> I had a chance to get out to the big city of Bangor Maine
! !
`~
Man, I apologize for my illusory delusions assuming you were from
CaLiFoRniA...
I had to go back and re-read your band bio to get things straight. Anyway,
don't pine and fret Jimmy, the AN1x can still hold up against a lot of
newer, supposedly better stuff. I realize that it's better to play one
yourself than to listen to opinions but I'll give you (and the group) my 2¢
on virtual analogs:
The manufacturers are just so far behind where the hardware and software
technology could take them now (for the most part). We all sit in front of
computers containing processors capable of producing enormous sounds in
glorious polyphony all through numerical synthesis - the pushing of ones and
zeros through binary calculators at billions of operations per second... the
average virtual synthesizer software for Windows often is better than the
hardware synths that the big boys are selling. The cover article in
Keyboard this month is on software synths. I couldn't bring myself to read
it because I just don't like playing music from a damn computer. I want a
musical instrument.
So why are the software synths so far ahead of hardware synthesizers (like
real keyboards with keys, knobs, wheels, ribbons, etc.)? Hardware makers
have a lot more rocks to jump over to get their product to market than
software. I know this from experience - I was a compliance test engineer at
one time. Every digital product must comply with governmental standards so
that it does not interfere with radio, TV and other broadcast signals.
Further, the hardware must not cause electrical hazards (shorts which cause
fires) from poor design. So the software guys have a big jump on the
hardware guys because they don't have to design in a lot of safeguards which
cost a lot of money. But the raw reality of live performance is this -
would you trust Windows to give you reliability on stage? If so, are you
prepared for a reboot time of up to 2 minutes? I'll trust my "musician's
hardware" any day over a laptop. (I say this from experience having used a
laptop on stage as merely a patch changer for my synths - and it crashed and
crapped all over our performance.)
So don't fret, Rainbow - your live sound is better than most of the audience
has ever heard anyway... even with your 6 year old synth. The Nord Lead 2,
reviewed in this same Keyboard magazine, doesn't have a Free Envelope
Generator. You've still got a leading edge synth.
Ed Edwards
Leader: Ezekiel's Wheel »»»»Retro-Progressive Rock««««
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