All hardware is The Detroit Way(tm), and one can't argue with results.
Virtually ('Virtually'?) every track that defines Detroit Techno and
House music was made with hardware synths and mixed down outside the
computer. As it happens, prior to roughly 1998, a computer was of
limited utility for anything other than MIDI sequencing.
The sound of Detroit techno arose at least in part from the way
working with the hardware influences the aesthetic choices made. The
one measure drum loop is a limitation of Roland Drum Machines* so
Techno mostly involves one measure rhythm loops. Within that
limitation, producers soon used the tools available to them (volume
controls for individual sounds, sound parameters, write-mode real-time
step programming) to make something static come alive.
I use a mix of hardware and software, and end up doing the mix in the
computer. That's just what I've evolved into using over the years. I
still have nearly every synth & drum machine I've ever bought, and got
my latest analog synth in 2008.
That being said, I think it is very possible to make good music
without the hardware, and in fact many people who make tracks simply
can't afford a full-on hardware studio. Software synths are free to
cheap; a proper modern analog synth costs a minimum of $300-400, a
TR909 -- if you can find one -- is $1000 or more. A usable laptop is
$600, and sufficient software is free to cheap (or stolen).
If you don't like how all-computer productions sound, you can spend
the multiple thousands of dollars to equip yourself with 'real' gear**
or you could learn to get the sound you want out of the computer. The
production techniques required for working in the computer are
different than working with outboard hardware.
In the end it's always what your'e able to do with the gear more than
the gear itself. Whatever inspires you or feels comfortable should
your guide, not what anyone thinks that you 'should' be using.
*You can use drum loops longer than one measure on Roland drum
machines, but it isn't the easiest or most natural way to work.
**My rule of thumb about buying external gear -- if it's just a
computer on the inside, I'd rather save my money and use my computer.
A lot of external synths -- e.g. Nord, Elektron Machine Drum, Alesis
Micron -- are just computers in a fancy box. They may be useful for
many reasons, but they don't do anything your computer can't, at least
insofar as sound is concerned.
On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 6:28 AM, Kevin Kennedy <the...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> As a side note, I have gone back to using hardware, and there will be
> results to post for everyone soon...
>
