Have Modern VST Instruments Replaced Your Hardware Synths ?

[.jon]

I have a Prophet 6 since a few weeks and yeah,Repro is pale in comparison,as are all the software emulations.Even my cheap Roland Alpha Juno 1 makes incredible PWM pads that I can't match with Diva.

Fair, but Repro costs just over 6% of what an actual Prophet 6 costs so...I would certainly hope the original holds some sort of edge over an emulation that costs pennies next to it lol. Still, I think the software stuff more than holds its own, and will sound just as musical to all but the most discerning. Depends on who you make music for I guess, or maybe playing with synths is just a hobby for you (this isnt me talking down in some weird way, I plan on purchasing a hardware synth soon for the simple purpose of just playing with it lol).

You can go to a gig with only a Prophet 6, try doing the same with a plugin. Of course they cost less because they are just snippets of DSP code, completely useless on their own and require a setup costing more than even high-end hardware synth would.

Hilariously, you can buy equal or better synth plugins for iOS for 10th of the vst plugin price.

And you still wont get a similar playing experience, the only way to get a nice feeling rig is to use real synth as the midi controller... making the emulation plugins obsolete. Seriously, even a budget DCO synth sounds million times better than plugins.

VST format definitely has its excellent uses, but emulating analog hardware is just a joke. Or an easy way to milk money from fools. Its DSP code with an office computer human interface, not a vintage Prophet.

[whyterabbyt]

You can go to a gig with only a Prophet 6, try doing the same with a plugin. Of course they cost less because they are just snippets of DSP code, completely useless on their own and require a setup costing more than even high-end hardware synth would.

No, you could easily put together a setup costing less than £2200, the cost of a Prophet 6.

[Cinebient]

The answer is yes. Nothing more to say here.

[briefcasemanx]

Yes. The small difference in sound is not enough to warrant the expense, the space, and the annoyance of using hardware. If I was a gigging musician I'd use hardware.

If we're talking about breadth of sounds only achievable in one domain and not the other, software wins easily. "I can't get this pad sound that I tuned using hardware to sound exactly the same on software" isn't by itself a great argument.

[mladi]

No (of course).

[Cro-magnon]

I have a Prophet 6 since a few weeks and yeah,Repro is pale in comparison,as are all the software emulations.Even my cheap Roland Alpha Juno 1 makes incredible PWM pads that I can't match with Diva.

Fair, but Repro costs just over 6% of what an actual Prophet 6 costs so...I would certainly hope the original holds some sort of edge over an emulation that costs pennies next to it lol. Still, I think the software stuff more than holds its own, and will sound just as musical to all but the most discerning. Depends on who you make music for I guess, or maybe playing with synths is just a hobby for you (this isnt me talking down in some weird way, I plan on purchasing a hardware synth soon for the simple purpose of just playing with it lol).

Objectively if you look how expensive are the good hardware synths,yes sure I agree it's not worth the difference sonically with software.It takes also much more time with hardware,but in the end it's more rewarding and for me the final result sounds better.
I love making music since long years,that's my unique passion in my life with cooking,I don't do anything else but eat and sleep(and drink ).
You spend all this money on music gear when you really love that.You just don't look cost-effectiveness or efficiency.

[ScrLk]

I don't like that it always ends up being about cost when comparing things.

Given software and hardware were the same price, what would you get for yourself?

[Cro-magnon]

Personally i use both soft and hardware.Soft for wavetable/FM/additive,everything else (90% of my music) hardware.

[FapFilter]

depends
if good soft synths were also priced in the $1-2k range (or more), probably hardware
generally software though, but i don't mind owning a few pieces of HW as it can be inspiring to play
A whole HW studio with all that crap ton of cabling?
No f**king way ever again

[ScrLk]

If money wasn't an object, then...

- if you still pick hardware, you value hardware over software.
- if you still pick software, you value software over hardware.

[vurt]

If money wasn't an object, then...

- if you still pick hardware, you value hardware over software.
- if you still pick software, you value software over hardware.

what if you then choose some software and some hardware?

[zerocrossing]

I have a Prophet 6 since a few weeks and yeah,Repro is pale in comparison,as are all the software emulations.Even my cheap Roland Alpha Juno 1 makes incredible PWM pads that I can't match with Diva.

Fair, but Repro costs just over 6% of what an actual Prophet 6 costs so...I would certainly hope the original holds some sort of edge over an emulation that costs pennies next to it lol. Still, I think the software stuff more than holds its own, and will sound just as musical to all but the most discerning. Depends on who you make music for I guess, or maybe playing with synths is just a hobby for you (this isnt me talking down in some weird way, I plan on purchasing a hardware synth soon for the simple purpose of just playing with it lol).

It is definitely true that you reach a point of diminishing returns, and it might be your opinion that those returns are negligible, or not worth the expense, but they’re there.

When I did music and sound effects for video games, I never used hardware synths. Considering how quick changes need to happen during production and the systems people used to play back the audio, the difference in quality of hardware would be unnoticeable and the added hassle of using hardware wouldn’t be worth it. Now, I know that some big productions use hardware in their soundtracks, including full on orchestras, but I’ve never worked on one of those, well not to the point where I had something to do with the audio. (I recently did work on the Halo MCC, but it was all graphics)

When I’m home, it’s a totally different story. My audience is me. What was “hassle” in a production environment, is now fun. That unnoticed character on my game production system, is pretty clear in my home. Software is still great, and it does extend my hardware to places that are hard or impossible to get to using hardware, but it doesn’t completely do the trick for me, so I run a hybrid studio. I highly recommend it. You don’t need a Prophet 6, it can be as cheap as $300, but I bet when you start working with it, you’ll come around to agreeing with me, and if not, just return it and move on.

[chk071]

I don't like that it always ends up being about cost when comparing things.

Given software and hardware were the same price, what would you get for yourself?

I'd consider the software completely overpriced then.

[pdxindy]

When I’m home, it’s a totally different story. My audience is me. What was “hassle” in a production environment, is now fun. That unnoticed character on my game production system, is pretty clear in my home. Software is still great, and it does extend my hardware to places that are hard or impossible to get to using hardware, but it doesn’t completely do the trick for me, so I run a hybrid studio. I highly recommend it. You don’t need a Prophet 6, it can be as cheap as $300, but I bet when you start working with it, you’ll come around to agreeing with me, and if not, just return it and move on.

I also have a hybrid studio... software is awesome... but the sound of my Analog Rytm as I sequence the distortion and compressor (both analog) cannot be reached by digital effects. Also, the sound of my flute through analog modular hardware is also something not replicated in software.

I would never want to give up software or hardware.

[e-crooner]

I have a Prophet 6 since a few weeks and yeah,Repro is pale in comparison,as are all the software emulations.Even my cheap Roland Alpha Juno 1 makes incredible PWM pads that I can't match with Diva.

Let's hear it so that we can compare