What hardware synth would you choose?

[ieatfunk]

I've been dreaming a lot lately over hardware synths - it seems to be one of the many edges a lot of professional producers have over the rest and I was wondering what hardware synth people would choose if money was not an option.

Mini Moog? Little Phatty? Access Virus Ti2?

What do we all think of the Korg Volca series?

[SunkLo]

it seems to be one of the many edges a lot of professional producers have over the rest

That's just silly. I'd take a plugin supersynth over a basic analog subtractive any day.

[ieatfunk]

it seems to be one of the many edges a lot of professional producers have over the rest

That's just silly. I'd take a plugin supersynth over a basic analog subtractive any day.

Which plugin over which analog?
I guess it kind of depends on what genres you like making

[AxeD]

I'd take hardware crap over any super turbo softsynth.
And it really has nothing to do with what genre you make.
Also you can't honestly compare a €2500 synth to the new Volca kit.

If money were no issue, I'd probably get a Cirocco setup

[ieatfunk]

I'd take hardware crap over any super turbo softsynth.
And it really has nothing to do with what genre you make.
Also you can't honestly compare a €2500 synth to the new Volca kit.

If money were no issue, I'd probably get a Cirocco setup

I agree.
I'm not comparing the Volca to something like the Virus but from what I've read and heard they're a fantastic true analog bit of kit that would even the game a bit.

[__________]

Probably either a Moog of some sort, any obscure Russian synth or maybe a modular.
Had a bit of a play on my mate's modular last weekend, great fun but highly impractical.

My next actual synth purchase is gonna be one of those MIDI->Megadrive cartridge things. I've got a Megadrive sitting here doing nothing while it could be making dope sounds.

[SunkLo]

it seems to be one of the many edges a lot of professional producers have over the rest

That's just silly. I'd take a plugin supersynth over a basic analog subtractive any day.

Which plugin over which analog?
I guess it kind of depends on what genres you like making

Any readily capable soft synth over most subtractive analog synths that I've tried. I'm not really enamored with analog sounding synths like a lot of people seem to be. I'd much rather have Alchemy, Absynth, Reaktor and FM8 over a hardware subtractive synth. People state they like hardware synths for the workflow but having to go through menus on a small lcd screen and all the bullshit of midi routing and audio recording is much more of a workflow killer for me compared to having full control in the box.

I've heard lots of great things about the Virus but why drop that much cash on a digital hardware synth? You can get an awesome midi keyboard and an arsenal of soft synths for the same price. Hardware synths pretty much do one thing well, analog subtractive. There's lots of component modeled soft synths coming out now like U-He Diva if you really need that specific classic sound.

Either way, hardware synths definitely aren't the differentiating factor between pros and the average producer. A skilled synthesist will get good results out of both but I'd argue the sheer versatility of soft synths give you the edge, assuming you know how to use them.

[ieatfunk]

Either way, hardware synths definitely aren't the differentiating factor between pros and the average producer. A skilled synthesist will get good results out of both but I'd argue the sheer versatility of soft synths give you the edge, assuming you know how to use them.

Versatility is definitely the selling point for software, but there's no comparison in sound for subtractive software synths and hardware subtractive.
Though you could probably achieve everything in any synth that you've mentioned with a hardware synth.

[SunkLo]

Though you could probably achieve everything in any synth that you've mentioned with a hardware synth.

Not a chance.

[ieatfunk]

Probably either a Moog of some sort, any obscure Russian synth or maybe a modular.
Had a bit of a play on my mate's modular last weekend, great fun but highly impractical.

My next actual synth purchase is gonna be one of those MIDI->Megadrive cartridge things. I've got a Megadrive sitting here doing nothing while it could be making dope sounds.

Moog is definitely the boss of hardware synths IMO.
and what the fuck is a MIDI megadrive cartridge thing :0 sounds awesome

[ieatfunk]

Though you could probably achieve everything in any synth that you've mentioned with a hardware synth.

Not a chance.

Quite plausible actually. Except Alchemy as you'd need a sampler for that, obviously.
But for Absynth you could get a modular and do a lot of the same stuff, FM is pretty much software exclusive these days but there are a few oldies like the Yamaha SY99. Then the rest is just subtractive synthesis, like Diva and Reaktor, Massive too. Just hardware would have a better sound through analog warmth

[SunkLo]

Reaktor is far from subtractive synthesis
Massive is wave scanning synthesis put through a subtractive engine. Much more complicated than it seems.
Additive, granular, FM, spectral, physical modelling, all pretty much software exclusive.

It sounds like you've been sold on the hardware = better thing. It's chic to shit on digital but it actually smokes analog in all but a couple areas. With careful programming you can dial in a soft synth to have the character of hardware. Not to mention the prohibitive cost of building even a basic hardware synth compared to the equivalent soft synth.

Also note that a Virus is just a dedicated soft synth attached to a keyboard. The Moogs, while good at monophonic subtractive patches, are pretty much limited to monophonic subtractive patches. They're a pretty expensive one trick pony. If you've got excess money to blow or are making an 80's electropop tribute album or something then by all means go for analog. But for sonic versatility at a price that won't give you a nosebleed, go for the soft synths instead of the collectors' items.

[ieatfunk]

Reaktor is far from subtractive synthesis
Massive is wave scanning synthesis put through a subtractive engine. Much more complicated than it seems.
Additive, granular, FM, spectral, physical modelling, all pretty much software exclusive.

It sounds like you've been sold on the hardware = better thing. It's chic to shit on digital but it actually smokes analog in all but a couple areas. With careful programming you can dial in a soft synth to have the character of hardware. Not to mention the prohibitive cost of building even a basic hardware synth compared to the equivalent soft synth.

Also note that a Virus is just a dedicated soft synth attached to a keyboard. The Moogs, while good at monophonic subtractive patches, are pretty much limited to monophonic subtractive patches. They're a pretty expensive one trick pony. If you've got excess money to blow or are making an 80's electropop tribute album or something then by all means go for analog. But for sonic versatility at a price that won't give you a nosebleed, go for the soft synths instead of the collectors' items.

Disregarding Additive, granular and spectral, hardware can create anything FM and subtractive that any software can, to better standards because of the actual creation of the waveforms is what gives the famous analog warmth. It's pretty much fact that analog has so much more warmth compared to digital.
Also, it's possible to do some physical modelling, as 90% of if it all in the envelope of what you're trying to create.

Anyway, you're arguing points that are irrelevant, which I'm not sure you understand. We're talking about pure synthesis, as apposed to stuff like additive, granular and spectral which are more to do with sampling. Obviously, when you take things that are pretty much exclusive to software, then introduce a situation where you either HAVE to choose soft or hard, you're gonna go for software. As opposed to picking up really nice hardware synth that you can use to warm up your track. Keeping in mind that owning and using a hardware synth means you have to eradicate every single bit of software you own, like you seem to have portrayed.

[SunkLo]

I think I understand a bit more than you give me credit for

Additive isn't sample based. In fact, it's probably the closest you'll ever get to "pure synthesis".
Granular might use a sample as fodder but it's pretty far from sampling. You could say a subtractive synth is basically just sampling the mathematical properties of a sine wave to produce it's output.
Spectral isn't sample based either, however you can use it as a tool to mutate samples.
FM will never be done better than with a digital synth.
Physical modelling is much more than modelling an amplitude envelope.

Cost, polyphony, workflow and sonic diversity are all irrelevant? Alright then, why don't you tell me what is relevant then? Warmth? Synthesizing sound "to better standards" as you put it? You realize analog character comes from inconsistencies in voltage right? That signature sound is the result of errors in oscillator pitch, amplitude and phase.

[__________]

Man there's no need to have some shitty long debate about the intricacies of synths. Nobody cares. You've not even answered the original question: "What hardware synth would you choose?"

Whoever asked, the MIDI -> Megadrive cartridge thing is a 'game' cartridge for a Sega Megadrive (Genesis) which has a MIDI input connector. Allows you to interact with the sound chip via MIDI. Can't wait to get one. Think there's one for NES and SNES too but I don't have those consoles.

[wormcode]

Moog Voyager and some kind of Eurorack modular setup. I've got several hardware synths I feel some software has surpassed now, including the Virus. The only thing I get from them that I don't get from software is inspiration. Designing sounds away from computers is always more fun for me.

Volcas are cool but not some crazy analogue beasts... cheaper than most plugins as well. But I still think they are a precursor to something bigger Korg's got coming.

[Huts]

I've always fancied a Virus. I don't see myself getting any analog gear though, I'm not sold on the whole 'warmth' thing, it gets tossed around way too often

[nameless133]

Maybe some analog synth, I don't know exact type.

[futures_untold]

Whatever the latest Korg and Nord keyboard/synth is.

When I was younger, I used to love spending hours in the keyboard room at the local music shop just flicking through the patches on those things.

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Re: software vs hardware, tis is the biggest bullshit argument ever. Both digital and analogue work using electricity making a speaker move the air around us which we perceive as sound. Neither has the edge when it comes to this, both do the same thing.

The common argument for analogue is that it is 'richer', or 'phatter'.... I believe that if one added a little oscillator drift to a softsynth + passed the whole output from the synth through a distortion unit and maybe then added some subtle chorusing, the result would be identical to the analogue counterpart. Either way, rich and phat sounds are easily obtainable on softsynths as evidenced by the likes of Noisia who use crazy long effects chains to achieve their sound.

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Back to the original topic though...

Personally for the best of all worlds, I'd opt for softsynths with a nice midi keyboard and set of midi controllers mapped out to whichever softsynth I was using. I'd have the versitility of digital with the hands-on experience of hardware.

If I had to choose hardware though, Korg and Nord keyboards.

[__________]

Re: software vs hardware, tis is the biggest bullshit argument ever. Both digital and analogue work using electricity making a speaker move the air around us which we perceive as sound. Neither has the edge when it comes to this, both do the same thing.

I already beefed people for going off-topic in here, but fuck it. What you said isn't true and they don't both do the same thing. They couldn't be further apart.
Analogue synths process voltage through a circuit to make sound. A circuit built from imperfect components. Voltage which has no sample rate. Software synths are a program which pass a digital signal to your soundcard. 0's and 1's. Specific, perfect instructions. It's taken us 14 years of VSTi development to get this close to virtual analogue sounds and we're still not there.

It's not a bullshit argument at all. Compare a Moog to a Moog VSTi - they don't sound the same. Digital signals are completely different to analogue signals.