Quote:
Originally Posted by MBTC
I find I have so much more control with a mouse. Not for something like performing live, and for on-stage visual appeal it is no doubt a lot sexier to be seen tweaking knobs on a hardware synth. And there is a visceral element to it that is nice.
I do a certain amount of tweaking with the knobs on a Novation controller. Software like Novation Automap or just proper use of the DAW can make the need for mouse very minimal.
But, because I like the mouse, the whole physical layout of my setup is designed to make it easy to get to. I see some studios where the mouse is such an after thought that it looks painful to use... So I think if you dont want the mouse, get set up to use the controller knobs, its quite easy. But, for really fine control and things like drawing complex envelope segments or things like additive harmonics, it is way easier with a mouse than trying to use a tiny screen on the hardware.
But I understand how folks have different styles. I just hate to hear someone sticking with presets on softsynths when they are the type that are into sound design, as am I.
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Only problem with a mouse for tweaking is that you cant tweak two things at once. This is a very important thing my opinion. The amounts of sounds that would have otherwise have gone unnoticed if I wasn't randomly tweaking two
knobs and found a sweet spot between the two that some rare magic arose.
That said Using any midi controller gives you identical levels of control. They are relatively cheap and reusable with other synths. Synths do tend to come alive when you have knobs to tweak, i'm not sure if its psychosomatic but having something tangible seems to give you a physical link to the sound you are producing.
To OP I love VSTs/soft synths...they sound easily as good as hardware these days, are portable and you can wadge as many as you want on a song at relatively low cost (computers being considerably cheaper than synths).
I bought a virus because I liked the character of it, my reason for buying synths generally is so I dont have to load up a computer to play music. Computers, wonderful as they are, drain creativity I feel. They distract and even the hum of one in the background is a constant ositnato which can influence and distract me. Being a musician/intrumentatlist its nice to just be able to grab a guitar, or sit down at a piano etc. A singular-purpose non diluted tool.
Ramblings over.