Can soft synths ever sound as good as hardware? Post your opinion.

My opinion is that this debate is boring as hell.

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i feel like giving you negative reviews on ebay

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Originally posted by dimadelux i feel like giving you negative reviews on ebay

what is your problem with me why are you following me around in every thread?

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Originally posted by Existo22 what is your problem with me why are you following me around in every thread?

hai

In many cases, they already do. There are certain things that software can do, that hardware will never be able to do, such as lookahead functions.

If you are speaking of Virtual Analogs, then there is no difference. VA synths are still just computers themselves. Their oscillators and filters are all DSP software, which isn't any different than a soft synth.

If you have true analog synth (Moog, DSI, etc.), then there are some sonic advantages that software may not be able to provide, but there are relatively few modern analog synths that meet this criteria. Some will say that a Modern Analog doesn't sound anything like a vintage analog, especially in the case of modern recreations of vintage hardware. There are a ton of comparisons between people who own the original Minimoog Model D and a modern Moog Voyager. Vintange analogs also meet this criteria, but, again, you need excellent AD to take advantage of this. You'll have to deal with the notorious unreliability of any vintage synth as well as the exorbitant price tag.

In addition, you can get a $3,000 Moog, but it you are running it through crappy AD, then you will never realize the benefits that such hardware may provide.

Some softsynths sound better.

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Not another hardware vs. software thread..

Just asking this question goes to show you have little or no experience with either software or hardware. Or both.

This debate died years a go when most realized software became just as good, and in many aspects better than hardware. The only thing software hasn't emulated completely is true analog synths.
And, as was mentioned about a million times in countless audio forums on the net, most hardware synths are nothing more than software in a box.


EDIT:
Damn.. wasn't fast enough

quote:

Originally posted by Eric J In many cases, they already do. There are certain things that software can do, that hardware will never be able to do, such as lookahead functions. If you are speaking of Virtual Analogs, then there is no difference. VA synths are still just computers themselves. Their oscillators and filters are all DSP software, which isn't any different than a soft synth. If you have true analog synth (Moog, DSI, etc.), then there are some sonic advantages that software may not be able to provide, but there are relatively few modern analog synths that meet this criteria. Some will say that a Modern Analog doesn't sound anything like a vintage analog, especially in the case of modern recreations of vintage hardware. There are a ton of comparisons between people who own the original Minimoog Model D and a modern Moog Voyager. Vintange analogs also meet this criteria, but, again, you need excellent AD to take advantage of this. You'll have to deal with the notorious unreliability of any vintage synth as well as the exorbitant price tag. In addition, you can get a $3,000 Moog, but it you are running it through crappy AD, then you will never realize the benefits that such hardware may provide.

I am using an RME soundcard.
I definitely do not want service bills every once in a while but there seems to be an analog synth renaissance. Everybody saying how analog synths sound better ect
How about something like an external filter? For example a mutator...

http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/mutator.shtml

That would way somebody could for use a software synth oscillator to generate the sound but a analog filter to shape it?
Does any body here have any experience with external analog filters?

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Originally posted by Existo22 I am using an RME soundcard.

RME has got good AD conversion, although here is a case where something in the Apogee/Lynx/Prism line is best.

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Originally posted by Existo22 I definitely do not want service bills every once in a while but there seems to be an analog synth renaissance. Everybody saying how analog synths sound better ect How about something like an external filter? For example a mutator... http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/mutator.shtml

Sure, analog filters sound great. Just be prepared to deal with the latency of the round trip from your DAW to the hardware back to your DAW.

Honestly, just make sure you are NOT looking at buying analog outboard because you think that your music will suddenly become better for it. I used to think this way and wasted a LOT of money on outboard hardware, when it really didn't make a huge difference.

Just make sure you are not going into a purchase with the mindset of "If I just get this piece of outboard gear, my music will get instantly better!" At the end of the day, it's all about the writing and composing and no piece of outboard gear will help with that.

Yes they do... it just requires more tweaking.

Hardware will sound better straight out of the box IMO, simply cause they are better made synths than software ones.

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What is better? Different I´d say. In my opinion, there is very subtle differences between a GOOD software synth and modern analog. But when you make complex patches, the difference may be more clear. Analog synths have more "bite". I´ll end there. :P