Producing Without VSTs

[casiobioassay]

Could you produce exclusively without VSTs?

You could, but you'd be blowing exorbitant amounts of money on hardware. At that point, it becomes a question of investment and whether you deem it worth it.

It's not an investment.

[Seafire Mk2]

Could you produce exclusively without VSTs?

You could, but you'd be blowing exorbitant amounts of money on hardware. At that point, it becomes a question of investment and whether you deem it worth it.

You don't need to spend a fortune at all.

[eLawnMust]

Man I 'produce' without 'VSTs' all the time... Currently working on another tune in AXS-

[Zeisner]

Creatively? Yes. Not a big deal.

Technically? Mostly. I had the opportunity to learn to work with both hardware and software when I got into music production. I'm using software pretty much like hardware anyway.

Financially? Absolutely not. I would have to win in the lottery to buy all the necessary hardware and have it modded too. Just the electricity bill and insurance would tear a huge hole into my bank account. Not to mention cleaning, maintenance and storage.

Conclusion: Plugins win. Being able to produce music without having to be filthy rich is liberating.

[pekbro]

Heh, my plugins cost me quite a bit more than my HW, and I have prob 40-$50k in HW. That's cumulative though, plugins and SW are not necessarily the cheaper way to go.

Not rich btw, I work a regular job to pay for my toys, just been at it for years.

[casiobioassay]

Creatively? Yes. Not a big deal.

Technically? Mostly. I had the opportunity to learn to work with both hardware and software when I got into music production. I'm using software pretty much like hardware anyway.

Financially? Absolutely not. I would have to win in the lottery to buy all the necessary hardware and have it modded too. Just the electricity bill and insurance would tear a huge hole into my bank account. Not to mention cleaning, maintenance and storage.

Conclusion: Plugins win. Being able to produce music without having to be filthy rich is liberating.

You see people here and on GearSlutz spend a fortune on plugins. Then they update them 5 years later. And 2 OS's down the road your old ones are obsolete. But why are you framing hardware as if the only options are a U47 with an 1176 and LA2?

[Zeisner]

But why are you framing hardware as if the only options are a U47 with an 1176 and LA2?

I don't. I know there are great affordable EQs and compressors out there nowadays. But not large mixing consoles (128+ channels), they're still very expensive. Image having them modded too to add features like ITD panning or custom EQs, effectively doubling the price. And because I'm in the EU, shipping costs will be high as well.

I would also have to rent a whole house because all that gear would take up a lot of space and because of the weight (Statics!). Which also means spending a lot of money on security. It all adds up.

[Zeisner]

One negative / positive from all hardware hardware (non-VST) production, especially in the past, is that if was very difficult to work on two projects at once. Recall was unreliable, at best - often, impossible.

There are hardware solutions for that. MIDI mixing consoles with motorized faders and even potentiometers (If you're crazy enough you can built them yourself), MIDI-controlled patchbays and so on. But again - it's all expensive.

[TechHaus]

One negative / positive from all hardware hardware (non-VST) production, especially in the past, is that if was very difficult to work on two projects at once. Recall was unreliable, at best - often, impossible.

There are hardware solutions for that. MIDI mixing consoles with motorized faders and even potentiometers (If you're crazy enough you can built them yourself), MIDI-controlled patchbays and so on. But again - it's all expensive.

I forgot that I mixed a couple of albums on a Mackie Digital 8 Bus before, and that for a while I had a Soundcraft Digital 328, even though I only used that for tracking via adat, and never mixed on it, unfortunately.

I liked my Soundcraft Ghost, though!

Sometimes I see consoles on craigslist, or fantasize about getting an API, but yeah, the cost, the space, the repairs...I love my in the box mixers, now.

[TechHaus]

Creatively? Yes. Not a big deal.

Technically? Mostly. I had the opportunity to learn to work with both hardware and software when I got into music production. I'm using software pretty much like hardware anyway.

Financially? Absolutely not. I would have to win in the lottery to buy all the necessary hardware and have it modded too. Just the electricity bill and insurance would tear a huge hole into my bank account. Not to mention cleaning, maintenance and storage.

Conclusion: Plugins win. Being able to produce music without having to be filthy rich is liberating.

You see people here and on GearSlutz spend a fortune on plugins. Then they update them 5 years later. And 2 OS's down the road your old ones are obsolete. But why are you framing hardware as if the only options are a U47 with an 1176 and LA2?

I'm not going to wish Behringer or Warm Audio on my worst enemies.

[casiobioassay]

Creatively? Yes. Not a big deal.

Technically? Mostly. I had the opportunity to learn to work with both hardware and software when I got into music production. I'm using software pretty much like hardware anyway.

Financially? Absolutely not. I would have to win in the lottery to buy all the necessary hardware and have it modded too. Just the electricity bill and insurance would tear a huge hole into my bank account. Not to mention cleaning, maintenance and storage.

Conclusion: Plugins win. Being able to produce music without having to be filthy rich is liberating.

You see people here and on GearSlutz spend a fortune on plugins. Then they update them 5 years later. And 2 OS's down the road your old ones are obsolete. But why are you framing hardware as if the only options are a U47 with an 1176 and LA2?

I'm not going to wish Behringer or Warm Audio on my worst enemies.

Dude you are using a Scarlett FFS

[TechHaus]

Creatively? Yes. Not a big deal.

Technically? Mostly. I had the opportunity to learn to work with both hardware and software when I got into music production. I'm using software pretty much like hardware anyway.

Financially? Absolutely not. I would have to win in the lottery to buy all the necessary hardware and have it modded too. Just the electricity bill and insurance would tear a huge hole into my bank account. Not to mention cleaning, maintenance and storage.

Conclusion: Plugins win. Being able to produce music without having to be filthy rich is liberating.

You see people here and on GearSlutz spend a fortune on plugins. Then they update them 5 years later. And 2 OS's down the road your old ones are obsolete. But why are you framing hardware as if the only options are a U47 with an 1176 and LA2?

I'm not going to wish Behringer or Warm Audio on my worst enemies.

Dude you are using a Scarlett FFS

What is your objection? Thing is ruler flat (can't say the same about gen 1) and the latency is so low on Linux. And can be turned into an adat expander. They still sell these gen 2 converters as the octopre today. GREAT piece of kit.

[casiobioassay]

Creatively? Yes. Not a big deal.

Technically? Mostly. I had the opportunity to learn to work with both hardware and software when I got into music production. I'm using software pretty much like hardware anyway.

Financially? Absolutely not. I would have to win in the lottery to buy all the necessary hardware and have it modded too. Just the electricity bill and insurance would tear a huge hole into my bank account. Not to mention cleaning, maintenance and storage.

Conclusion: Plugins win. Being able to produce music without having to be filthy rich is liberating.

You see people here and on GearSlutz spend a fortune on plugins. Then they update them 5 years later. And 2 OS's down the road your old ones are obsolete. But why are you framing hardware as if the only options are a U47 with an 1176 and LA2?

I'm not going to wish Behringer or Warm Audio on my worst enemies.

Dude you are using a Scarlett FFS

What is your objection? Thing is ruler flat (can't say the same about gen 1) and the latency is so low on Linux. And can be turned into an adat expander. They still sell these gen 2 converters as the octopre today. GREAT piece of kit.

Shit pres. Shit headphone amp, Shit converters.

[TechHaus]

Creatively? Yes. Not a big deal.

Technically? Mostly. I had the opportunity to learn to work with both hardware and software when I got into music production. I'm using software pretty much like hardware anyway.

Financially? Absolutely not. I would have to win in the lottery to buy all the necessary hardware and have it modded too. Just the electricity bill and insurance would tear a huge hole into my bank account. Not to mention cleaning, maintenance and storage.

Conclusion: Plugins win. Being able to produce music without having to be filthy rich is liberating.

You see people here and on GearSlutz spend a fortune on plugins. Then they update them 5 years later. And 2 OS's down the road your old ones are obsolete. But why are you framing hardware as if the only options are a U47 with an 1176 and LA2?

I'm not going to wish Behringer or Warm Audio on my worst enemies.

Dude you are using a Scarlett FFS

What is your objection? Thing is ruler flat (can't say the same about gen 1) and the latency is so low on Linux. And can be turned into an adat expander. They still sell these gen 2 converters as the octopre today. GREAT piece of kit.

Shit pres. Shit headphone amp, Shit converters.

Headphone amp maybe (more than fine for tracking), but false on the other two.
The only thing bad about it (and same with Claretts) is all of the usable gain is at the end of the knob, necessitating little micro turns to dial them in how you want.

[casiobioassay]

You see people here and on GearSlutz spend a fortune on plugins. Then they update them 5 years later. And 2 OS's down the road your old ones are obsolete. But why are you framing hardware as if the only options are a U47 with an 1176 and LA2?

I'm not going to wish Behringer or Warm Audio on my worst enemies.

Dude you are using a Scarlett FFS

What is your objection? Thing is ruler flat (can't say the same about gen 1) and the latency is so low on Linux. And can be turned into an adat expander. They still sell these gen 2 converters as the octopre today. GREAT piece of kit.

Shit pres. Shit headphone amp, Shit converters.

Headphone amp maybe (more than fine for tracking), but false on the other two.
The only thing bad about it (and same with Claretts) is all of the usable gain is at the end of the knob, necessitating little micro turns to dial them in how you want.

the quality out of the outputs for monitoring is not up to it.