Software vs. Analog in 2025 – Has the Balance Shifted?

VST, AU, AAX, CLAP, etc. Plugin Virtual Instruments Discussion
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Has digital finally dethroned analog?

Yes, software has clearly taken the lead
22
31%
No, analog still holds its ground
17
24%
About 50/50 - I balance both worlds
4
6%
Not sure, it's context-dependent
1
1%
Doesn’t matter. It’s about results, not tools
26
37%
 
Total votes: 70

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DJErmac wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 2:41 am Serum2 is a BigMac.
Big Mac's a Big Mac but they call it Le Big Mac.

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Uncle E wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:06 am
DJErmac wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 2:41 am Serum2 is a BigMac.
Big Mac's a Big Mac but they call it Le Big Mac.
Hungriest thread so far.

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cryophonik wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 1:25 am McDonald’s has better fries than Moog.

</thread>
The truthiest thing I’ve read all day. :clap:

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DJErmac wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 2:57 am Reported.

Because I prefer Burger King.
Because you haven’t had Dick’s.

Terrible name, but great fast food.

Image

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elxsound wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:28 am
DJErmac wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 2:57 am Reported.
:love:
Because I prefer Burger King.
Because you haven’t had Dick’s.
How dare you ??? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Terrible name, but great fast food.

Image
Sadly for me, only in the US. :wink:

I’ll order tomorrow but I’m afraid it will arrive in France slightly altered. Thanks for the information though, always curious to hear about what’s going on oversea.

Aren’t we kind of away from the subject here ? What was it exactly ?

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elxsound wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:28 am
DJErmac wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 2:57 am Reported.

Because I prefer Burger King.
Because you haven’t had Dick’s.

Terrible name, but great fast food.

Image
Could you tell us where this is? California? Is it a chain or one shot?
“Madness, as you know, is like gravity: all it takes is a little push.”

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dlandis wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:42 am
elxsound wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:28 am
DJErmac wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 2:57 am Reported.

Because I prefer Burger King.
Because you haven’t had Dick’s.

Terrible name, but great fast food.

Image
Could you tell us where this is? California? Is it a chain or one shot?
Chain restaurant in Pacific Northwest. https://www.ddir.com/

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Moog to soft synths…
IMG_0139.jpeg
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elxsound wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:43 am
dlandis wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:42 am
elxsound wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:28 am
DJErmac wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 2:57 am Reported.

Because I prefer Burger King.
Because you haven’t had Dick’s.

Terrible name, but great fast food.

Image
Could you tell us where this is? California? Is it a chain or one shot?
Chain restaurant in Pacific Northwest. https://www.ddir.com/
Thanks! :tu:
“Madness, as you know, is like gravity: all it takes is a little push.”

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Hardware people be like : :D
cryophonik wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:44 am Moog to soft synths…

IMG_0139.jpeg

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DJErmac wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:35 am
elxsound wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:28 am
DJErmac wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 2:57 am Reported.
:love:
Because I prefer Burger King.
Because you haven’t had Dick’s.
How dare you ??? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Terrible name, but great fast food.

Image
Sadly for me, only in the US. :wink:

I’ll order tomorrow but I’m afraid it will arrive in France slightly altered. Thanks for the information though, always curious to hear about what’s going on oversea.

Aren’t we kind of away from the subject here ? What was it exactly ?
:lol:

Yeah, sorry haven’t been able to jump in until the burgers popped up!

I’m a hybrid user. I even like my hardware digital synths and modules (eurorack).

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SoftSynthLover99 wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 1:58 am LegendHZ sounds like software trying to achieve that sound, and the Minimoog sounds like the Minimoog.
Correct, and they both do.
How original

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SoftSynthLover99 wrote: Wed Jun 11, 2025 11:26 pm a good fast food burger
No such thing
How original

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elxsound wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:43 am
dlandis wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:42 am
elxsound wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 3:28 am
DJErmac wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 2:57 am Reported.

Because I prefer Burger King.
Because you haven’t had Dick’s.

Terrible name, but great fast food.

Image
Could you tell us where this is? California? Is it a chain or one shot?
Chain restaurant in Pacific Northwest. https://www.ddir.com/
Bill Gates will still sometimes roll up to that one from time to time to order food.

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This discussion is pointless as always. First wrong is this HW vs. SW thing, when it is about sound. Therefore analog vs. digital would be the right opposition. Regarding balance has shifted:
Yes it has shifted, starting with Fairlight CMS and Synclavier, ongoing with DX7, D50 and all the samplers occuring in the 80ies and the shift to digital finished, when studios started to change their recording and mixing process to digital e/o the 90ies. So nobody with a clear mind would state, that digitial technology hasn't taken over music creation, playing and producing all over the place. Analog synths are just a niche, when you consider all genres in the music industry.

The other topic is HW vs. SW, but that hasn't neccessarily anything to do with sound. Most HW is digital anyway and there is no difference, if algorithms run on an integrated chip or in a computer. The difference there is more related to workflow.

People tend to generalize things, although they are very specific. E.g. that you have more immediate access on a HW than on a SW synth. This might be true, if you compare a Minimoog with a SW synth. But it isn't true, if you compare a DX7 or a Virus to a SW synth counterpart. I can much faster model things in Serum, than with a Virus or a Waldorf or even a Hydrasynth, which has one of the best complex HW synth workflows.

I think there a many different use-cases and it is totally understandable, that each person has different preferences. I can hardly imagine a virtuoso keys player in a jazz or funk combo messing around with SW synths and getting latencies much easier or probable than with HW.
Also I can hardly imagine EDM or DJ producers patching, gain-staging, program changing and recording 30 year old HW in a DAW, when a more or less similar result can easily be achieved with SW and doing it all in the box.

Back to the sound: it is also from the analog advocates forgotten, that digital can emulate analog to 95-99% and most people don't recognize the difference. The other way around analog gear can not even reach 5%, of what you can do with all the samplers, wavetable, FM(PM), additive, spectral and granular engines. So when it is claimed that digital sounds worse than analog or can not do what analog can, than it shouldn't be forgotten, that analog not sounds just worse, but isn't even able to do what digital can. So how fair is a comparison, where the one technology can emulate the other to 99%, but not the other way around?

At the end such a question is raised once a year and almost in a category of planned rage bait, because the status won't change anymore. HW is still around for live gigs, immediate access and people who want toys, which can be touched. Analog is still nice sounding, but not needed anymore when just the result after production is considered.
Digital technology mostly or often realized in SW has long ago taken the dominance in the music creation and production environment.

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