for sharing that great text. Limitations are the key to a creative environment.

[macmurphy]

The real reason analogue sounds better.

hell yes.