Ableton Forum

Maybe this has been discussed, but is it me - or does the sound quality coming from some synth apps sound far superior than many comparable plug-ins?

There's a site somewhere in which they had a real MS-20, the plugin, and the iMS-20. Dude said that he could barely tell the difference, and that no one else could either.

Of course, 1000 synthophiles are going to chime in and say that they can tell the difference. The problem? They usual don't own all 3 in which to honestly give an opinion.

I think there's YouTube vids in which the iMS-20 and iElectribe are both held up against their actual hardware counterparts. Course, it's YouTube so EVERYTHING sounds like shit. But....

The real question is this: Are your throngs of fans baked out of their minds in the club reeaaaallly going to care?

No. They are not.

I could swear that the ipad iMS-20 sounds better than the MS-20 plug-in. But it's probably just my impression from messing with the presets. They are much better than the plug-in's useless presets. But I don't need it for presets anyways. They do give the initial impression though whether you're a preset user or not.

I have been exporting some wavs from iMS-20 and they do sound fuller with big bottom end. Don't I don't have anything to compare with. It's great cause you can have the iPad with you and work on some beats and bass lines and then export for the studio, and drop the loop into Ableton and away you go!
Pretty cool!

It is called 'cognative disonance'.

You paid a lot of money for an i*** device when you could have just got a phone much cheaper therefore it sounds much better to you.

Like when I owned a tetra it sounded much better than va synths...




PS edited because I spelt some words wrong.

scutheotaku wrote:

fcarroll wrote:I have been exporting some wavs from iMS-20 and they do sound fuller with big bottom end. Don't I don't have anything to compare with. It's great cause you can have the iPad with you and work on some beats and bass lines and then export for the studio, and drop the loop into Ableton and away you go!
Pretty cool!

Yeah, the bottom end is most likely added by the cables and stuff it's running through

that's so wrong. Monster will sell you cables to really add more low end.

the way you model a synth is to break down each section and model them in software. once those stages are modeled in whatever programming language, from C to assembly it's pretty straightforward for someone to port them to another language or run the same code on another platform.

if those ports are done carefully you can get smooth results.

if it sounds good, it sounds good. maybe by happenstance a port screws up and sounds better for some weird non-linear quirky reason. that's doubtful, there's a million ways to get these things wrong and only one way to get them right.

scutheotaku wrote:

fcarroll wrote:I have been exporting some wavs from iMS-20 and they do sound fuller with big bottom end. Don't I don't have anything to compare with. It's great cause you can have the iPad with you and work on some beats and bass lines and then export for the studio, and drop the loop into Ableton and away you go!
Pretty cool!

Yeah, the bottom end is most likely added by the cables and stuff it's running through - though again it may be an updated version.

This is one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time. Thanks. needed a laugh today.

I hope so, some people still fall for that stuff.

Its great to hear everybody's opinion on this. thanks for chiming in!

I've thought that tones from ipad synths have had more "weight" than vsts, but I was never completely convinced.

..I still considered it a possibility and consider the fact that since they are stand alone it might be easier for programmers to manipulate? -also the fact that nobody is cracking these helps the developers as well.

then again, these apps are completely brand new while many of my vsts are several years old.

hmmmm....

still unsure!

one thing I do know is that I feel the need to preamp ipad sounds before final mixes far less than I do with most of my (somewhat "older") vsts.

littlepig wrote:It is called 'cognative disonance'.

You paid a lot of money for an i*** device when you could have just got a phone much cheaper therefore it sounds much better to you.

Like when I owned a tetra it sounded much better than va synths....

Yes that'll be cognitive dissonance at work.

*Insert uber facepalm here*

scutheotaku wrote:Here's the thing though, on hardware versus software - hardware instruments DO have more depth without effects. To make a professional sounding song with plugins, everything prominent piece has gotta have stereo "depth" or else it sounds dry and sterile, no matter what. As I can say from experience, that's not how it is with hardware gear.

face, meet palm

scutheotaku wrote:If a iOS version sounds better than a VST version, then I'd guess that 1. It's an updated version (most probable, 2. it has more power since it's devoting most of the processing power to one thing (VERY unlikely), 3. it's not actually different but only sounds better because of either coloring by the iPhone/iPad and the cords it runs through (yes - running through one cord WILL color your sound), or maybe you're listening to it on different speakers (headphones?), etc...

I wanna get me some of that "Vintage Grit" cable for my synth and maybe the "Knock Harder" cable for my sampler. Or should I go for the "Round Bottom End" cable? Choices, choices...

I hope so, some people still fall for that stuff.

I know with my guitar cables, I have a couple that just... don't sound as good, for lack of more specific terms, as my other cables.

Could be a short in the line or badly conducting wiring or whatever, but I know that cables CAN make a difference. Not saying it's likely in this case, but it's a possibility. Unless you're working with a digital signal, in which case it doesn't matter at all.

littlepig wrote:It is called 'cognative disonance'.

You paid a lot of money for an i*** device when you could have just got a phone much cheaper therefore it sounds much better to you.

Like when I owned a tetra it sounded much better than va synths...




PS edited because I spelt some words wrong.

Yes your right. Like when someone pays maybe 2 grand for an old classic analog synth like the Korg MS-20, and they could have spent 500 on an iPad and 4.99 for the app and they could have saved themselves 1500, but because they spent 2 grand it must sound better

delicioso wrote:

scutheotaku wrote:Here's the thing though, on hardware versus software - hardware instruments DO have more depth without effects. To make a professional sounding song with plugins, everything prominent piece has gotta have stereo "depth" or else it sounds dry and sterile, no matter what. As I can say from experience, that's not how it is with hardware gear.

face, meet palm

scutheotaku wrote:If a iOS version sounds better than a VST version, then I'd guess that 1. It's an updated version (most probable, 2. it has more power since it's devoting most of the processing power to one thing (VERY unlikely), 3. it's not actually different but only sounds better because of either coloring by the iPhone/iPad and the cords it runs through (yes - running through one cord WILL color your sound), or maybe you're listening to it on different speakers (headphones?), etc...

I wanna get me some of that "Vintage Grit" cable for my synth and maybe the "Knock Harder" cable for my sampler. Or should I go for the "Round Bottom End" cable? Choices, choices...

I missed that bit of fuckwittery.

delicioso wrote:

scutheotaku wrote:Here's the thing though, on hardware versus software - hardware instruments DO have more depth without effects. To make a professional sounding song with plugins, everything prominent piece has gotta have stereo "depth" or else it sounds dry and sterile, no matter what. As I can say from experience, that's not how it is with hardware gear.

face, meet palm

agent314 wrote:I know with my guitar cables, I have a couple that just... don't sound as good, for lack of more specific terms, as my other cables.

Could be a short in the line or badly conducting wiring or whatever, but I know that cables CAN make a difference. Not saying it's likely in this case, but it's a possibility. Unless you're working with a digital signal, in which case it doesn't matter at all.

guitar cables matter because they're not a driven output source, they're passive low impedance outputs so any impedance (capacitance from a cable) added to their output makes a difference. from what I've gathered over the years people pretty much stick with the same cable types and don't bug about it. we're always futzing with out tone knobs on the guitar, amp and other places as well. this topic can go off into gear snobbery. I've talked to and read about many players knowing this but nobody bugs about it.



scutheotaku - all you have are personal insults and the forum laughing at you.

scutheotaku wrote:

tempus3r wrote:

scutheotaku wrote:
Yeah, the bottom end is most likely added by the cables and stuff it's running through - though again it may be an updated version.

This is one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time. Thanks. needed a laugh today.

Ah, typical...how are your tracks selling by the way? Because just about every professional producer agrees with me.

---

Hi.

Sarcasm does not translate well online. I actually thought you were making a joke. A lot of things impact your sound, including cables. Please provide your data from "just about every professional producer" where they claim that "cables and stuff" are what it's all about with bottom end. I am more than happy to learn from your data about "cables and stuff" to improve the bottom end in my songs, and hence of course improve sales.