'Digital is More Analog than Analog'

[BluMunk]

The YouTube algorithm popped this up for me today:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk-3vXOAtVo

 

... Anthony Marinelli and Mark Barton (not names I knew before watching this video, but each a storied player/composer and synth designer respectively) have a very interesting and thoughtful conversation about digital and analog synthesis.

I found it really got to the heart of what that question even means, and did so in an interesting and honest way, with zero bullshit, posing or pretension.

[CyberGene]

 

[BluMunk]

Ah! Missed that. Didn't mean to duplicate

[Iconoclast]

I would have to agree that in terms of just sound, that my soft synths are getting indistinguishable from the real thing.

However, the one thing I can't get away from is the single knob per function immediacy of an instrument.  That doesn't mean it has to be analog, I  have as much fun on my Hydrasynth as anything.

If I know the sound I'm going for, I can frequently get there quicker and better with a VST. But if I'm just experimenting, I seem to get to great places I didn't expect to be by just turning knobs.

Every time that I touch a mouse I feel like some of the magic just got sucked away. 

[JoJoB3]

VST hard sell (aka: things are kind of sadcore in keyboardville). Yes, let's forget about all outboard.

They're fine for what they are. This is an infomercial however.

[Stokely]

Different strokes.  To me, vsts are magic.   They sound just as good to me and are far, far more convenient than wiring things up and having to deal with patch changes, sysex etc.  If I never deal with a "multitimbral mode" again in my life that'll be too soon   I did that daily for years, usually on some tiny lcd screen.   Having all the effects in the box is just as miraculous as having the synths in there.

Not to say I don't enjoy a knobby synth, I'm mostly a "synth luddite" when it comes to live as I want machines dedicated to a purpose there.  At home, it's my hobby, so no biggie if I have to stop and deal with a computer issue.

[uhoh7]

First, there are few big analog polysynths. Of those few are stereo without some kind of AD DAC conversion. The OBXA, which I did not know until recently, was such a beast. Prophet 5 gets the glory, and maybe it's more versatile. About three weeks ago a UBA-a clone of the original showed up. It took me two weeks to figure out some fundamental enhancements: placing the voices in the stereo field and using the matrix to make the velocity and polyAT have more effect on the patch. 

 

In short, to my ears it's the most interesting electronic polyphonic thing I've used. You have a limited sound palette for sure, but that palate lives and breathes. I never had such incredible filter response, it has both 2 and 4 pole. It's very easy to save and tweak your patches. Simple but effective arp and sequencer. 

 

Eurorack, where I'm a newbie with an increasing selection of modules, has woke my ears to all sorts of varied electronic sounds, so I'm not that much of a pushover. There are many reasons to have a DAW and use it. But there are great reasons to play without one, if you can. 

 

In eurorack many popular modules are complex, like "Marbles" but don't use menus, screens etc. I'd submit for pure enjoyment of play, the tactile and unconverted experience of a 16 voice polyphonic analog synth, is unrivaled to this day, excepting from acoustic instruments. The simplicity and power of the thing, it's quirkyness and responsiveness, really can transport a player to fresh places. 

 

You can take notes on a laptop or with a pencil. Guess which is more effective, for most people, when tested on content of the lecture. 

[Jim Alfredson]

18 minutes ago, uhoh7 said:

First, there are few big analog polysynths. Of those few are stereo without some kind of AD DAC conversion. The OBXA, which I did not know until recently, was such a beast. Prophet 5 gets the glory, and maybe it's more versatile.

 

The Prophet 5 gets the glory because it was the first analog polysynth that utilized a microprocessor to store and recall patches. Oberheim was second on the scene in that regard. Both use a single DAC to convert the digital data from the RAM / CPU to analog in order to load patches. The DAC never touches the audio, which is purely analog.

 

[GovernorSilver]

Actually I'm glad this topic got its own thread!  The other thread will eventually move (hopefully) in another direction and it would be best imo if this particular discussion was focused here rather than taking up space on the other thread too.

 

I've seen some argued in favor of getting a Prophet 5 softsynth plus this controller to give me that tactile experience, instead of spending the $$$ on the real thing:

https://sound-force.nl/?page_id=2412

 

I'm not going to say here what route I chose for myself.  😀

 

I'll just say I'm favor of buying whatever you can afford that makes you happy. 

[brenner13]

Maybe I just don’t know what I’m missing, but I’ve never played any vst’s from a desktop or a laptop. Heck, I’ve been several years without a functioning PC. However, I’ve been actively using iPad and iPhones for synths, drum machines, and light DAWs since 2013. Some of my favorite compositions have been 100% iPad. 

 

That said, I am definitely one that likes knobby synths with sliders and much prefer the immediacy and tactile experience of hardware. Absolutely love my Korg MS2000, DeepMind 12, JX08, Minifreak, and especially the Subsequent 37 for making music. Really like the HydraSynth Explorer too, but the button-push-menu-diving to access all of the parameters with only the four knobs can kind of diminish my experience a bit. Still a well thought-out machine. However, the sounds that can come out of the ASM can quite easily be mistaken for analog when listening back to my tracks. Truly amazing.

 

Heck, even the somewhat limited functions of the sliders for synths on the VR09 and Numa Compact 2X provide just enough interaction to keep me giddy with the expressive goodness that can also sound deceptively analog. 

 

Love my hardware, and now that I have a couple of true analog synths to compare to my digital ones…makes little difference to me which are what as long as I can get the sounds out that are swimming around in my head.

 

Gotta say though…that dang Moog just blows my mind every time it gets turned on. So thick!