Quote:
Originally Posted by synthfiend
i think this type of discussion is pretty difficult to make sense of.
how can you compare a piece of hardware with 1's and 0's (software)...its like trying to compare apples and oranges.
for starters you can sit down in front of a Virus and start jamming etc...you dont have to boot up your PC and fire up software.
I love both, but they are completely different beasts.
As for the sound difference, that is personal preference, although i do love the sound that a dedicated DSP creates.
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Well in my case, my PC is always on (no booting required) because I use it for other things
I would never leave my music hardware on 24x7, heat dissipation and airflow in music hardware is nothing like a good tower case, just begging for failure and higher power bills.
But I agree it is an apples and oranges comparison. I cut my teeth on a pure hardware environment and I am now almost exclusively software. If only I could find a way to benefit from the beneifts (and coolness factor) of hardware with the workflow ease, flexibility, and perfect timing/synchronization of software.
I love acquiring new synth gear, its a feeling buying a new VST doesn't really give me. And I like the modularity of adding new pieces of dedicated kit that are responsible for its own processing instead of all needing to pass through a single CPU.
What irks me though is I started with hardware back in the 80s. We were thrilled to have MIDI back then. The reality was that to get the timing of everything just right was a real pain. And 25 years later, it seems like a lot of the same issues exist. But then if I produce solely with VSTs, I get perfect timing, no latency of running through cables, perfect compatibility, ease of automation, ease of everything.
There is nothing I'd love more for hardware vendors to figure out how to give the dedicated processing of hardware, but the integration of VST. Sadly it seems like things in the hardware scene have stalled, while VSTs continue to get better sounding.