Can we stop asking these ridiculous questions? Of course, gear matters.
It’s “To what extent does gear matter?” that is the relevant and beneficial question to think about as an artist.
Do you want accuracy or idiosyncrasies? Do you want features or workflow?
So true
But, the too many limitations was there for a reason, and that reason is very relevant to the discussion! someone of my age pre dates options of gear and definitely knows how limits effect ability to create…
i could have had a million ideas when i was 18 years old, and my options to record that at the time, in the average home studio would have been a tascam 4 track, or if i were lucky and rich a Pentium ii running cubase.
(cue the “back in my day speech”)…bear with me…
So saved to 4 tracks of cassette tape or audio files too large for floppy disc?? CD burners were $$$$ (sounds like trying to race on a lawn mower to me)…VSTi could maybe run 2 before the CPU maxed out and hardware was in the “how good is the piano sound in the Rompler or DX FM” Phase…In retrospect…it was like trying to make music with one arm tied behind your back and the other with its index finger blocking an ear…The gear mattered and it still does. Its effect on output was something i would love a 15yo kid today struggle with, waiting for the tape to rewind to 0:00:00 every 3 minutes to take another live pass at a performance take, Having the tape get chewed by the machine pulling it out and winding it back in with a pencil. Waiting to press record for the punch in of a sample from a VHS video you logged a great “one liner” from 3 months ago, If you wanted a filter you had to actually own a dedicated filter or MONO synth from yesteryear with an input. Um also if you wanted a reverb…guess what, you had to own a reverb…I could go on…but the memories alone make DT bugs look like cookies and cream…
Now to flip all of that and to drive home your point… its exactly when and how Aphex Twin Released Selected Ambient Works…same time period, same gear options… just talented…so you are 100% correct… you cant argue with some of the amazing music of that time.
I don’t know mate
All those questions you just asked sound pretty ridiculous 
Right?! lol 
Floppy disk…you a young’un
Lets talk punch cards.
I did a 30min set with the CZ5000’s sequencer which can only be programmed with… rhythmic notation… that’s ancient knowledge at this point lol
Ha…a black art hidden on a papyrus scroll in the masonic lodge, lost to the awareness of the common man. You may be the last of your kind, and we need to freeze your brain upon your demise.
But… but… like… (the next important question)… Does authenticity matter?
Man this is getting deep…I’m all ears
As kung fu panda discovered the dragon scroll was empty 
The difference with gear is like the difference between sewing by hand, or learning to master a pro level sewing machine. Sure, if you’re talented enough, you can…
Just kidding. I got nothing
use what you have access to. less is more… etc yada yada yada.
autechre made this track with a Roland PMa-5 handheld sequencer using its onboard sounds.
Yeah but that’s heaps better than Rolands recent stuff
They had it good back then
equipment is fun. Fun matters to me.
that‘s why I started music in the first place.
But too much of it is distracting for me
An interesting point of view …
which shows that it’s all about expectation.
If one of us would climb the stage, put all her/his boxes in action, but the audience was expecting a choral singing, let’s say X-mas chorals, well, we would be considered as very eccentric too 
I would say, making music is not depending on the instrument or the equipment, but whether it’s perceived as beeing music by ourselfs or our audience.
great demo using old stuff [i love the old AKAI. had an s1000 and still have cd3000]
Ae used one of these…
it’s not that simple.
if we, say, calculate total cost of ownership for Bitwig with updates for a few years — it turns that hardware-only setup can catually be cheaper than DAW-based.
(on the other hand, hardware-only setup will still be usable in some 20 years. i hardly can say this about any DAW.)
I have a PMa-5 it is actually surprisingly good, based around ‘sound canvas’ type soundset, it has some analog samples like 808, 909, 101, 303 and iirc modular stuff too as well as more typical strings, pianos, choirs, slap bass etc.
But the sequencer on it is pretty good too, 4 pattern tracks and a song mode, pretty good resolution and timing. With it’s ‘PDA’ looks I’m surprised it isn’t the 303 of Vapourwave, it fits that aesthetic perfectly.
An inventive mind will create music with whatever is at hand, gear isn’t important IMHO.
Although of course gear can be a huge inspiration/jumping off point/focussed confinement too.