parablue74
New member
Need your comments pls???
Software Synths/Samplers vs Hardware Synths
- Thread starter parablue74
- Start date
bongman
New member
It seems nowadays software synths and samplers are the trend to go
but a lot of times it's dependent on the PC resources. One sample file
for software sampler may go up to 1 GB but hardware sampler only up to 512MB.
Hardware gear are stable but expensive.
Maybe our sampler wiz CHEEZ can comment more...
but a lot of times it's dependent on the PC resources. One sample file
for software sampler may go up to 1 GB but hardware sampler only up to 512MB.
Hardware gear are stable but expensive.
Maybe our sampler wiz CHEEZ can comment more...
Cheez
Moderator
I think this has been discussed before, no?
First, there is a need to separate synths and samplers since they do very different things.
Synths:
Hardware
Pros:
1. Turn on and use immediately, no nonense.
2. Something in the hardware/wiring/chips that makes the sound difficult to emulate by the softsynths, particularly the analog synths
3. Stable and hardly crashes if ever at all
4. Looks cool
Cons
1. Expensive
2. RAM limitation can affect polyphony if the synthesis is complex
3. Small interface makes programming somwhat troublesome, but can be gotten used to
4. Heavy and bulky particularly if you have lots of synth modules. Bringing them around is a hassle.
Software
Pros
1. Large monitor screen makes programming easy (mouse makes it easier)
2. Large amount of RAM, hence polyphony usually more than hardware
3. Integrated interface - makes working and producing easier (plug-in reverbs, effects, other synth plug-ins etc can work together as one in an audio software environment)
4. Cheaper
5. Can be very portable if running from a notebook - definitely lighter than a stack of modules when you can have a stack of VSTi installed into one PC.
(Latency is an issue of the past - with good and proper setups and good hardware, latency is close to zero)
Cons
1. Dependent on CPU. If CPU maxed out, you may get into problems.
2. Depending on the stability of the PC (which is different for different setups), you may get occasional crashes which can be a nightmare if it is a live performance
3. Different synths from different developers may occasionally conflict with one another causing crashes. Sometimes, there is no way to tell until you use them together. If the VSTi has no demo version, then you are taking a risk buying it to find out it doesn't work well with another VSTi you have. Most of the time, it is fine. But the later ones which uses a lot of challenge-response copy-protection (which changes the registry in a very deep level) can cause problems.
4. Some copy-protection uses dongles which is irritating and takes up USB ports. If you have 6 synths that uses dongles, you run into problem of running out of USB ports.
Samplers
There is absolutely no competition. Softsamplers beats hardware samplers anytime. Hardware samplers are dinosaurs and a thing of the past.
Softsamplers: more polyphony (Gigastudio 3 gives up to unlimited polyphony - ie as many as your system can take, which is usually about 300-400; Kontakt 2 can give 200-300 notes polyphony), faster loading time (seconds compared to minutes per sample), not limited by RAM and therefore having larger and more realistic samples (eg my piano is a 2GB piano - try beating that with hardware; my one orchestral library is 30GB); of course the monitor is better to program and edit than using the hardware sampler small LCD; streaming technology lets you load lots more samples while giving very low latency (with my 1.25GB RAM, I can load at least about 10GB of samples in one instance - I think I can load more but I've never maxed out before so I don't really know); now I've upgraded to 2GB of RAM and I REALLY don't know how much I can load.
So to summarise for softsamplers:
Pros: everything
Cons: nothing
Hardware samplers:
Pros: nothing
Cons: everything
First, there is a need to separate synths and samplers since they do very different things.
Synths:
Hardware
Pros:
1. Turn on and use immediately, no nonense.
2. Something in the hardware/wiring/chips that makes the sound difficult to emulate by the softsynths, particularly the analog synths
3. Stable and hardly crashes if ever at all
4. Looks cool
Cons
1. Expensive
2. RAM limitation can affect polyphony if the synthesis is complex
3. Small interface makes programming somwhat troublesome, but can be gotten used to
4. Heavy and bulky particularly if you have lots of synth modules. Bringing them around is a hassle.
Software
Pros
1. Large monitor screen makes programming easy (mouse makes it easier)
2. Large amount of RAM, hence polyphony usually more than hardware
3. Integrated interface - makes working and producing easier (plug-in reverbs, effects, other synth plug-ins etc can work together as one in an audio software environment)
4. Cheaper
5. Can be very portable if running from a notebook - definitely lighter than a stack of modules when you can have a stack of VSTi installed into one PC.
(Latency is an issue of the past - with good and proper setups and good hardware, latency is close to zero)
Cons
1. Dependent on CPU. If CPU maxed out, you may get into problems.
2. Depending on the stability of the PC (which is different for different setups), you may get occasional crashes which can be a nightmare if it is a live performance
3. Different synths from different developers may occasionally conflict with one another causing crashes. Sometimes, there is no way to tell until you use them together. If the VSTi has no demo version, then you are taking a risk buying it to find out it doesn't work well with another VSTi you have. Most of the time, it is fine. But the later ones which uses a lot of challenge-response copy-protection (which changes the registry in a very deep level) can cause problems.
4. Some copy-protection uses dongles which is irritating and takes up USB ports. If you have 6 synths that uses dongles, you run into problem of running out of USB ports.
Samplers
There is absolutely no competition. Softsamplers beats hardware samplers anytime. Hardware samplers are dinosaurs and a thing of the past.
Softsamplers: more polyphony (Gigastudio 3 gives up to unlimited polyphony - ie as many as your system can take, which is usually about 300-400; Kontakt 2 can give 200-300 notes polyphony), faster loading time (seconds compared to minutes per sample), not limited by RAM and therefore having larger and more realistic samples (eg my piano is a 2GB piano - try beating that with hardware; my one orchestral library is 30GB); of course the monitor is better to program and edit than using the hardware sampler small LCD; streaming technology lets you load lots more samples while giving very low latency (with my 1.25GB RAM, I can load at least about 10GB of samples in one instance - I think I can load more but I've never maxed out before so I don't really know); now I've upgraded to 2GB of RAM and I REALLY don't know how much I can load.
So to summarise for softsamplers:
Pros: everything
Cons: nothing
Hardware samplers:
Pros: nothing
Cons: everything
Cheez
Moderator
Price listings here:
http://www.tascamgiga.com/pricing.html
The first purchase always more expensive, but upgrades are cheaper. I've used it since version 1.5. But then, I'm still using version 2.5. Have not upgraded to version 3 because I find my 16 bit samples sufficient at the moment and I'm not upgrading my audio software yet to take advantage of Rewire. But I'll probably upgrade when version 4 comes.
http://www.tascamgiga.com/pricing.html
The first purchase always more expensive, but upgrades are cheaper. I've used it since version 1.5. But then, I'm still using version 2.5. Have not upgraded to version 3 because I find my 16 bit samples sufficient at the moment and I'm not upgrading my audio software yet to take advantage of Rewire. But I'll probably upgrade when version 4 comes.