Is virtual analog an advertising ploy?

[Pilonsky]

Ok, after spending close to $500 on virtual analog plugins, including both processors and effects, I feel like maybe this virtual analog thing is a sham. An advertising ploy of sorts. I can’t help but feel that that money would have been better spent on some actual analog hardware. Like maybe it’s a better idea to get the analog tone and saturation you want going by using preamps and such going in the box, and then just using digital Eq, compression and effects for mixing purposes? Maybe analog is analog and digital is digital, and each serves its purpose? Maybe this idea of virtual analog is a pipe dream?

[Bombadil]

Yes and no. The digital emulations of the hardware are orders of magnitude cheaper than the real things. Digital emulations are getting better and better. I could record a whole song without a guitar amp,though I have a nice all-tube VOX AC-15.
Some of the emulations..the hardware would cost you the equivalent of a new car. The Fairchild 670, for instance. And that is just one tiny tip of the iceberg.

[Pilonsky]

But maybe that just means that a Fairchild 670 is out of reach for most people? And the idea that you can buy an exact virtual replica of a 670 is just an advertising dream? Maybe there is no such thing as a virtual Fairchild 670? I’m starting to think the virtual Fairchild 670 is just a pipe dream veiled under some good advertising and graphics.

[whyterabbyt]

But maybe that just means that a Fairchild 670 is out of reach for most people?

maybe it doesnt.

And the idea that you can buy an exact virtual replica of a 670 is just an advertising dream?

maybe not.

Maybe there is no such thing as a virtual Fairchild 670?

maybe there is.

[Agreed]

I think it's a generational thing, really. It is effective to market analog emulations to a generation of musicians and producers who understand and value the cachet of the real gear that they are emulating, but who can't get their hands on it, as well as to people who have a "hybrid" experience using some of that real gear and who want to recreate the functionality digitally as best they can. In time I expect as fewer and fewer users of software had any real experiences with such analog gear, and getting further and further from the big studio days when such gear was more ubiquitous and coveted by people that COULD afford it and made a lot of hits with it, the perceived value of emulation versus just producing a novel and effective tool digitally will change.

To me the best value of analog emulations is when a good analog tool has a smart work flow and functionality that is worth recreating digitally, whether the sound is exactly on or not - there is a reason those tools came to prominence in the first place among contemporaries who were trying to compete, after all. I don't think we'll ever get away from liking the pumping compressor effect (though more and more production styles seem to be using different kinds of lfo- or other automations rather than relying on a comp directly to do that job), or the Pultec-style EQ trick, for example, whether people still go for Fairchild or Pultec emus explicitly in time or not. Those methods will still make their way into tools because the results are cool and desirable regardless of the name.

Examples: when I use Plugin Alliance's Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor Class A it doesn't so much matter to me "am I getting the exact same sound as a really expensive and limited hardware device?" so much as "does this trick of having an opto-style and VCA-style compressor working together with independent controls do a cool thing for my mix?" - same with, say, TOMO Lisa, which has a nifty way of doing what it does with a parallel dynamic EQ but the dynamics are only affecting the signal changes and not the whole signal & some clever ways of interacting with the dynamics part. When I use Amek 9099 I have no context at all for whether it's in the same galaxy as the console after which it is named and designed, but I can definitely make use of its various functions and evaluate for my own uses whether the comp works well for me, gate/expander works well for me, de-esser does the job, EQs have the function I need, etc.

I guess I'm picky when it comes to amp sims because I have a lot more experience with the real amps, but even there I mainly focus on whether the tools give me good results when tracking and mixing more than "is this 100% exactly like the real deal." I'm grateful we have so many options and I understand the marketing context, but in the end it comes down to fitness for purpose and what sort of outcomes I can reliably get when I use them. And for what it's worth I think there are some remarkable comparison vids out there that show surprisingly good fidelity to the real deal with some of the clever and advanced modeling technologies used in digital amps today, though your results will also depend on things outside the developers' control such as what kind of input hardware you're using to get a guitar signal into the processing environment in the first place and how that does or does not match what would be going on in analogous hardware.

[ramseysounds]

Just buy a synth or effects unit because of how it sounds. Who gives a f**k if its ‘analogue’ or not. Nothing going through a digital output, i.e.your computer, is true analogue anyway. It’s all BS. Probably.

[Unaspected]

Ok, after spending close to $500 on virtual analog plugins, including both processors and effects

Processors and "effects" are the same thing. Though I've always favoured "processor" to refer to the actual unit - be it plugin or hardware. I'm guessing you meant processors and instruments.

Like maybe it’s a better idea to get the analog tone and saturation you want going by using preamps and such going in the box, and then just using digital Eq, compression and effects for mixing purposes?

In the box or ITB usually refers to working purely in the DAW. I'm guessing you're talking about "box sound" or "box tone"; confusingly, for going out of the box.

Maybe analog is analog and digital is digital, and each serves its purpose?

Yes.

Maybe this idea of virtual analog is a pipe dream?

No.

Interest in analogue emulation is based around tone and expected behaviour. It isn't just a half way thing either. Possible benefits can include: Saved physical space; Cost; Lower or no noise floor; Instant circuit mods; Preset recall; Ability to instantly clone the unit; Less cleaning.

[MogwaiBoy]

Watch for leaps in in this area as CPU's get better. Maybe with quantum computing they'll be able to run an accurate realtime simulation of a single resistor

Look how many years Cytomic have spent on modelling the humble Tubescreamer circuit...

My conclusion: It's not a "scam" - many companies like Cytomic, Acustica, TDR, DMG, Airwindows, Pulsar and Sonimus etc are 'close enough' IMO. Close enough that you don't need to own hardware and you can make great music/mixes without hardware. This is proven.

There are, however, some dubious marketing claims around about how 'analog' some plugins are (or evidently are not) - and tonedeaf prices.

[MogwaiBoy]

If I look at all the useless plugins I've impulse bought over the last 6-7 years that are simply collecting digital dust... I probably could have bought a few nice pieces of hardware. This is very true.

My advice to anyone just getting into this scene now would be to always demo first, spend wisely, compare extensively, be sceptical of marketing claims of 'analog'-ness and don't get sucked in by pretty GUI's. You do not need 50 third party compressors. You need about... 5

[Teksonik]

I feel like maybe this virtual analog thing is a sham.

Real analog is the real sham.......

[FapFilter]

for me, "Virtual Analogs" were a ploy back when they first came out
of course they sometimes could also sound quite analog if tweaked carefully, they mostly were their own thing though, which of course doesn't need to be a bad thing

current "virtual analog" stuff isn't VA for me anymore though, even though it of course technically still is:
my SH-01A, which is digital code in a dedicated hardware box actually is an "analog" synth for me for all intents and purposes, though i have to admit it'd feel a bit stupid to me if i was calling a plugin instrument "an analog synth", no matter how close to a real analog synth it is (even if it happens to surpass the original)
it's all in your (or my head) though

[Jafo]

Definitely back in the day, much less so now. Your best bet is to only use products that offer trials/demos and test them. Some people will notice that you're only 99.9998% of the way there, but they'll never be satisfied anyway.

[Pilonsky]

I feel like maybe this virtual analog thing is a sham.

Real analog is the real sham.......

If that’s the case then virtual analog is an accurate emulation of a real sham!

[Pilonsky]

If I look at all the useless plugins I've impulse bought over the last 6-7 years that are simply collecting digital dust... I probably could have bought a few nice pieces of hardware. This is very true.

My advice to anyone just getting into this scene now would be to always demo first, spend wisely, compare extensively, be sceptical of marketing claims of 'analog'-ness and don't get sucked in by pretty GUI's. You do not need 50 third party compressors. You need about... 5

If I knew then what I know now I would have spent my money on either decent monitors and treatment, hardware synths/drum machines/samplers, or some 500 series modules. And analog guitar pedals for the instruments. Not spent it chasing some in the box virtual analog studio.

And yes I’ve become very skeptical of virtual analog-ness and pretty GUI’s. And I have no problem with digital in general, it has its strengths. My skepticism applies to the claim that so and so plug in is accurately modeled after so and so analog compressor, Eq, synthesizer, or effects module. There are many many software companies that make a living off this claim.

[Teksonik]

I feel like maybe this virtual analog thing is a sham.

Real analog is the real sham.......

If that’s the case then virtual analog is an accurate emulation of a real sham!

Exactly.