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First off, let me thank this subreddit and the community of support and encouragement it provides. I've been diving into modular synths and music production, and have read, watched, and seen many discussions about the various hardware, and software, available to make awesome modular bleep bloops. It's a journey, and can be a real challenge, to even figure out which hardware purchases are necessary or helpful, while at the same time still learning additional software/production processes that rely on the hardware that is fundamental to recording and producing music/audio in this digital world we're living in.
As an amateur who has their first case, but only has 2 modules, I've been using a lot of DAW/VCV rack to produce, and I wanted to offer my perspective on the relationship between Hardware and Software, and why my goal is to be almost-DAW-less.
- A big computer science fundamental is the fact that a printed PCB with code literally etched into the metal is going to be able to process instructions and inputs really, really fast. When you add software on top of that PCB, like code to interpret all the 1's and 0's, you add a layer of abstraction, and is going to be just a bit slower than the operations on the board itself. It's slower because the electronic board only takes in one type of signal, and the code it's using has to translate some instruction into binary to work. By the time we start talking about a piece of software like Ableton, translating audio signals and analogue inputs into digital information, we have many layers of abstraction that form our ability to produce music on a computer, with a fairly important caveat to consider: all the work being done to make it possible to record music is done in a linear and sequential fashion. So that means that when you're recording a beat off a beatpad, that input has a delay, which can be made worse, or better, based on what hardware and software you have at your disposal. It's why most home studio recommendations start with an Audio Interface: the hardware and software a modern desktop computer are versatile and can do some of what you need, but not enough to cover all your bases.
The same is said for the relationship between modular software like VCV, and the hardware we buy and sell to find more awesome sounds out of these modular synths. When I tried to talk to people before about the difference between clicking and turning knobs on a screen and actually using the hardware, I couldn't put my finger on why it's so important, but this Hardware-Software relationship, and the "lag" it can generate, is a big part of it. I think part of why it's difficult is because sometimes it only becomes a problem when you get to a certain point in your own musical journey where you find the other side of the vast options available on a DAW like ableton or VCV rack.
This isn't the end of it, it's really only the beginning of figuring things out, but for the others who read and lurk this sub looking for advice on which gear to buy or how to pick the right modules, I wanted to share my perspective and hope that it encourages others to think and ponder on it as well. Or skip to the end and get the TL
R: Hardware and software are always going to be tugging at each other, and part of being better at tinkering with this stuff involves learning how to discern where you land in any given situation.
Thanks for reading!
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