Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - So how would you describe the difference between an analog synth and an VSTi synth?

kingofswing · 21st April 2008

I would say the differences are pretty obvious.

I own many soft synths including the Arturia (Prophet V and Minimoog V), Spectrasonics Atmosphere and Trilogy, NI synths, etc. I also own some more recent analog hardware synths like the Andromeda, Moog Little Phatty, Oberheim Matrix 1000, and soon the Prophet 08. Also own some nice VA's such as Virus Ti, Novation Supernova and Ion.

The differences are clear enough (seriously), the softsynths sound lighter and weak in comparison, especially bass. Pads are quite static sounding, and the filters are not so great. The combination of analog oscillators, filters and the audio path just makes the whole experience different - more organic, evolving, ballsy, bigger and better. The beating effect of two or more osc's in a typical analog synth is something special to be heard.

Soft synths sound far too static and thin to be direct replacements - not quite there yet. I have never been happy with my mixes using soft synth basses (with exception of one sample playback one) over hardware. Then comes the realtime control and hands on approach, etc, etc.

21st April 2008	#4
kingofswing Lives for gear Joined: Jan 2006 Location: UK Posts: 1,145 2 Reviews written	I would say the differences are pretty obvious. I own many soft synths including the Arturia (Prophet V and Minimoog V), Spectrasonics Atmosphere and Trilogy, NI synths, etc. I also own some more recent analog hardware synths like the Andromeda, Moog Little Phatty, Oberheim Matrix 1000, and soon the Prophet 08. Also own some nice VA's such as Virus Ti, Novation Supernova and Ion. The differences are clear enough (seriously), the softsynths sound lighter and weak in comparison, especially bass. Pads are quite static sounding, and the filters are not so great. The combination of analog oscillators, filters and the audio path just makes the whole experience different - more organic, evolving, ballsy, bigger and better. The beating effect of two or more osc's in a typical analog synth is something special to be heard. Soft synths sound far too static and thin to be direct replacements - not quite there yet. I have never been happy with my mixes using soft synth basses (with exception of one sample playback one) over hardware. Then comes the realtime control and hands on approach, etc, etc.