Should we ditch VST/AAX instruments altogether?

[Sampleconstruct]

Concerning MIDI, if you set the tempo of your DAW to 5 BPM and then record something via MIDI freely with out a click of course the resolution will not be the exact reproduction of what you played as the resolution per beat is limited (e.g. in Logic it's 240 ticks per beat, so at 5BPM one tick is 0.05 seconds long), if you set the tempo to e.g. 120 and do the same the reproduction will be much more accurate (one tick being 0,002083333333333 seconds long). Will anybody but you notice the difference between the two? Probably not...
The same goes for audio, at a 44.1 kHz sampling rate there is a grid of 44100 samples per second (1 sample = 0,001360544217687 seconds) so digital audio recording is always a time-quantized reproduction of the original, will anybody notice? Probably not...
What was the point again? The either-or-discussion yields nothing but either or...

[jules99]

What baffles me with these reoccurring posts of some boomer crying about the good old times or "real music" or some burnt-out producer complaining about how much everything is about content and social media is not people's rejection to change, at a certain age that's pretty much a given.

What I have a hard time understanding is what these posters' goals are, both in terms of the actual music-making and career, but also their literal posts. Had they imagined themselves to be a successful musician or producer by a certain age and it hadn't worked out? Were they not willing to make the extreme sacrifices being a professional music producer or touring musician requires and has always required, and they were mad at the world for being so hard on them?

And for the actual post, someone like OP seems just to be looking for validation. He has a counter-argument or additional complaint to any post not agreeing with him. Which is fine, but it's tough to find that in a forum full of snarky strangers like KVR. I wholeheartedly disagree with just about everything OP wrote, but at least he speaks up. Many others don't.

[Robmobius]

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.

Basically, your arguments are totally subjective.
...

Yes, music is totally subjective.

Therefore your 'arguments' are only applicable to you.

[Lbdunequest]

What baffles me with these reoccurring posts of some boomer crying about the good old times or "real music" or some burnt-out producer complaining about how much everything is about content and social media is not people's rejection to change, at a certain age that's pretty much a given.

What I have a hard time understanding is what these posters' goals are, both in terms of the actual music-making and career, but also their literal posts. Had they imagined themselves to be a successful musician or producer by a certain age and it hadn't worked out? Were they not willing to make the extreme sacrifices being a professional music producer or touring musician requires and has always required, and they were mad at the world for being so hard on them?

And for the actual post, someone like OP seems just to be looking for validation. He has a counter-argument or additional complaint to any post not agreeing with him. Which is fine, but it's tough to find that in a forum full of snarky strangers like KVR. I wholeheartedly disagree with just about everything OP wrote, but at least he speaks up. Many others don't.

[stoopicus]

I wholeheartedly disagree with just about everything OP wrote, but at least he speaks up. Many others don't.

Yeah, good point. I have no animus whatsoever towards the OP; I simply completely disagree with the premise of their post.

[martinjuenke]

What baffles me with these reoccurring posts of some boomer crying about the good old times or "real music" or some burnt-out producer complaining about how much everything is about content and social media is not people's rejection to change, at a certain age that's pretty much a given.

What I have a hard time understanding is what these posters' goals are, both in terms of the actual music-making and career, but also their literal posts. Had they imagined themselves to be a successful musician or producer by a certain age and it hadn't worked out? Were they not willing to make the extreme sacrifices being a professional music producer or touring musician requires and has always required, and they were mad at the world for being so hard on them?

These old boomers are often frustrated by their disappointing lives and aware that their end is near. They have a lot of time, but to little social life as pensioners, so they populate social media and cry out their frustration. Have pity with them, it's the only contact they have.

[Trancit]

These old boomers are often frustrated by their disappointing lives and aware that their end is near. They have a lot of time, but to little social life as pensioners, so they populate social media and cry out their frustration. Have pity with them, it's the only contact they have.

Wow... I hope you don´t forget you´ll get an old boomer too one day... then you can show the world how superior you are!

[martinjuenke]

These old boomers are often frustrated by their disappointing lives and aware that their end is near. They have a lot of time, but to little social life as pensioners, so they populate social media and cry out their frustration. Have pity with them, it's the only contact they have.

Wow... I hope you don´t forget you´ll get an old boomer too one day... then you can show the world how superior you are!

I am an old boomer already and know about what I talk...

[martinjuenke]

PS: better a boomer than a bummer.

[egbert101]

Youngens today don't know what real work is. I used to work 256 hours a day three times a day digging coal for food with no water in arctic temperatures. Now tell me, do young folk today live like that? No.

[midi sentinel]

After consulting Betteridge's Law of Headlines I regret to inform you that the answer is: No.

[vurt]

do what thou wilt.

[whyterabbyt]

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.

No there arent.

Lets say that our ultimate goal is to create music.

Lets not.

And lets say that we want our music to sound as humanely as possible.

Lets not. Again.

Do we really NEED virtual instruments

There's no unified 'we' here.

, or maybe it does more harm than good?

Mileage vary. Feel absolutely free to stop using them. But it would be quite good if you didnt try to speak for other people.

[unaufadox]

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

Great post. Couldn’t tell English wasn’t ur first language.

I just replied to a question on another forum, in a similar way to what I’m about to write. Interesting timing.

I think for people who cannot play an instrument, VSTs are fine. U want to create but can’t get the musicians or the studio. Even if u could, u have no idea to show them the direction u want to go. That doesn’t mean they’ll be any good but expressing is expressing and it’s nice to be able to do it.

Companies do what companies have to do to survive. The life blood of a company is money. Money comes from sales. It’s up to us to not be convinced that 600GB of sounds is needed. Much like, do we need access to so much music (spotify) to really enjoy it? Why not buy an album and live with that for a few days/weeks/months to really get to know it. Anyway, I digress

I love the idea of just natural sounds as in a bass (bass player here so prepare some bias!) real drum kit real elec. guitar real voice (no auto tune!) - i love all of that but that’s just me. For some new young producers they’ll take everything they can get to make a hit. Companies love them. I used to be the young producer i spoke of above but when i started playing bass, i wanted a more natural feel. Is this the natural path for a ‘digital’ producer? I don’t know. I know that i love the sound of live music. I dislike the sound of autotune. I love the sound of a juicy synth VST or analog. I love the sound of an electric guitar screaming through an amp.

[Ploki]

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).

not an issue.

You could argue immediacy in piano hammer mechanism. It's not instant, there's a lever that needs to move the hammer.

Speed of sound is 340m/s or roughly 34cm/ms.
you're at least 50cm away from the strings meaning the latency between hammer (if the hammer were actually instant) and the actual sound you hear is ~2ms delayed.
If you use headphones, 2ms is the same latency as if you would be sitting behind a real piano.

MIDI accuracy is 960ppq, which is good enough.

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?

Beatles obviously needed more than Bach to create strawberry fields, and Queen obviously needed more than beatles to create Bohemian Rhapsody.
If options are hindering your creative workflow, limit yourself. No need to use everything.

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.

That's just bias.
There's plenty of music today that sounds incredible and will age great.
Some won't, but that's always been the case.

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

Why didn't pink floyd just use a damn harpsichord like Bach? Why did they even sing, and use drums and electric guitars? Did Mauro Giuliani need electricity to play his guitar?
Why did Bach even use a harpsichord, he should've just used a flute or some stupid monophonic singing - who needs progress anyway?

EDIT:
for some context, i have 12 years of formal training in classical guitar and masters degree in music composition. I don't NEED VSTs, i can write for orchestra.
But being pissed about technology because you don't understand it isn't the issue of technology - it's your issue. Put some effort into it and learn something and it suddenly won't be so scary anymore.

EDIT2:
Maybe millenials have just been blessed with the fact that late 90s early 00s POP music is mostly garbage so we have absolutely no nostalgic attachment to it. (except Britney Spears)