Should we ditch VST/AAX instruments altogether?

[chk071]

Well, we have 10° here, and, this is pretty much Central Europe. I don't know where it's supposed to be 20°...

Germany is not Central Europe, Germany just thinks its Central Europe.

[El°HYM]

[Dencheg]

We should ditch TVs and go to theaters.
I mean you should. Just let me know where you left it

[stoopicus]

Don't forget medical care. Nothing screams "good old days" like having to go to your medieval barber for surgery.

[kritikon]

The main answer to the OP is that we should ditch trolling. Your new GenZ trolling is way more transparent than proper GenX trolling. Millenials are too angst to troll and boomers struggle to connect to the interwebz in the first place. I'm eagerly waiting for the next generation (GenA? or do we go to numbers and Gen1?) of real meta trolling.

[stoopicus]

Gotta admit this has been a pretty successful troll. 8 pages now.

[kritikon]

True. Or the trollees are just not as resistant as they used to be.

[Richard_Synapse]

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).

We do not have to record using a MIDI 1.0 cable though, if that is what you mean.

Also, we must not under-estimate the latency of hardware. As others have pointed out, sound travels at a limited speed. Old analog or digital keyboards can also have substantial latency for various reasons. For instance if very slow microprocessors are used to interpret what keys are currently depressed.

Richard

[D-Fusion]

(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.

There is no such thing as zero Latency when it comes to sound and you don't have to use Quantize if you want the Human feel in your music.
You don't have to buy everything when using software instrument so you can also have a limited setup in your daw with vst's.

The only thing i don't like so much when it comes to software is the various Copy Protection Schemes, Subscription, Random Crashes, Required online connection, Endless update cycles or having to Re-authorize frequently (Roland Cloud and Vengeance Avenger).

[kritikon]

MIDI 1.0 doesn't even matter. The OP is obviously trolling if he states a latency of 2ms is important in VSTi. A piano has latency of 20-30ms. Y'know, real pianos with elephants' teeth and real slow metal strings that get twatted by hammers...

[kritikon]

Drums will have even more latency. When you consider the time it takes for a drummer's brain to spark cells together for an impulse to hit something then transmit them down his drug addled arms. Latency could be in measurable seconds...

[egbert101]

Gotta admit this has been a pretty successful troll. 8 pages now.

Imagine getting angry at forum posts.

[jules99]

[stoopicus]

Gotta admit this has been a pretty successful troll. 8 pages now.

Imagine getting angry at forum posts.

Is anyone mad?

[vurt]

we're all mad here