i agree with juho on this point, he's not saying equipment is not important nor it doesn't affect the production quality, he's just saying there are more important things to learn before talking about such details, hardly audible for unexperienced people.

And things can sound descent even on cheap equipment and that has been proven, remember Mr Oizoo !!!!!! he has no neve and no euphonix!

you peeps should have heard my old guitar teacher. he could pick up any guitar. no matter how shit. give him the shittest amp and if it worked and had overdrive, he could pull of crazy artificial harmonics. i need alot of gain to be able to do those with any kind of consistancy and i didnt believe it was possible on my old ?70 electric. until i was shown otherwise 8O

its amazing how far you can go if you just practice and forget all that technical stuff. you are right though jasedee when you say theres a difference. give that dude a real fender, with a nice triple rectified mesa boogie valve amp and he would totally rip. but to be honest i had more respect for the fact he was just plain good enough to flatter any guitar. imagine that! the instrument isnt flattering you anymore! you are flattering some of the instruments you play!

now thats a nice position to be in. currently alot of the people i see on production forums that blame reason's renderer for their own shit tracks - well...i dont think they have taken reason even half the distance you are capable of going with it. in many cases...especially with amateur producers like myself the limiting factor is not the software or the hardware you use. its the person using it. and even if you come to a situation where improving your hardware will make a noticeable difference to the sound you are making (i.e. for me virus was no 2 ways about it, a marked step up from vanguard) i find there are many other areas of production in which i am deficit in anyway and could do with improving.

Agreed!

Hmmm......there's that magic word again!

never used any analogue gear although im really curious. i think virus b sounds a bit digital (without having much to compare it to) but its fat as hell. gigantic bottom end on it that is also quite tight. whereas vanguard is very blurry in the lows (probably because of all the aliasing although it makes it really unique!). so i just hear that analogue is...well...fatter. i think though that had i continued with my triumvert of softsynths, i would have gotten better and better at creating timbres with those instruments. but having a hardware unit is much more hands on. i can have low latency now cuz i can use 16 timbral parts from the virus and my CPU load is still really low. so i can use my typing keyboard to play piano and its much more natural to write music. its quicker. more fun. more hands on. so id say that despite my stance in this thread, my virus b has been a hardware upgrade that is totally worth it and has had a huge difference on the sounds im making. i just need to finish something >_____<

Exactly!

This is what I mean. There's no reason to ponder differences between analog and other systems if you don't have technique.

i'll give this another shot.. AMEN!

Wish this could happen with a nice Minimoog Vs the plug-in version of the same synth. Even in the hands of a talented programmer the plug-in won't do it justice.

As far as mastering and real world recording goes, yep I agree with you Juho too. Basicly the people behind the screen or desk make all the difference. Those same people will get very different results depending on the gear they are using too though - specially if they know what they are doing.

I'll take a killer performance on a casio 4 track anyday over a shit performance at The Hit Factory. Good production isn't about the gear, anyway, it's about the production itself. And while we would all prefer to have banging mixes recorded on great equipment; at the end of the day that extra 1% that you'll get out of boutique stuff doesn't much matter. You look at a band like The Grateful Dead and that fact really comes to light...there are thousands of bootleg tapes out there are cherished by their fans: mistakes, poor production, shit equipment, and all. Britney Spears' stuff has a pretty decent level of production in it, but no one's gonna give two shits in ten years.

I'm not trying to be conceited or say I'm better than anyone else (because I truly don't believe I am); I'm just going to state a fact here: I'm probably one of the only people on this board who actually makes a decent living solely by producing his own music. In it's entirety, my studio has cost me a bit under $20k. You can't squeze too many Apogees, Neves, or Neumanns into that (count NONE). I won't upgrade any further until I've advanced my artistry beyond my current equipment....(or get uber-rich overnight...I mean we all still LIKE GEAR).

Would love to hear some music if possible!!!

:)