As I’m experimenting with new workflows, one advantage that’s becoming obvious to me, with a hardware rig, is how quick and flexible the routing is to come up with new ideas. I’m not familiar with daws more than that I’ve dabbled with Logic and know it well enough to finish tracks with it, but I can’t even imagine how I’d use Logic to create some of the stuff I’m doing now.
An example -
So I’m sending a Digitakt into an SSL SiX on ch3 / 4.
I’m sending one Prophet 12 patch in mono mode into one Chase Bliss Habit and the other Prophet 12 patch in mono into a Chase Bliss Mood.
Both blissers are set to presets I’ve made with dip switches assigned to create some movement and modulation, essentially creating a self-sustained little ambient loop. They record and apply their magic in real time to the incoming signal, so I’m never quite sure what’s gonna come out of it, but it never sounds bad - just odd, sometimes.
Both Chase Blissers go into the SiX ch1 / 2, where I apply the SiX EQ to cut out the low frequencies and bring out the high ones, essentially a mini mixing environment for them.
I’m also running a CXM 1978 through the SiX Cue Outs 1 / 2, back into SiX Ext 1 / 2, keeping the CXM at full mix with a very lush and long Hall effect, creating more a drone of the sounds going through it rather than an actual reverb.
I apply the CXM to the Chase Bliss signals in to some extent, and very subtly on the Digitakt signal in.
All of this goes out to the SSL Fusion, from where I then record the results.
It’s a mess of wires and cables, but setting it up is easy and I know I’ll take this down tomorrow and try another idea, with another routing in mind. I haven’t really explored the flexibility of a hardware rig in this way before, but now that I’m digging into it, it feels like if you’re into this sort of “But what if I run this through that”-mindset, hardware seems to get the upper hand in speed and flexibility, if not in price (cause obviously, this rig I’m talking about is the result of years and years of collecting and saving)
But I’m generally unfamiliar with software, so maybe this assumption is wrong. Looking forward to getting my ass handed to me now.
That sort of thing is hella easy enough in most daws using aux sends & buses; if you can imagine it then you can do it.
Or you can go balls deep into modular DAW systems like Reason that also add any number of audio breakpoints, insertion points, modulation sources and destinations. I’ve heard good things about Bitwig in that regard too.
Moved away from HW for experimental sound design because it was too limiting.
Edit: my biggest issue with SW is that experimenting with feedback can be less than satisfactory - hw has the clear advantage in that regard.
I have the same thought about modular vs modulation matrix on synths. Something about patching cables just makes a stronger connection in my brain about what is happening. It’s more intuitive and easier to decode (coloured cables) than sound shaping and signal routing with a matrix hidden behind buttons & menus.
I know it’s a different wrapper on the same procedure, but that’s the way my brain works!
See, that’s a great way of putting it. I just don’t get it when I’m looking at a screen, even if I know it’s possible. But I come up with all kinds of strange shit if I can just see and touch the stuff.
I agree. And, looking at a eurorack case sparks ideas for me - ‘what happens if I send that to there’ etc. and happy accidents abound.
For me I need an actual intent and plan to use a modulation matrix properly. Like I need to envisage the sound/effect/whatever first and then program the matrix to do exactly what I want. I’m much better at coming up with random stuff than planned!
When I think about it, I do this in other areas of my life too. My wife likes to plan meals, I just dive into cupboards and conjure up something from whatever there is. I went travelling on my own when I was younger, with only a vague plan to hook up with someone I’d met once in the middle of Thailand…
Keeps life interesting if you ask me
At work, I always freak the control crowd out with my gung ho methods. I’m allowed my ways cause the results speak for themselves. But every now and then, someone with a mind wired differently shows up and gets real anxious at what they consider to be a very unpredictable approach.
I think life’s unpredictable so I’m just adapting, since I’ve never seen the opposite approach work.
In terms of routing advantages from a semi complex setup onward, a decent DAW (Live. Bitwig, Studio One) will have a hardware setup beat 10/10 times in terms of flexibility and speed of rewiring/rerouting.
Hardware is obviously more tactile and visual, as it is right in front of you…but the cables can be a real mess…and expensive if it gets more complex! (I’ve easily spent a 4 digit number on cables so far).
also, once the setup gets a little more elaborate it’s almost a necessity to get a mixer to have any sort of decent on-the-fly routing capabilities (which is built into any decent daw from the get go). And once you get a mixer…well there’s never enough channels to cover it all, so that becomes its own game also.
Distributing FX in hardware setups can also be a pain and expensive compared to software…want that overdrive pedal on three different synths? Well then you better get three pedals (if you want to run things in parallel that is). Love that compressor on more than one channel? Get that compressor more than once then. You wanna see if an FX will sound better/more defined as an insert effect instead of a send? Enjoy rewiring your AUX sends and insert points. Wanna route that delay through the reverb instead of running them in parallel? Well, you better have a mixer that allows for that otherwise is recabling-time.
I understand the visual and hands on aspect as a definite benefit of hardware. But once the setup gets a little bigger, even with a patchbay you’re looking at LOTS of cables and a dedicated mixer + a good degree of complexity to touch upon a fraction of the flexibility and speed you’d have in a DAW.
Bitwig is super flexible also but it has the dual non-linear/linear workflow that Ableton has, so if you didn’t enjoy one you might not like the other either.
My favourite is Studio One, you can set up your external hardware as “external devices”, basically making them function like plugins inside the DAW (you can do the same in Live and Bitwig) - this is assuming you have enough ins and outs in your audio interface to run things in parallel.
Studio One’s mixer I find intuitive and dare I say beautiful, its UI took a moment for me, but once I understood how it wants me to work it got out of my way completely and it’s been a joy ever since.
Mind you, I have a fairly complex hardware setup that fully integrates with my in-the-box setup, so routing is a bit of a hobby lol.
yeah, Bitwig.
the way the FX work encourages experimentation.
for example, the reverb has dedicated lil slots in its GUI for insert FX - so if you want to stick a bitcrusher on just the wet part of the signal, the reverb tank, done!
likewise with the modulation. setting up whatever insane modulation you can think of is very fast.
the only problem is that it’s too good, too easy to get lost in sound design and forget you’re supposed to be writing a song.
I learned that less is more in DAW world too. In Abelton its easy to layer, split (bassline typically is 3 layers (hi/mid/low) where the top layer gets more distortion and stereo processing. I saw yesterday a youtube dissection of a pro/semi pro club track which had 13 tracks only for atmospheric sounds, somerhing where i mostly had used 2,3 layers and i saw how effective this approach was … i think this is for sure something which is a lot harder to pull of, because when i do it, it tends to create a crowded muddy track. (KISS keep it simple stupid, is better for me)
I find hardware routing good for developing a work flow and sticking with it for a while. This helps with refining technique and avoiding repeating similar-but-different set up motions.
On the flip side I seem to enjoy changing up my studio space and rearranging and seem to always be adjusting to a new template, so I don’t know 🤷
