Albums made mainly with Softsynths

[marland]

All of Erasure's Nightbird and Light at the end of the world were done using softsynths I believe.

[optimus prime]

I think the Border Community folk (James Holden, Nathan Fake, Luke Abbott) use mainly softsynths. Here's a quote from the label head James Holden:

“There’s always going to be these people who are going to say, ‘You just don’t get that sound unless it’s analogue’,” explains James. “And it’s just complete rubbish. You just get a different sound. And I personally prefer the sound out of a computer to the sound out of a load of rotting analogue equipment. You just need to know where to inject the life into it, and how to, and then the computer can become an instrument just like any other. Where I’m at now is trying to make my music feel less like a cheesy sequencer Lego building and more like I’m playing the computer like it is a guitar or something… more human and raw.”

I use Reason 2.5 pretty much exclusively, I tried different software, I tried hardware, but the only place I feel at home is Reason. The only hardware in my music is a bit of guitar and singing, and some sampling.

[GuyaGuy]

Fever Ray

http://pitchfork.com/features/interview ... fever-ray/

[mharris80]

I know they're probably not the most popular act around here, but Flake Lorenz used softfynths pretty extensively on the last few Rammstein albums.

[j fish]

Don't know if there are any fellow progrock-fans on here but Martin Orford used a lot of soft-synths on IQ's 2004-album "Dark Matter" (especially for the Mellotron-sounds).

[Beerco]

RedOne could have done Lady Gaga with either.

He claims to have done it all in Logic using stock plug ins and softsynths.

http://emusician.com/interviews/feature ... ndex1.html

http://emusician.com/interviews/feature ... ndex4.html

[druzz]

Fever Ray

http://pitchfork.com/features/interview ... fever-ray/

in that interview she says that the producers changed most of the sounds she programs on her computer with sounds they make from analog synths for the album .

[Artmuzz]

I read a couple of years ago that Scritti Politti's White Bread Black Beer was produced using Reason 3.

Art

[implant]

i believe the Haujobb album Vertical Theory was totally software based.
these are two songs from that release

[GuyaGuy]

Fever Ray

http://pitchfork.com/features/interview ... fever-ray/

in that interview she says that the producers changed most of the sounds she programs on her computer with sounds they make from analog synths for the album .

Hm, I interpreted that to mean "They transferred it to analog audio" (i.e. tape) but you could be right

[druzz]

Fever Ray

http://pitchfork.com/features/interview ... fever-ray/

in that interview she says that the producers changed most of the sounds she programs on her computer with sounds they make from analog synths for the album .

Hm, I interpreted that to mean "They transferred it to analog audio" (i.e. tape) but you could be right

i see youre point. here is the phrase that migth be missleading : ''Van Rivers & the Subliminal Kid changed most of my programmed sound into analogue sound''

[atticus]

I think you'll find for the most part the only people who complain about softsynths not being as good analogue synthesizers, or on the opposite end of the spectrum those who suggest analogue synthesizers don't offer something that a software synthesizer doesn't offer, are hobbyists and those trying to appeal to certain groups of hobbyists with their work (thus generating more sales). When you've made a career out of making music you'll use whatever works for your purposes and workflow. Hardware or software, digital or analogue, they have their strengths and weaknesses, and they're different from one another, but which is better is highly subjective and has more to do with each individual instrument rather than the synthesis technology it is built upon. Working musicians realize this, hobbyists and enthusiasts often do not, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find a working musician that hasn't embraced both ends of the spectrum and everything in between to make their music.

I can't think of any true synth enthusiast non-hobbyist artist who hasn't gone back to analogue for analogue sounds.

[0e0]

reason 3.0
http://planet.mu/discography/ZIQ232

[Richard Gear]

Trentemoller too is using some virtual synths such as Oddity, NTron and Korg Legacy, along with a Fender Rhodes.. and a Microkorg. He just bought a Roland GAIA. Go figure. But all I heard from him just sounds great!

If I was sarting to compose music today, I would probably choose softsynths. But I am 33 and I'm used with real synths, even if my playing skills sucks. Virtual synths are offering options that hardware synths could hardly produce. But I've decided to accentuate in my music everything I like that you can't hardly reproduce with softsynths. That's a choice and I live with it.

Starters should try different things and see what they prefer. Personally, I'm glad thagt I've started with easy gear such as a Juno 6, a tr-606, a Nanoverb, an sp-202 and a minidisc recorder. I had fun with this setup, even though it was quite limited.
Most of my friends pereferd stuff like fruity loops while I never want to try it. I also had fun playing with virtual instruments such as Rebirth, but it was just not really for me.

[seamonkey]

When you've made a career out of making music you'll use whatever works for your purposes and workflow. Hardware or software, digital or analogue, they have their strengths and weaknesses, and they're different from one another, but which is better is highly subjective and has more to do with each individual instrument rather than the synthesis technology it is built upon. Working musicians realize this, hobbyists and enthusiasts often do not, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find a working musician that hasn't embraced both ends of the spectrum and everything in between to make their music.

This quote from 101 should be used whenever the argument about soft vs hard synths is brought up. It summarizes everything perfectly IMO.

Kevin Moore formerly with Dreamtheater mostly uses softsynths on his OSI albums, and I must say his work is outstanding. Not for one minute when I hear the songs do I think the music is lacking because of the absence of hardware.

Also Mark Kelly of Marillion who used to use tons of analog synths in the old days, uses a lot of softsynths in their live performances.
Again, the music sounds fantastic, which leads one to believe, it's the player, not the instrument.