Mark Mothersbaugh on Classic Hardware vs Software Emulations

VST, AU, AAX, CLAP, etc. Plugin Virtual Instruments Discussion
RELATED
PRODUCTS

Post

zerocrossing wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2026 8:29 pm I think this points to something that we don't talk about that much, as it's a bit embarrassing, but a lot of us, myself included, probably lean on cool sounds a bit more than we rely on good compositions.
To this point, I don't really care for progressive or jazz that much, I love Discipline by King Crimson and a few prog songs here and there. I listen to a bit of classical, but I mostly like 2-7 minute songs with one to ten parts at most. Discipline is a good example, a prog record with structured songs. When Ministry went Industrial around Land of Rape and Honey that's when I started buying their records. No one is going to accuse Ministry of complex arrangements. Ignoring for a second the ridiculous talent in King Crimson, Discipline is even to this day a super layered cool sounds filled record. I realize I'm not about what sells, by a long shot my favorite Devo record is Duty Now For the Future, and again the sound of that record is just as important as the notes. Best example is The Pleasure Principal. That record is just as much a showcase of the synths as it is the writing.

To a degree I'm making a point to myself here, because personally I worry about the writing part more than I should, slows my output down. We at this point have all the tools we need whether we prefer hardware or software, I'm firmly in the "both" camp.

Post

DrOcsid wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2026 2:30 pmAs for the whole "paid endorsement" thing, yeah, it's pretty apparent that's what this is, but at the very least from watching the video he seems fairly genuine to me.
I don't get that at all, but then I have plenty of experience with customer testimonials and you guys probably have none and just assume everyone has to be paid for their opinions. I'd suggest Mothersbaugh would have done it just for the chance to talk about his art and show off his synth room. He wouldn't have needed money and he certainly wouldn't have let them put words into his mouth. He'd have seen it as a good marketing opportunity for himself.
TechHaus wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2026 4:25 pm DEVO was a long time ago. Let's talk movie and tv scores!
Devo's last studio album was 2014, not all that long ago. Best of all, their last couple of albums were both brilliant, probably because they used softsynths on them.
IvyBirds wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2026 5:23 pmThat's a SFC-Mini V4. It's a MIDI Controller that I got specifically to use with the Legend HZ. I can also use it with any Minimoog Plugin
Why? What a complete waste of f**king money. Are you too stupid to be able to use a mouse? I suppose there's one born every minute (great song by The Passage).
machinesworking wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2026 7:58 pmAlways odd to me when people dismiss them. I think Numbers, Home Computer, Trans Europe Express, More Fun to Compute, The Robots etc. are instrumental in introducing pure Industrial to EBM and Electro Industrial. The influence on front 242 and Nitzer Ebb etc. is pretty obvious. Not to mention Hip Hop.
I've never heard a single Kraftwerk song with anything approaching any energy to it. It leaves me completely flat, I can't connect with it at all. Maybe F242 and Nitzer Ebb took that and injected energy into it but I hear nothing of Kraftwerk in either act.

The thing with Devo is that when they were great they were a guitar band with synths. They went to shit when they became a synth band with a bit of guitar. After Duty Now For the Future they became a different band. Freedom of Choice is a pop record. They didn't really get back to being a rock band until Total Devo. Something for Everybody is my 3rd favourite Devo album, after the first two, and it was probably made with softsynths.
NOVAkILL : Legion GO, AMD Z1x, 16GB RAM, Win11 | Audient EVO 8 | Lumi Keys | Studio Pro 8
Korg Odyssey, bx-oberhausen, Proxima, PolyMax, GR8, JP6K, Union, Atomika,
Invader 2, Flow Motion, Olga, TRK 01, Thorn, Spire, VG Iron

Post

BONES wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2026 11:49 pm I've never heard a single Kraftwerk song with anything approaching any energy to it. It leaves me completely flat, I can't connect with it at all. Maybe F242 and Nitzer Ebb took that and injected energy into it but I hear nothing of Kraftwerk in either act.
Well the big difference is Nitzer Ebb and Front 242 have some rock elements in them faster bpm. Kraftwerk pretty obviously were influenced by James Brown and of course all their contemporaries in the Kraut Rock scene. Maybe a tiny bit of funk in Ebb and 242 but the big difference is the Industrial edge for sure. You ncan 100% hear the influence in synth bass.
The thing with Devo is that when they were great they were a guitar band with synths. They went to shit when they became a synth band with a bit of guitar. After Duty Now For the Future they became a different band. Freedom of Choice is a pop record. They didn't really get back to being a rock band until Total Devo. Something for Everybody is my 3rd favourite Devo album, after the first two, and it was probably made with softsynths.
One of a handfull of bands that were better before sequencers completely took over their sound for sure. Duty Now for the Future is in my top ten favorite and underrated albums of all time, right up there with with Ultravox-Systems of Romance. It's tragedy their lessor albums are what people know. I still think Freedom of Choice and New Traditionalists are OK, but not the entire record like the first two.

Post

I thought New Traditionalists was a bit of a dud from start to finish. I listened to it last night and my opinion hasn't really changed over the years. Interestingly, they released an album of songs that didn't make it onto Something For Everybody in 2014, titled Something Else for Everybody, and the songs on that sound a lot more like the early stuff. It's not brilliant but it's not terrible, either.

Systems of Romance is definitely in my Top 5, too, probably in my Top 2.
NOVAkILL : Legion GO, AMD Z1x, 16GB RAM, Win11 | Audient EVO 8 | Lumi Keys | Studio Pro 8
Korg Odyssey, bx-oberhausen, Proxima, PolyMax, GR8, JP6K, Union, Atomika,
Invader 2, Flow Motion, Olga, TRK 01, Thorn, Spire, VG Iron

Post

BONES wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2026 11:49 pm
IvyBirds wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2026 5:23 pmThat's a SFC-Mini V4. It's a MIDI Controller that I got specifically to use with the Legend HZ. I can also use it with any Minimoog Plugin
Why? What a complete waste of f**king money. Are you too stupid to be able to use a mouse? I suppose there's one born every minute (great song by The Passage).
Why is something I enjoy using a complete waste of money? Of course I can use a mouse, but I am also smart enough to know that a mouse is but one input device for a software instrument

Many plugins including The Legend HZ have multiple screens, perhaps you can explain how if I am on one screen how I can adjust something on another with a mouse without flipping the screen to another page?

I use MIDI Controllers because I find them to be fast and efficient and prefer the tactile experience of using them, as opposed to be forced to bounce around from screen to screen to screen

I can also use them in conjunction with a mouse if I choose. As a right handed person I can use the mouse with my right hand and be adjusting something while also turning knobs with my left hand. So for example with the Legend HZ I can use the mouse to maneuver the drop down menus or the 12 slot modmatrix while adjusting the oscialtors.

Or since as I mentioned I use this with deep Synths like Omnisphere and UVI Falcon with kits of screens I can be on one screen adjusting something while also modifying what the Oscillators are doing, or how they are mixed

Beyond that I like to program layered sounds. For example layering a Minimoog Bass sound with FM Bass. So if I have OPS7 up programming a bass sound, I can reach over and tweak my Minimoog Bass sound without it even being on the screen.

The SFC Mini is just a tool, one I find useful that allows me to do things I couldn't do with just a mouse. Not sure why any musician would struggle to understand that, but as always you do you

Post

Picking up on a point that was made earlier in the thread, what does it actually matter how accurate a software version of a hardware synth is, if it's close enough ?

Unless you are actually trying to recreate something already done, you'd pick the sound because of either the synth itself, like the Memory V or because you like its sound.

I really don't understand the need for comparison to the finest detail , unless the software is wildly different, who cares ?

The V Collection has allowed me to play synths i'd never get close to as a HW unit, and they can't be THAT different. I'm very grateful for that. Same as other developers who pay homage to past classics and even bring them forward in SW form with a new spin. (as well as the new innovations)

Post

VikingWarrior wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2026 8:34 am Picking up on a point that was made earlier in the thread, what does it actually matter how accurate a software version of a hardware synth is, if it's close enough ?

Unless you are actually trying to recreate something already done, you'd pick the sound because of either the synth itself, like the Memory V or because you like its sound.

I really don't understand the need for comparison to the finest detail , unless the software is wildly different, who cares ?

The V Collection has allowed me to play synths i'd never get close to as a HW unit, and they can't be THAT different. I'm very grateful for that. Same as other developers who pay homage to past classics and even bring them forward in SW form with a new spin. (as well as the new innovations)
At least somebody gets it.

Post

I think of it like if you’re into steam engines, you’re probably going to want a Lionel 700E Scale NYC Hudson model, not Thomas the Tank Engine.
THIS MUSIC HAS BEEN MIXED TO BE PLAYED LOUD SO TURN IT UP

Post

jamcat wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2026 9:42 am I think of it like if you’re into steam engines, you’re probably going to want a Lionel 700E Scale NYC Hudson model, not Thomas the Tank Engine.
Generally it's more like insufferable hipstering or winesnobbing, TBH. Fart Huffing, if you will.

Post

stoopicus wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2026 10:05 am
jamcat wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2026 9:42 am I think of it like if you’re into steam engines, you’re probably going to want a Lionel 700E Scale NYC Hudson model, not Thomas the Tank Engine.
Generally it's more like insufferable hipstering or winesnobbing, TBH. Fart Huffing, if you will.
+1 :tu:
It only matter to those that likes to sit down and compare waveforms and filter sweeps 24/7.
The sounds from the music made in the Nostalgia era are so simple that they could easily be made with Freeware synths these days or if you have the V-Collection + Korg Collection :phones:

Post Reply

Return to “Instruments”