Something’s appearing more and more. Too many times not to write about it. For whatever reason, it seems most everything I was told for years, keeps being the opposite of what I experience. Since birth I was told stuff like, #1 Your mind slows with age. #2 Digital is faster than analog. #3 New is always better.

#1: Though it’s true your brain does get mushy at the end of your body’s life span, I’ve found myself saying a lot “damn, I wish I could think like this when I was younger. Wish I knew all this stuff when I was younger. Wish I had this kind of patience when I was younger”. It's kinda seems like as you age, you trade body stats for mental stats. Body gets crappier, mind gets better. I don't know.

#2: If any of you studied electronics in collage, you probably know, analog electronics use straight electricity, which moves at the speed of light. When you introduce any digital, there’s processors. They too use electricity BUT because of how processors work physically, they take time to, well, process. Anyone who’s experienced lag, knows this phenomenon exactly. Analog tech very rarely slows the flow of electricity and not in the way digital processors do. When you flip a switch on an all analog synth, the response is literally as fast as the speed of light. Where as, if you flip a switch on a digital, the processor has to do calculations. Whether it’s 0.0001 seconds or 1 whole second, every thing the digital does, takes time. Much more time in comparison to the speed of light. This is why, pure analog systems usually have unbeatable response time.

#3: Ok, so, there are some obvious things that are better if new but a shockingly large amount are NOT. I keep dealing with very new technologies and quite old ones and 9 times out of 10, the old outshine the new. Same with construction techniques, build quality, even interface design. My parent’s analog synth is older than I am, it still works. The new digital synth I bought this year (and returned) couldn’t work properly straight out of the box. Even new contruction methods applied to old tech makes the old tech suffer. 3 times I bought a behringer model D. First came with bad tuning. Next came with not good tuning and an envelope issue. 3rd came ok but then a part failed within a year. Which brings me to malfunctions. When analog gear malfunctions, you can often still use it (the model D still worked, just not well). Maybe the performance isn’t as good but it still “works”. When digital malfunctions, it’s all over. Game over man! 99.9% of the time, there is NO using it what so ever.

I wouldn’t ever mention these things but I run into this stuff over and over. I've literally gone through countless pieces of “newer better faster digital” gear. The only stuff still standing, still working, performing reliably, is the old school stuff, made with old school construction techniques. Amps, speakers, synths, heaters, my flippin washing machine even. It’s always the same story. The same cycle of discovery. Most everything I was told, isn’t proving true. Only thing off the top of my head unarguably better new and digital, is editing. Even THAT seems to be heading backwards though, since the last update of logic pro X, wrecked the editing interface, so it's MUCH slower to edit waves than in logic 9. wtf apple.

#thoughts: I really am at a loss. Was the world just trolling me all these years? Lol. It sure seems that way. God I wish I had known better years ago. All the stuff I was told was old junk, was actually a gold mine. At least I finally have a mono synth that’s legitimate old school (studio electronics). Every time I use it, I’m shocked at how much faster the whole process is, compared to my digital gear. I always think, aw man I want to make a new patch but damn, analog, that’ll probably take hours. Nope, amazing patch, done in 5 minutes, refined in another 5. Then, as if the trolls are mocking me, the digital end of recording the sound, barfs some technical difficulties or something at me, eating up an hour. It’s so backwards. @.@; lol

If what you want is out there, do your self a favor and just get it. Spent most my life only getting to see or use expensive synths when I was at work or visiting friends in the studio. Never had one of my own. When ever I’d think about it, I’d shy away. So much money, nah, it’s over rated, I would say. All this time, I should have just gone for it. Gotten over all the empty space left on the desk. Dealt with having less things but better things. Quality over quantity for sure is the lesson. That and opportunity.

Life can fly by and before you know it, you’re not a kid anymore. I just finished selling a lot of my less expensive stuff and I bought a Studio Electronics mono synth. This thing makes my other synths sound like wind up toys and that's not to put down my other stuff! I didn’t exactly have shabby stuff before. I guarantee though, you ain't heard this level of sound artillery, till you’ve flown a synth from Studio Electronics. Seriously, if you are a synth person, save up and get a piece by Studio electronics. You will want to sleep with it.

Lol I feel like an infomercial person now but just, wow. I honestly think this company might be THE best you can get. There is just oceans of harmonics pouring out of this thing and it's fast. Really fast. Doesn't take more than a couples minutes to get an amazing patch going. The thickness of the sound kinda makes you forget it’s a mono synth. The demo vids/clips do NOT do these things justice. In person, it’s indescribably good. Get a good fundamental wave going, add the sub and tune os2 to a 3rd tone or something and daayyyyyyyymmmm. DAT BASS. Whooh. DAT TONE o.o; holy Jesus.

I completely understand now why these are so expensive. Turns out mine was actually built by the dude who owns the company too! How cool is that eh? <XD They even sound better than some sought after vintage synths I've heard. Ironically they are not the most expensive on the market but they are definitely not cheap.

Peace. <:3

So way back in 2005 ish, I got one of those digital does it all "last synth you will ever need" type synths and for over 15 years I've been asking my self, why I am never satisfied with it. it has just about every sound a producer would ever need. Yet, I keep buying desk top analog synths for that inspiring analog "magic". I always end up selling them though thinking "well, I really don't need it, since I have my digital do it all synth". Predictably I end up eyeing a new analog synth, remembering the mysterious magic the analog synths provide. The thing I don't like about the ones I've owned is, they have some serious draw backs. Time consuming to use. Sometimes lacking features. The cheap ones wont stay in tune. All these issues ofcourse are solved if one is just willing to buy a legitimately expensive analog synth. I've always been of the mind that, price tag shouldn't make a difference and who the heck pays over a grand for a flippin mono synth anyway? After so many things bought and sold though, I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't just admit, there really is something missing from my old digital synth that only an expensive analog synth can provide constantly. Maybe I really should just sell a bunch of my junk and go for one. :/

So, my sennheiser phones finally started showing their age. The head band casing broke. With a little gorilla tape and a rubber band though, they are still in perfect working order. Had them since roughly 2004. I decided though, it might not be a bad idea to have a new pair of phones that don't require a rubber band to not fall off my head when I lean over. In steps a cheap pair of AKGs. What a fricken mess. These are so boomy and muffled. I now know why so many likely told me, my mids and bass were mixed excessively loud. Headphones like these. I also know why so many probably mix 10k and above so ridiculously loud (other than they are half deaf). headphones like these. @.@; You can't easily judge a mix with these things. OMG. lol Oh well, it's good to test my mixes. Always want to test mixes on good and bad sounding gear. Teh scary part is though, these are much better than most I've heard in the price range.

So over a decade ago, I got sick of replacing my keyboard every, what felt like 18 months, so I bought a Rosewill. Thing still works, I'll be it the USB port is now getting a little loose but whatever.

Now, I finally also just got sick of replacing my mouse every, what feels like 18 months, so I bought a Rosewill gaming mouse. Though I have doubts it will last over 10 years, it certainly would be awesome if it did.

Why Rosewill? Because I tried so many other companies already with no luck : ( . Anyone know any companies who's stuff actually lasts?

So I just discovered the nani distortion debacle. I don’t know what the nani meme is and I don’t think I care. Apparently though, some people are attempting to use the plugin to further their victim monopoly. I think a male display option would have been more inclusive and imo hilarious but I understand that 99% aren’t interested in seeing flailing sausages. Fair enough, have an abused banana instead.

The question is though: Does the actual plugin suck? The trash talkers I saw, wouldn’t address that rather important detail. Judging from the drama, I figured nani was a shite gimmick, nothing more, but I wanted to make a fair judgment, so I downloaded.

To my surprise, it actually sounds good. It’s also very well designed, inexpensive, highly intuitive, and highly useful. It’s got all the tools needed, with very few buttons and, unlike some logic pro versions of plugins, automation actually works. The skin looks great and no I’m not talking about the boobs. Very first try with it, I got exactly the sound I wanted in about 10 seconds flat, no struggle, no learning curve. Just great distortion and shirts flying off. I actually think it out performs my other plugins lol. I'd have to put them head to head though, to really say. My only gripe is, I wish you could collapse the boob or banana man window. I find either of the animations, although funny, ultimately distracting.

Now, are the boobs a gimmick? Of course they are. A tacky but ingenious one though, since it’s rather obvious, imo: They made a great plugin that needed a gimmick to attract attention in a super saturated market, instead of: They came up with a cheap gimmick, that needed a plugin.

So I just got my skulpt se synth. For some reason it’s dual mono output, not true stereo. Strange. You’d think they’d want a good stereo image, not flat mono sound. Oh well, it doesn’t sound bad. Bank 6 has a lot of rather nice things I could use. Well, that I WOULD use, if the synth didn’t blue screen on me every time I turn on a light. Not kidding, every time I turn on my desk lamp, the synth goes completely dead. Doesn't matter if I have it powered by USB or batteries. After a reboot or a few, it works again. There's also another interesting thing it does. When I turn the synth off, it often blasts me with digital noise at full volume, even though it’s OFF. It literally wont stop till I’ve ripped the batteries out of the damn thing. It might just be me, but this digital dysfunction is a rather common problem. 90% of the digital gear I have bought over the past 20 years has been glitchy to some degree or another. I guess this synth is just reminding me, why I prefer analog gear. Lol

The toy synth market, as it has been dubbed, is an interesting thing. Personally, I judge instruments based on overall integrity, not by words, size, or price. Baring extreme prices though, since it's difficult to produce integrity for too little money. On the flip side, too much money can cut out integrity on the user end. These things still do need to be played by a person right? lol. Point is, if only twatty celebrities can afford an instrument, it’s sadly, as if it doesn’t really exist to the rest of the normal world.

I kinda just go "eh" when ever I hear a new super expensive synth has come out, because as good as it might be, if you can't get it in many hands of talent, it just kinda seems mostly pointless. Like super cars. Sure, neat to watch, ultimately pointless though. Honestly, even IF I had the money, I wouldn't blow big bucks on a car or synth. Medium bucks sure. I think a lot of companies are afraid to make a good synth that's simple and thus affordable.

Now, some frown upon the toy synth market because they “aren’t real instruments” and are driving up the cost of real synths (cheapening the industry). Though I agree to an extent with the later statement, I would point out products within the toy synth size/price point that are anything but toys. Rarewaves comes to mind, vermona, dreadbox and others. Other point is, most people aren't making enough money to afford anything other than a toy synth. Which is why I think the toy synth market is here for a while longer. Regardless if you get an all metal giant killer by rarewaves or a ridiculous plastic gimmick box from “fill in the blank”, either way, out of necessity, you aren’t dumping 6 or 15 grand on your next instrument.

I’ve had many toy synths over the years and I usually sell them after a half year or so, either because they really ARE cheap junk, I need money or I just get frustrated with limitations. My newest acquisition is the skulptsynth SE by modal. Looks like a toy but upon closer inspection, it seems noticeably better engineered than a toy. IMO it sounds better than the modeled analog toys from roland. Will it hold up? Will I end up selling it in 6 months? We’ll see I guess.

The problem with the analog verses digital argument is, it can not be made properly, except in person. Once you digitize an audio signal, it is forever changed in ways that are apposed to the physics of analog sound. Computers draw sound waves with straight lines, nature does not. Computers are limited in resolution, nature is not. You literally can’t compare digital sound to analog sound in a youtube video, because all the sound is digitized to be on line in the first place. Half the significance in detectable difference is lost. Mostly what's left is to argue time quantization and harmonic saturation, which can be mostly synthesized in a computer, if you know what you are doing.

Therefor, I think I finally realize in a bigger sense why only those who have spent extended time listening directly to analog sound, fully understand how and why analog is different and desirable. It really is something you have to hear in person. If at any point between your ear and the source of sound, digitization has been applied, you are likely to miss arguably half the entire appeal of analog.

This also explains why it drives some analog enthusiasts nuts, when instrument companies add digital effects to an analog instrument without a 100% dry pass through in the circuit. Or why same enthusiasts refuse to use digital effects on their analog instruments.

It’s like cooking vegetables. Even just a single digitization changes the sound and like a piece of parsley, once it’s cooked, it’s never the same.

This also explains why it seems some think me elitist when I rave about the sound I get from my analog instruments. They can’t hear everything I do, from over the internet.

This is also why, mostly older people who grew up with analog hifi systems, understand why such systems are special or desirable.

So what's the point of analog if next to nobody records/releases purely on analog media anymore? Well, there are things that do translate, like the before mentioned saturation and time signature effects. The other half at this point in history, is something purely for the benefit of those playing/recording the analog source. I guess it's what keeps the art "alive" for the artists. They at least get to hear it the way it really sounds. That is until society looses it's shit from too much digititus and goes back to analog media as the norm.

So I think I'll just swim into open ocean with nothing but a flashlight and pocket knife. I'M SURE NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN AT ALL!

lol

So I finally picked up subnautica for me switch. They had it on special, both games in one, so I was like, *sigh* fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine. Aside from a few gripes, like there not being such thing as even A SIMPLE HANDHELD HARPOON, I'm actually enjoying this game a lot. Who knew a dark and mysterious game centered around oceanic exploration would appeal to a person like me *sarcasm* XD *sarcasm* :P

I keep having to rebuild my seamoth though. First one got stolen by an electric octopus. Second one ALMOST got eaten by sea monster. 3rd one actually GOT eaten by a sea monster. >.>; I'm adding flippin missiles this time.