Software vs Hardware

[SoftSynthLover99]

Hardware vs Software? Hardware wins for me (and quite easily) despite my username

1. The speed of designing and working with patches is infinitely faster than midi (or mouse and keyboard).
2. You can achieve sounds in hardware that are not achievable in software (despite what plugin companies tell you).
3. Expression! The Keybed on most synths are far, far superior to even the most premium midi keyboards.
4. Saves tons of resources on your studio CPU, allowing you to work faster and stack sounds faster and more efficiently with a greater overall sound quality.
5. The RAW sound (no effects or gimmicks) just has a different weight that software just hasn't got right yet.

Hardware Synths are musical instruments, and musical instruments by design are the best way to create musical ideas. I want my studio computer to help capture and shape my ideas, not be the only instrument in my studio. THAT would be a sad studio to create in for me.

Worth noting that I look at it from a professional musicians standpoint. Hobbyist may not share the same fondness for the creative process which I understand. Different worlds!

[Morty-C-137]

Ironic post SoftSynthLover99

[frag]

Ironic post SoftSynthLover99

How's Rick?

[SoftSynthLover99]

Ironic post SoftSynthLover99

Don't get me wrong I love a good soft synth! I use them (and other plugins) often, but people need to stop deluding themselves

You can't make any synth plugin sound like a Moog One 16-Voice for example. It's a different world.

[Gam456]

2. You can achieve sounds in hardware that are not achievable in software (despite what plugin companies tell you).
3. Expression! The Keybed on most synths are far, far superior to even the most premium midi keyboards.
4. Saves tons of resources on your studio CPU, allowing you to work faster and stack sounds faster and more efficiently with a greater overall sound quality.
5. The RAW sound (no effects or gimmicks) just has a different weight that software just hasn't got right yet.

2 - you can achieve in software sounds hardware can't do

3 - Disagree. There is high premium midi keyboard

4 - You have a minimoog, I can make a poly minimoog, play with 64 instance. You can't.

5 - Some soft synth will blow you mind on a blind test.

Everything is about different taste. Keep in mind hardware is not only about analog. I love both,
if I need a lot of stage gain and distortion. I choose my hardware. FM, Wavetable, sample, granular.
I pick up soft synth.

[vurt]

5 - Some soft synth will blow you.

which ones?

asking for a friend.

[frag]

Hardware vs Software? Hardware wins for me (and quite easily) despite my username

1. The speed of designing and working with patches is infinitely faster than midi (or mouse and keyboard).
2. You can achieve sounds in hardware that are not achievable in software (despite what plugin companies tell you).
3. Expression! The Keybed on most synths are far, far superior to even the most premium midi keyboards.
4. Saves tons of resources on your studio CPU, allowing you to work faster and stack sounds faster and more efficiently with a greater overall sound quality.
5. The RAW sound (no effects or gimmicks) just has a different weight that software just hasn't got right yet.

Hardware Synths are musical instruments, and musical instruments by design are the best way to create musical ideas. I want my studio computer to help capture and shape my ideas, not be the only instrument in my studio. THAT would be a sad studio to create in for me.

Worth noting that I look at it from a professional musicians standpoint. Hobbyist may not share the same fondness for the creative process which I understand. Different worlds!

I have to agree, for professional work nothing beats hardware.
Your point 1 is the most important. It's all about speed. Having, for example, 8 synths turned on, plugged in, and setup with your favorite patches ready to play is infinitely faster than any software project template. Music is a thing of a moment - without hardware instruments and excellent playing technique, that "unique musical thought" is quickly gone. People on PCs write track for a month, many input notes using mouse, so in the end it usually sounds like meaningless torture. It's just sound, not music!

While there's no equivalent to Moog One in software world, many VSTis sound pretty good. Now we have Virus, Nord, Triton, Blofeld etc. in VST - these are 100% digital synths so that's it. It's same as HW. But as I said, there's no need to obsess that much over timbre. High quality compositions sound great on any instrument. I've spent too much time studying timbre, instead of studying music theory and practicing playing. For example, just listening to Bach and playing Bach a bit will improve music writing skills infinitely faster than experimenting with filters and oscillators.

Of course, for a hobbyist, it's software all the way. Get a fast CPU and have fun...

[vitocorleone123]

Hardware vs Software? Hardware wins for me (and quite easily) despite my username

1. The speed of designing and working with patches is infinitely faster than midi (or mouse and keyboard).
2. You can achieve sounds in hardware that are not achievable in software (despite what plugin companies tell you).
3. Expression! The Keybed on most synths are far, far superior to even the most premium midi keyboards.
4. Saves tons of resources on your studio CPU, allowing you to work faster and stack sounds faster and more efficiently with a greater overall sound quality.
5. The RAW sound (no effects or gimmicks) just has a different weight that software just hasn't got right yet.

Hardware Synths are musical instruments, and musical instruments by design are the best way to create musical ideas. I want my studio computer to help capture and shape my ideas, not be the only instrument in my studio. THAT would be a sad studio to create in for me.

Worth noting that I look at it from a professional musicians standpoint. Hobbyist may not share the same fondness for the creative process which I understand. Different worlds!

I have to agree, for professional work nothing beats hardware.
Your point 1 is the most important. It's all about speed. Having, for example, 8 synths turned on, plugged in, and setup with your favorite patches ready to play is infinitely faster than any software project template. Music is a thing of a moment - without hardware instruments and excellent playing technique, that "unique musical thought" is quickly gone. People on PCs write track for a month, many input notes using mouse, so in the end it usually sounds like meaningless torture. It's just sound, not music!

While there's no equivalent to Moog One in software world, many VSTis sound pretty good. Now we have Virus, Nord, Triton, Blofeld etc. in VST - these are 100% digital synths so that's it. It's same as HW. But as I said, there's no need to obsess that much over timbre. High quality compositions sound great on any instrument. I've spent too much time studying timbre, instead of studying music theory and practicing playing. For example, just listening to Bach and playing Bach a bit will improve music writing skills infinitely faster than experimenting with filters and oscillators.

Of course, for a hobbyist, it's software all the way. Get a fast CPU and have fun...

Just because you struggle with a mouse doesn't mean everyone does. Just like because I struggle with playing piano doesn't mean everyone does.

You don't get to define what makes "music".

[Gam456]

5 - Some soft synth will blow you.

which ones?

asking for a friend.

Omnisphere, Falcon, Halion, PadShop, FM Lab, Diva, Zebra, F-em, Plasmonic, Dune, Spire, Synthmaster, Avenger, Rapid... too many

[IvyBirds]

If you don't mind, how do you go about the mapping itself.........Do you mind sharing an example, or just describe it?

Thanks for the question, let me try to describe it as briefly as possible but it's probably going to be a bit long so apologies in advance

Let me start off by explaining this system never was intended to replace a mouse and computer keyboard. They are still a very important part of my system when it comes to mapping things there are many things especially things that are drop down menus that make no sense to map. The things I usually map are things that have a range of possible values. But for things like switching between waveforms it's usually just as easy to switch those with your mouse. This is intended to enhance your sound design workflow not totally replace it

Another important thing to keep in mind is that what I do is intended for sound design purposes much more than live performance controls. Back in the day when all I had was hardware synths, I would sit down at one and take time to design patches from scratch and/or tweak existing patches/presets. That is what I use this for

My system uses 8 MIDI channels. I have them assigned from 1-8. In the MIDI spec you have 127 possible MIDI CC's to assign values to. Conveniently the Launch Controls XL's I use have 8 pages worth of user layouts to use. They are very easy to switch between just by pressing "User" and then buttons 1-8 on the bottom row. Yes can use my system with a single LaunchControl XL or up to 8 whatever is easier for you, based on desk real estate or financial resources you are willing to commit. Each one costs $159 or less in USD. I expanded my system up to a total of 8 units but then broke it down to two four unit workstations. I find four to be the sweet spot. You can also start with one and add more over time

The Launch Control XLs have a very good software programming tool called "Components" it's free and comes with it as a download, or you can just use a browser based version that works with browsers that support MIDI like Chrome which is what I use

Each user "'page" has one dedicated MIDI channel. I won't go into great detail here but out of the 127 possible MIDI CC's many are already dedicated to things like filter cutoff. There is a handy list here

https://anotherproducer.com/online-tool ... i-cc-list/

You just need to know to use the ones that are unassigned

CC 3, CC 9, CC 14-15, CC 20-31, CC 85-87, CC 89-90, CC 102-119. You will notice some of them are predefined for things you might find handy keep them in mind

I use Components to set each knob and fader on user one to channel 1 and a MIDI CC. The same for user two on channel 2, and so on

When I think of a synth, there are four main "blocks" of things that are important

1.)Sound Generation things like Oscillators, FM Operators

2.) Envelopes

3.)modulation sources like LFOs

4.)real time performance controls and effects

So User 1 and User 2 is deducted to Sound Generation, User 3 and 4 to envelopes, user 5 and 6 to modulation, and 7&8 to real time performance controls and effects

I have the effects setup on page 8 and realtime performance controls setup on page 7. You will find that for performance controls and effects controls many of them already have dedicated CC numbers, and many plugins are already preset to use them so I use those numbers for page 7&8

The Launch Control XLs also have two rows of 8 buttons. I assign CC values to the top row of them and use them as on off buttons for various things usually related to what's above them and I assign the bottom row to be MIDI Notes that toggle on and off set for C each an octave apart from C0 to C7. The notes come in handy as you can toggle notes on and off for things like pads and then use both hands to adjust things by ear

Once you have those values programmed and saved in Components you just transfer them to each unit via USB.

So now you take your programmed controller(s) and set them on your desk. Change the user page to whatever makes sense based on the units you have. My default setup has two of them in either side of my computer monitor. The car left is set to user 1 (my sound design page) the one next to it for user 3 (envelopes) the one on the other side of the monitor to user 5 (Modulations), and the one on the far right to user 7 (performance controls) knowing the other pages are two button presses away if needed

One of my pet peeves with a lot of synths is that they have a separate mixer section that's different from the oscillator section. I have them combined. So on User 1 the bottom 8 faders are reserved for that mixing stage. Just like an analog mixer you just move them up and down. That is also handy for things that have different layers where each layer needs a volume control and if you need more than 8 that is where page 2 comes in play

Above that are 3 knobs. Ask yourself what are the tree most important controls for each oscillator or layer for you and use them for that purpose. Below is a button programmed to be the on and off switch for that oscillator

You get a total of 8 "channels" of controls like this over two pages. That gives you 16 possible "channels" of sound sources.

If I am using a synth with just say 2 oscillators I will only use two "channels" or possibly double them up and assign two per oscillators. The goal here is to decide what the most important controls are for you and map those, knowing you still have the mouse

The beauty in this for me is that I can trigger notes on the keyboard (or by hitting the bottom row) and have the synth play and then reach up with my left hand and adjust the volume of each element, and the three controls that make the most sense. On my main controller keyboard I also have 9 knobs and 9 faders. These duplicate the first 8 knobs and faders with the last being overall volume controls

The next set is envelopes I assign the bottom row of faders as Envelope 1&2 if they are standard ADSR. That gives you two envelopes per row. Then work my way up to 3&4, 5&6, 7&8

If they are say DX7 style envelopes with an R and a L values it's simple they just take a row over and I have 4 envelopes on page 3 and another on pages. For more complex envelopes scenarios I might just skip the controllers entirely and just use the mouse as drawing them with a mouse might make more sense, or just program the attack and release values and draw the rest

I am always asking myself what makes the most sense and use it

In the Mod Matrix controller (5&6) you just assign them per synth as to what makes the most sense. Generally I use the mouse to click the boxes for say whatever LFO 1 will control and then assign values on the controller to control what LFO 1 actually is

Finally you get to the Realtime Performance Controls and effects on the last section. Here is where you put things like Filter Cutoff and Resonance. I also put effects sends in this page. A lot of vintage synth emulations might have breath controllers or other CCs that you would normally assign to a foot pedal or perhaps the mod wheel or velocity or channel after touch or whatever. Here you can assign those to a knob or fader

You will probably have a bunch of extra controls here. I use those on a temporary basis to assign whatever might make sense at the moment to something on a deep synth like say HALion or Falcon that also have good MIDI learn so I can right click on it select MIDI learn, jiggle that control and it's done. The next page is dedicated to effects controls. Many of these are standard MIDI VCO values pre baked into whatever synth you are using

It's really not very complicated and rather easy to learn. I went and drew out a blank chart for everything in MS Word when I was first creating it and would write down what was assigned to what and would reference that as a cheat sheet. You will very quickly not need to reference the cheat sheet however

If you have any further questions just let me know

[IvyBirds]

Hardware vs Software? Hardware wins for me (and quite easily) despite my username

1. The speed of designing and working with patches is infinitely faster than midi (or mouse and keyboard).
2. You can achieve sounds in hardware that are not achievable in software (despite what plugin companies tell you).
3. Expression! The Keybed on most synths are far, far superior to even the most premium midi keyboards.
4. Saves tons of resources on your studio CPU, allowing you to work faster and stack sounds faster and more efficiently with a greater overall sound quality.
5. The RAW sound (no effects or gimmicks) just has a different weight that software just hasn't got right yet.

Hardware Synths are musical instruments, and musical instruments by design are the best way to create musical ideas. I want my studio computer to help capture and shape my ideas, not be the only instrument in my studio. THAT would be a sad studio to create in for me.

Worth noting that I look at it from a professional musicians standpoint. Hobbyist may not share the same fondness for the creative process which I understand. Different worlds!

I have to agree, for professional work nothing beats hardware.
Your point 1 is the most important. It's all about speed. Having, for example, 8 synths turned on, plugged in, and setup with your favorite patches ready to play is infinitely faster than any software project template.

Going to have to disagree, having 8 hardware synths turned on, sure make sure they are all in tune or you will waste time making them all play in tune. Did the air conditioner come on and cool that one analog synth and throw it out of tune? How about the heat?

Crap we have 60 cycle hum time to track down that down again taking time, opps where is that noise coming from let me track that down

Crap I want to use a different synth for that part, let me get it out of the stack and replace it, what MIDI channel? Wait why is it scratchy? Crap let me tune it, damn there is that 60 cycle hum again, wait why did the volume get so low? Let me turn up the gainstage in the mixer damn it where is that noise coming from, wait maybe it's the power supply damn it I need a 12 volt center positive and all we have is a 12 volt center negative, wait this is supposed to be for 100 volt Japanese current not American 120, or European voltages, damn it

Those are all things as a professional musician I have run into using hardware synths while on the clock being stared at by other musicians and the engineer also on the clock

Any professional musician for any length of time can speak of similar horror stories

If time is money NOTHING is faster then someone prepared using plugins and a good computer. You can have hundreds of different Synths at your finger tips ready to go

[sin night]

Recall is a very strong argument for software for professionals as well.

By the way I'm an hobbyist and I have a decent amount of hardware (I love real analog instruments in particular)... Every solution has pro and cons and there are a lot of intermediate solutions between full hardware and full software.


Speaking of speed, I'm probably slower with hardware than software. I can turn on my hardware synth and play, but if I want an external effect I have to patch it in, the majority of them (almost every pedal, in practice) has no patch memory... once a daw is loaded with a default template with the minimum setup of the studio, it's quite fast to work ITB or hybrid (as long as I don't need to patch any pedal, of course).
Setting up a hardware studio requires some effort as well (I have a love/hate relationship with cables...). My hardware instruments are always ready for playing/recording, but building the setup took way more time than just loading a few plugins a few times in a daw...

Also, many virtual synths are quite advanced, while hardware is often more limited feature wise (you can choose only up to two between complexity, one knob per function and price).


The user experience is also different and, in my opinion, there's no clear winner. Automation is a pleasure with virtual instruments, while it can be less immediate with synths responding to midi CC (parameter resolution, mapping of parameters inside the daw, unless you remember which control change corresponds to a certain parameter...) or even impossible with some true analog synths (unless with midi to cv or similar solutions... and many limitations). But, while automation is a problem, some analog synths have cv inputs and, for example, I can often use a step sequencer to automate certain parameters (for example the filter cutoff) in a rhythmic way while playing... I can't do the same as easily/quickly within a daw with automation (unless a virtual synth has such sequencer built-in, like in the MS-20V by Arturia)...

There are other examples as well...


Sound-wise, it depends on what you're after... I think there's no absolute best, but rather "best for what you're looking to achieve" (and there should be a balance between sound and how you work - I think a terrible workflow doesn't help getting good results)...
I wouldn't go as far as saying "x is for professionals while y is for hobbyists", there are a lot of different needs (and budgets!) and different solutions as well.


Just my opinion of course...

[vurt]

im not a professional musician, but i have worked with a fair few, and not one of them turned up to either studio or a gig, with nothing but a laptop.

[BBFG#]

im not a professional musician, but i have worked with a fair few, and not one of them turned up to either studio or a gig, with nothing but a laptop.

I'm retired now, so can't say I'm professional at this point. I can say I had been hired a few times and only had to show up. They supplied the keyboards and often the patches they required for their desired sound. But I can't remember any time they were even partially computer based.

[frag]

You don't get to define what makes "music".

Me!? You're up against more than 5000 years of history
20th century proclaimed that any sound, or even silence is music. That's BS - it was done to increase profits of record companies, instrument manufacturers and so on.
There's nothing inherently wrong with that, as long as one understands what's going on.
There are many "musicians" today whose sole purpose of existence is to purchase gear.
More and more often I hear off key "singing", they don't even bother to use auto tune anymore.
It's the deaf making "music" for the deaf... As long as there's profits