How the heck do hardware synths make sense to you?

[Scoox]

although, polyphony is a fad! soft or hard.

How so?

[BONES]

It's been nearly a decade since the last post, I wonder if anyone has changed their mind about hardware vs software in terms of workflow. JunkieXL sold a bunch of hardware not long ago, he said it was to find it a better home, but I feel he may have found the software was dragging him down, in fact he had a full-time technician employed to maintain his studio, which kinda goes to show keeping a complex hardware-based studio running can be a time suck.

Did you mean to write "hardware", not "software"? Otherwise your post doesn't make sense. I noticed in a video of his, a year or two ago, that his studio set-up was such that the hardware wasn't even slightly accessible from in front of his desk, where his monitors were set-up. I remember thinking what a complete waste of time it seemed to be, more like decoration than anything useful.

I’ve used a hybrid system for decades now and IME maintaining software is far more of a time suck than hardware. My hardware needs updating or maintenance far less often - I turn it on and play and I can’t recall the last time one of my 15 hardware units crashed, froze, sat there with that annoying little spinny ball going for forever, etc.

That's what happens when you use a Mac.

That’s not to say that there aren’t other disadvantages and advantages of each, but hardware wins the maintenance battle AFAIC.

Really? I've spent more money on hardware repairs/fixes this year than I have on software. And I was without the hardware for several weeks while they waited for a part. OTOH, on the very rare occasions I have software problems, they are usually solved in a few minutes with a reinstall. And updatinng software is way, way less hassle than updating firmware.

Software only seems like more effort because you have so much more of it. Imagine if your software set-up was like your hardware - a few instruments, a handful of effects and a mixer - it would be a tiny fraction of the work of your hardware. Or imagine if you had 100 hardware instruments and 400 effects and you had to do all your sequencing, mixing and everything else without a computer at all. You'd be f**ked.

[foosnark]

Honestly the maintenance thing is usually not a big deal on either side. My current minor vexations:

- USB MIDI gear sometimes needs to be unplugged and replugged to be recognized.
- Just every once in a while, the fader #2 on my Tesseract Sweet Sixteen doesn't send USB MIDI (but works fine for analog CV).
- Graphics driver / Windows update issues causing my monitors to lose their color calibration several times per day -- one goes purplish, the other ugly green -- as well as some game crashes. I solved the color thing with a third-party tool after a couple of days of frustration.
- Demos that need iLok annoy me every. single. time.
- In Sound Forge when I start playback, there's a often a pop after some random short interval. When I'm editing I stop and start again from the same place to make sure it's not in the recording itself.

[cryophonik]

although, polyphony is a fad! soft or hard.

Ummmmm,…Just to be clear, you do know that “polyphony” doesn’t mean “doing it” with more than one synth, right vurt?

[kritikon]

I haven't changed much. In 2013 I possibly was still using some FX units so that has definitely changed. Pretty well all ITB for FX/processing etc, though I very occasionally still use a hw compressor for recording instruments in. I still love FM basses and FM basses always sound even better with heavy VCA compression to me. I stopped using my DX mostly and got an Opsix, and the Opsix FM basses also sound betterer through a crusty old VCA compressor. Weirdly, I don't that much like plugin-created FM basses, which should be exactly the same. I bought Opsix Native and use the hw instead. I suspect it's all in my head, cos I know what my head is telling me my ears are hearing don't match up with what my ears are hearing...though my ears could also be f**ked.

If anything I've gone more towards hw for synths. About the only plugin synths I use are impOSCar and either ABL3 or Phoscyon2 (definitely prefer those over the behringer TD3 I got - nice sound but horrible, terrible, nasty, awful sequencer same as that nasty original 303 sequencer). Occasionally Korg Oddysey. I bought both Wavestate and Opsix Native and wasted my money as I almost always use the hw in preference. I'm actually buying more synths - there's a few Behringers I want, yet to buy a MinilogueXD and who knows what else.

Recording all in a DAW though - same as in 2013.

Age and years have confirmed that I simply hate dicking around programming synths with a mouse and it kills enjollyment, but I'm sensible enough to know recording/arranging is best done with sw. And I know I can't afford the FX hw that would compete with sw FX. And anyway, hw FX is too unwieldy without a mixer.

So as before - I use what works for me and that's both sw and hw.

[DMG68]

although, polyphony is a fad! soft or hard.

Ummmmm,…Just to be clear, you do know that “polyphony” doesn’t mean “doing it” with more than one synth, right vurt?

Now you’re talking about polygaphony, different thing altogether.

[vurt]

although, polyphony is a fad! soft or hard.

How so?

i didn't expect questions dammit!
in all seriousness, of course it isn't, just personally not something i care for. i like weaving monophonic lines together, tend to use reverb and delay to "pad" my pieces rather than actual pads

[vurt]

although, polyphony is a fad! soft or hard.

Ummmmm,…Just to be clear, you do know that “polyphony” doesn’t mean “doing it” with more than one synth, right vurt?

what i do on camera in my own house is mine and my viewers business!

[JockMcRonan]

outta here

[cryophonik]

...I am getting older and I don't want to disembark this spaceship Earth and leave my kids to try and work out what the hell all this "stuff" is and what to do with it.

One look at your Behringer Neutron and they'll probably think it's the command console for the spaceship you're building to disembark Earth.

[JockMcRonan]

outta here

[BONES]

TBH, I have made the decision to return 100% ITB as HW really doesn't make sense to me anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love the aesthetic of it. It makes my music room feel like MY space, it reflects my life long passion.

I'm the opposite. My favourite, most aesthetically pleasing, set-up is the simplest, the one that allows me to do the most with the least. Right now that would be my ROG Flow Z13 with a BT mouse and a single Lightpad Block attached to it, using ASIO4all so I don't need an I/O device. That I could get up on stage and do a whole set with just that and a microphone, with absolutely no compromises needed, is nothing short of a modern miracle.

[Scoox]

However, the main reason I am selling off all my hardware is age...I am getting older and I don't want to disembark this spaceship Earth and leave my kids to try and work out what the hell all this "stuff" is and what to do with it. In the mean time, software is better than good enough, it excels and really doesn't cost much comparatively. It also doesn't require constant dusting...

100% agree. I don't know your age, I'm 40 anyway and I started embracing minimalism 10 years ago because my work had me relocating all over the world and I got tired of packing and unpacking my life. Getting rid of stuff is considerably harder than acquiring the stuff in the first place (unless you don't mind just leaving it behind or dumping it, which I couldn't bring myself to doing), so now I'm careful to only buy things I really need. It's quite liberating and I'm glad I realised this early on.

[kritikon]

Fortunately the complete opposite for me. I used to move around a lot but finally found the forever house in the forever place with views of the bay and a 3 minute walk to get feet in the sand. A room downstairs for a studio and no immediate neighbours to annoy. I'll stay here when I retire...6-8 years away. So I can go nuts and collect as many toys as I want, and I want loads of toys. When I die...who cares? Not me. If the missus is still alive she can sell 'em or bin 'em. If she's already dead...not my problem. TBH retirement seems like dream - all the time in the world to actually play with my toys, and seriously get the best out of them. I can be the oldest acid techno dub pensioner in the neighborhood bringing the place into disrepute (probably the only one).

[Scoox]

Fortunately the complete opposite for me. I used to move around a lot but finally found the forever house in the forever place with views of the bay and a 3 minute walk to get feet in the sand. A room downstairs for a studio and no immediate neighbours to annoy. I'll stay here when I retire...6-8 years away. So I can go nuts and collect as many toys as I want, and I want loads of toys. When I die...who cares? Not me. If the missus is still alive she can sell 'em or bin 'em. If she's already dead...not my problem. TBH retirement seems like dream - all the time in the world to actually play with my toys, and seriously get the best out of them. I can be the oldest acid techno dub pensioner in the neighborhood bringing the place into disrepute (probably the only one).

I own my house too now but sill enjoy minimalism. Perhaps it's something I've grown to appreciate. For me less stuff means freedom. Different strokes, I guess. I will add, however, that I recently had to help clean through a relative's property after he was transferred to a nursing home. He was a bit of a disorganised hoarding singleton and it was hard work sorting through his mancave because I couldn't just indiscriminately bin everything as there were valuable items among his stuff that could still be used (for example, woodworking tools). Had I paid a company to take care of it, they probably would have shovelled everything into a skip/dumpster. I wouldn't want a classic Moog synth hurled into a dumpster just because the person doing the cleaning up doesn't understand and thinks it's some worthless piece of junk.

As a gearhead myself, I feel gear deserves respect and a suitable home. Keep your stuff organised and perhaps, eventually, make a list of what each item is, when you bought it and for how much, and what it does, so that whoever has to sort through it has an easy time. That's what I'd do if I had stashes of gear, anyway... I'm the kind of person who returns rented property so clean that it's ready for the next tenant to move in without cleaning.