How is the experience on Ableton after the SH01A?or another HW.Just different or does one yield better results.I guess the different HW has more individual characteristics…
In all fairness I don’t think about that kind of stuff. It’s all fun and good.
Yeah for me i think its psychological.But i do like some individual independent units.
Never been down with either/or. And always have believed in hybrid. 
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Yeah i get around my condition by sending the virtual synths through some hardware.Just got an old Vestax DJ mixer with analog filter built into 3 channels…And a nice 3 band EQ to boot.
The problem with ITB for me is the fact I spent so much money in VST plugins that I don’t use anymore and I can’t resell it.
Special offers and black friday make you buy plugins cheap, but when you sum all the plugins you bought, you are sad because you could afford an elektron box with this money ^^
I periodically try to make beats ITB, I always fails and go back hardware for instant results.
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I have Ableton, Cubase and NI Komplete plus a Komplete MIDI keyboard. I can make soundtrack stuff way faster than with hardware synthesizers with computer, plugins and DAW. BUT, hardware synthesizers are way more fun to use. Elektron and Moog are two of my favorite hardware synth makers and recently I took the plunge into the abyss called Eurorack and spent a lot of coin this year on modular setups. However, modular is even more fun than traditional hardware synths so no regrets.
I keep running into problems that can either be solved by spending $500–1,000 on hardware, or with a click in Ableton Live.
Most recently, I tried loading loops from some of my tracks onto my M:S to perform them, and ran out of space. Well, a Blackbox could fix that … or I could just use Ableton session view.
My drums always sound so much better with a little compression or a drum buss. Well, there are stereo compressor pedals and rack units. Or I could just drop an audio effect onto the drum group in Ableton.
I’m not selling my synths or anything, but I think for me they are more for jamming and getting ideas down before I send the beat to Ableton for finishing. And once it’s in Ableton, I’ll probably be using that to perform it, too.
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One of the biggest reasons I moved towards using more hardware was that I played a couple of gigs with an in-the-box setup and a controller keyboard. The gigs went well enough but the process wasn’t all that satisfying and I was still getting those dumb “are you checking your email?” questions from audience members.
It’s taken me years to realise that I really shouldn’t be playing keys at all when performing - I’m nowhere near a good enough player. It was only when I started using a small modular with an A4 or DN to sequence it that things got fun and interesting again.
Recently, however, I’ve found myself wanting to do things in a more evolving way that wasn’t best suited to the way the Elektron sequencers and pattern structure works… which lead me back to Ableton for the first time in a few years. Having been away from them, clips now seem alive with possibilities. In terms of sequencing alone I can do pretty much anything that’s in my head.
I can’t say it’s going to replace the A4 in my setup (and nothing beats the Elektron sequencer for drum programming in my opinion) but I can see myself working more ITB than I have for a long time.
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Synplant, Soundtoys and Reaktor are making me contemplate going back ITB today. Such good tools.
iLok randomly asked me to re-auth my plugins one day and failed. I couldn’t be bothered to resolve it. I don’t have to deal with this administrative nonsense with hardware, and find it much easier to get into more of a flow state pressing dedicated buttons and turning knobs. It’s just more fun.
But I’ve no doubt that software is far more flexible, capable, cheaper and quicker to use. But it’s just too much like my day job for me to want to do it.
If you love immediacy and simplicity, don’t do it. Or at least don’t chuck your gear.
Every time I go back to computers I’m reminded why I left them. (For composing.)
For me it is not what is available in the box’ it is the overall experience of making lTB music not challenging or interesting
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How do you find it less challenging?
Using the mouse is less challenging and less interesting
I need the tactile experience of touching a synth, program a drum sequence etc
Try an USB controller
I have tried all sorts of controller
I found it deadly boring programming a soft synth with the mouse.
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omg if you watch this clip first, and then watch the prior clip he made about lo-fi kicks next it’s funny as hell
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I love hardware and a DAW, I am fully hybrid.
All sequencing with the DAW
All sound sources in hardware
All FX, processing and mixing in the DAW
I have enough inputs on my audio interface for all my hardware outputs and use the DAW essentially like a digital mixer.
I use Cubase and have all audio tracks hidden on the arrange window and all MIDI tracks hidden in the mixer window. I like this compared to the one window approach of other DAW’s as it makes sequencing/writing and mixing feel like completely separate tasks almost like having 2 DAW’s running. I am also a long time Pro Tools user so that is what I am used to.
In all honesty I probably spend 50 minutes out of every hour at the DAW. My friend says what is the point, why not be completely ITB when you are staring at a screen most of the time anyway? I was completely ITB for 3 years but found it fatiguing and got bored in the end. I find that 10 minutes away from the screen makes a massive difference to my energy levels and my enthusiasm. In my day job we have regular breaks to keep us refreshed and focused and I feel the hardware in my setup achieves the same thing.
A DAW can do everything but what is the point of having a mansion in the Bahamas if you can’t find the motivation to go to the travel agents to book a flight. At the end of my 3 years ITB I had all the power in the DAW to write endless, release quality music (if I had the talent) but I couldn’t find the motivation and enthusiasm to switch it on a lot of the time.
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I can dig it.
Coming back to this: it’s really tempting to sell 90% of what I’ve got, and put that towards a super buff computer. Like, one that is WAY over powered, can fold space and time kinda fast 
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