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

[IvyBirds]

If you want to lay on floor and play with modulars awesome but how are you interacting with the ones two meters above you? Or across the room on the other wall? Of 3 meters to the side of you?

get up and move?
same as i would if i was moving from keys to guitar for example.
its not like you have to tweak everything all the time!!!

Again no one actually using those in a room that large is laying on the floor

sitting maybe?

Getting up, sitting down, getting up, sitting down, run across the room, move to the center desk, lay on the floor, stand up and reach 2.5 meters up towards the ceiling

Sounds like a real buzz kill

id find playing the same songs, gig after gig, to folk who dont actually care if im checking my email or not, and are more interested in when the buffet starts, or talking in groups behind each others backs, (we've all been to weddings ) quite soul destroying, but we are all different

Awesome and I find having a place to live, and food to eat, to be pretty awesome

Going to an office job 9-5 was soul destroying, making a great living not doing that, while playing music is phenomenal. Making someone's special day more special is a bonus.

But I am sure no one cares about anyone's else's job here either.

But hey if you like laying on the floor by yourself awesome, I would find that back, knee, and soul crushing.

[vurt]

Going to an office job 9-5 was soul destroying

id imagine it was

[vurt]

ps i dont lay on the floor, that was deadmaus studio, not mine

[seafire]

. Making someone's special day more special is a bonus.

Making their hole weak, now that's another thing altogether

[justin3am]

If you want to lay on floor and play with modulars awesome but how are you interacting with the ones two meters above you? Or across the room on the other wall? Of 3 meters to the side of you?

get up and move?
same as i would if i was moving from keys to guitar for example.
its not like you have to tweak everything all the time!!!

Again no one actually using those in a room that large is laying on the floor

sitting maybe?

Getting up, sitting down, getting up, sitting down, run across the room, move to the center desk, lay on the floor, stand up and reach 2.5 meters up towards the ceiling

Sounds like a real buzz kill

I'm sure you'd hate it.
Most people who come to my studio have a lot of fun but not everyone. That's fine, as long as I still get paid for my work.
I love my studio space. It's pretty damn close to the studio I dreamed of when I started making my own music.

I hope you are in place you like to work and doing what you love.

[IvyBirds]

ps i dont lay on the floor, that was deadmaus studio, not mine

And yet you criticized me for saying laying on the floor was a buzz kill, while mocking me because I enjoy what I do and make a nice living doing it

I am currently killing a little time on my phone in my car before the rehearsal I am getting paid to participate in. Tomorrow I will play whatever I want on a nice liano piano before the ceremony for about 30 minutes or so. Since I love to play the piano and spend and hour or two a day doing it at home every day, getting paid to play the piano is awesome. Once the ceremony starts I will play a Pipe Organ Sound using a VST on my laptop and a controller. Several hundred people will be waiting for me to do that, then as I play a bride will walk down the aisle with her father. As a father of a daughter myself that moment means a lot to me, it's certainly not soul crushing. I get to be a part of that and get paid

Then I get to play another song on the piano while a friend of the family sings a song to the bride, again I get to be a part of that and find it awesome

Then I get to play again as the ceremony is over and everyone walks out, again something I love to do.

Tomorrow night I am playing a gig with a bunch of friends at a high school reunion from 1985. I love jamming with my friends, playing music that I love. Getting paid to do that is even better. Watching people dance to 1980s music and knowing I am helping to make their fun evening possible is awesome and again I get paid to do something I love

I can't fathom why anyone who is into playing Synths or Piano would think any of this is soul crushing.

I make a nice living playing music, it's awesome. I also enjoy playing music at home for my cat that's awesome too

[pekbro]

I’m could play music for a living, but I would make too much on top of what I’m making now, not to mention about every musician I know who’s not incredibly successful, screws them selves in the end, never having paid anything into social security.

The gigs will inevitably come to an end, unless you planned well, you’ll wind up working to make ends meet. I literally never met anyone who planned well.

Gen, that’s my recommendation to young musicians I know, get a job.

[vurt]

ps i dont lay on the floor, that was deadmaus studio, not mine

And yet you criticized me for saying laying on the floor was a buzz kill, while mocking me because I enjoy what I do and make a nice living doing it

I am currently killing a little time on my phone in my car before the rehearsal I am getting paid to participate in. Tomorrow I will play whatever I want on a nice liano piano before the ceremony for about 30 minutes or so. Since I love to play the piano and spend and hour or two a day doing it at home every day, getting paid to play the piano is awesome. Once the ceremony starts I will play a Pipe Organ Sound using a VST on my laptop and a controller. Several hundred people will be waiting for me to do that, then as I play a bride will walk down the aisle with her father. As a father of a daughter myself that moment means a lot to me, it's certainly not soul crushing. I get to be a part of that and get paid

Then I get to play another song on the piano while a friend of the family sings a song to the bride, again I get to be a part of that and find it awesome

Then I get to play again as the ceremony is over and everyone walks out, again something I love to do.

Tomorrow night I am playing a gig with a bunch of friends at a high school reunion from 1985. I love jamming with my friends, playing music that I love. Getting paid to do that is even better. Watching people dance to 1980s music and knowing I am helping to make their fun evening possible is awesome and again I get paid to do something I love

I can't fathom why anyone who is into playing Synths or Piano would think any of this is soul crushing.

I make a nice living playing music, it's awesome. I also enjoy playing music at home for my cat that's awesome too

all i was saying is, we're all different. it's great you enjoy that, i personally wouldn't. im sorry if that offends you.

[_leras]

Does anyone remember the Deadmau5 livestream where he starts trying to show off his new modular system and it’s clear he has no idea what he’s doing? Classic.

I absolutely love that phase with new gear. You dive in and have absolutely no idea about anything. You twist and turn and nothing happens - then suddenly BRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHM....

Well let's be honest, isnt that just part of the process. Happens with old gear too, and with non synth instruments and songwriting.

It's all searching.

Well perhaps modular is a special case as very few people seem to escape the non musical areas of patching random things together, unless basically recreating simple mono synths.

[ghettosynth]

I’m could play music for a living, but I would make too much on top of what I’m making now, not to mention about every musician I know who’s not incredibly successful, screws them selves in the end, never having paid anything into social security.

The gigs will inevitably come to an end, unless you planned well, you’ll wind up working to make ends meet. I literally never met anyone who planned well.

Gen, that’s my recommendation to young musicians I know, get a job.

I found our press photo today of the first band that I was in that made enough money to impact my taxes. We were a cover band and we played in bars for four or five sets from 9pm to close. I would leave my day job at 5pm to 6pm, head home for my personal stuff, the band stuff was mostly in the trailer. Then I'd go over to our practice spot to load the practice stuff that we needed at the gig into the trailer. Then we would typically eat something on the way to the gig, fast food, leftovers, whatever. Then straight to the gig to setup. Usually there was enough time, but not an excess of time. We'd shut down at 1:30PM or so, real time and start tearing down. We'd have the trailer loaded out between 2:30PM and 3PM. We were almost always tired and hungry and stopped someplace for breakfast. Home about 4:30PM. Sometimes if we had the entire weekend, we could leave most of the gear setup, but that typically meant that we were home 1/2 hour to 45 min or so earlier. Sure, we'd spend less time on Sat/Sun to get to the gig, but, that was my weekend. The flip side was that I wasn't getting days off because I had to work night shift on the weekends.

I'm sure that we could have been more efficient. It would be easier today with modeling amps and personalized monitoring setups.

At any rate, it was that band that killed my interest in killing myself for music. I really didn't like it as a job. I liked it as a hobby.

[pdxindy]

I'm not sold on the sound of the 3rd Wave, but the user interface is great.

Yeah, not totally sold on 3rd wave either but I do like the sound of it for my taste (and its different enough from what I already have to be worth considering). I do lean more towards the Nina desktop synth though.

I haven't had a chance to put hands on a 3rd Wave, but I have listened to lots of sound demos cause it interested me. For the most part, the sound just didn't speak to me.

By specs, the 3rd Wave is superior to the Waldorn M in most every way. However, sonically the Waldorf M just does it for me. When the M was announced, someone posted a couple hour long sounds only audio demos (no fx) on Youtube and I immediately and consistently heard something that caught my ears. And when mine arrived and I plugged it in, it was the same.

The 3rd Wave has digital osc's which then go into analog filters, but then is converted back to digital. The Waldorf M has digital osc's and then goes into analog filters and stereo analog VCA's. When it comes to analog, people almost exclusively talk about osc's and filters. I consider the M to stand for magic and I'd say the stereo analog vca's play a part in that.

The M has this lovely presence while being spacious and effortless with so much nuance and character. It's one of the synths where nothing in software is like it (to my ears).

[pekbro]

I’m could play music for a living, but I would make too much on top of what I’m making now, not to mention about every musician I know who’s not incredibly successful, screws them selves in the end, never having paid anything into social security.

The gigs will inevitably come to an end, unless you planned well, you’ll wind up working to make ends meet. I literally never met anyone who planned well.

Gen, that’s my recommendation to young musicians I know, get a job.

I found our press photo today of the first band that I was in that made enough money to impact my taxes. We were a cover band and we played in bars for four or five sets from 9pm to close. I would leave my day job at 5pm to 6pm, head home for my personal stuff, the band stuff was mostly in the trailer. Then I'd go over to our practice spot to load the practice stuff that we needed at the gig into the trailer. Then we would typically eat something on the way to the gig, fast food, leftovers, whatever. Then straight to the gig to setup. Usually there was enough time, but not an excess of time. We'd shut down at 1:30PM or so, real time and start tearing down. We'd have the trailer loaded out between 2:30PM and 3PM. We were almost always tired and hungry and stopped someplace for breakfast. Home about 4:30PM. Sometimes if we had the entire weekend, we could leave most of the gear setup, but that typically meant that we were home 1/2 hour to 45 min or so earlier. Sure, we'd spend less time on Sat/Sun to get to the gig, but, that was my weekend. The flip side was that I wasn't getting days off because I had to work night shift on the weekends.

I'm sure that we could have been more efficient. It would be easier today with modeling amps and personalized monitoring setups.

At any rate, it was that band that killed my interest in killing myself for music. I really didn't like it as a job. I liked it as a hobby.

That's commendable.

Many seem to get excited that they are able to make money playing music and tend to not
consider stuff well imo. I've not seen many killing themselves like you were, it's often more
that they sacrifice things for their music, like having decent cars or apts, health insurance etc...

[dellboy]

Something that keeps coming up is the cost difference between analog/hardware versus software. Should this be a factor? If money was no object, would a billionaire choose software over hardware? If a billionaire had one big studio fully equipped with a large collection of hardware synths, along with a mixing desk and a professional audio engineer, and another studio with a Mac or PC running software, which studio would he choose?

Ask Hans Zimmer who uses Zebra 90% of the time, he isn't a billionaire but has a net worth of several hundred million dollars and could easily buy whatever synth he wanted to

The ultra rich collect rare things because they are rare and expensive, they buy multi-million dollar paintings and put them in a vault and hide them from the public view, they build huge collections of vintage sports cars and leave them in the garage

They would collect Hardware Synths for the same reason if they were into them

If they were a working musician they would use whatever tool in hardware or software they wanted/needed for their artistic vision, if they were being hired by someone else as Hans Zimmer is for movie and TV scores, they would use whatever tools needed to achieve the vision the client had for their project

Imagine turning up to see Hans Zimmer live in concert, and when the curtain opens Hans is sitting at a laptop running Zebra --------and "10%" something else!

It reminds me of when I went to see Rick Wakeman live, and all he had on stage was himself, and a Korg keyboard, and a bass player. He spent most of the evening telling anecdotes about his life with the occasional bits of playing King Arthur or something. It was still very enjoyable.

[zerocrossing]

Something that keeps coming up is the cost difference between analog/hardware versus software. Should this be a factor? If money was no object, would a billionaire choose software over hardware? If a billionaire had one big studio fully equipped with a large collection of hardware synths, along with a mixing desk and a professional audio engineer, and another studio with a Mac or PC running software, which studio would he choose?

Ask Hans Zimmer who uses Zebra 90% of the time, he isn't a billionaire but has a net worth of several hundred million dollars and could easily buy whatever synth he wanted to

The ultra rich collect rare things because they are rare and expensive, they buy multi-million dollar paintings and put them in a vault and hide them from the public view, they build huge collections of vintage sports cars and leave them in the garage

They would collect Hardware Synths for the same reason if they were into them

If they were a working musician they would use whatever tool in hardware or software they wanted/needed for their artistic vision, if they were being hired by someone else as Hans Zimmer is for movie and TV scores, they would use whatever tools needed to achieve the vision the client had for their project

Imagine turning up to see Hans Zimmer live in concert, and when the curtain opens Hans is sitting at a laptop running Zebra --------and "10%" something else!

It reminds me of when I went to see Rick Wakeman live, and all he had on stage was himself, and a Korg keyboard, and a bass player. He spent most of the evening telling anecdotes about his life with the occasional bits of playing King Arthur or something. It was still very enjoyable.

I saw Yes in the 80s and aside from guitars, a keyboard controller and drums, there was nothing else on stage. I think all the amps were in isolation cabinets under the stage, along with whatever synths were being used. It was a great show, as far as I can remember. Laurie Anderson played in a small club in San Francisco a few years ago and as far as I can tell, it was all being done by a computer that was controlled by a bespoke (maybe?) controller. She occasionally played an electric violin. It was also a great show.

I think this idea of a good show being the manipulation of gear is just what a bunch of us synth nerds think, and use to justify having and lugging a bunch of it out to shows. I’ve gone to plenty of gear centric shows that sucked. There is no correlation between gear and a good show.

[ghettosynth]

I think this idea of a good show being the manipulation of gear is just what a bunch of us synth nerds think, and use to justify having and lugging a bunch of it out to shows.

Two anecdotes supported by your opinion that it was a great show doesn't make this case. I go out of my way to seek out performers who are actually live in the electronic music sense and, for me, it is not the same as a show where a famous performer is prancing around with a violin.

It doesn't all have to be "live" and what "live" means is context dependent. I don't expect techno artists to play notes in time, for example. Little comes close to me to the two/three person live techno acts of the early to mid 90s, e.g., prototype 909. Even in recent shows, however, e.g., Orbital, Kink, and some local acts, e.g., the late Chelsea Dolan, whom I only saw once and who died tragically in the Oakland Ghost Ship fire, the parts that were live instruments, particularly analog instruments, stood out.

I’ve gone to plenty of gear centric shows that sucked. There is no correlation between gear and a good show.

As have I, this isn't an indictment of gear, but skill. I don't think that there is any claim that gear implicitly means that a show will be better, one has to know what they're doing in context. By that I mean that how you play must function in the environment in which you play. Average concert goers are comfortable, and in fact, expect pauses between songs, DJ audiences do not.

That said, a lot of shows don't actually tweak gear, it might sound like that's being done, but it's not really. So, I'm sure that pink floyd playing on a K2000 was alright. I'm also sure that it didnt' sound as good. You aren't going to get a decent filter sweep out of that shit digital filter.

I should also probably say that I'm not really talking about pop, or even quasi-pop music for the most part. I wouldn't care about what Lauri Anderson plays on stage.