The idea of a ‘versus’ between two versatile synth toolsets to be redundant and largely manufactured, aligning with similar grudge matches such as PC vs. console gaming, iPhone vs. Android. In simple terms, both have benefits and shortcomings.
If I were to be harsh, I feel that the article lacks analytical dimension and detail, it’s very much an accessible often making infantile assumptions, ‘most musicians prefer analog synths for its [sic] customizing options’, ‘digital synths are much easier’
The article’s premise of a ‘versus’ is simply breaking down the varying qualities of analog and digital synthesis and presenting a choice for the consumer. It is worth noting that the writer recommends three digital synths as opposed to two analog synths. As someone who owns both an analog synthesizer, the Behringer K-2, and a digital synthesizer, the Roland JV-1080, I feel no pull toward choosing a side. The embedded video of Junkie XL talking about the ephemerality and unpredictability of analog synths, alongside the uniqueness of digital synths illustrates this point. I understand the personal advantages and disadvantages with using each in my creative practice; I am very much enamoured with Roland’s classic 1990’s presets, each a beautifully engineered sound vignette. With the same breath, I would add that there is a time and place for them, and they have to be used with extreme forethought.
I do, however, resist using software synths or VSTs, out of a distaste for the computer screen’s lack of tactility and the meditative, reactive listening that working by ear can encourage.
A core memory for me is how I acquired my only keyboard/MIDI controller. At my workplace in 2019, there was a pile of scrap metal and dead appliances spilling into the yard area and one morning after a thunderous rainstorm someone left an old, cheap Yamaha PSR-225. I brought it into the workshop, and quite literally poured the water out of it and left it to dry on sawdust. I later tested it, and it worked. It’s still my unwieldy main keyboard and controller today. In a very real way this, if not cemented, reaffirmed in me the necessity of marriage and symbiosis between the organic and the digital in my own creative practice.
Bibliography:
Bish, S. (2019) Analog Synthesizer vs. Digital Synthesizer: Beginners Guide. Available at: https://www.keytarhq.com/analog-vs-digital-synthesizers/ (Accessed: 22 April 2024)