Aphex Twin on analogue hardware

[greasyfastspeed]

This is taken from the planet-mu forum in a discussion about 303 emulations.

http://www.planet-mu.com/phorum/read...7&t=165057

the mu crew know its defo him and its an interesting read.

some people bought the analogue equipment when it was unfashionable and very cheap though.
some of us are over 30 you know!
anyone remember when 303`s were £50? and coke was 16p a tin? crisps 5p

also you have overlooked A LOT of other points because its not all about the overall frequency response of the recording system its how the sound gets there in the first place.
here are some things which you can`t get from a plugin,they are often emulated but due to their hugely complex nature are always pretty crass aproximations..

the sound of analogue equpiment including EQ, changes very noticably over even a few hours due to temperature changes within a circuit.
Anyone who has tried to make tracs on a few analogue synths and make them stay in tune can tell you this,you leave a trac running for a few hours come back and think Im sure I didnt ****ing write that,I must be going mental!

this affects all the components in a synth/EQ in an almost infinte amount of tiny ways.
and the amount differs from circuit to circuit depending on the design.

the interaction of different channels and their respective signals with an analogue mixer are very complex,EQ,dynamics....
any fx, analogue or digital that are plugged into it all have their own special complex characteristics and all interact with each other differently and change depending on their routing.
Nobody that ive heard of has even begun to start emulating analogue mixer circuitry in software,just the aesthetics,it will come but im sure it will be a crap half hearted effort like most pretend synth plugins are.
they should be called PST synths, P for pretend not virtual.

Every piece of outboard gear has its own sound ,reverbs,modulation effects etc
real room reverb, this in itself companies have spent decades trying to emulate and not even got close in my opinion, even the best attempts like Quantec and EMT only scratch the surface.

analogue EQ is currently impossible in theory to be emulated digitally,quite intense maths shit involed in this if youre really that interested,you could look it up...good luck.

your soundcard will always make things sound like its come from THAT soundcard..they ALL impose their different sound characteristics onto whatever comes out of them they are far from being totally neutral devices.

all the components of a circuit like resistors and capacitors subtley differ from each other depending on their quality but even the most high quality milatary spec ones are never EXACTLY the same.

no two analogue synths can ever be built exactly the same,there are tiny human/automated errors in building the circuits,tweaking the trimpots for example which is usually done manually in a lot of analogue shit.
just compare the sound of 2 808 drum machines next to each other and you will see what I mean,you always thought an 808 was an 808 right?
same goes for 303`s they all sound subltey different,different voltage scaling of the oscillator is usually quite noticable.

VST plugins are restricted by a finite number of calculations per second these factors are WAY beyond their CURRENT capability.

Then there is the question of the physicallity of the instrument this affects the way a human will emotionally interact with it and therfore affect what they will actually do with it! often overlooked from the maths heads,this is probably the biggest factor I think.
for example the smell of analogue stuff as well as the look of it puts you in a certain mental state which is very different from looking at a computer screen.

then there is analogue tape...ah this really could go on forever....

im quite drunk cant be bothered to type anymore...
so yeah,whatever, you obviously dont have to have analogue equipment to make `good` music in case thats the impression im giving,EVERYTHING has its uses .And not all anlaogue equipment is expensive you can still get bargains like old high end military audio devices,tape machines fx etc just go for the unfashionable stuff.

Richard.

[greasyfastspeed]

ps; i dont intend to turn this into a discussion on analogue vs digital. i just thought a few words from the legend would go down a treat :lol:

[MARKEG]

good read.... wise words from the master.. :clap:

[FILTERZ]

kinda have to agree

[fresh_an_funky_design]

quite an interesting read, i can see what he's saying about vst's, but the AU & TDM plug-ins for Logic are amazing

[geelist]

Thanks for sharing.

Has any one heard the new analord stuff by AFX? If so what dya reckon? I love it personally. :love:

[OriginalTechnobastard]

ps; i dont intend to turn this into a discussion on analogue vs digital. i just thought a few words from the legend would go down a treat :lol:

Yeah he made great tunes back in the day, so how come last five years been pretty :!: for him! I prefer to hear something done on actual keyboards then someone staring at the screen all day! Ever see someone try to play their music live on laptop only? Pretty fukkin dull!

Regarding Aphex, his new ep is suppose be really good! Bad thats me going on the ranking he has from the Hacker in his monthly chart! I really like albums like ambient work 85-92 and I care because you do! But druqs

[j_s]

drukqs was the shizzle. dunno why so many people slate it.....

[holotropik]

thanks for posting this article. very interesting :)

this point comes up quite a bit in my crew. bottom line is that whatever you use these dayz it takes time to get to know the sound of each instrument personally and use it in an appropriate way. once you know a machines character (either PC or instrument) you can get the most out of it and promote its musical voice more efficiently.

it reminds me of how guitars are unique in character and different ones are used for different feelings.

[Tyrisia]

I prefer stuff that doesn't go outa tune, save's a lot of hassle.