MATRIXSYNTH: Resurgence of Hardware on RetroThing


Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Resurgence of Hardware on RetroThing

One of my favorite blogs, Retro Thing has a post up on the resurgence of hardware at NAMM.

"The recent development of stupidly powerful and stunningly affordable personal computers caused many people to loudly declare that hardware music synthesizers are a dying breed. It's true that software has virtually obliterated the low end of the market, but there were some fantastic "real" synthesizers at the 2007 Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim last week."

It's interesting to think of hardware as retro. James definitely has a point. I have to admit, before the show I had pretty low expectations. It was great to see all the hardware shown this year.

3 comments:

  1. I've seen some other comments by people who were surprised at the amount of new hardware at NAMM. The thing is, the same advances that have made those silly-cheap PCs possible are also decreasing the cost of synth hardware. The A6 may be all-analog in the signal path, but there's a ton of software inside holding all those hardware bits together. It's a synth that couldn't have been done in 1985, even with the full arsenal of Curtis and SSM chips. And, software is found all through the design and manufacturing process now, and it's made the process of getting from concept to box a lot less expensive, whether the result is analog or digital. That's what makes it possible for a Paul Schreiber or a Peter Grenader to go into the modular business and do it all as essentially a one-man operation.

    I don't think hardware is going to disappear. I think the future in integrated synths is probably going to be in mixed-signal boxes like the Evolver. I see a future generation of synth players who are going to take the attitude "I want to do A, B, and C, and I'll use whatever techology will get me there." Our analog-vs-digital discussions will look silly in retrospect.

    Software may push out hardware in certain categories, but even then the technology can turn in unexpected directions. A couple of years ago, I thought that hardware samplers were going to disappear. And they sort of have, in that there aren't too many all-in-one sampler boxes around now. However, new data storage and transfer technologies have made the actual sampling part of sampling a rather specialzed function. A box like the V-Synth can do everything you'd ever want to do with s sample, except actually record the sample. But that's no matter, since it's easy to transfer samples into the box via USB. The K2600/K2661 can be had with a sampling option, but they don't sell many of them. Why drag your K2661 to some field location where you want to sample, when you can get the same result with a small laptop and a USB mic? Management of the memory and storage needed for samples, which was a major concern with the early samplers, is trivial now. And with transfer also being easy, there's no reason for the recording and playback functions to be in the same box.

    Analog and digital are probably going to be mixing in modular synths too. Things like the new Xilinx processors make it feasible to put digital functions in a module at a reasonable price. The new Modcan VCDO are the tip of the spear. It's not going to substitute for an analog VCO; rather, it adds new functions to the modular world.

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  2. Thanks cornutt. Great points. I think software "killed" the digital hardware synth market. It's in quotes because obviously it hasn't altogether. The point is it somewhat killed it for me. There are a few digital hardware synths I am interested in - the Virus TI for one, but in general I have to ask myself if the money invested is worth it. The think is, you can mimic digital in software because digital is software. I picked up a hardware Korg Wavestation a while back because one it was cheap, and two I always wanted it. It;s wavetable and it had Dave Smith behind it. But now you can get it in software. The exact same synth, not an emulation, but the exact same software. The Roland D50 as well. Not on a PC but you can get it on the V-Synth. Exact same synth. You can't quite do that with analog. You can model it to the point you capture much of the character compared to other analogs, but is it exact? Not quite.

    In the end though, it's all about sound You are spot on about the attitude being "I want to do A, B, and C.." That's what it will come down to overall and that's probably why the biggies (Yamaha, Korg and Roland) aren't coming out with analog. They "get that." But the also get the small boutique market is limitted. The VSynth kind of breaks the norm but I have to wonder if that's more an outcome of research and development than something they specifically put out for the sake of putting out.

    I think there will always be purists that will get bread and butter soft synths but will pick and chose a few select unique synths.

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  3. I am enjoying the influx of opinions... thanks guys :)

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To reduce spam, comments for posts older than one week are not displayed until approved, usually same day. Do not insult people. For items for sale, do not ask if it is still available. Check the auction link and search for the item. Auctions are from various sellers and expire over time. Posts remain for the pics and historical purposes. This site is meant to be a daily snapshot of some of what was out there in the world of synths.

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