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Originally Posted by
OllieBoi
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Interesting post. I'm just struggling to understand your motivation for making it. Are you really on a mission to tell the members of a hardware centric music forum that they are suffering from a mass delusion and that their $5,000 Prophet 5 rev 4s for instance are really only different from the Arturia Prophet 5 V at the "molecular-level as a tiny component of background music for some light entertainment" (whatever that means)? I'm sure Dave Smith would find that amusing (as he is stocking his private wine cellar from the proceeds of sales to all these delusional, hardware fetishizing fools).
*sighs* This is a thread about
software. On which folks who don't own the hardware are claiming "it doesn't sound the same". But I do own the hardware in question. So I made some tests to satisfy my own curiosity. And I was pleasantly surprised at how close the results I got were. So I posted those tests for the folks who are inclined to believe the lengthy posts by those who don't own the hardware. Then they can have some concrete, audible evidence to inform their decision on whether they should continue to pine for hardware that's out of reach or impractical for many, or just get down to making music with the cheap-n-cheerful tools at hand without wondering how much better the hardware might be. Simple.
Do I go into a thread about hardware and say, "Oh, but the software is just as good, check out my demos!!!" No. And this is all just a little background music for a some light entertainment. We're not curing cancer here....
Besides, I've made the point repeatedly that workflow and ergonomics are very different between hard and soft, and if that's important, then that's a consideration. I mean, duh, obviously. But I acknowledge that over and over. For me, knobs or mouse, it doesn't matter. I'm long past being inspired by the pretty blinky lights or the smell of hot power supplies. I want a sound, I make a sound. With whatever tools are at hand, good or bad, hard or soft.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
OllieBoi
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If you were just trying to draw your own conclusions by running a few A/B tests, then why make the big pronouncement and silly challenge on Gearspace? Why not post on your own blog where you can share your musings with people who actually care?
I don't have a blog, a website, a youtube channel, a patreon, or a lemonade stand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
OllieBoi
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Maybe it's secretly the adulation you relish. Being called a "synthesizer god" is probably heady stuff. Look, no one is saying that you aren't extremely talented. But let's get real. In honor of the passing of Andrew Fletcher of Depeche Mode, let's just acknowledge that Alan Wilder is a true synth god. Even Vince Clarke is a synth legend. You don't see him having a big yard sale for all of his analog gear because someone posted an A/B test on some forum.
Synthesizer god? Where the hell did that come from? I barely even use synths. Records, remixes, film scores, I've used maybe two or three synth sounds, max, on any of them.
Those bigwigs aren't having yard sales, and neither am I for that matter. As I said, those tests were made to satisfy my own curiosity, and posted for those who don't have the hardware and probably never will, but might have the software and are curious how close it can get to the real thing. It's not like Arturia are posting A-B tests on their website so people can compare. Maybe they should?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
OllieBoi
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But here are the synths I own for which there are currently no adequate software solutions.....
The only synths on your list that I've never owned are MKS-20, MKS-70, Rev2, Subsequent, and Shruthi - and the only ones on your list that are still here are the MW2xtk and Pro-One. The rest, and many more, have come and gone, but none of them went to the scrap heap because I had found a software equivalent. They got dragged to the curb because I did not like, or had no use for, the sounds they made. The ones that got to stay made sounds I liked, or thought was unique, or found useful. Actually, I guess it would be more accurate to say:
I kept the ones that had made it onto records or film scores.
MiniMoog, 2600s, MW2xtk, MKS-80, Xpander, VS's, Quantum, Continuum, V-Synths, Nord 1, Morpheus, Emax I, MS-20s+MS-50, my broken Arp Solus, Pro-One, Pro-2, Pulsar-23, Lyra-8, FenixIV, Syntrx, System-15+, and tons of EuroCrack (and maybe some I'm forgetting).... they've all earned the right to stay. I don't buy tons of synths, there's no MatrixBrutes or Monologues up in here.... Analog? Pretty much covered, for 35+ years now. The only new stuff in my room is the weird stuff.
Many synths just aren't useful to me, or for some reason I just don't like how they sound, and those must be cast into the fire from whence they came.
Personal taste.