I am a fan of hardware synths.

Why?

1) I think they sound better. I have heard piano synths that emulate the sympathetic vibrations of the non-played strings. There isn't a software synth made that can emulate the nuances of a sax as well as the VL70m - period.

2) They do not tax your computer's CPU which gives you two advantages [1] no latency (actually it's about 5ms or less) [2] you can mix and match as many different synths as you want - some of my backing tracks use a half dozen different synths and more than one channel on each

3) They last forever - when the computer OS changes, the hardware synth still works. My DS8, TX81z, DDD5, and MT32 from the 1980s still work, and although some of the sounds are dated, a few others on each synth are unique and great. So as I gain new synths, I add to the collection instead of replacing them

4) Since they don't use the computer's CPU but store a lot of information in ROM, the sounds can be much more complex and realistic.

For a good, all purpose starter hardware synth, I'd recommend the Ketron SD-2 - I believe they are out of production but they pop up on e-bay all the time. For the money, they are good sounding machines.

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Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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