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Analogue Vs. Digital

#101
2string1 said:
We play a lot of early 60's rock. Our keyboard player was using a digital(synth) Farfisa sound,well we had loaned out a Farfisa years ago and just got it back. There is no comparison in sound. The analog Farfisa is all over the synthesised sound. It's the real thing...
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This is a new one to me
"Farfisa" the sound standard by which you can judge samplers and synths. :D


Since one "synth" got it wrong, all synth and samples must have it wrong.

Same story for science. Science got something wrong, therefore all science is wrong.

And this of course translates to anything.

One SMPS maker got it wrong, and so they are all bad.
One Class-d maker got it wrong, and so they are all bad.

It goes back in time,
one "linear" power supply maker got it wrong
One transistor amp maker got it wrong
...
:hiding:
 
#102
Out of curiosity, does anybody know which bass amps contain digital processing? The two "micro" heads that I own both contain microprocessors that manage the turn-on delay and switching functions, but contain no digital processing. I'm not sure that I've ever heard a digital bass amp.

Note: I'm assuming that Class-D is analog.
 
#104
seamonkey said:
This is a new one to me
"Farfisa" the sound standard by which you can judge samplers and synths. :D


Since one "synth" got it wrong, all synth and samples must have it wrong.

Same story for science. Science got something wrong, therefore all science is wrong.

And this of course translates to anything.

One SMPS maker got it wrong, and so they are all bad.
One Class-d maker got it wrong, and so they are all bad.

It goes back in time,
one "linear" power supply maker got it wrong
One transistor amp maker got it wrong
...
:hiding:
Click to expand...

Have you ever heard a Hammond B3 and a Leslie. They just can't synthesis that sound like the real thing. Close but no cigar... Why do you suppose Elton John plays a real piano and not a synthesis one? Just trying to say digital(synth) is not like the real McCoy. Of course there is the Mellotron,but that's another story.
 
#106
2string1 said:
Have you ever heard a Hammond B3 and a Leslie. They just can't synthesis that sound like the real thing. Close but no cigar... Why do you suppose Elton John plays a real piano and not a synthesis one? Just trying to say digital(synth) is not like the real McCoy. Of course there is the Mellotron,but that's another story.
Click to expand...

Come on, a "Farfisa"!?!?!

Tell me it can't be done with a sampler. It sure can. Each key and setting is it's own recording.

Hammond's are great. They have their own unique sound. A tone wheel. It's like a sampler. Poor imitation of the pipe organs they were built to replace, but they became a music icon or their own. And much more portable. Very familiar to many genres of music now.

Elton has his piano fitted with a Midi controller since the time he started playing one on stage. So he can get organ sounds and others when he wants them. He's still one of the best pianist around.
 
#109
They are not the real thing. They are digital samples, not as good as analog. Someone should tell the world to stop making Grand Pianos, Saxophones,stringed instruments,ect. You can do it all on your guitar or keyboard and put all those musicians out of work... including Bass players. If you had a choice to play in a 10 piece band with real strings and a real horn section or play in a 3 piece band that digitally synthesis everything including drums. Which would you choose? It's not just about the sound but how the instrument is played. We have a keyboard player that has ever sample imaginable in his little black box,but when it's time for a sax or flute for example when we do a Jethro Tull song he breaks out the real flute.
 
#110
The sampled sounds may sound authentic, but I would much rather see a 4 piece horn section in action, than a keyboard player playing the parts.
 
#111
2string1 said:
If you had a choice to play in a 10 piece band with real strings and a real horn section or play in a 3 piece band that digitally synthesis everything including drums. Which would you choose?
Click to expand...

I think the thing I'd worry the least is whether the instruments were acoustic or digitally synthesized. I damn sure wouldn't like to carry a grand piano to 10th floor and I damn sure wouldn't use a grand piano if the songs were heavily based on synthesized sounds.

It's not just about the sound but how the instrument is played.
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Damn straight. Therefore I really fail to see the point of your analogue.
 
#112
teemuk said:
I think the thing I'd worry the least is whether the instruments were acoustic or digitally synthesized. I damn sure wouldn't like to carry a grand piano to 10th floor and I damn sure wouldn't use a grand piano if the songs were heavily based on synthesized sounds.



Damn straight. Therefore I really fail to see the point of your analogue.
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I agree I would not want to carry a grand or a B3 around but the big bands that have roadies do. Why? Because they want the authentic sound. I'm not talking about playing new wave(high tech music) I'm talking about playing old rock & roll. If you are in a studio laying down a dominate piano track they will have a real piano there. Synthesizers have there place but there not the real thing.
 
#113
fdeck said:
Out of curiosity, does anybody know which bass amps contain digital processing? The two "micro" heads that I own both contain microprocessors that manage the turn-on delay and switching functions, but contain no digital processing. I'm not sure that I've ever heard a digital bass amp.

Note: I'm assuming that Class-D is analog.
Click to expand...

Line 6 amp modeling is all digital. It's more of a pre-amp but you plug it into your power-amp or PA and there you go. Here's their bass pod pro rackmount unit.
line6basspodpro.jpg
 
#114
I just want to go on record that sampling versus natural sounds is a pretty wide divergence from the original topic. I would take a real grand piano any day of the week. However, that's not an analog device. It's a natural, organic sound producing device.
 
#115
FWIW, Roy bittan plays a grand piano on Springsteen's tours, but the sound you hear is purely digital triggered by the piano keyboard. He likes the real piano feel (even if he breaks strings regularly) but they can't mic the thing so it can mix with all the other noise. Plus they don't have to fight tuning problems through the long sets in different environmental conditions. One wonders how many others actually use digital sounds from a digitally enabled grand piano in live situations. In almost any band, the subtleties that I much prefer from a real piano versus any digital recreation I've played are likely lost in the mix anyway . . . .

I worry that a whole generation of players may be coming up who don't know how to actually play a real piano because they never have. An unfortunate loss, IMO. Sort of like guitar players who use such heavy processing that every note sounds the same no matter how they inflect it. Great to get a consistent sound for poor/inconsistent players, but soulless, ultimately, IMO . . . literally hard to play if you're used to getting tone from your hands . . .
 
#117
Beethoven, Mozart, Name the great classical Pianist - didn't play was is known as a Modern Piano. They did great. The music sounds great on a Modern Piano, but we're not hearing it as the composer's wrote it. Bach, pure genius on the pipe organ. Transcribed to orchestra and other instruments - the music is good without pipe organs.

"Digital Amps" - "Linear Amps" - are nothing. They are not instruments, they are not music. For several decades for power amplifiers all sound the same.

Heads do add in this "pre-amp" part and each maker adds in special coloring. Pre-amps mean more to weak or strong sound than power amps.

As far as I'm concerned they can take out the coloring. I'll put it in with signal processing for the music I want. I have better control than what they shove into hacked gain and tone controls. And it is my real sound.
 

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