plug-ins vs actual devices
Posted by Joey from Phoenix, AZ, US on October 12, 2006
What do you think of the sound of the plugins that model the classic devices you designed and what are they missing?
What are they missing? Transformers, transistors, electricity…ok, I
jest, but the concern I have is the software designer must decide how
much of the hardware will be simulated. There are many complicated and
interrelated things going on in an analog circuit like intermodulation
distortion, harmonic distortion, slew rate distortion, crossover
distortion, noise, etc. These specs are derived by and or limited by
component selection. Different products sound different because of these
specs and design elements, otherwise you wouldn't own so many different
brands, right? Let's put a squarewave at 10 kHz, +20 dBu through that
plugin. What is the 2nd harmonic content? 3rd harmonic? Depending on
your digital sample rate, you can stop programming now. Really, it is
not even fair to compare plug in manufactures to their analog
counterparts because they are totally different products, designed for
different applications and must be evaluated accordingly. What do YOU
think of the sound? Personally I like hardware. It is like the
difference between a gold coin and a check, they may be worth the same,
but I could only sell one on eBay!
-Kevin
What are they missing? Transformers, transistors, electricity…ok, I
jest, but the concern I have is the software designer must decide how
much of the hardware will be simulated. There are many complicated and
interrelated things going on in an analog circuit like intermodulation
distortion, harmonic distortion, slew rate distortion, crossover
distortion, noise, etc. These specs are derived by and or limited by
component selection. Different products sound different because of these
specs and design elements, otherwise you wouldn't own so many different
brands, right? Let's put a squarewave at 10 kHz, +20 dBu through that
plugin. What is the 2nd harmonic content? 3rd harmonic? Depending on
your digital sample rate, you can stop programming now. Really, it is
not even fair to compare plug in manufactures to their analog
counterparts because they are totally different products, designed for
different applications and must be evaluated accordingly. What do YOU
think of the sound? Personally I like hardware. It is like the
difference between a gold coin and a check, they may be worth the same,
but I could only sell one on eBay!
-Kevin
