Reviews & Muses

#music

Nobody really knows how to identify “good” wine. Slap a fancy label on a cheap bottle and, upon tasting it, people will describe it using terms like “complex,” “rounded,” and “woody.” Serve the same wine, this time with the original label, and it will suddenly become “flat” and “weak.”

These are real quotes from a 2001 study, and there are plenty more that show the same phenomenon. Expert wine reviewers can't even tell the difference between white and red wine. I'll leave you with this great article if you want to read more.

It's the same in the music production industry. Try to find any review of an analog piece of gear without hearing the term “warm” or “vintage.” Impossible. Yet in a blind test, people can't accurately identify one synthesizer from another. Most can't hear compression at all, let alone the difference between a digital one and an authentic 1176 — yet the internet is positively rife with analog compressor emulations, all claiming to be the one that will finally take your mix to the next level due to its unique acoustic properties. It's snake oil.

We experience what we expect, and we like what we're already familiar with. Confirmation bias and the placebo effect constantly work against us to undermine our perception of reality. As soon as you gain even the tiniest bit of insight into what you think something is supposed to be, it changes how you experience it.

There are differences between synthesizers, of course. Their signal paths, interfaces, and features all vary. But in terms of the raw sound, they are subjective differences that cannot be given any sort of meaningful quality. Just like people can't tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine, people can't tell the difference between a $10,000 Moog One and a free piece of software like Vital. Certainly not in the context of a mix.

For me, the point of buying hardware is the interface. Being able to touch the instrument, to feel more directly connected to the sound, is an experience that's harder to obtain with software. And indeed, that's an experience that varies from one device to the other. Some synths have capabilities others don't. I personally like anything that helps me perform the instrument in a more expressive manner, which means I'll gravitate toward things like poly aftertouch, bi-timbrality, and limited menu diving. Expressiveness is what made the CS-80 legendary in the hands of Vangelis, even though its raw tone isn't particularly noteable. Give me an Osmose Expressive E any day of the week over an old Juno-6.

But while these things are not ignored by the marketing, they're usually not the focus. More often than not, the focus is on imparting a sense that whatever new synth you're checking out has a certain special sound quality, that je ne sais quoi you can only get from the manufacturer selling it. Of course the expensive hardware synth sounds better than the free software one. Of course it will take your sounds to new heights and help you finally reach your dream of being a successful music producer.

Right?

Nope. I'm not saying there's no point in buying hardware. I buy hardware and I love it. But if you're doing it because you think it sounds better, you're probably fooling yourself.