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

[Albert.VST]

Taking bets on how many septembers will pass before 909. Here's a challenge. Post your composition that celebrates the instrument relating to the number of pages when it hits that many pages. 202 is just around the corner, you don't have long!

Plenty of time. Still undecided, K5000s or JP8000

[whassup]

Has anyone in this thread had a hit... ever?

Upsi! That hit hard...

[IvyBirds]

Has anyone in this thread had a hit... ever?

Do bongs count? Asking for a friend

[whassup]

More cowbell.

Uhhhh! Gotta bookmark this one. Maybe even sample it one day. Thank you!

Glad I could help. Shortest vid I´ve ever seen

Yes, straight to the point!

[ghettosynth]

Taking bets on how many septembers will pass before 909. Here's a challenge. Post your composition that celebrates the instrument relating to the number of pages when it hits that many pages. 202 is just around the corner, you don't have long!

Plenty of time. Still undecided, K5000s or JP8000

Well, let's give a moment for the K5000S. You have to respect the few attempts to go in a different direction.

[Shabdahbriah]

Like for when you run out of ketchup?

I read is as he took too much damage and now his HP ran out and he's waiting to respawn.

Um, duh! New modules are an attack on your compositional space. You need to have a spell of compositional expansion at the ready. Although he's from the olden days, just after electricity, Rick Wakeman understood this intuitively, which is why he always wore a cape, ready to cast a spell at a moment's notice.

Some of you really need to brush up on your music history!

Warning, the following clip contains real hardware. You might want to cast a spell of mommy's protection if your soyboy plugins are currently in use.

You're saying that as if Mr. Richard Wakeman had a choice of what to use. Modern Rick uses many digital instruments, including plugins.

https://equipboard.com/pros/rick-wakeman

Has he had any hits lately?

case closed.

Has anyone in this thread had a hit... ever?

Rick has one of these, as do I... so I anticipate having a "hit" vicariously, at any moment.

Rick Wakeman on the Studiologic Black Sledge - YouTube.png

[ghettosynth]

You're saying that as if Mr. Richard Wakeman had a choice of what to use. Modern Rick uses many digital instruments, including plugins.

https://equipboard.com/pros/rick-wakeman

LOL, I just looked. It's not plugins, it's plugin. One plugin and it's gmonsta pictured right next to his Minimoog. It gets one line of comment, the minimoog gets a great story!

Now, that is a right old collection of gear. It looks like a who's who of "ooh shiny" in the clearance department over the last 50 years or so. We have some gear in common, gotta love that TR-77!

[enCiphered]

Alright folks, some of you rightly suggested it’s time for a poll to see where we stand. After 100+ pages of discussion, I think this thread definitely deserves one, so here it is.

[IvyBirds]

The main take away from the book is that Techno is all about the beat

Is that all that you got from it?

Was I supposed to get more? It's a 20 year old book, music production and distribution has changed massively in the past two decades

It's heavily focused on DJs playing music in clubs.

Is anyone actually making a living in 2025 making techno, cutting it to vinyl and then having some random DJ play it in some random club?

Are hobbyists even getting DJs to play music in some random club in 2025? Is that the goal?

[stoopicus]

And I was one of the first to get a Korg M1 despite everyone saying ewwww.... it's digital... and then it became one of the most popular synths. I have no problems with digital music.

In 1988 when the Korg M1 came out analogue was dead, everyone went digital, the Yamaha DX7 had pretty much killed analogue by 1985. No one wanted analogue, digital was all the rage for 15 years. In fact digital is still by far the main way of making music, only now its in a computer instead of a workstation or module.

I think it was MIDI that people were drawn to, with the availability of computers and sequencers. Nobody dumped analogue because of its sounds. Sure, the M1 and D50 etc offered different stock sounds, and the scene was changing as it does, but I really think it was MIDI, or lack of it, that convinced ppl to skip perfectly usable instruments

That's not correct, though MIDI was a selling point, for sure. There were plenty of analog synths with MIDI by '83. People wanted more affordable synthesizers with stable tuning, more voices, and a wider variety of sounds.

100%. At the time it was largely about convenience and workflow. And we were damned glad, it felt like we were being freed from analog's hassles and most people I knew assumed analog synths would simply die out. You could get used analog gear super dirt cheap, people were basically giving it away.

[zerocrossing]

You could get used analog gear super dirt cheap, people were basically giving it away.

The only thing anyone ever gave me was a Korg Poly-800! It was a gift for buying them a case of DAT tapes using my employee discount. I honestly loved that synthesizer at that time. It was the only one I had for a while.

[Papuzzo]

And I was one of the first to get a Korg M1 despite everyone saying ewwww.... it's digital... and then it became one of the most popular synths. I have no problems with digital music.

In 1988 when the Korg M1 came out analogue was dead, everyone went digital, the Yamaha DX7 had pretty much killed analogue by 1985. No one wanted analogue, digital was all the rage for 15 years. In fact digital is still by far the main way of making music, only now its in a computer instead of a workstation or module.

I think it was MIDI that people were drawn to, with the availability of computers and sequencers. Nobody dumped analogue because of its sounds. Sure, the M1 and D50 etc offered different stock sounds, and the scene was changing as it does, but I really think it was MIDI, or lack of it, that convinced ppl to skip perfectly usable instruments

That's not correct, though MIDI was a selling point, for sure. There were plenty of analog synths with MIDI by '83. People wanted more affordable synthesizers with stable tuning, more voices, and a wider variety of sounds.

100%. At the time it was largely about convenience and workflow. And we were damned glad, it felt like we were being freed from analog's hassles and most people I knew assumed analog synths would simply die out. You could get used analog gear super dirt cheap, people were basically giving it away.

Not only convenience and workflow. With the nascent samplers, the DX7, the D-50 and ultimately the M1, the palette of sounds exploded and opened up a new world.

[ghettosynth]

The main take away from the book is that Techno is all about the beat

Is that all that you got from it?

Was I supposed to get more? It's a 20 year old book, music production and distribution has changed massively in the past two decades

It's heavily focused on DJs playing music in clubs.

Is anyone actually making a living in 2025 making techno, cutting it to vinyl and then having some random DJ play it in some random club?

Are hobbyists even getting DJs to play music in some random club in 2025? Is that the goal?

LOL, you didn't read the book. It's not about distribution or production and had you read the book you would have known that. In fact, since you claim to have it, a two-minute browsing of the TOC would have told that that's not what the book is about.

Again, for those who care about understanding what makes techno techno, it's a great read. Christ, you could have just asked ChatGPT to summarize the book for you. At least then you might have said something intelligent about it.

Here, I did the hard work for you

You said Summarize Mark Butler's book "Unlocking the Groove"

ChatGPT said:

"Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in Electronic Dance Music" by Mark J. Butler is a musicological study that analyzes how rhythm and meter function in electronic dance music (EDM), especially house and techno. Drawing on ethnographic research and close listening, Butler argues that EDM challenges traditional Western notions of meter, favoring cyclical, non-teleological structures designed for bodily engagement in dance contexts.

Key points:

• Cyclicality and Repetition: EDM emphasizes loops and cycles rather than linear progression, creating a hypnotic sense of time.

• Microrhythmic Detail: Small deviations in timing and articulation (often humanized via manual programming or live performance) are critical for groove.

• Metric Ambiguity: Many tracks play with metrical expectations, using syncopation, polymeter, and phase relationships to destabilize the listener’s sense of beat.

• Performance Practice: DJs and producers shape music in real time through sequencing, filtering, and layering, making performance a central site of creative expression.

• Embodiment: The book emphasizes the role of the body, particularly through dancing, in perceiving and interpreting rhythmic structures.

Butler integrates music theory, cultural studies, and ethnography to assert EDM’s complexity and validity as an art form deserving analytical attention.

Again, for someone who thinks that techno is simply "leaving the drum machine on combined with some white noise" will get something out of this book.

[stoopicus]

Not only convenience and workflow. With the nascent samplers, the DX7, the D-50 and ultimately the M1, the palette of sounds exploded and opened up a new world.

Yeah that too of course. For the music I was in to, Ensoniq's ESQ-1 and Mirage, Akai's S-series samplers, Roland's D-20 and D-50, they were everywhere. And the DX7 was of course what fueled the pop side and had at least some penetration in to other genres for like a decade.

And then the M1 came in and basically took over from the DX7, and later the Wavestation too.

[Shabdahbriah]

Again, for those who care about understanding what makes techno techno, it's a great read.

You said Summarize Mark Butler's book "Unlocking the Groove"

ChatGPT said:

"Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in Electronic Dance Music" by Mark J. Butler is a musicological study that analyzes how rhythm and meter function in electronic dance music (EDM), especially house and techno. Drawing on ethnographic research and close listening, Butler argues that EDM challenges traditional Western notions of meter, favoring cyclical, non-teleological structures designed for bodily engagement in dance contexts.

Key points:

• Cyclicality and Repetition: EDM emphasizes loops and cycles rather than linear progression, creating a hypnotic sense of time.

• Microrhythmic Detail: Small deviations in timing and articulation (often humanized via manual programming or live performance) are critical for groove.

• Metric Ambiguity: Many tracks play with metrical expectations, using syncopation, polymeter, and phase relationships to destabilize the listener’s sense of beat.

• Performance Practice: DJs and producers shape music in real time through sequencing, filtering, and layering, making performance a central site of creative expression.

• Embodiment: The book emphasizes the role of the body, particularly through dancing, in perceiving and interpreting rhythmic structures.

Butler integrates music theory, cultural studies, and ethnography to assert EDM’s complexity and validity as an art form deserving analytical attention.

Thanks for the tip... looks very interesting. I Techno