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In the modern age of cracked software and easy access sample libraries, who actually uses a single bit of hardware for design and creation of sound?

The Cloaks studio is pretty much all hardware, using a computer only for MIDI.

What's your set-up? - How much hardware do you use?

If you are using samples made by other people and provided to you in a library, are you really a producer? - Where's the line and that?

I know I'm gonna get hated on this one!

I use hardware. It sounds good, is fun to play with, and looks cool.

I generally try to use my own sounds, but also sample the hell out of things. It's all in how you use sounds....

macbook pro, logic pro, mackie control, BM5 monitors - all I need. Neat n tidy.

A lot of hardware is DSP driven these days anyway, and with people hooking up digital desks there's no difference to the sound compared to computer based DSP anyway (as long as you got enough power to run good qulaity plugins), so makes no odds to me. It's convenient and quick - everything at your fingertips with no groundloop bollox to contend with.

Don't tend to use a lot of samples - drum hits maybe (which are layered anyway) - and I don't use sample CDs (not out of choice, just noticed I don't own many!)

i use my old jazz records for drum samples (Buddy Rich is THE MAN)
movie soundtracks are awesome for various strings, rhodes keys, atmospheric stuff, etc.
i have a TEAC a3440 four track i use for reversing/slowing down/speeding up/giving analog "warmth" to tracks or samples

i love sampling vinyl... i'm saving up for an mpc1000 as a friend and i want to start a dubstep livePA, and running strictly off my macbook, a midicontroller and a microkorg could get boring.

the world is going digital, but i'll take tape, synths and records over mp3s and vsts any day.

Obviously creation of sound in any context is all equally as viable and sampling something yourself at least shows initiative towards a conscious idea.

I guess I'm talking about the whole factory soundbank thing. Scrolling through a pre-made bank of sounds and banging stuff in, that sort of thing.

KION wrote:A lot of hardware is DSP driven these days anyway, and with people hooking up digital desks there's no difference to the sound

I totally hear what you're saying buddy but analogue distortion, even through digital desks is still analogue distortion.

i'm not down with huge mp3 packs and cd libraries... the problem with computer-made music is that it is accessible by everyone, and one might argue that little skill is involved, which is why electronic artirts are reffered to as producers, because in the end it's the crazy sought-after sounds you come up with that let the creativity shine (of course the actual track or song counts for alot though, don't get me wrong). what i'm trying to say is that a 9 year old can bang out beats if you give him breaks and samples on a cd. but he can't go through bins of records, cut it up and PLAY it.
this is music, not one of those playstation Frequency or MTV Music Generator video games.

nuff said.

I like hardware. I like software. I like things that are good.

thehovsep wrote:i'm not down with huge mp3 packs and cd libraries... the problem with computer-made music is that it is accessible by everyone, and one might argue that little skill is involved, which is why electronic artirts are reffered to as producers, because in the end it's the crazy sought-after sounds you come up with that let the creativity shine (of course the actual track or song counts for alot though, don't get me wrong). what i'm trying to say is that a 9 year old can bang out beats if you give him breaks and samples on a cd. but he can't go through bins of records, cut it up and PLAY it.
this is music, not one of those playstation Frequency or MTV Music Generator video games.

nuff said.

Hey, everyone's got a voice but how many people are great singers? Just because computer-made music is accessible doesn't mean there's less skill (or talent) involved in making great music. Personally I use all outboard gear, I only use the computer for cutting up samples in Recycle... but I've read on this forum that Skream makes all his tracks in Fruity Loops, and mostly uses presets. I think he actually got his start using MTV Music Generator, that was in an interview with him. And his tracks are some of the best out there, IMHO. When it comes down to it, good music is good music - if it kicks ass, nobody cares how you made it.

Mudfoot))) wrote:

thehovsep wrote:i'm not down with huge mp3 packs and cd libraries... the problem with computer-made music is that it is accessible by everyone, and one might argue that little skill is involved, which is why electronic artirts are reffered to as producers, because in the end it's the crazy sought-after sounds you come up with that let the creativity shine (of course the actual track or song counts for alot though, don't get me wrong). what i'm trying to say is that a 9 year old can bang out beats if you give him breaks and samples on a cd. but he can't go through bins of records, cut it up and PLAY it.
this is music, not one of those playstation Frequency or MTV Music Generator video games.

nuff said.

Hey, everyone's got a voice but how many people are great singers? Just because computer-made music is accessible doesn't mean there's less skill (or talent) involved in making great music. Personally I use all outboard gear, I only use the computer for cutting up samples in Recycle... but I've read on this forum that Skream makes all his tracks in Fruity Loops, and mostly uses presets. I think he actually got his start using MTV Music Generator, that was in an interview with him. And his tracks are some of the best out there, IMHO. When it comes down to it, good music is good music - if it kicks ass, nobody cares how you made it.

Brap.

I just downsized, sold a bunch of hardware. Unlike with life in general, it's not the journey, it's the end result

That being said, I am trying to create a clean signal path so that I can do some recording, purchasing a 24/96 firewire card, tube mic preamp, and quality adac.

if sound design was part of being a producer. a LARGE majority of people would have to stop being producers.

i laugh at all the hip hop beats kids make these days that have some of the most pristine hits and samples in them! Theres a ton of kids making beats that dont even know what an eq is for!

i use both, some tracks are all software, some are mostly hardware. it really depends on my mood.

My dream has always been to make a tune on a plane journey/hotel, so I strictly use software for this purpose.

I don't like too many wires, plugs and clutter, so I use software.

I do use some sort of outboard which are:

FOCUSRITE VOICEMASTER PLATINUM PRO + DIGITAL OUTPUT BOARD
EMU 1616M PCI
EMU X-BOARD 25
BEHRINGER EURORACK 1604A - MIXER
SAMSON SERVO 170 AMPLIFIER

Lastly, I do think hardware sounds a touch more beefy, than digital........

You gotta find yer own sounds imo. I use sample packs and presets but after a liberal sprinkling of knobtwiddlin and fx, you'd never be able to tell - or at least that's the idea. Lately tho i've been gettin away from the presets and been makin up my own synth patches and layering up monosynths in reason's combinator. Huge sounds in a jiffy!


As for softs vs hard...

I mixed down an album at a mate's flat in The Hague while he was away with his family. I had the dogs to look after and a ready supply of holland's finest! the only way that was possible was that I had a very compact set-up: pbook, 2x edirol ma10d, uc33e & oxy8. And now the setup has shrunk a little as i've replaced the uc33e and the oxy8 with a remote sl25.

+ i finished off one tune on a train a while back - 5 hours from london to north wales with onboard power supply. For this softs are the only way.

But i love gettin my hands on some old school outboard gear. mixin up some new sounds out of a jupiter6 orgettin that oldschool swing from a 909 just kills it imo. So when i get the space and the cash, i'll be collecting a few choice items of essential hardware for the studio.

So far all i got is a novation ks rack which tends to annoy me cause of the way controls are used for about 3 different level and sounds end up jumping if yer not careful. I'll probably shift it when i find something i really like the feel of to replace it.

woah - bit o ramblin there
i'll stfu

Mmm this arguement again.

Cloaks wrote:Obviously creation of sound in any context is all equally as viable and sampling something yourself at least shows initiative towards a conscious idea.

I guess I'm talking about the whole factory soundbank thing. Scrolling through a pre-made bank of sounds and banging stuff in, that sort of thing.

its not what you've got........

I use both. Both are good.

For the longest time I used to do everything with hardware midi'd up and going into a mixer because I simply didn't trust computers.

6 years back, I finally bit the bullet and got a Mac and Logic. After getting comfortable with computer sequencing and with multitude of good plugins that are now available, I was convinced and sold off most of my hardware.

I kept a few choice pieces -A Roland TB-303 which I've got synced to Logic and a midified Prophet 5, which I'll never, ever sell.

Xbase09, Electribe-ES1, Sequential pro one, Kaos Pad

Although you can get many of the same sounds from software, some outboard synths really just have excellent sound quality. We use a Roland Phantom X7 to get many of the atmospheric, piano, or orchestral sounds in our deeper tracks. It is all about the ideas that you have, though, I'll agree on that.....

Cheers

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