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

[Uncle E]

Not sure why you are triggered by that.

Not triggered. Just having fun doing the "literally shaking" meme.

When the kids say "literally", there's a good chance it's anything but literal.

[D-Fusion]

Amish people dont use cars because its no real horsepower - true story.

[zerocrossing]

Amish people dont use cars because its no real horsepower - true story.

Maybe that's why their jam is so hot.

[DJErmac]

The only thing that it shows is how someone who is very knowledgeable about a subject, can also completely misunderstand the point.

What? You think I'm wrong?

Man, seriously... please stay super, super cool ! We’re just on the extreme limit of trolling on this discussion here. How can anybody be wrong on what he prefers, first ?
What you’re saying has be proven thousands times. Human hear loves noise, for sure. It confuses our brain, it’s basically how dithering works. Think about how extended this could be, white noise therapy for limiting ringing hearing... Noise is super hear-friendly !
And noise can be added digitally...
This thread is a funny, ridiculous VS and it has to stay the way it is. Between nostalgia, trends, value for money, perception, back to roots need, there’s no possible answer, definitely.
Nobody will ever win...

[Uncle E]

No trolling going on here...

[DJErmac]

No trolling going on here...

A very short cultural aside, for who cares :
In France, we have almost no people which ancestors come from south-Africa in proportion, mostly north Africa, contrary to the US.
The most popular show here, when transposed, is this one, The Jamel Comedy Club (of course you’ll understand nothing, but you can see what a popular french stand-up show looks like if you ever care) :
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl3oyun4u ... IgaGFyb3Vu
I absolutely love the guy, one of my favourite humorists ever.

Sorry for this one-post off-topic. I think it’s gonna be memorable in this thread.

[zerocrossing]

The only thing that it shows is how someone who is very knowledgeable about a subject, can also completely misunderstand the point.

What? You think I'm wrong?

Man, seriously... please stay super, super cool ! We’re just on the extreme limit of trolling on this discussion here. How can anybody be wrong on what he prefers, first ?
What you’re saying has be proven thousands times. Human hear loves noise, for sure. It confuses our brain, it’s basically how dithering works. Think about how extended this could be, white noise therapy for limiting ringing hearing... Noise is super hear-friendly !
And noise can be added digitally...
This thread is a funny, ridiculous VS and it has to stay the way it is. Between nostalgia, trends, value for money, perception, back to roots need, there’s no possible answer, definitely.
Nobody will ever win...

Well, that's my point. I've not been doing analog vs. digital. I've been doing me vs. vs.

[zerocrossing]

No trolling going on here...

Is that supposed to be funny, or are we just watching a guy who has Tourette syndrome and his tick is saying HAM BURGER? He's from Elizabeth too. I grew up near there. My town's motto was, "Somewhat better smelling than Elizabeth."

[Uncle E]

It’s a call back

[machinesworking]

IMO it's always been the same, a dedicated synth with intuitive knobs and controls is just more fun to program sounds on. I'm not interested in the arguments about sound quality, digital synths can sound fantastic (though they aren't all sweet spots), but I get tied of mousing to adjust a sound. Then there's devices that are almost defined by the interaction with the interface.

It's been about 30 years now, and computers have more than proven they can produce great music, it's just that the process is akin to using Excel on some level. Basically anything with menu diving or mice is not as fun to use as knobs buttons and sliders IMO.

And yet you don't have to "mouse around" with software and can easily setup controllers to make using them vastly superior and more fun than using the limited controls on most hardware synths that are predefined for you in a layout you have no control over

This is so partisan it's laughable. After 25 years of using soft synths, control surfaces for ergonomic deep control of soft synths still are a PITA, you're still using a mouse for 90% of the programming, it's just not true at all that it's "more fun" to assign more than 16 parameters to a soft synth, then deal with generic controls that you now have to remember which one is Osc 2 PWM etc.

There's a reason NI are still plugging Komplete Kontrol, NKS and PLAY instruments, because 16-24 controls with LED readouts that are set up by them for you gives a semblance of control.

The WYSIWYG nature of hardware synths without menu diving is not matched in software, it's the one area where hardware is still more enjoyable. Software is vastly cheaper and things like sampling and granular synthesis make little sense to me on hardware, but the OB-8 is much more fun to program than a soft synth with a control surface.

[vitocorleone123]

IMO it's always been the same, a dedicated synth with intuitive knobs and controls is just more fun to program sounds on. I'm not interested in the arguments about sound quality, digital synths can sound fantastic (though they aren't all sweet spots), but I get tied of mousing to adjust a sound. Then there's devices that are almost defined by the interaction with the interface.

It's been about 30 years now, and computers have more than proven they can produce great music, it's just that the process is akin to using Excel on some level. Basically anything with menu diving or mice is not as fun to use as knobs buttons and sliders IMO.

And yet you don't have to "mouse around" with software and can easily setup controllers to make using them vastly superior and more fun than using the limited controls on most hardware synths that are predefined for you in a layout you have no control over

This is so partisan it's laughable. After 25 years of using soft synths, control surfaces for ergonomic deep control of soft synths still are a PITA, you're still using a mouse for 90% of the programming, it's just not true at all that it's "more fun" to assign more than 16 parameters to a soft synth, then deal with generic controls that you now have to remember which one is Osc 2 PWM etc.

There's a reason NI are still plugging Komplete Kontrol, NKS and PLAY instruments, because 16-24 controls with LED readouts that are set up by them for you gives a semblance of control.

The WYSIWYG nature of hardware synths without menu diving is not matched in software, it's the one area where hardware is still more enjoyable. Software is vastly cheaper and things like sampling and granular synthesis make little sense to me on hardware, but the OB-8 is much more fun to program than a soft synth with a control surface.

I don't necessarily think hardware is more enjoyable. Different. Same as the sound.
I can get into a "flow state" more easily with a mouse and software than with hardware. So, as with all of this, it's maybe best to not make generalities (I tend to do it, too).

[zerocrossing]

IMO it's always been the same, a dedicated synth with intuitive knobs and controls is just more fun to program sounds on. I'm not interested in the arguments about sound quality, digital synths can sound fantastic (though they aren't all sweet spots), but I get tied of mousing to adjust a sound. Then there's devices that are almost defined by the interaction with the interface.

It's been about 30 years now, and computers have more than proven they can produce great music, it's just that the process is akin to using Excel on some level. Basically anything with menu diving or mice is not as fun to use as knobs buttons and sliders IMO.

And yet you don't have to "mouse around" with software and can easily setup controllers to make using them vastly superior and more fun than using the limited controls on most hardware synths that are predefined for you in a layout you have no control over

This is so partisan it's laughable. After 25 years of using soft synths, control surfaces for ergonomic deep control of soft synths still are a PITA, you're still using a mouse for 90% of the programming, it's just not true at all that it's "more fun" to assign more than 16 parameters to a soft synth, then deal with generic controls that you now have to remember which one is Osc 2 PWM etc.

There's a reason NI are still plugging Komplete Kontrol, NKS and PLAY instruments, because 16-24 controls with LED readouts that are set up by them for you gives a semblance of control.

The WYSIWYG nature of hardware synths without menu diving is not matched in software, it's the one area where hardware is still more enjoyable. Software is vastly cheaper and things like sampling and granular synthesis make little sense to me on hardware, but the OB-8 is much more fun to program than a soft synth with a control surface.

I don't necessarily think hardware is more enjoyable. Different. Same as the sound.
I can get into a "flow state" more easily with a mouse and software than with hardware. So, as with all of this, it's maybe best to not make generalities (I tend to do it, too).

I’m with you. I prefer software by a lot. The only one of my synths that doesn’t have a software editor is the Nina.

[IvyBirds]

IMO it's always been the same, a dedicated synth with intuitive knobs and controls is just more fun to program sounds on. I'm not interested in the arguments about sound quality, digital synths can sound fantastic (though they aren't all sweet spots), but I get tied of mousing to adjust a sound. Then there's devices that are almost defined by the interaction with the interface.

It's been about 30 years now, and computers have more than proven they can produce great music, it's just that the process is akin to using Excel on some level. Basically anything with menu diving or mice is not as fun to use as knobs buttons and sliders IMO.

And yet you don't have to "mouse around" with software and can easily setup controllers to make using them vastly superior and more fun than using the limited controls on most hardware synths that are predefined for you in a layout you have no control over

This is so partisan it's laughable. After 25 years of using soft synths, control surfaces for ergonomic deep control of soft synths still are a PITA, you're still using a mouse for 90% of the programming, it's just not true at all that it's "more fun" to assign more than 16 parameters to a soft synth, then deal with generic controls that you now have to remember which one is Osc 2 PWM etc.

There's a reason NI are still plugging Komplete Kontrol, NKS and PLAY instruments, because 16-24 controls with LED readouts that are set up by them for you gives a semblance of control.

The WYSIWYG nature of hardware synths without menu diving is not matched in software, it's the one area where hardware is still more enjoyable. Software is vastly cheaper and things like sampling and granular synthesis make little sense to me on hardware, but the OB-8 is much more fun to program than a soft synth with a control surface.

The only partisan thing here is your extreme ignorance to what modern tools can do

only I don't use the mouse 90% of the time, it's probably less than 10% which compares with the time spent menu diving on most hardware synths that have any level of complexity

For many of my favorite Synths I don't even have to use a mouse at all, for example I can control virtually every aspect of Plogue's OPS7 which is a DX7 emulation well over 100 parameters without even touching my mouse or even looking at a screen

But if I did look at the screen, the screen is an exact representation of my MIDI controllers all clearly labeled. It's dead simple to remember where everything is, because it's all laid out in a logical way that I created, and I have a cheat sheet called a screen and muscle memory as to where all the controls are. Those controls are always in the same place on my desk and without looking I can adjust fader 3 or knob 16 on controller 3. Takes less effort than trying to learn a different interface for every hardware synth

My issue with hardware synths is that they don't have enough controls and they are predefined

I would much rather have more controls that are set up exactly how I want them to, then be limited to whatever was installed at the factory on whatever order they deemed appropriate

I also get to set EXACTLY how my knobs and faders work and react, or limit their range. I get to set multiple parameters to the same control even if they are on two different Synths

For example if I have a Wavetable synth layered with say an FM synth I can use a single fader to adjust the blend between both. So if the fader is all the way day that can make the Wavetable have 100% volume and the FM have 0%. Then as I lift the fader the Wavetable gets lower in volume as the FM gets louder until I find just the right mix with just a single control

If physical controls are actually important to you, once you start working this way, you never ever want to step backwards and have limited options ever again

As far as NKS it's popular because people are lazy and say they want physical controls, but can't be bothered to take a few minutes to set them up properly, this goes for hardware synths also. When you need your ability to control a synth spoon fed to you on a platter along with your sippy cup you don't really care about them as much as pretend you do

[Uncle E]

IvyBirds' controller setup is seriously the stuff of legends.

[IvyBirds]

IvyBirds' controller setup is seriously the stuff of legends.

Thanks, it's really easy to setup however and the whole thing costs less than many hardware synths