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SOFTWARE vs. HARDWARE (Strength's & Weakness - Your opinion is welcome!)
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| Stephen Wiley |
After reading through that 13 page thread of heated hardware vs. software I thought it would be a good idea to make a thread where experienced, objective users can, in their opinion, post what they believe to be strengths and weaknesses of hardware & software. Feel free to use examples such as actual hardware devices or VSTs to make your points.
No arguing please and please only post if you're experienced with both hardware & software and feel that you can give an objective and wise opinion.
BEGIN! |
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| Blake_Jarrell |
| I would probably invest in some hardware if my studio were not in a coat closet. until then im sticking to computer, headphones, small midi controller setup. |
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| Storyteller |
| Hardware is definitely handy when someone prefers a more hands on approach. I'm mostly a software guy myself and control the (little) hardware I have through software mostly. I personally have hardware which I think contributes to either the workflow or the sound design. I'm not really daring myself into the hard vs soft debate again. To each his own. Both sides have pros and cons and without a doubt they even out in the end, it's just about the producer and how he is able to use his tools. Some need a hardware approach, others are better off staying away. :) You'll learn by trying out gear at friends or the shop. You'll quickly figure out what could and could not be valuable to your production environment. |
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| Ry Thomas |
| I like both, i have lots of hardware and lots of software, kind of a happy medium:) |
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| adi_hanson |
Hardware:-good
Great sounding
No cpu usage (wav file's) in my case
Bad:-
No live play for me in Fl
Edison editor can be a handfull in FL studio for my recorded sounds.
Issues routing the midi/audio to the keyboard then back to the computer resulting in a few niggly delays here and there.
Software:-Good
Great sounding
Live play
Able to link controllers to your hardware for realtime tuning.
Able to re-tweak sounds when they dont fit unlike MY hardware.
Great for my 80% software to 20% hardware setup.
Bad:-
To much software inputs results in crackling, crashing because of CPU overload.
You can tell who uses nexus (if you produce of course :D ) |
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| Stephen Wiley |
| quote: | Originally posted by Blake_Jarrell
I would probably invest in some hardware if my studio were not in a coat closet. until then im sticking to computer, headphones, small midi controller setup. |
lol i saw a picture of your set up around a year ago (your myspace maybe?). I can't believe you're still in that little corner. I don't even recall seeing a controller in the pictures. Funny stuff.
That goes to show that with software you can be successful (very successful) - Blake and his setup are a perfect example. Just my opinion ! |
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| Storyteller |
Personally I don't think the factor of CPU power even matters anymore. With those intel core2 processors I've never even came halfway during any of my projects. Therefore I would consider the advantage of hardware reducing cpu strain more or less pointless.
Also I'd like to add there are several hardware additions I'm looking for. Mostly controllers though for more hands on mixing with the faders and all. I'm interested in buying an UAD as well. Unfortunately I have different priorities right now. |
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| adi_hanson |
Not sure how anyone goes on with CPU load on here , but i did when i started out ,and using 10 instances of vanguard running at the same time didnt help:D
Ive no troubles now though. |
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| Storyteller |
| If I'd run VST plugins at the time I started I would have been far ahead of my time xD |
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| Stephen Wiley |
| quote: | Originally posted by adi_hanson
Hardware:-good
Great sounding
No cpu usage (wav file's) in my case
Bad:-
No live play for me in Fl
Edison editor can be a handfull in FL studio for my recorded sounds.
Issues routing the midi/audio to the keyboard then back to the computer resulting in a few niggly delays here and there.
Software:-Good
Great sounding
Live play
Able to link controllers to your hardware for realtime tuning.
Able to re-tweak sounds when they dont fit unlike MY hardware.
Great for my 80% software to 20% hardware setup.
Bad:-
To much software inputs results in crackling, crashing because of CPU overload.
You can tell who uses nexus (if you produce of course :D ) |
Thanks. This is what I'm looking for. If anybody wants to chime in, maybe go into more detail, please do! |
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| echosystm |
Hardware
Pros:
- Resale value
- Knobs to twiddle
Cons:
- Cost
- Can kill workflow (eg. recalling parameters)
Software:
Pros:
- Sounds as good as any non-analog hardware :p
- Cheap
- 100% recallable
Cons:
- No resale value
- No dedicated physical control (generic MIDI controllers suck...)
- Stability |
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| palm |
| i have one recomandation for anyone considering getting hardware: learn your daw inside out first and make sure its recomended with hardware! i bought some hardware synths while i was working in Reason, which forced me to try other daws - this was also part of the point, to somehow push me out of Reason beacuse I wasnt entirely happy with it. But I couldnt find any daw on PC which i liked (tried ableton, reaper, cubase, even fruity and traktion), and i was sitting there with three awesome hardware synths which i only could play on with my midikeyboard. The sounds i made was ing awesome but i couldnt record it or sequence it beacuse of my lacking skills in these daws i tried (patience also played a big role). then out of frustration i wanted to skip computers entirely and i bought two korg grooveboxes which i planned to use as sequencers and drummachines/samplers. while this was extremely fun and inspiring to play with and to groove around with (almost like djeing only more fun beacuse of tempo-sync through MIDI), it limited me to playing singlevoice on my synths beacuse the sequencer-channels in electribes are singlevoice only. Not a big problems as all my melodies back in the days where mono, and i had like 5 synth channels on one electribe while the other had 4. I used all 4 parts on the clavia and two parts on the virus and this worked really great. A new problem occured though: editing was terrible, I only finished one or two tracks this way and while it has the rawest phattest sound ive ever accomplished it does just sound unpolished and messy/muddy, and i couldnt do about it. I realized this was hopeless and ended up selling ALL my hardware (one giant Echo soundcard, JP8080, Clavia Nord Rack 3, Waldorf MicroQ, Virus Rack XL and two Korg Electribes, pluss some midiboxes and some other including tons of cables. This was a really valuable lesson for me when it came to materialism, i had a dream that i could make tracks with hardware only without needing to render one single track before finished product. This was imposible for me considering effiency, my lack of patience, backing up project etc etc and my knowledge with midi and other DAWs than Reason. U wont believe the disapointment when I realized this would not happend, I was not going to have my dream of turning knobs realtime fullfilled. I must say though, i didnt loose a single dollar on it beacuse everything i got i sold again for the same or more money beacuse i bought most second hand on ebay in USA and Germany, while I resold them in Norway (everythings expencive here). I also learned this valuable lesson and i managed satisfying my previosly state of materialism and also managed to grew out of it (luckely; its not only my synths ive sold, believe me this place was packed and is empty now and it feels good). Now im back in Reason and urge for hardware is gonne. I feel like Nirvana, but Im still not happy with Reason so Im saving for a iMac to start using Logic. Ive recently bought Mac Mini just to try logic and it seems promising compared to everything else ive tried. Im also starting to move away from normal synthesis so the need for hardware synths is almost gone. Loops and samples is my new fetish, so if i ever gonne get some hardware again it will be some sort of sampler/groovebox/drummachine which i can be able to use live, but it has to be intuitive and integrated well with software. My only two advices, learn your DAW firstand buy second hand. |
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