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.

Just got on special, the babyaudio smooth operator. Got on special because I’m dubious over the concept of charging more than roughly 35 bucks for a plugin, though a select few might be worth more. Now, babyaudio kinda, looks, like a gimmick plugin company but this is the second plugin I've gotten and they are both quite useful. Add to that, quick/awesome customer relations. So IMO Baby Audio is NOT a gimmick company.

At this point, for me, it's unavoidable realizing, plugins are getting advanced enough that it’s breaking the sound of instrument's natural behavior. Going passed simple adjustments and downright openly modifying deeper, more complex, fundamental characteristics. In the here and now, this is a good thing. I don’t think it’s a replacement for good engineering/mixing but it certainly makes the process faster.

In the long run though, I see this sort of thing backfiring. The more computers modify recorded sound, the father away from nature it gets and we as humans can’t remove ourselves from nature, because we ARE nature. Most people don’t realize it but we are just as much nature as the rest of the organic world. Eventually people will realize they have lost something important, throw down the daw magic and go back to simpler recording/production processes. Some of the most beloved recordings of all time, were of this sort. A band. Analog instruments. All recorded to reel to reel with only simple real time production tools.

Back in the present, personally, I find the smooth operator very useful so far. I just wish someone was smart enough to create acoustic instruments good enough not to easily "benefit" from all this processing. One might be amazed at how much you can do, purely with proper acoustic design but that's another subject for another day.

So, plugins, DAW effects processing, the future, thoughts?

There's really no politically correct way to say it. So many people in this world are so busy being jealous of other people's talent/natural gifts, that they don't even discover their own gift. I am a firm believer that every person has their own unique gift. It's not something you earn. Not something you learn (though learning can help one master it). Not something you buy. Not something someone else gives you. It's something you are born with. It is though, something you HAVE to discover.

It’s not a question of: Some are born with gifts, others aren’t and that's just tough titties. Truth is, some people ignore their gift, while attempting to destroy those who haven’t ignored their own.

We.

We are not all the same. We are not all “equal” but it isn’t through superficial means that this is true. It’s true, only because we choose it to be so. The decision society makes, is: Will we all be equally poor, ignoring our gifts and destroying others out of self hatred, sloth like behavior and petty jealousy? Or, Will we all be equally rich in embracing our gifts, understanding we don’t have to all be the same, to be equally happy.

My enlightenment as an artist started when I realized, I didn’t have to be good at everything. Being good at what I was naturally good at, was enough. More than enough in fact, it was freedom. Envy is a cage. When you are envious, you make your self inferior. It’s a self fulfilling negative state of being. Reject such emotional traps and you can fly.