Hardware or soft synths

Want to talk about music hardware or software that doesn't include Reason?
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Jackjackdaw
Posts: 1400
Joined: 12 Jan 2019

18 Sep 2021

I can’t afford the amount of hardware I would need to have the same creative freedom I have in software.

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SoundObjects
Posts: 119
Joined: 10 Dec 2018

18 Sep 2021

Jackjackdaw wrote:
18 Sep 2021
I can’t afford the amount of hardware I would need to have the same creative freedom I have in software.
A good point you have.

I have collected my hardware synts over many years and some from before
the CPUs was powerfull enough to make software synths.
And the sound quality was terrible on the first VSTs.

Today I think you can make fare more advance things with modern VSTs.
You can even make compleks modular synts.
This is also the reasons why I today mostly use softsynts.
The Universe Is Vibrating

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Noise
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18 Sep 2021

Faastwalker wrote:
18 Sep 2021
...
As you say, often it’s just quicker to mouse over than faff around. Which brings me to my other half way house solution - a Microsoft Surface Dial with the Elephant Software. This allows you to mouse over any parameter and adjust with the Surface Dial. It’s a stroke of genius from the guy behind the Elephant Software, who basically hacked the pretty much useless Surface Dial and made it do something useful. It works really well and is so much nice than clicking and dragging with the mouse. Highly recommend (last check it was Windows only but that may have changed by now).

https://savethehuman5.com/elephant/
Well, Just to say thank you to Faastwalker for this tip, I've got a nice deal on the Surface Dial today and also bought elephant, still setting up the dial.
Looks very nice, and I like the feel of this.
For now my one nitpick is the lock of the mouse cursor, you have to press again the dial to unlock it, wish I could just move the mouse and auto-unlock.
If you have any secrets tips for the configuration, go ahead!
Thanks!
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Faastwalker
Posts: 2281
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: NSW, Australia

19 Sep 2021

Noise wrote:
18 Sep 2021
Faastwalker wrote:
18 Sep 2021
...
As you say, often it’s just quicker to mouse over than faff around. Which brings me to my other half way house solution - a Microsoft Surface Dial with the Elephant Software. This allows you to mouse over any parameter and adjust with the Surface Dial. It’s a stroke of genius from the guy behind the Elephant Software, who basically hacked the pretty much useless Surface Dial and made it do something useful. It works really well and is so much nice than clicking and dragging with the mouse. Highly recommend (last check it was Windows only but that may have changed by now).

https://savethehuman5.com/elephant/
Well, Just to say thank you to Faastwalker for this tip, I've got a nice deal on the Surface Dial today and also bought elephant, still setting up the dial.
Looks very nice, and I like the feel of this.
For now my one nitpick is the lock of the mouse cursor, you have to press again the dial to unlock it, wish I could just move the mouse and auto-unlock.
If you have any secrets tips for the configuration, go ahead!
Thanks!
It’s a very cool setup I think. I was hugely grateful to Robin Vincent of Molten Modular for demonstrating this as I probably wouldn’t have heard of it otherwise. I got a Surface Dial used from eBay. Great price. I guess someone had bought one, used it with their Surface, realised it was pretty much useless and got rid of it!

Yes! The mouse cursor thing. That really bugged me as well. Good news is you can disable it in the Elephant settings. I can’t check the setting as I’m not at my machine. But I think it’s the one I’ve highlighted in the pic that needs to be checked. Then you can just hover over the parameter and move the dial to adjust. There’s no need to click at all.

Image

Lov2sing
Posts: 278
Joined: 15 Nov 2015

19 Sep 2021

That question can be interpreted as why we need more than a computer? If that is the question then why more than one note? One computer with the same circuits opposed to many different circuits within hardware that are different make a big difference in feeling and ease, plus one day everything will be one note then we will be asking for two or more. Basically we want variety and one computer will eventually sound the same in feeling. IMHO.
We make music for a reason

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moofi
Posts: 1024
Joined: 19 Jan 2015
Location: hear

29 Sep 2021

Yet where is the fatness in sound like in hardware? Like said, virtual synths have improved yet are away from a true recreation.
In the end sound is the most important component for the listener, not caring, nor knowing about the process of how a track was accomplished.
SoundObjects wrote:
18 Sep 2021
Jackjackdaw wrote:
18 Sep 2021
I can’t afford the amount of hardware I would need to have the same creative freedom I have in software.
A good point you have.

I have collected my hardware synts over many years and some from before
the CPUs was powerfull enough to make software synths.
And the sound quality was terrible on the first VSTs.

Today I think you can make fare more advance things with modern VSTs.
You can even make compleks modular synts.
This is also the reasons why I today mostly use softsynts.

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bxbrkrz
Posts: 3813
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

02 Oct 2021

$8000 hardware bugs

757365206C6F67696320746F207365656B20616E73776572732075736520726561736F6E20746F2066696E6420776973646F6D20676574206F7574206F6620796F757220636F6D666F7274207A6F6E65206F7220796F757220696E737069726174696F6E2077696C6C206372797374616C6C697A6520666F7265766572

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raymondh
Posts: 1776
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

02 Oct 2021

bxbrkrz wrote:
02 Oct 2021
$8000 hardware bugs

In 10 years, that bug will be called character :)

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bxbrkrz
Posts: 3813
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

02 Oct 2021

raymondh wrote:
02 Oct 2021
bxbrkrz wrote:
02 Oct 2021
$8000 hardware bugs

In 10 years, that bug will be called character :)
Or "The unpredictable warmth of analog" :puf_smile:
757365206C6F67696320746F207365656B20616E73776572732075736520726561736F6E20746F2066696E6420776973646F6D20676574206F7574206F6620796F757220636F6D666F7274207A6F6E65206F7220796F757220696E737069726174696F6E2077696C6C206372797374616C6C697A6520666F7265766572

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utdgrant
Posts: 35
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Location: Dunfermline, UK
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03 Oct 2021

bxbrkrz wrote:
02 Oct 2021
raymondh wrote:
02 Oct 2021


In 10 years, that bug will be called character :)
Or "The unpredictable warmth of analog" :puf_smile:
Having watched the video, I'd say the 'Oscillator Compensation' feature pretty much defeats analogue warmth in one fell swoop! :?
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bxbrkrz
Posts: 3813
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

03 Oct 2021

utdgrant wrote:
03 Oct 2021
bxbrkrz wrote:
02 Oct 2021

Or "The unpredictable warmth of analog" :puf_smile:
Having watched the video, I'd say the 'Oscillator Compensation' feature pretty much defeats analogue warmth in one fell swoop! :?
Yes, and as he said some One owners got it worse than others, so they can't do without it, turning their beautiful machine into a bit worse than a free soft synth :(
757365206C6F67696320746F207365656B20616E73776572732075736520726561736F6E20746F2066696E6420776973646F6D20676574206F7574206F6620796F757220636F6D666F7274207A6F6E65206F7220796F757220696E737069726174696F6E2077696C6C206372797374616C6C697A6520666F7265766572

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raymondh
Posts: 1776
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

03 Oct 2021

bxbrkrz wrote:
03 Oct 2021
utdgrant wrote:
03 Oct 2021


Having watched the video, I'd say the 'Oscillator Compensation' feature pretty much defeats analogue warmth in one fell swoop! :?
Yes, and as he said some One owners got it worse than others, so they can't do without it, turning their beautiful machine into a bit worse than a free soft synth :(
I had a 20 minute play on a Moog One at our local synth store. $12,000 here in NZ. I was really disappointed with it. The presets were underwhelming and it wasn't actually a lot of fun to program either. I'm sure it's a very deep synth and maybe if I had it for a day or two I'd have a different conclusion. But it just felt like all the analog electronics were being completely conducted by software control, which is not what Moog represents to me.

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DaveyG
Posts: 2499
Joined: 03 May 2020

03 Oct 2021

The reason to opt for hardware over software is that when you dust it off after five years of non-use it will still work like it did the day you bought it. No messing with logins, updates, authorisations, server problems etc.

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bxbrkrz
Posts: 3813
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

03 Oct 2021

raymondh wrote:
03 Oct 2021
bxbrkrz wrote:
03 Oct 2021

Yes, and as he said some One owners got it worse than others, so they can't do without it, turning their beautiful machine into a bit worse than a free soft synth :(
I had a 20 minute play on a Moog One at our local synth store. $12,000 here in NZ. I was really disappointed with it. The presets were underwhelming and it wasn't actually a lot of fun to program either. I'm sure it's a very deep synth and maybe if I had it for a day or two I'd have a different conclusion. But it just felt like all the analog electronics were being completely conducted by software control, which is not what Moog represents to me.
The (colorful) Moog Matriarch would be my choice. Too bad they don't have it as a desktop model.
757365206C6F67696320746F207365656B20616E73776572732075736520726561736F6E20746F2066696E6420776973646F6D20676574206F7574206F6620796F757220636F6D666F7274207A6F6E65206F7220796F757220696E737069726174696F6E2077696C6C206372797374616C6C697A6520666F7265766572

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raymondh
Posts: 1776
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

12 Jan 2022

+1 on the Microsoft Surface Dial + Elephant software combo.

I recently purchased and very impressed how much nicer it is for tweaking sliders and knobs than using the mouse! Especially for mixing.

From his website, the guy that wrote the software also seems to write pretty cool controller software for touchscreen devices, including the big surface Jean-Michel Jarre uses in his latest concerts.

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