Should we ditch VST/AAX instruments altogether?

[Bippo]

(English is not my first language, fyi)

I know it might seem strange to ask this kind of question in this kind of forum, but there are some questions that need to be asked.

Lets say that our ultimate goal is to create music.
And lets say that we want our music to sound as humanely as possible.
Do we really NEED virtual instruments, or maybe it does more harm than good?

Here is obstacle number one:
Latency and quantization.

It doesn't matter if you are an 8 grade pianist, eventually when you record your performance via midi, you'll have even the smallest amount of latency (lets even say 2ms).
And then you'll have two choices:
Quantizing, or leaving the performance as it is, with the tiny delay.
Each option will ultimately not be 100% identical to your original performance, as it could have been if it was recorded with a real piano via microphone, or with an external synth via direct audio signal.
When recording with midi, you are going to sacrifice some humanity in your performance, and any attached "fixes" are still mechanical in their nature and won't be 100% identical to your natural, instantaneous performance.

Obstacle number two:
Way too many options.

Do we really need Kontakt Komplete, Sampletank MAX, Omnisphere, or any other gigantic vst that includes thousands and thousands of sounds, just to create a song?
How many sounds do we need in a song, anyway?
How many instruments Bach needed to create Toccata and Fugue in D minor?
How many instruments The Beatles needed to create Strawberry Fields Forever?
How many instruments Queen needed to create Bohemian Rhapsody?


Lets admit it: modern music is mostly rubbish.
The vast majority of the greatest hits in popular music were created way before the invention of digital instruments.
Is it possible, that the endless amount of possibilities, perfect editing options etc just shifted the focus of musicians from writing the perfect song, to chase after the perfect sound and production?
Maybe having some limitations is good for creativity?
Maybe one keyboard and one guitar is all we need these days to create a good record?

I think we reached an absurd time where we have companies that are excited to announce that their product "includes over 14,000 sounds!" or " a massive 600 GB of sounds and over 18,000 instruments" as if its a necessity to create music, and an endless amount of customers who are willing to fill in their credit card number in order to get their hands on another piece of code that produces sounds which the majority of it they'll never need, hear or use.

How come companies made us believe that having 600 GB of sounds is an advantage instead of a hindrance?

How many brushes Picasso needed?
How many tennis racquets Rafael Nadal uses in a game?
How many balls Lebron James need in the court?
How many many balls Messi use in a soccer game?

Pink Floyd didn't use 600 GB of sounds to create The Dark Side Of The Moon, why should we?

I know it might seems like an old man yells at cloud type of rant, but trust me I ain't old at all.
And even if I was it doesn't matter.

I think it's time to admit it that some of us became sound collectors instead of music creators.
I know that in some way, I did.

I hope that I made some of you ponder a little bit about this whole concept in some deeper level, and maybe reach some new conclusions.

Personally, I decided to walk away from virtual instruments for the time being.
Maybe one guitar and one external keyboard is all I need.
There is something liberating with knowing that you have a limited amount of options.

I swear I didn't feel so free in a long time.

[Benedict]

I use virtual everything so removing all virtual instruments & effects makes no sense (not that you are necessarily suggesting this). A virtual instrument is as much an instrument as a Gibson - on the assumption that this was the design paradigm

However, I agree that there is a strong pressure to make quantity (cash flow) over quality in much of DAWville so there is a horrifying proliferation of proliferation of stuff that is not helping anyone do anything but have a proliferation of stuff that they can try to pretend represents an increase in their Pro-ful-ness. Yet no one stops to wonder why there are no new DSOTMs being released (let alone appearing in the charts) despite all this proliferated stuff (that pretends to be real instruments).

Most of the amazing things humanity has created come from great limits so having an infinite infinitude of proliferated proliferation makes no sense as a starting point for doing anything that matters as there is then no struggle, no story to be told:

I woke up Sunday morning with a bazillion dollars,
and 57 hookers with Double Fs on my bed
Took a ride in my 34 Ferraris
to get a gallon of cocaine in my head.

Now all is more excellent than yesterday
repeat to fade...

Is not an interesting song (no matter how much it sounds like every Drunke song eva)

[BBFG#]

The OP has got me in a serious Deja vu with that rant. I could swear I read that last month almost verbatim on another subforum here...
If the OP is questioning whether we need software we use here, it begs the question of whether or not the OP even needs to be here?

[rod_zero]

Should you embrace what works for you and makes you happy? Yes, totally

Should you be looking form validation from strangers? Nope, who cares about how you work?

Should we follow your wisdom and adopt your methods? Nope.

Are you overestimating the brilliance of your new found idea ? Totally.

[Bippo]

The OP has got me in a serious Deja vu with that rant. I could swear I read that last month almost verbatim on another subforum here...
If the OP is questioning whether we need software we use here, it begs the question of whether or not the OP even needs to be here?

And did you stop for a moment to digest how much software you have and how much you actually USE and how many completed songs you created with that, or you just went for the "I'm too cool and apathetic for this" attitude?

I didn't mean to hurt your feelings with this post, you can collect as many vsts that you want, but if you can't/don't want to reflect a little bit about the subject of this post, your comment is kind of futile.

Should you embrace what works for you and makes you happy? Yes, totally

Should you be looking form validation from strangers? Nope, who cares about how you work?

Should we follow your wisdom and adopt your methods? Nope.

Are you overestimating the brilliance of your new found idea ? Totally.

You just won the award of having the most inevitable, cynical and bitter response I expected to have within the first 3 comments, congrats

[Bippo]

I use virtual everything so removing all virtual instruments & effects makes no sense (not that you are necessarily suggesting this). A virtual instrument is as much an instrument as a Gibson - on the assumption that this was the design paradigm

However, I agree that there is a strong pressure to make quantity (cash flow) over quality in much of DAWville so there is a horrifying proliferation of proliferation of stuff that is not helping anyone do anything but have a proliferation of stuff that they can try to pretend represents an increase in their Pro-ful-ness. Yet no one stops to wonder why there are no new DSOTMs being released (let alone appearing in the charts) despite all this proliferated stuff (that pretends to be real instruments).

Most of the amazing things humanity has created come from great limits so having an infinite infinitude of proliferated proliferation makes no sense as a starting point for doing anything that matters as there is then no struggle, no story to be told:

I woke up Sunday morning with a bazillion dollars,
and 57 hookers with Double Fs on my bed
Took a ride in my 34 Ferraris
to get a gallon of cocaine in my head.

Now all is more excellent than yesterday
repeat to fade...

Is not an interesting song (no matter how much it sounds like every Drunke song eva)

I pretty much agree that a virtual instrument is as much an instrument as a Gibson.
I also agree that most of the amazing things humanity has created come from great limits.
And for that reason, I think, there were far more classic, "standing the test of time", songs that were written on a Gibson (or a Fender, for that matter) than any Kontakt library out there

I mean, songwriters these days tend to work like clerk in front of a laptop with an endless amount of sounds and instruments under their fingertips.
That has became the most common way to write these days, but maybe we should limit ourselves for a much more minimal equipment in order to spark the creativity, that lets admit it, is very absent in modern music.

The thing that makes me laugh the most is seeing all those "online beats" stores, where you have hundreds of producers, all having an endless amount of plugins and samples in their hard drive, but they still sell their "Drake type of beat" for 20$ amongst thousands of other "Drake type of beats" that sounds exactly the same

[stoopicus]

In short, no, I do not wish to go backwards in time, and the cheap availability of extremely high quality tools is nothing short of amazing.

Also, the vast majority of music has *always* been crap. This is far from a new thing. If anything it's better now than it used to be. Trust me, I remember '80s pop radio.

In fact I am certain of it; the easy availability of tools that you could formerly only get in well funded studios has led to an amazing democratization of making music. It's better now than it has ever been.

On the other hand, "I have too many choices and am paralyzed by my rich set of tools" wins some kind of First World Problem award. Yes, being forced to create within limitations can drive inventiveness. But all that means is you are *really using your tools you have*. There is nothing stopping you from doing that right now

[Uncle E]

Should you be looking form validation from strangers? Nope

I completely agree with and approve of this message.

[Uncle E]

Do we really NEED virtual instruments, or maybe it does more harm than good?

It took 25 years for ITB recording to get to the current level. Give it up if you want, that's your choice, but you may want to give it a go since no other generation of musicians ever had it this good.

[cryophonik]

Logic users do not oppose this suggestion.

[BBFG#]

The OP has got me in a serious Deja vu with that rant. I could swear I read that last month almost verbatim on another subforum here...
If the OP is questioning whether we need software we use here, it begs the question of whether or not the OP even needs to be here?

And did you stop for a moment to digest how much software you have and how much you actually USE and how many completed songs you created with that, or you just went for the "I'm too cool and apathetic for this" attitude?

I didn't mean to hurt your feelings with this post, you can collect as many vsts that you want, but if you can't/don't want to reflect a little bit about the subject of this post, your comment is kind of futile.

Should you embrace what works for you and makes you happy? Yes, totally

Should you be looking form validation from strangers? Nope, who cares about how you work?

Should we follow your wisdom and adopt your methods? Nope.

Are you overestimating the brilliance of your new found idea ? Totally.

You just won the award of having the most inevitable, cynical and bitter response I expected to have within the first 3 comments, congrats

Seems like indignance is your chemistry of choice...
As far as inventories, yes, I do them all the time. However everything I own is not for the sole purpose of production. Several things are specifically to actually take a break from it.

What I seek to dump and do without these days has more to do with the increase of company antics than it does the plugins themselves. For example, NI, IK-M, iZotope all have good plugins, but they all have become absolute wankers as far as I'm concerned. And when the time I enjoy them is completely eclipsed but the time I spend on dealing with them, then yes, it's time to be rid of them.

BTW, I do the same thing with the acrylics we paint with. But what they've taught me in how I choose or even don't choose what colors or brand to paint with has taught me a way to approach each music piece was well.

Much is our subjective, perspective and trying to limit it to one script to do it can end up derivative.

And I still have that deja vu of your first post here being something I've read somewhere on this forum in the last few months?
And it seems too exact in it's repetition.
Maybe I'm precognitive.

Oh, and I also haven't never used AAX and the majority of what I do use is VST3 but increasingly more CLAP in hopes to one day be rid of that as much sad possible.
(It's that wanker effect.)

[neverbefore]

I hae lots of software and use most of it from time to time. Some gets used more often than others, some does not get used at all and I wished I could sell it, some I used to use a lot but dont anymore. But overall and over time, I enjoy most of it and see as much value in music software purchases as in clothes and other types of goods.

As for paralysed by choice - not for me at all but I guess it is a problem for some and an unintended consequence of how cheap this stuff is. But every technology brings new problems - with the ship came the shipwreck (Virilio)

Which reminds me to have a look again at selling some softube stuff although with BF coming around that is probably a waste of time

[Tj Shredder]

Lets say that our ultimate goal is to create music.
And lets say that we want our music to sound as humanely as possible.
Do we really NEED virtual instruments, or maybe it does more harm than good?

This is such a personal decision like “do we really need a violin to make humanely music?”
There was a time I used a violin to make humanely music, but now I use a LinnStrument…

Here is obstacle number one:
Latency and quantization.

This isn’t an obstacle at all because its part of my instrument. My ears decide always. Quantization is something I ignore…

Obstacle number two:
Way too many options.

This is only a question of discipline, like you need discipline to practice as well…

Do we really need Kontakt Komplete, Sampletank MAX, Omnisphere, or any other gigantic vst that includes thousands and thousands of sounds, just to create a song?

Certainly not all of it. I could be happy with just what Bitwig delivers, but collecting plugins could be as well a source of inspiration…

How many instruments Bach needed to create Toccata and Fugue in D minor?

It was the synthesizer of its time with too many choices and a really huge latency…

Personally, I decided to walk away from virtual instruments for the time being.
Maybe one guitar and one external keyboard is all I need.

Is that already pure enough? I know people who can do magic with just a tin whistle and no need of electric power at all…

But I agree, there is a danger that we abuse the possibilities technology delivers. Most published music doesn’t breath. The timing is too strict. That is because a DAW delivers such a strict timing and many stick to it like slaves…

[neverbefore]

But I agree, there is a danger that we abuse the possibilities technology delivers. Most published music doesn’t breath. The timing is too strict. That is because a DAW delivers such a strict timing and many stick to it like slaves…

like Kraftwerk - strict timing is somehing to exploit if that fits one's artistic goals. Otherwise dont.

[revvy]

Should we ditch posting questions on music forums altogether?