Programming: Does having a hardware background help, hinder, or have any effect at all?

[stvrsz]

How is a car similar to a waveform?

when is a raven like a writing desk?

Nevermore

[stvrsz]

I don't know why we have to make another iteration of the supersaw for the umpteenth time.

Agreed. The car was invented in 1885. Why we need new ones is beyond me.

How is a car similar to a waveform?
Can we devote 125 years of development to a better supersaw experience?
The master had a stab at it and inexplicably left off a PWM and forgot the warm boost that Reveal Sound figured out after a couple of updates. To hear the selfsame synth from a company devoted entirely to painstakingly recreating analog technology down to the original voltages used in circuits, have one of their new products described as "digital sounding" is strange indeed.

What a strange world.

People have different views on how it should sound so develop it further. Who cares anyway? Use the one you prefer the sound of.

Good point. Does it really matter recreating the mighty analogs of the eighties when the masses only want "God's Plan" and "Bodak Yellow"?

[jancivil]

It's helped me, but I can't speak to arriving in software land and learning the same things in software.

I use Absynth frequently. I use ratios in its oscillators more often than I don't. My experience with Yamaha FM, DX7 informs my decisions. There is no reason one can't read up on that and do as well as I do. I knew a fair amount about synthesis generally from a certain background, so when this thing came along I was very enthusiastic, and perhaps in a way some will never be because of the very different experience. But that's particular and not general.

[wagtunes]

I also come from a hardware background going back to the 70s. I've owned synths ranging from simple 2 OSC's, 1 LP filter, 2 LFO's, 1 ADR to modular synths to digital LCD nightmare menu driven synths. The basics of synthesis don't really change. The hard part is getting comfortable with the interface, regardless of whether it's hardware or software. So coming from a hardware background by itself is only going to help with soft synths if the frame of reference is similar between the two as far as the synth interface itself is concerned.

When I got my 50th hardware synth, having owned that first synth mentioned above helped very little considering how many menus and sub menus there were on this beast. I'm referring to my Korg Triton rack mount, still one of my favorite synths, though some would say it was closer to a rompler.

Point is, it isn't so much a hardware versus software thing but a simple versus complex architecture thing. And that problem can exist even going from one hardware synth to another or one software synth to another. There are some software synths that are a royal PITA for me to program and choose to stay away from them, even though I've programmed over a hundred software synths. Their interfaces just baffle me to no end. Granted, not many, but they do exist.

At the end of the day, whatever synth it is that you want to learn that you may be having trouble with, just take your time with it. Yes, some may end up being beyond you and you just won't relate to it. Don't worry about it. Keep trying or move onto something else if you feel you've done all you can with it.

TLDR - Don't sweat it. Just do your best.

[Mushy Mushy]

Good point. Does it really matter recreating the mighty analogs of the eighties when the masses only want "God's Plan" and "Bodak Yellow"?

This is why we live in a golden age. Korg, Roland, et al., for the masses and little boutique companies for the quirky stuff.

[whyterabbyt]

Being older, I come from a hardware synth background. Many younger people have probably only worked with soft synths.

I feel extremely comfortable grabbing a soft emulation of....say.... a Juno/Jupiter or Minimoog, because I worked with the hardware versions so long and know how to get what I want out of them, without thinking too much.

That being said, some soft synths, especially ones not based on the traditional subtractive model, seem a bit cumbersome with workflow.

Is this a valid complaint or placebo?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere-exposure_effect

The mere-exposure effect is a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them.