analog > the real deal.

[deastman]

FWIW, I have a Model 11 Evil Twin Bandpass Filter. It has impressed me more than just about any filter I've ever heard, including both hardware and software.

[martian]

personally i dont get this analog sound quality fanaticism many have on here.

Try this with only 5 analogue synths (it's 5 patches of Zebra and nothing else)

i like the demo urs! sounds cool , but i dont really like the timbre of the distortion, too brittle for me (thats not an attempt at an analog/digi observation, jus my taste).

But what if the music I want to make is nothing at all like that and more like:

http://www.ear-group.net/seq_nooverdrive.mp3
http://www.buzzclick-music.com/PWM_sample.mp3
http://www.ear-group.net/6dB_FM.mp3

For these kinds of sounds the real deal sounds to me to have a bit of extra sparkle I don't hear in the digital emulations.

these sounds are in line with what i like too. they also show how analog sound is different things to different people, i think you can break down people into a few groups.

1. people who equate analog to that dry rough sound (mostly breaks/dnb/experimental genres?) illustrated by examples 1 and 3. it doesnt help this group that most vst demos/presets dont showcase those timbres, since 90% of vst presets/demos are trance and classic emulation orientated, with smoother, lusher, effected timbres.
2. people who love analog for how clean, natural and analytically 'perfect' it can sound when pushed into high freq wierdness. shown in sound example 2.
3. then most people who like analog for pure, musical, warm tones not shown in kuniklos examples.

personally i like sounds with all those qualities and im very satisfied with what i get out of good software.

[Rangtangtang]

analog synths are a lot clearer, but you do have to play around whith them.

[Vectorman]

I was briefly flirting with the idea of snagging a relatively inexpensive analog synth on eBay like a Matrix 6 or a Juno 6 just to indulge myself in a small taste of analog nostalgia. But after getting Michael's sound sets and Howard's new one, I just can't see going to the bother when Z2 is satisfying enough for me in that sonic area. The Z2 patches may not sound exactly like the analog hardware, but they sound good enough on their own merits that I can't muster up enough passion about the distinction for it to really matter that much to me.

Granted, I'm not an analog connoisseur by any means - I haven't owned an analog synth in over 15 years, and I'm one of those weird types who gets more excited by hearing a wavetable sweep than a resonant analog filter sweep (I think it's partly the non-conformist in me...the fact that so many people have been ga-ga over analog for the last 10-15 years has often been enough to make me want to go the other way).