Today we are going to explore why you should buy hardware and not rely solely on on your DAW, software, and plugins. I’ve been making music for almost 20+ years now and if you really want to grow as a musician, artist, producer, or even a hobbyist than eventually you will have to go shopping. And if your as stubborn as I can be then I’ve got 5 reasons why your only hurting yourself and stagnating your progress.
1. Control
Honestly nothing beats making music with controllers. When I first started all my beats were me just clicking in notes on a piano roll or trying to play them on my computer keyboard witch latency due to the fact I had no audio interface. So when I played notes live I would always end up trying to either quantize them into the right position or move them one by one which was time consuming. Controllers and the right interface open up music into a living breathing world filled with adventure. I have had at least 10 keyboard midi controllers alone. I’ve had drum pad controllers, control surfaces also. and am still researching and planning on buying more. Because they all bring something new to the table. Even the most basic keyboard controller changes your work flow. One thing I have noticed over the years is that even the size of the controller and the way the keys are laid out makes a huge difference in the way you perform. For example you can’t play a Korg Nano key the same way you play a full sized 49 or 61 keyboard. The compact size and even the keys them selves give you a different perspective on things.
2. Audio Quality
I touched on it earlier when I said I bought an audio interface to improve my latency but what that also did in turn was make the quality of what I was hearing and recording sound 10x better. If you don’t have an audio interface please stop what your doing even stop reading this (seriously) and go buy one. What are you waiting for. Audio Interfaces are so cheap now with quality that is so unbelievable at times I almost think its magic how they can cram all of that quality into these boxes. There are Interfaces that cost a mere $200 (Us) dollars and sound almost as great as a Professional setup with millions of dollars of equipment. I ‘ve even seen big artist record in a hotel room and have it sent to a professional studio and if you didn’t know any better you would think it was all done in that professional studio.
3. Free Stuff
This is one of the most overlooked and underrated benefits I think people miss out on when buying Hardware such as Midi Controllers and Audio Interfaces. The fact that most modern day controllers and interfaces ship with software that either works directly with the hardware or expands the functionality of the hardware or your actual production computer. For example the company Ovation ship the Bass Station and the V station with the purchase of there keyboards. And these to Vst’s have been around for a long time but that doesn’t change the fact that they sound great and add there own little flavor to what ever you creating giving you more sonic possibilities I love the filter on the V station it’s very unique because of it drive function and it has effects that have a unique sound that give you even more tools to further customize a sound hat is all yours. Some time the price of the hardware is almost worth the price as the software it ships with. Plus you come across some real gems. Another example is I bought a Korg Nano control some years back and it came with some UVI plugins. These plugins when downloaded gave me a full 16 GB’s worth of sound sampled from Korg instruments. Mind you I only paid $60 (US) dollars. That’s huge because the plugins themselves and the content it came with was worth much more plus a had the added benefit of being able to have hands on controls over parameters.
4. Get Out Of The Box
Music is so much more than starring at a screen all day trying to make a hit song that will change you and your families lives forever its a living breathing process and we sometimes lose track of that starring into screens day in and day out. Watching digital graphs and meters all day and night on bright high resolution HD screens. I’ve notice we tend to focus on the screen with our eyes more than we should focusing on the sound with our ears. And I think that’s one of the reason certain types of groove boxes and synthesizers will never go out of style. Its because of that readily immediacy of just turning something on and making sounds. Not waiting on load up screens and then loading a DAW and then loading a plugin. Sometimes by the time you’ve done all that the musical idea is gone.
5. Limitations
I know we have all been told to strive beyond our limits and break down walls and barriers. But in the world of music production and in the world of sound design limitations can most times be a great thing because they force us to find and apply a creative method in order for us to get what we want. Or to create that sound we so desire to create. In the digital computer realm we have limitless options of sounds, software and plugins. This can make it hard for us as producer to decide on a route to take or we start to feel like children in a toy store and can’t decide on what we want because there are so many options. Hardware on the other hand gives us the perspective of what we have is what we have so lets make the best of it. Consider the fact that some of the most iconic Hip Hop, Rap, Dance, and R&B songs were done completely articulated and architectured on SP 1200’s and MPC 60’s machines that had sever limitations by today’s standards but the records they helped to produce to this day still stand the test of time.
Conclusion
I know I have exhausted most of you out there by now nobody wants to read all of this lol
plus I am no scholar by any means I write the same way I speak so please excuse my grammar.
But seriously I want everybody who has taken the time to read this or even venture on this web site to come on this adventure with us and dig deeper into sonic possibilities.
