Hardware vs Software

Both :) Most of my sound sources originate from hardware, but all the processing and editing is ITB. Don't really wish to go all the way either way, as I find this hybrid setup the most comfy.
 
I'm currently all software but I started out with all hardware. In all honesty I'm probably going to make a move back towards an all hardware setup with a PC for sequencing only. I think with hardware I'm forced to focus more on what I'm doing and to learn every little thing about each synth to get everything out of it possible. For example: I bought a Boss DS330 back in '95 and sold it in '97. Recently I've been googling a lot of my old hardware and I found a lot of shit about the DS330 that I simply didn't know. For starters, I didn't know each channel has a resonant filter on it and that filter's parameters can be manipulated via midi cc in real time. Meaning that I can record and playback filter sweeps and whatnot. The on-board effects also respond to midi cc in real time so I can change up all manner of shit on the fly in my sequences. Then I ran across a youtube video of a track some cat created with the ds330 and nothing else and it pretty much blew me away. Turns out there was so much I was missing with that box that I now want another one. I used it strictly for traditional instrument sounds like pianos, strings, organs, etc but it turns out I could have used it for a lot more.

And that only scratches the surface of my old hardware. Stuff I spent a lot of time with like my old Yamaha TG55 I knew backwards and forwards and extracted sounds from those boxes that had a lot of people like "you did that track with what???" and I credit that to intimately knowing everything about those machines. With software it's so easy that I tend to get lazy 'cause there's too many options available. Even freebie plugins sound amazing (like Togu Audio Line's stuff) so I don't even have to spend money to get decent tracks together.

That's the part of the creative process I'm missing; exploring the hardware and pushing it. With software it's "I have a different plugin for that...".
 
Software is a lot more accessible because it is all in one box, but there is something about being able to feel out a instrument or synthesizer and physically tune it to what you want.
 
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