Analog VS Digital Effects

[The BurgerMeister]

This reminds me of a friend of mine who still insists that vinyl LP's are better than CDs.

good point here. (and above a couple of times)

it all comes down to your ears. your ears are the reason you make music. i think tech 21's tube-emulation stuff sounds retardedly good and warm. it's digital. i love the sound of LPs over CDs. the boss dd3 sounds better than the dd6. the EH memory man sounds better than both. it's a personal preference.

also: in a gig environment, with all kinds of stuff going on everywhere, people aren't gonna nitpick and say your delay wasn't warm enough (that's if they even hear you delay at all). they'll usually just have some more beer and tell you that you were awesome. usually.

 

[lowstar]

they might feel the difference though, and not know what it is or why it´s there. they will also feel if the rhythm section is tight or not, even if they know nuttin bout drumming or playing the bass.
and if anybody found a good digital emulation of germanium fuzzes and the like, i´m curious. chorus is another one of those things that usually sound better analog.
for me, it´s a question if i want my nice bass signal chopped into a bunch of zeroes and ones before they hit my amp (and the p.a.) or not - me, i prefer the good, old analog way.

cheers,
lowstar

 

[Jimbo]

i like individual stompboxes (i have both digital and analog) for the reason that i like interactions between pedals and paramters on each pedal. i find it easier to manipulate on the fly individual boxes as opposed to a mult-fx rig

-jimish

 

[phxlbrmpf]

Are you Japanese? I noticed that effects pedals are called "effectors" in Japanese musician slang.

 

[bass-shy]

i think tech 21's tube-emulation stuff sounds retardedly good and warm. it's digital.

What digital pedals do Tech 21 make? I'm pretty sure that they are devout analog supporters. The exception is that they sometimes use digital means for programmibility on a few of their products, like the Programmable SABDDI and Tri-A.C.. The signal path is strictly analog, though.

 

[pretaanluxis]

Only considering a sound quality which is better?

analog sounds SOOO much better

reminds me of a friend of mine who still insists that vinyl LP's are better than CDs.

CDs sound better than vinyl for 95% of music imo. Analog pedals sound better for 95%

 

[keb]

What digital pedals do Tech 21 make? I'm pretty sure that they are devout analog supporters. The exception is that they sometimes use digital means for programmibility on a few of their products, like the Programmable SABBDI and Tri-A.C.. The signal path is strictly analog, though.

This is true. They pride themselves in this. All analog signal paths, with digital programmability on a few units like the programmable BDDI and such.

 

[The BurgerMeister]

they will also feel if the rhythm section is tight or not, even if they know nuttin bout drumming or playing the bass.

i'm sorta confused... what does this have to do with the sound of analog vs. digital?

 

[The BurgerMeister]

What digital pedals do Tech 21 make? I'm pretty sure that they are devout analog supporters. The exception is that they sometimes use digital means for programmibility on a few of their products, like the Programmable SABBDI and Tri-A.C.. The signal path is strictly analog, though.

ooops. you're right.

sorry.



i still say it's totally subjective, though.

 

[rotero]

Just to throw another factor into the mix:

A good cheap analog effect is usually a fairly simple circuit that does one thing VERY well and will pretty much never break down.

The basic "problem" with digital effects is that you are running your signal through a computer. It is turned into ones and zeros, manipulated, turned back into a wave form to the best of the little computer's ability and fed into your amp or mixer.

These computers, or A/D converters, are sometimes not very good. They also do not respond to your playing in the same way as an analog circuit will. This gives you a situation simlar to tube vs. solid state amps and digital vs. analog recording. Saturation and dirtortion are "imitated", sometimes well, sometimes not so well.

A really good piece of digital equipment is a relaly good piece of equipment, but that does not come cheap.

Basically, you get what you pay for. I like buying good analog pieces as I can afford them and combining them on my own. For example, the SansAmp tube simulation absolutely destroys what a Zoom can do. And yes, that IS because the Zoom is digital. No contest. It is not just the sound of one note, it is how it "behaves" when you play with different dynamics and in different registers.

 

[lowstar]

Quote:
Originally Posted by lowstar
they will also feel if the rhythm section is tight or not, even if they know nuttin bout drumming or playing the bass.



i'm sorta confused... what does this have to do with the sound of analog vs. digital?

i was refering to this

in a gig environment, with all kinds of stuff going on everywhere, people aren't gonna nitpick and say your delay wasn't warm enough (that's if they even hear you delay at all). they'll usually just have some more beer and tell you that you were awesome. usually.

and what i want to say is, the same way they can feel if the rhythm section is playing well, which to many people in the audience just translates into "the band was sounding good", but they don´t know why, that same way they might hear a better or more organic sound that can come from analog stompboxes, and don´t know why, stage noises and bad mix and all.
cheers,
lowstar

 

[ihateusernames]

My observations on the topic are as follows....

Blanket statements don't always apply in this debate.

Personally, in a live setting I prefer the sound of analog or a mix of digital and analog...however, recorded music in a budget home studio set-up it is WAY easier to get a good sound recorded and mixed down with a digital/emulation type of source. The exception to this, IME, is most Sansamp units sound as good or better than the current digital stuff when recorded. As always, these are my observations and my personal preference....your results may vary

 

[rotero]

My observations on the topic are as follows....

Blanket statements don't always apply in this debate.

Personally, in a live setting I prefer the sound of analog or a mix of digital and analog...however, recorded music in a budget home studio set-up it is WAY easier to get a good sound recorded and mixed down with a digital/emulation type of source. The exception to this, IME, is most Sansamp units sound as good or better than the current digital stuff when recorded. As always, these are my observations and my personal preference....your results may vary

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