Software Hoarding

[pekbro]

I live by the old adage: A musician is someone who loads $5k worth of gear into a $500 car, then drives 500 miles to make $100…

Something like that anyway…

[audiojunkie]

These days, the only music "gear" that anyone really needs is one general-purpose synth plugin like Omnisphere, one flexible analog modeling synth plugin like Diva, one software sampler (take your pick from Falcon, HALion, or Kontakt,) and maybe one "sound design" / cinematic synth plugin like Zebra (or swap that out for a software modular if that's your thing). And of course, you'll need almost any "pro" laptop made in the last few years to run everything on, any one of the leading DAWs which will include all the FX plugins you need, and a nice controller keyboard with a good keybed.

I say this as someone who owns 10 hardware synths (down from 20) plus hundreds and hundreds of synth and FX plugins (so many that I have lost count). So clearly, there is a difference between "need" and "want." I would probably be more productive if I pared back my setup and got rid of most of the plugins. But the resale value on plugins is so low that it's not really worth bothering, in my opinion.

But I definitely don't need any more plugins. I'll make exceptions for upgrades like Serum 2 and the upcoming Zebra 3. But that's about it.

Pretty much. I align it along slightly different parameters, but similarly:

* One or two quality analog modelers (in my case Repro and Diva) for analog sounds
* One or two FM synths for those unique cold FM sounds
* One or two granulars for those unique granular sounds
* As many quality samplers as I can (I love samplers). In my case, the ideals are TX16Wx, TAL-Sampler, ShortCircuit-XT (still in development), Decent Sampler, Sfizz, LinuxSampler, and soon, Sforzando for Linux
* One or two wavetable synths for their unique sound qualities
* One or two supersynths for saving and retrieving layered sounds differing synthesis types

[IvyBirds]

Meaning if you acquire a better option, you sell or delete the plugin it's replacing. Finished projects should be bounced to audio so there are no issues opening old projects.

Why would you do that? All it's doing is sitting on a hard drive with a capacity probably measured in TBs. If you are not using it what's the harm in not deleting it?

It's literally taking up zero physical space

[jamcat]

I’ve never sold a used plugin, and it’s not something I will likely ever do. I’m philosophically opposed to the idea.

First of all, it would be a lot of hassle for not much money because used software retains practically no value. It’s a non-tangible infinite resource with an artificial scarcity imposed on it. You look at KVR’s Buy&Sell forum and people are selling $100 plugins for $5.

And if I like the software developer, I would rather they make a sale than for me to take it away from them for a handful of dollars. I’m just not that greedy that I need to take food out of their mouths for $5.

But on the other hand, if it’s crap, then I’m not going to pass it off to someone else, make it their problem, and take their money. I’m just not that deceitful. I’ll just take the loss and the lesson learned.

And then there is the whole issue that when you buy software, you are actually buying a non-exclusive license to use it in your music. Which you have done. It’s like if a filmmaker bought the rights to use your song in their movie, and then when they’re done making the movie they said “I don’t need this song anymore” and sold your song to another filmmaker to use in their movie. When everyone is done passing you around, everyone will have used you and you will have only gotten paid once.

[IvyBirds]

I’ve never bought or sold a used plugin, and it’s not something I will likely ever do. I’m philosophically opposed to the idea.

First of all, it would be a lot of hassle for not much money because used software retains practically no value. It’s a non-tangible infinite resource with an artificial scarcity imposed on it. You look at KVR’s Buy&Sell forum and people are selling $100 plugins for $5.

And if I like the software developer, I would rather they make a sale than for me to take it away from them for a handful of dollars. I’m just not that greedy that I need to take food out of their mouths for $5.

But on the other hand, if it’s crap, then I’m not going to pass it off to someone else, make it their problem, and take their money. I’m just not that deceitful. I’ll just take the loss and the lesson learned.

And then there is the whole issue that when you buy software, you are actually buying a non-exclusive license to use it in your music. Which you have done. It’s like if a filmmaker bought the rights to use your song in their movie, and then when they’re done making the movie they said “I don’t need this song anymore” and sold your song to another filmmaker to use in their movie. When everyone is done passing you around, everyone will have used you and you will have only gotten paid once.

EXACTLY this x1000

[Uncle E]

I live by the old adage: A musician is someone who loads $5k worth of gear into a $500 car, then drives 500 miles to make $100…

Painfully accurate.

[BONES]

Because it's better to have a few great ones that you know very well instead of having a bunch that you only know enough to mess around with presets.

First of all, why is it better? Obviously, that's what I was asking in the first place. No-one was thinking you do it because it makes everything worse.

Secondly, what does "that you know very well" even mean? They are all pretty much the same in my experience. I know all the softsynths I use very well because I know how synths work. Sure, there are things like Aparillo that tend to be more trial and error but it still has LFOs and envelopes so it's not a complete mystery. But if you know DUNE very well, then you must know Hive very well and Thorn very well and Spire very well, along with most other softsynths because the differences only take a few minutes to get your head around. Seriously, there's generally less to get used to than when you borrow someone else's car.

That said, I find that once I know a synth inside and out, when I can remember where all the good presets are (or I've bookmarked them all), it ceases to serve up those surprise and delight moments, if you know what I mean. It becomes utterly predictable and I tend to lose interest in it. There are some synths where I think that's a good thing but when it comes to sparking my creativity, I find I need a fairly regular flow of new things to keep me interested, or sometimes old things that I've all but forgotten about.

[Scoops]

I am not a hoarder.

I just got alot of stuff!

[Uncle E]

I ain't a player I just hoard a lot

RIP!

[BONES]

Synths, we have several full featured synths right now as Pigments, Serum 2, Vital, Phaseplant, and Zebra 3 soon, I honestly find it hard to justify having more than 2 from that group, too much overlap, and GUIs among them all are good.

Why do you need to justify any of them? It's not like you have to take out a second mortgage to afford 'em - most of them cost less than a few after work beers at the pub - and they don't exactly take up a lot of space, even on your hard-drive.

On average I have purchased one or two a year, taking advantage of Black Friday and Summer Sales. You can learn quite a bit about a synth in 6-12 months time

So for example of job want to get a good grip on the character of the filters you most certainly don't need more than. 6 months to do that. If you want to know the granular engine again you would have 6-12 months to do so

So take advantage of a summer sale and those will be coming up in a few months so buy one. Steinberg and UVI typically run really good Summer Sales.

That sounds like the way people would think about learning a spreadsheet. Where's the passion in it? I get excited by the possibilities of a new synth and buy it 100% with my heart, not my head. Sure, probably half the instruments in my VST folders are things I might never use and probably shouldn't have bought but those decisions are not rational ones, I don't often feel like I need to justify them. Yes, there are things I can't justify spending a lot of money on but in the price range where I shop - $100 or less - I don't feel like I need to justify any purchasing decisions. And because I can get so many amazing synths for under $100, something like Omnisphere is almost impossible to justify in any way. For it to be worth anywhere near what it costs, I'd want everyone who listens to our music to be able to say "wow, these guys are using Omnisphere!" but that doesn't happen, does it? It doesn't sound one whit better than hundreds of other instruments.

[Shabdahbriah]

Because it's better to have a few great ones that you know very well instead of having a bunch that you only know enough to mess around with presets.

First of all, why is it better? Obviously, that's what I was asking in the first place. No-one was thinking you do it because it makes everything worse.

Secondly, what does "that you know very well" even mean? They are all pretty much the same in my experience. I know all the softsynths I use very well because I know how synths work. Sure, there are things like Aparillo that tend to be more trial and error but it still has LFOs and envelopes so it's not a complete mystery. But if you know DUNE very well, then you must know Hive very well and Thorn very well and Spire very well, along with most other softsynths because the differences only take a few minutes to get your head around. Seriously, there's generally less to get used to than when you borrow someone else's car.

That said, I find that once I know a synth inside and out, when I can remember where all the good presets are (or I've bookmarked them all), it ceases to serve up those surprise and delight moments, if you know what I mean. It becomes utterly predictable and I tend to lose interest in it. There are some synths where I think that's a good thing but when it comes to sparking my creativity, I find I need a fairly regular flow of new things to keep me interested, or sometimes old things that I've all but forgotten about.

^^^ That ^^^

[djanthonyw]

Meaning if you acquire a better option, you sell or delete the plugin it's replacing. Finished projects should be bounced to audio so there are no issues opening old projects.

Why would you do that? All it's doing is sitting on a hard drive with a capacity probably measured in TBs. If you are not using it what's the harm in not deleting it?

It's literally taking up zero physical space

You're missing the point of workflow when it comes to analysis paralysis.

[IvyBirds]

Meaning if you acquire a better option, you sell or delete the plugin it's replacing. Finished projects should be bounced to audio so there are no issues opening old projects.

Why would you do that? All it's doing is sitting on a hard drive with a capacity probably measured in TBs. If you are not using it what's the harm in not deleting it?

It's literally taking up zero physical space

You're missing the point of workflow when it comes to analysis paralysis.

No I'm not, I understand it quite well which is why I avoid it

[IvyBirds]

That sounds like the way people would think about learning a spreadsheet. Where's the passion in it? I get excited by the possibilities of a new synth and buy it 100% with my heart, not my head.

Where is the passion when you can't even commit to learning a synth? Your actions are indicating you don't have a passion for sound design or learning how to squeeze every last ounce out of a synth

You just want to surf the presets and scratch the surface, that is the absolute opposite of passion, it's a cop out of someone who just can't be bothered

It's fine if that's what you want you want to do, but let's not pretend you are actually passionate about synthesis, you are just passionate for the work of other people using synthesis to make presets that you surf

When I buy a deep flagship synth that has multiple engines inside of it, it's like buying 3, 4, 5, even 6 or more synths. Having passion means taking the time to learn it so I can do things I have never been able to do before

[jamcat]

I live by the old adage: A musician is someone who loads $5k worth of gear into a $500 car, then drives 500 miles to make $100…

Painfully accurate.

Not for BONES. He loads $500 worth of gear into a $5k boat, then sails 500 miles to make $100. Totally different!