I having made the decision to commit fully to a digital based workflow, I haven’t put a lot of time or attention into keeping up with the market. But I do seem to notice less talk about outboard processing gear in and on other forums as well as this one.
However, major retailers such as Soundpure, Vintage King, and Sweetwater are still giving new hardware quite the hype. I would think the growing number of major engineers now working primarily ITB hasn’t helped the hardware retail space. I know the trend has been dying off for the last 5 years as plugins and DSP have seen a lot of market growth, but when or where might the hardware market hit bottom?
Remember those analog synths from the 60’s and 70’s? They were practically worthless in the late 80’s and 90’s. Hans Zimmer said he rescued his famous wall full of analog synths en-route to a dumpster. But now, almost 50 years later, they can bring top dollar to people that have the space, budget, and desire to own them. So will analog gear see a resurgence in x number of years?
I am about as far from a professional producer as you can get, so what I do might not be very representative. But I use outboard expansion and compression as well as an outboard effects device. I also use a couple of outboard synthesizers including a DSi mopho.
Except for synthesizers a lot of outboard gear is not terribly complex so it doesn’t really need to cost a fortune. In some cases I think people are paying more for a name or reputation than necessary. So for example I use outboard preamps that I made myself.
For the sake of convenience and cost I certainly use a lot of inboard plugins and things like that but that is not always a cost savings because some of those plugins are quite expensive especially when you start adding them up. I like using them though.
Except for the synthesizers I would say most of my outboard gear is really used for capturing the best clean signal to get it into my daw but once it is inside the computer I do everything else internally.
I tend to believe that the recording industry…, or at least the home recording enthusiasts are moving away from outboard hardware. The convenience of using software is just such a strong incentive. All that hardware that studios have, or used to have required space and upkeep. The less gear I have, the less burden I feel.
If you’ve ever listened to the UBK Happy Funtime Hour podcast, you can hear this debate again and again. UBK himself is a producer of Outboard gear (as well as plugins), and has since episode 1 extolling the virtues of real electronics vs digital. When he describes his setup, it can actually get confusing - he records through pre amps, sends it into Logic, sends that back to his outboard gear and then back into Logic. What he says makes sense. You can’t make digital behave like analogue, because they are completely different ways to shape and mould a signal.
Over the past few years I’ve sold my amps, pedals and anything else analogue. I now have a 100% digital workflow. Then recently I managed to pick up a Ibanez TS9 for €10 (fully working!). I plugged that into my setup and immediately fell in love with the sound. That pedal is an animal, but a subtle animal. But this meant I was sending my signal out of my digital guitar pedal, into the TS9, and then back into my interface as a analogue signal. The alternative to this is using a lovely plugin made by the geniuses at Mercurial, which emulates the TS808.
Now I’m not a professional by a long stretch, but I will say that I have sensitive ears. I’ll be darned if I can’t tell the difference between the pedal and the plugin. They are that close to each other. The ability to throw on a pair of headphones and do a little mixing, and not be restricted by outboard gear in any way.
It’s on my summer to do list - sit down and make my templates for Logic. It’s a really big wish of mine that I get my guitar, bass and drums to sound warm and lush and much less digital.