> I'm not criticising your preference for using hardware, that's your call. Some people still like to use vinyl, and I guess that's pretty cool.
The sound is incredibly hard to get right in some cases. You can simulate vinyl remarkably well with a timecode record or DJ controller and special software, but: the plugins have extremely limited range compared to the real thing and the controllers require the same investment as a turntable and timecode still needs the turntable. Nearly every used record store and thrift store has a pile of nearly-free records which are ideal for sampling: obscure stuff no one has heard of, ancient stuff that is no longer recognized by today's audience or may have even been obscure in its day.
As for preferring hardware, in my opinion it's the responsible thing to do. Because:
* Say you want to play a show. Are you going to bring a laptop in there and pray it doesn't do something insane, say... auto-discover the wifi, start installing updates during your gig? Or just crash because it has an undiscovered cooling problem an it's hotter than your usual environment with all those bodies dancing around?
* Software tends to cost money too. There are free options, but chances are you will want _something_ in your software setup that isn't free.
* Idiosyncrasies. Just like your audience wants to hear that vinyl sound, producers often want those hardware quirks. A lot of this amounts to fetishism, but sometimes there are more objective reasons.
* Dedicated functionality. Portable instruments. Playable instruments. Jamming on a PC keyboard does not give you the same response as jamming on instrument keys or pads, or whatever the instrument has that is designed to be played. You could buy a controller, but then you're back to buying hardware.
* Workflow is king. Nearly everything software needs a mouse these days. Or a dedicated hardware controller. It's a workflow-killer.
I learned the hard way that I can't produce very well with software. A few years ago I went with a nice portable piece of kit that does a little bit of everything from sampling to synthesis and mixing. When I did that everything changed drastically. I thought about music differently and really started to get my hands on it.
Hardware isn't that costly unless you need to have the most badass kit or a large setup. When my wish-list is complete, mine will have cost me about $1500. A decent laptop + Ableton Live + midi controller would be cost at least that much. That will take you far, but it's not an argument against just buying the hardware instead. Some people work better with software, and that's cool, but for anyone who works better with hardware, the word "preference" only works in the sense that "I would prefer not to have my hand chopped off." It probably goes both ways, but I couldn't tell you about that. ;)
> When my wish-list is complete, mine will have cost me about $1500.
Mind me asking what you use? :)
(and while i agree with the gist of your post -- well said! -- a minor nitpick is that even truly poor college students will probably have at least some sort of computer which could produce sound, making it tempting not to shell out for hardware, even if for some people [me included] work better with touchy feely knobs and sliders)
I like sampling, so there's a turntable and cassette deck. I like sampling a lot, so I'm getting another sampler.
I also have a subsynth to cover the areas the OP-1 synths don't. (They're very good, but each is specialized and has only 4 or 8 parameters.)
I also use a cheap (but not noisy) DJ mixer since I only need to mix two channels, and doing cuts with the crossfader when sampling is handy. The rest of it is cables, speakers, headphones and a few things I never use.
Sure, no prob. BTW, if you're interested, you might want to drop by http://operator-1.com/ which hosts the (unofficial) forums. The Teenage Engineering staff are known to browse and even make posts once in a blue moon.
It's expensive but well worth it for the people who click with it. I would recommend trying one before you buy it, especially if you can spend a good amount of time with it. I felt a little let down during my first week or so with it, but then it clicked and became instantly essential. It doesn't go that way for everyone, but it seems most people end up loving it.
The sound is incredibly hard to get right in some cases. You can simulate vinyl remarkably well with a timecode record or DJ controller and special software, but: the plugins have extremely limited range compared to the real thing and the controllers require the same investment as a turntable and timecode still needs the turntable. Nearly every used record store and thrift store has a pile of nearly-free records which are ideal for sampling: obscure stuff no one has heard of, ancient stuff that is no longer recognized by today's audience or may have even been obscure in its day.
As for preferring hardware, in my opinion it's the responsible thing to do. Because:
* Say you want to play a show. Are you going to bring a laptop in there and pray it doesn't do something insane, say... auto-discover the wifi, start installing updates during your gig? Or just crash because it has an undiscovered cooling problem an it's hotter than your usual environment with all those bodies dancing around?
* Software tends to cost money too. There are free options, but chances are you will want _something_ in your software setup that isn't free.
* Idiosyncrasies. Just like your audience wants to hear that vinyl sound, producers often want those hardware quirks. A lot of this amounts to fetishism, but sometimes there are more objective reasons.
* Dedicated functionality. Portable instruments. Playable instruments. Jamming on a PC keyboard does not give you the same response as jamming on instrument keys or pads, or whatever the instrument has that is designed to be played. You could buy a controller, but then you're back to buying hardware.
* Workflow is king. Nearly everything software needs a mouse these days. Or a dedicated hardware controller. It's a workflow-killer.
I learned the hard way that I can't produce very well with software. A few years ago I went with a nice portable piece of kit that does a little bit of everything from sampling to synthesis and mixing. When I did that everything changed drastically. I thought about music differently and really started to get my hands on it.
Hardware isn't that costly unless you need to have the most badass kit or a large setup. When my wish-list is complete, mine will have cost me about $1500. A decent laptop + Ableton Live + midi controller would be cost at least that much. That will take you far, but it's not an argument against just buying the hardware instead. Some people work better with software, and that's cool, but for anyone who works better with hardware, the word "preference" only works in the sense that "I would prefer not to have my hand chopped off." It probably goes both ways, but I couldn't tell you about that. ;)