Here's another two-cents worth.

I use combinations of soft synths and external hardware synths. Each person will have their own preferences depending on needs, likes, budgets, etc.

As others have mentioned, hardware synths have the advantage of quality of sound, zero latency (practically zero latency, since all electronics has some latency, albeit usually imperceptible to the human ear), and no overhead on the computer except for the audio interface (which varies with type, manufacturer and drivers). That being said, not all hardware synths (sound generators or keyboard synths), perform as well compared to each other. That topic is like politics, and is sure to end up in heated debates.

But, here is my partial setup and abbreviated (arrived at over the years after auditioning, buying various units, software, etc.)

SOFTWARE

BBW/Realband and other PG apps (versions 2004 to present)

Cakewalk SONAR Studio Version 5 (numerous soft synths)

Cakewalk SONAR Producer Version X1 (numerous soft synths)

Earlier versions of Cubase, now retired

Earlier versions of Abelton Live, now retired


HARDWARE


Yamaha Motif keyboard Synth (Classic edition)

Yamaha Motif ES rack Synth

Roland Synth (early edition)

Kawai Synth (early edition)

Presonus Firepod 8 channel, Spdif In/Out, MIDI In/Out firewire audio interface (newer models available)

Edirol (now owned by Roland) 6 channel, Digital Audio In/Out (optical), MIDI In/Out firewire audio interface used in my portable rack

TC Helicon Quintent Vocal Processor

TC Helicon Voice Live 2 Vocal Processor

Roland GI-20 (synth guitar midi interface)



COMPUTER SETUPS (all have firewire 400 ports and use ASIO drivers)


Dual Core AMD, Windows XP Pro, more than sufficient to run SONAR 5 and BBW

Intel I7, Windows 7 Pro, lots of memory and multiple drives, SONAR X1 Producer


MY APPLICATION


I rely on BBW to build a foundation, then add/modify/remove elements for my taste. I export the resultant song to .wav files, then burn the CD, mp3s with a typical CD/converter program, such as Nero or Windows Media Player.

Several of the soft synths I use are quite good, and provide what I need in many instances. The Yamaha Motifs however, offer a realism for some instruments that the soft synths don't (like flute, sax, for example). I can trigger either motif (keyboard or rack) with my guitar as well (via the GI-20). The Motif also has a breath transducer that can be assigned to further articulate wind instrument voices (check out Eric Clapton's keyboard player on the 24 Nights Concert DVD-that's why I bought the breath transducer). A qualifier of sorts: As much as I use the Motifs, guitar being my primary instrument, I have yet to find a synth (hardware or software) that convinces me completely on guitars. The guitar (and similar instruments) is more difficult to simulate due to its very nature). I'm sure sax and flute players would feel the same way regarding their instruments as well, comparing them to the synth results.

My keyboards/controllers are velocity sensitive and have after touch (important to add realism to several voice types).

I record midi and audio from either my guitars or keyboards in SONAR. SONAR provides me with editing and other processing options not available in BBW or Realband). Here a few examples:

1. I copy all or part of one or more midi tracks, use the midi to trigger other instruments, note-by-note at will. I may also use a midi track to transpose/transform complete tracks, selected measures, or notes to change octaves or create harmony).

2. Invoke signal processing on portions of a track or on clips (such as envelope processing.

3. Send midi or audio out to an external synth or processor (such as the Motif or Voice Live 2) for additional processing and bring it back in on another channel (track) in SONAR.

There has been several negative comments regarding ASIO in this (and other forums). But I feel (and my experience has been) that with the proper hardware, drivers, and setup, ASIO still provides the best performance. Note however, without naming companies and models here, you will find some brands are problematic, both in hardware and drivers). And chip sets used on the hardware interface, whether it's a firewire or USB DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. More recently, some of the firewire chip sets (and some USB chip sets) used by manufacturers do not work for audio purposes. Check out various user forums regarding hardware, chipsets and drivers (e.g., Cakewalk, Presonus). I recently had to go through this SAGA on my i7 platform. I found that the TI chip set works, while other brands don't. Windows 7 also has some oddities.

Bottom line, I use both extensively. And even with today's much faster computers, software typically still has more inherent latency than hardware. Buy as much hardware as you can afford that meets your needs (generally, better synths will cost more, but some less expensive ones perform well for several voices). Software is a little different. Price is not always indicative of quality/performance (BBW is an example where great software isn't very expensive, and is definitely unique in its core functions). Over the years, I have bought expensive software only to find out it doesn't measure up. At least many companies now offer some sort of free trial for their software.

Richard