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

[DJErmac]

Synths can go the hell. It’s too complicated. Truth is out there.

Now I’ll play the harmonica...

sitting on a japanese.

No, wt£ am I saying ? I don’t like the sound of harmonica...

[IvyBirds]

You can pretty much just whip out a Sub 37 or TEO-5 and play anything and it will basically immediately sound like "holy shit",

Yep holy shit that is boring as hell, a square wave coming going through a resonant filter, that was boring as hell in the early 1980s and still is today

your ears will perk up, something deep inside of you will be like "WOW"

Yep WOW a triangle wave going through a resonant filter OMG that was lame in 1983

and you will just have this inexplicable response to the depth and beauty of the sound.

Not really I will struggle to stay awake

Whereas if you whip out Zebra and play some basslines, I mean come on guys. I have never, ever had a "wow" moment playing a VST.

Of course not, you have established that a square wave going through a resonate filter is what you want so why are you using zebra? It's the wrong tool for the job, you seek simple analog synths that have limited modulation options, can only play a handful of waveforms, and lack polyphony

And that's the biggest issue with elitism, you like what you like and that's fine awesome use those tools, but it doesn't make you or anyone else special

[swilow11]

Breaking news, Ivy Birds is antagonising everyone for a change. How do you not get sick of constantly having to prove how awesome and right you are all the time? Ignore function is great but you just post so much that it's less helpful than it could otherwise be.

[Cavey Arrgh]

This thread be all like:

Ned Flanders: Well, I guess this is a case where we'll have to agree to disagree.

Principal Skinner: I don't agree to that.

Ms. Krabappel: Neither do I.

[mxbf]

Analog
all
the
f**king
way

[mxbf]

Whereas if you whip out Zebra and play some basslines, I mean come on guys. I have never, ever had a "wow" moment playing a VST.

Of course not, you have established that a square wave going through a resonate filter is what you want so why are you using zebra? It's the wrong tool for the job

Y U USE ZEBRA FOR SQARAS!

lmfaoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

a sincre take:
vsts are really essetntaial
sorryim f**king wasted.

thats said. i would stand on i think that one would have to compare is GIVE A PRODCT that can make music you muppets, if you cant do that di bish

edit: its all in tha track man. youare shit at tracks f**ker

[ghettosynth]

OkeleeDokelee

[_leras]

Here's another one that software just can't match...

[IvyBirds]

Here's another one that software just can't match...

Wow a 2 VCA Monosynth with a ladder filter that was discontinued due to poor sales, and of course the fact there are a ton of two VCA Monosynth with a ladder filter on the market and countless plugins as well

What exactly can't software match?

[IvyBirds]

Since VCA Synths with Ladder Filters seem to be all the rage here is one with 6 VCAs and a ladder filter that hardware can't touch

[zerocrossing]

1
Personally I don't actually think "blind tests" prove anything. They hit one note, do a filter sweep, and thats it. You don't really know what sounds good until its being played expressively and performed on, especially in the context of a track. But people think because it's hard to differentiate between 1 note being plucked that proves there's no difference.

That's exactly what people who fail blind tests say. Plus, most blind tests start with simple comparisons, but almost always go into full sounds. Starsky Carr usually does a nice little remix song or something.

2
The thing is, really what matters is the quality of the track. An amazing track using cheap ass VSTs that "sound" slightly less amazing is always going to trounce a pretty good track that uses the best hardware on earth. It's just going to be slightly harder to get there using cheap shit than it is with stuff i can't afford.

We're not talking about song quality. Everyone knows song quality trounces everything.

3
You can pretty much just whip out a Sub 37 or TEO-5 and play anything and it will basically immediately sound like "holy shit", your ears will perk up, something deep inside of you will be like "WOW" and you will just have this inexplicable response to the depth and beauty of the sound. Whereas if you whip out Zebra and play some basslines, I mean come on guys. I have never, ever had a "wow" moment playing a VST.

I have. Zebra sounds phenomenal. When I first started using software, it was because I was being forced to. We'd decided to move into a studio apartment for a few years to come up with a downpayment for a house. Zebra 2 replaced a Virus C, and frankly was an upgrade. I also upgraded to the better sounding Korg Wavestation plugin and was able to get rid of my Wavestation. Dimension Pro replaced my XV5050, and a bunch of other plugins easily replaced all my hardware synths, though at the time they were all digital.

Analog was harder, though. Good analog emulations really didn't come about until Diva, and great analog emulations didn't come about until Monark and later RePro. Now they're quite common. You bring up Zebra, but it's kind of weird because you compare it to two analog synths. Put the Sub 37 up against Moog Mariana. Put the TEO-5 up against OB-E. I think you'll be surprised, if you're honest with yourself, which you honestly don't seem up for.

4
For some reason I find "hardware supremacy" very funny to play up. But honestly for the longest time I was the DAW purist, even trying to use Garageband stock shitty sounds back in 2009 and just committing to that as an aesthetic. But once I got actual synths and hardware and started building up a studio, the hybrid setup became so much fun to just jam in compared to fiddling with VSTs. Truth is, I think I need to go back to DAW purism for a while but it's not as fun.

I guess "fun" could be considered a factor. the OP said,

Plugin technology has advanced enormously. We now have highly accurate analog emulations as well as innovative tools that offer entirely new possibilities. With that in mind, I wonder if the need for analog hardware has diminished. Or does analog still provide something meaningful that software cannot fully replicate, whether in terms of sound, workflow, or creative experience?

So workflow should definitely be "fun," and the creative experience too. Definitely valid, and also impossible to quantify. Hell, there are people who like programming the DX-7. No accounting for taste. But sound quality? I think that fight is over. Specific synths have their own unique characters, and emulations may or may not capture that perfectly. Even specific synths of the same model have different characteristics. RePro emulates a couple, I think. You can choose them in the tweaks page.

[crimsonwarlock]

lol, may favorite way to play with synths is while sitting on the ground.

[El°HYM]

http://www.synth-project.de/diva.html

Dang! That brings back memories...

You got this thing?

[_leras]

What exactly can't software match?

If you can't hear the solidity and presence of that rich Leipzig sound... sorry...

Legend HZ is a cracking synth for sure. Definitely one of the best sounding soft synths.

[El°HYM]

IrieByrd will hide it in a busy Mix or directly mix down to MP3, so no one can notice anyway. Leipzig is an excellent machine, thanks for the reminder.