Most exciting developments in last decade

[diandremusic]

Hi guys, been out of the game for a while (since about 2015), so I feel like I’ve missed a load of developments. Now I’m excited about making music again it’s like the GAS has come back hard!

So what do you think are the most exciting things in the space over the last decade?!

When I checked out I was on Live 9, using a launchpad (mk1), launchkey XL for control. Then Elektron Analog Rytm and Four, then a TX91Z and a Volca Bass.
At that time I was looking at going UAD as everyone said that was the king for mixing and was really lusting after a Moog.

Really keen on hardware as it’s a lot of fun, but also keen for good DAW integration so I actually finish tracks.

Are UAD still the kings for mixing based plug ins?
Who’s nailing the hardware / software integration?
Any great analog monos for bass? I make house/techno

[cryophonik]

Wow, where to begin…? A LOT has changed in the past eight years!

As for integration, Elektron’s new devices all (except Octatrack) use Overbridge, which integrates pretty seamlessly as a plugin with DAWs. If you’re familiar with Access Virus’ Total Integration, it’s a similar construct. Also, many of the most popular hardware synths available today have software editors/librarians that work as plugins in your DAW. Some are available for free with the purchase (e.g., Arturia’s PolyBrute Connect), while others are available as separate purchases from third-party vendors (e.g., SoundTower).

Regarding UAD, it seems to me that the hype has died down a bit over the past few years, but I went all in with an Apollo Twin X, followed by the addition of an X6 and subsequently a Ferrofish AD converter to expand my inputs and haven’t looked back. It’s a very slick setup IMO, but the competition at the high end of audio interfaces is very close with RME, Apogee, et al still producing top notch interfaces. Before I decided on UAD, the new Presonus Qunatum series had me intrigued for the way they integrated with Studio One. Ultimately, I decided that I liked the fact that I could load individual effects on every synth channel with UAD without ever opening my DAW (primarily a Logic user), so that’s the route I went.

Speaking of UAD, they recently made their plugins available natively.

Analog monos… wow, the market has exploded there! Moog has released maybe a dozen new synths including the Model D reissue and Subsequent 37, Sequential released the Pro 3, Arturia released the MatrixBrute, Studio Electronics SE-3X - these are all flagship analog monos (well, technically the Pro 3 is a hybrid due to the digital third oscillator). Then there are the smaller companies like Dreadbox releasing bargain analog monos (USB-powered Typhon), IK has one of the cheapest (and better spec’ed than some synths costing 5X as much) Uno Pro. And, Behringer has blown up the game with some very affordable “clones” of some classic synths and some of their own original inventions (e.g., the semi-modular Neutron). Then, there’s the whole modular/semi-modular sector of the market that has gone haywire. Essentially, the problem buyers face today has gone from “can I find something in my budget?” to “which of the dozen synths in my budget do I choose?” Not a bad place to be, if you ask me.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings for now…

[diandremusic]

Wow, it's like a different world!

UAD went native?! That's mental, never would have seen that coming back then. I'd always had my eye on one of the Apollo interfaces, but at £2k+ at the time couldn't stomach it. I'm still on an old Focusrite Saffire, and because it's firewire I'm still using my old macbook pro 2012, even though I have a new MBP!

Loads of great things for me to check out there thanks.

The revamp of the old classic synths was just kicking in when I stopped, now it seems they are everywhere!

[kritikon]

Analogue synths is one of the biggest things. It looked for a while like wishful thinking but actually did happen and kicked off in a big way. If you're into hw you'll think you've stepped into an alternate universe. Behringer are very much responsible for that. I got a 303, Wasp, Monopoly and 2600 for less than you would buy a real vintage 303 for probably. The TD3 (303 clone) is genuinely pocket money and actually sounds 95% like a real 303 but with CV jack sockets and a wonderfully musical distortion added on. Remember the old Roland gear that ruled the world? You can now buy brand new Behringers that will give you a 808, 909, 303, 102/202 and Juno. Very reasonably priced. Yes, real 909s are back again, new.

Roland will still sell you a digital emulation rehashed Juno that looks real for silly money. Behringer will sell you a 16 voice all-analogue Deepmind that does Juno and more for real...for less than Roland. It also forced other companies' hands...Korg for example (though they were never silly priced imo) - they now sell brand new MS20s both ful sized and mini for affordable prices. Mind you, so do Behringer at half the price (and they're very close to real MS20s). Korg flagship Prologue - 8 or 16 voice analogue with added 3rd digital oscillator, pretty well sounds like a mega poly MS20 but with far more stuff in it. Even Moog have a wide range of synths now, though still often silly prices for what they are IMO.

S/w. Of note to me is the plethora of very good reverbs now. No need to buy expensive hw, the sw really has caught up, finally. Thing like Valhalla...very reminiscent of the Lexicon flavour imo. Just recently Arturia released an emu of a Lexicon 224 getting good reviews. There are emus of Bricastis, the usual famous plates etc. All very affordable and now sounding good. Same with delays. As mentioned UAD now native plugins, though iLok so you still need a dongle with them. Some of the UAD are decent price too, some silly prices, you make your own mind up which is value and which is not.

[SparkySpark]

One fun thing: Artiphone Orba (and yes, it's maybe more of a toy).
And then a couple of MPE devices. If nothing else, they look cool

Since you've been out of the game for some time, here's my thoughts on music SOFTware as well (didn't see the hardware category at first )

As you can see in the above posts, the last ten years have mostly been about inexpensive analogue gear/VSTis and more affordable VST instruments and effects overall. Basically: reinventions, incremental improvements and less expensive.

But do check out...
1. Granular synthesis. Finally something sounding fresh and also fanstically useful. For example in Pigments (as a synth) and Output Portal (as an effect for audio).
2. Izotope's newest set of tools (Ozone etc). Fabulous UI and great-sounding tools.
3. The ability to carve space in (dynamic) EQ's. Imagine you have a vocal, that you ofc want to stay on top all the time. Then a kick or so. Then pads and what have you, to be suppressed in the vocal spectrum when the vocalist is singing. Well, now you have it! Look at Sonible's Smart:EQ.
4. Some new harmonizers. For example: Waves Harmony, a brand new, very cool, tool. Note that these are not meant to be used on their own, as they don't sound that good; they work as fillers. Also other new vocal tools, such as (again Waves) Vocal Bender.
5. All other groundbreaking stuff I forgot

AI is doing its thing also in music tech now, so mixing will get faster and better-sounding.

So some things have definitely happened over the last decade or so, but to me, the main things have been granular and vocal stuff.

[FranklyFlawless]

MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) became an adopted standard out of industry demand, so now there are tons of MPE hardware controllers and synthesizers. If you are looking to produce MIDI performances similar to acoustic instruments, this technology will provide you that expression that is so often missing in electronic music. The latest hyped controller is the Expressive E Osmose, which has a built-in synthesizer.

[Uncle E]

So what do you think are the most exciting things in the space over the last decade?!

Ported coded versions of the Access Virus and Waldorf Q are now available as plugins. Not software emulations, the actual code. And they're free (donationware).

At that time I was looking at going UAD as everyone said that was the king for mixing and was really lusting after a Moog.

Universal Audio now makes a Minimoog plugin and it's native. Softube's Minimoog, called Model 72, is equal quality level, IMO. I prefer both of them over a lot of hardware synths. You said in the other thread that you're a fan of the Analog Four, that's easily replaced by Softube Model 82 and Model 84.

[cryophonik]

As you can see in the above posts, the last ten years have mostly been about inexpensive analogue gear/VSTis and more affordable VST instruments and effects overall. Basically: reinventions, incremental improvements and less expensive.

The high end synth market blew up too, though, with no shortage of synths in the $3-10K range, like Moog One and Model D, Prophet 5/10, Oberheim OB-X8, Black Corp ISE-NIN, Deckard’s Dream, and Xerces, Waldorf Quantum and Iridium, Baloran The River, etc. It’s been crazy!

[foosnark]

Eurorack modular was introduced in 1996 but by 2015 it was just starting to really catch fire... there was an incredible expansion over the next few years after that in the number of available modules, makers, and people using it. 2021-2023 have been tougher on that corner of the industry thanks to parts shortages and higher costs; a couple of major brands retired from it mostly for other reasons and some others closed up shop because it stopped being economically viable. But as a format it's still very much alive and well, and new stuff is released almost every week. There are also some good and yet fairly cheap semi-modular synths that can stand on their own, pair up, or act as an introduction to building your own racks of modules.

Software modular has absolutely exploded too, with VCV Rack and Softube both more or less taking the Eurorack emulation route, and Bitwig and some others going in different directions.

[DrGonzo]

Another thing that also caught on fire was hardware sequencers. Lots of hardware sequencers - from simple step sequencers/analog style to multitrack MIDI units. Some very experimental. Some very traditional.

[diandremusic]

Those Behringer units are really interesting. That TD3 seems like what the Volca Bass was trying to be!

I did get the Valhalla reverb back then and it sounded great, really lush and musical, although I remember wanting a hardware one, possibly the Eventide Blackhole, can’t quite remember.

Also seems like the instruments and effects in Live have got better too, the ping pong delay was always an easy go to.

Analogue synths is one of the biggest things. It looked for a while like wishful thinking but actually did happen and kicked off in a big way. If you're into hw you'll think you've stepped into an alternate universe. Behringer are very much responsible for that. I got a 303, Wasp, Monopoly and 2600 for less than you would buy a real vintage 303 for probably. The TD3 (303 clone) is genuinely pocket money and actually sounds 95% like a real 303 but with CV jack sockets and a wonderfully musical distortion added on. Remember the old Roland gear that ruled the world? You can now buy brand new Behringers that will give you a 808, 909, 303, 102/202 and Juno. Very reasonably priced. Yes, real 909s are back again, new.

Roland will still sell you a digital emulation rehashed Juno that looks real for silly money. Behringer will sell you a 16 voice all-analogue Deepmind that does Juno and more for real...for less than Roland. It also forced other companies' hands...Korg for example (though they were never silly priced imo) - they now sell brand new MS20s both ful sized and mini for affordable prices. Mind you, so do Behringer at half the price (and they're very close to real MS20s). Korg flagship Prologue - 8 or 16 voice analogue with added 3rd digital oscillator, pretty well sounds like a mega poly MS20 but with far more stuff in it. Even Moog have a wide range of synths now, though still often silly prices for what they are IMO.

S/w. Of note to me is the plethora of very good reverbs now. No need to buy expensive hw, the sw really has caught up, finally. Thing like Valhalla...very reminiscent of the Lexicon flavour imo. Just recently Arturia released an emu of a Lexicon 224 getting good reviews. There are emus of Bricastis, the usual famous plates etc. All very affordable and now sounding good. Same with delays. As mentioned UAD now native plugins, though iLok so you still need a dongle with them. Some of the UAD are decent price too, some silly prices, you make your own mind up which is value and which is not.

[diandremusic]

Tanks, some cool stuff in heee. I did play a bit with granular in the past, but never got deep enough to get anything good going.

Smart EQ sounds really interesting, do you mean the EQ basically only affects the channel when other parts are / are not playing? So a bit like side chaining?

Vocal stuff sounds cool too, really seemed like mostly a hardware thing back then to do interesting stuff with vocals.

One fun thing: Artiphone Orba (and yes, it's maybe more of a toy).
And then a couple of MPE devices. If nothing else, they look cool

Since you've been out of the game for some time, here's my thoughts on music SOFTware as well (didn't see the hardware category at first )

As you can see in the above posts, the last ten years have mostly been about inexpensive analogue gear/VSTis and more affordable VST instruments and effects overall. Basically: reinventions, incremental improvements and less expensive.

But do check out...
1. Granular synthesis. Finally something sounding fresh and also fanstically useful. For example in Pigments (as a synth) and Output Portal (as an effect for audio).
2. Izotope's newest set of tools (Ozone etc). Fabulous UI and great-sounding tools.
3. The ability to carve space in (dynamic) EQ's. Imagine you have a vocal, that you ofc want to stay on top all the time. Then a kick or so. Then pads and what have you, to be suppressed in the vocal spectrum when the vocalist is singing. Well, now you have it! Look at Sonible's Smart:EQ.
4. Some new harmonizers. For example: Waves Harmony, a brand new, very cool, tool. Note that these are not meant to be used on their own, as they don't sound that good; they work as fillers. Also other new vocal tools, such as (again Waves) Vocal Bender.
5. All other groundbreaking stuff I forgot

AI is doing its thing also in music tech now, so mixing will get faster and better-sounding.

So some things have definitely happened over the last decade or so, but to me, the main things have been granular and vocal stuff.

[Stefken]

Personally

In hardware land, i remember mainly Behringer s uprising and modular. A lot of affordable synths hit the market.
Some synths that caught my attention for their features are the Sequential Pro 3, Moog Grandmother and the Arturia Polybrute, but obviously everybody has their own favorites. Roland went full on emulation with their 'hardware' only containing emulated stuff. (behringer might be the one that keeps that analogue path alive).

In software land, emulations have become fully mature with the latest emulations being indistinguishable from the real thing. Some recent emulations e.g. are the Minimoog and Juno106 emulations from Softube, SEM emulation from G-force.
Physical modeling in combination with innovative MPE controllers have also given rise to very expressive instruments that can emulate real instruments or go beyond that. Sampling isn t new, and i don 't think we had a revolution in that sector, more like steady advancement bringing more and more detailed representations of real instruments.
I d say that granular synthesis is also kinda new (with implementations in both hardware and software land).
And software always has innovative synths that go beyond anything hardware can do, although emulations of old hardware synths is still very popular.

[cryophonik]

All this and NAMM 2023 hasn't even started yet (3 days and counting)...

[Big Mouth Strikes Again]

All of my hardware synths are 20 to 40 years old. Unfortunately, if you are interested in any of these synths, you will pay a huge premium. The prices for classic analog synths have skyrocketed over the last 10 years.

None of the "modern analogs" appeal to me. They are too precise sounding and their filters sound overly clinical. Plus, they're way too expensive.

None of the analog modeling synth plugins sound authentic. I'm holding on to my hardware analog synths because I don't think synth plugins are ever going to sound as good.

Plugin effects on the other hand sound every bit as good as hardware units. And the price has come way down for great sounding plugins.