IMO Soft synths and plugins are much better than hardware

[beats me]

I can't find anything in the modern world that comes close to a Juno 60.

Then you don’t own enough vintage emulation plugins.

Nothing against preferences, but really at the end of the day is either going to make or break a music career?

[mholloway]

Roland gear from the 90's thru today can easily be outdone by software. Roland gear from the 80's can not, and is still the golden standard.

This is part of the whole problem with this issue: every random Joe thinks they're an expert and can inform the rest of us on what the "Gold Standard" is. It's all a bunch of hogwash. It's all subjective, it's all a matter of opinion and taste, there is no Gold Standard other than what any particular synth-nerd thinks is Gold for whatever totally biased reasons.

Obviously the entire thread is silly because the subject line has the same issue. So one guy thinks Soft are 'so much better' than hardware. Well, I happen to agree, that's my personal opinion on the matter, for my usage purposes, to my ears, etc. Gold Standard has nothing to do with it. But as long as people keep thinking there is some absolute, scientifically proven method of determining this shit, the argument will rage on.

[Machinesworking]

I agree with mholloway on his last point.

Taste is entirely subjective, there are plenty of people who like the sound of analog 'emulations' better than analog hardware.
There are people who don't like the analog sound at all.
Some people are frustrated by soft synths and working in a box, they need the tactile sensations.
Some see no point in hardware for all the reasons software is better.

Some like me, think both are great, and are surprised people are so passionate about the choices other people make?

[Khazul]

To me both are great.

I used to basically have a room semi-full of keyboards, and racks of synths and fx boxes etc. Mucho fun to wire up and just play stuff on, but a pain in the arse to record with (computers have made me lazy), especially having to remember to do patch management, taking photos of panel knobs and switch positions or patch bay wiring etc.

These days its pretty much reduced to just the laptop and yet that laptop now has vastly more powerful synths and fx on it then I ever had as hardware. Productivity wise - nothing can compare to everything on the laptop. Inspiration wise... erm...

I dont think I will ever find a computer as inspring to 'just play' as a bunch of wired up synths and fx. Somehow I just cant spend hours messing around with a guitar and some huge long chain of hardware fx when that chain of fx is a bunch of plugin in live. And yet i could when it was physical hardware. There is just something about *everything* having its own dedicated control surface built in that you can see and reach for to instantly tweak that I have just never found with any software + control surface combo. Noted - some of the rack unit especially some fx had trully fookin aweful UIs, and yet still remain more accessible than sifting through some windows to find the damn plugin with and mouse and keyboard before you can even look at it to tweak it. Maybe the nearest to that physical hardware connection thing was briefly using an icon large format console controller for some mix tweaks.

With all that said, for the little actual production I do these days (tinnitus kind of killed it off), I just cant imagine giving up the simplicity of opening a project and having everything as it was when I saved it and yet there was a time I was quite happy working on 8 track tape and actually having to spend ages filling in patch sheets etc to remember your setups for later recall.

I miss it and dont miss it at the same time. What we have on a computer is truly amazing these days, and yet somehow I really just cant loose myself in software synths and plugin noodling away for hours like I could with some decent hardware to play with.

[Quez]

Both have their pros and cons. It's just what you do with them.

[jestermgee]

Couldn't have progressed any other way. Delicious popcorn that was.

4 pages has only served to prove not that software/hardware is better but people are individuals and have their own opinions on what they personally like. Everything else is piss in the wind.

[Division Monarchy]

When I say Golden Standard, I mean it in a half sarcastic way. It is a standard for many things and has been for years. the 303, 808, 909, etc. are some of the most emulated pieces in music. You know what they sound like, I don't have to describe to you if you've been producing music. All the older technology is essentially the standard as it is the back bone of so much today. We will see if today's stuff has the same lasting impact sonically speaking, although I was burned out on Dubstep sounds 6 months after hearing them.

[pencilrocket]

This thread is nominated for 10-year-old kids thread of the month!
Grats!