TomCat wrote:
I must say a whole new world is opening yp to me here with using plug-ins on the album....I've always been a hardware junkie saying that real equipment is always the way to go but having now purchased and used some plug-ins I've been very impressed with what they can do.
I know the feeling - I've scaled down from 18U's worth of hardware to 4U, obviating mostly synths, FX and various MIDI control devices, and have ten times the power and double the sound quality. It's not cheaper than hardware if you're serious about it, but even on a tight budget there are lots of great inexpensive or even free VSTi's.
The biggest problem I have is keeping up on processing power (the freeze button is my best friend these days). If I was doing more orchestral stuff, I'd probably go with a dedicated machine for samples. Some of my piano banks alone are over 4 GB and need at least 64 note polyphony.
BTW - I invested in Native Instruments Komplete and it covers just about everything I would ever need to do, from rock to dance. Going with a suite of softsynths also gives you a major workflow advantage, no shifting mental gears as you move from one synth to another.
