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Why does Hardware Sound Better than VST?
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| Phantax |
I always catch people mentioning how hardware sounds better than software.......but software these days is being run off of very powerful computers...even the average PC these days can pack a lot of performance punch.
Im just curious what is it that makes a synthesizer sound so much better than software that runs off of a computer?
Also, don't the same things have to be done to MAKE the synthesizers sound amazing as do softsynths? I mean...you can't just hook up a synthesizer and press the keys and it already sounds perfect...the sound has to be crafted by the producer...but the way that people throw around the comment "hardware sounds better" they're practically implying that the method for making your sound crisp and clean is a completely different process from software...which it isn't.
Other than the amazing libraries that come in synths like nord's and access virus synths - pound for pound sound quality, why would there be such a difference?
It looks like im pumping up software.....but i'm actually looking for a definitive reason why hardware according to many producers sounds much better....why??????????? what is the reason? |
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| Massive84 |
don't know i like software so far, but if you never used hardware (like me) then thats all i can say, i like software..
am sure there is some difference in the quality, but like many say..it's the person that makes the song and not the synth. |
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| trancenrg69 |
| Why does a ferrari have more horsepower than a ford, why do genelecs sound better than behringers. They both work on similiar components, just as hardware synths and computers do. It's the quality of the components that seperate the two in terms of sound quality. Hardware synths run on dedicated dsp chips. The nordlead3 runs on 6. When u have that much power dedicated to one process you don't have to worry about cpu usage, so the sky is the limit. But software developers cannot do that because nobody would buy a vst that takes 3 ghz of cpu power to run 1 instance . If you look at the better sounding vsts out there, maingly vstation, zeta, you'll notice they hog up a load of cpu power. I have a 866mhz pc and i can run only 1 instance of zeta. As computers get faster , vsts will get better. But like i said before, hardware will always be one step ahead. |
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| hey cheggy |
Like mentioned above, power. DSP chips can be put in computers to give them more power in running plugins. There are quite a few different DSP cards out there by various manufacturers.
Hardware synths also tend to have more features than soft synths. I haven't seen any software that has anywhere nere as many routing options as my virus. I also find it much easier to get that sound I am looking for as I can turn stuff with my hands. Having dials really does make a difference.
Yes, the sound does have to be crafted, although obviously that's what presets are for. The only hardware synth I use is the virus and it doesn't sound nice untill you start getting the dials pointing in the right direction and the right options selected. Being able to run over 20 ocsillators with three different types of distortions and two filters and four effects and all that stuff is not really possible on your standard desktop CPU. |
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| Phantax |
^ thanks for explaining that perfectly (trancenrg69 & cheggy!) really appreciate it!!!!!!!!!!
i actually hate all of my vst's... i have all the top ones that people praise everyday...z3ta, albino...v-station...no matter how much i try and make them sound rich, i just fail. i know a lot of it is just my lack of knowledge...but i also feel a good percent of it is the softsynths fault.
i feel like i could apply all of the knowledge i have learned over the past year and apply it to hardware and come out with something much better.
my computer is able to handle a lot at 2.6 ghz and 1.5 gigs of ram, but i still feel like my softsynths aren't even capable of being tweaked to sound the way that i want them to.
trying to get good sounds out of z3ta these days seems impossible......im pretty much becoming worse as a producer everyday....on one hand it has so many options that for the most experienced producers is probably a god send.......but for someone like me who's learning FROM this thing, i find all those options are killing me.........for instance, a lot of the presets seem like they're engineered totally wrong....and i gotta go back 8 pages to remove that shouldn't be in there to make the sound proper...i feel like i'm visiting the hidden wu tang chambers when trying to discover what part of z3ta is killing any particular sound patch at any given moment. and it takes hours and sometimes i'm not able to locate which part in z3ta to visit at all to fix the problem.
vst's have made me dumber more than anything. |
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| Massive84 |
use reason
substractor is best~!
edit before flame start
it was my opnion :p
reason i like sub is because, it's so easy and such a unique sound
i was on FL also, absynth, albino etc..they eat tons of cpu and my pc ain't that good either, reason was the way for me. |
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| hey cheggy |
Stick with subtractive synths. They are much easier to understand. Every synth has its only little hidden secret though. Once you get that, you can start making fat sounds. It took me 9 months to find the virus' little secrets.
I wouldn't say that softies aren't capable of producing nice stuff. Even ABL which is a single oscillator cheapy can make some huge sounds once you get it going. I've been having a play around on Arturia's new CS-80 clone and that thing is very nice. Some of the patches send CPU usage to 100% though after only hitting one key, but it sounds very nice for trippy weird sounds. I've heard some nice stuff out of the venguard demo but it sounds quite limited. Pro-53 is nice, although for fat leads, it needs fx.
Personally, I think that the difference between hard and soft is all in the mind. If you listen to some released tracks, most of the time, you can't tell whether its been done on hard or softies. Even people like BK are soft synth users. Don't let hardware seem like the only option cos I can tell you right now that hardware is a pain in the arse, with cables and power cords and having to turn everything on just to paly your song, so can't automate each parameter like VSTi stuff, so don't bag the softie, there are some great programs out there. |
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| dj_inferno |
| I think the lack of built in effects makes software not sound as good as hardware. The v-station imo is one of the better sounding vsti's because of the built in effects. Most software you have to add a bunch of xternal effects to get it to sound the way you want it to. Also with software you have to have a bunch of instances just ot get the same thickness/phatness that a lot of hardware has. |
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| Tom_cowan |
| Firstly, softwares just as good as a hardware, you just gotta have the right vst's. I had a virus then sold it when i discovered i could make just as fat if not fatter sounds with VAZ. It just depends what you like using, being able to turn the knobs yourself is one of the advantages of hardware but with software you can easily save and load projects which allows you to jump between two projects, in a studio thats bloody hard, espieccially if your using any analogue equipment. Point is these days there just as good as each other, its just upto you which way you wana go. Bare in mind though a lot of top producers just use software now and they all previously used hardware, felix da housecat, shokk/flutlicht(uses a lot of VAZ synths), BK(as cheggy said), pretty much all of tidy trax use fruity loops, not sure about the rest but i can guarantee you there will be a lot more. If you do use software goes my advice is use fruity loops of logic(you could use cubase but i hate the ing thing, its a royal pain in the arse). If you use hardware, defo get a virus. |
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| Sean Walsh |
If you want realistic sounding phat JP style trance leads then pretty much the only way to go is Atmosphere, which has a ton of JP core samples that you can tweak. You lack the flexibility of the real thing, obviously, but considering leads are only really an afterthought with atmosphere it's pretty nice.
I think another thing that probably has to be considered is software piracy. If you could pirate a Virus C I bet you'd be hearing a lot of sweet tunes posted around the internet, heh. I'd imagine hardware synth makers will be reluctant to step into the software field. |
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| Tom_cowan |
| You can actually get a software version of a virus but it runs off pro tools. You can do anything you can with a soft synth you can do with any hardware synth, youve just gota know what your doing and pick the right soft synth - Fact. |
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| rb2k1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sean Walsh
If you want realistic sounding phat JP style trance leads then pretty much the only way to go is Atmosphere, which has a ton of JP core samples that you can tweak. You lack the flexibility of the real thing, obviously, but considering leads are only really an afterthought with atmosphere it's pretty nice.
I think another thing that probably has to be considered is software piracy. If you could pirate a Virus C I bet you'd be hearing a lot of sweet tunes posted around the internet, heh. I'd imagine hardware synth makers will be reluctant to step into the software field. |
If you want realistic sounding phat JP style trance leads then pretty much the only way to go is TO GET A ROLAND FUKIN JP-80x0 SYNTH HAHAHAHAHA
Thats all i will say about this.. im done with this topic. |
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