Hardware or software

[microchip]

I'm not really a newbie, but have been gone from working on music for a while and ready to get back into it.

I have a great computer to work on home recording, but it will not be dedicated just to that, so here is my question...

At one time I had 2 synths I used. However, with much less room, I was wondering exactly how synth software works. Is it a matter of getting a controller keyboard and then purchasing software sounds/soft synths and then connecting via MIDI? Then the controller keyboard acts as the keyboard and the computer acts as the sounds and sound variables?

And, if I am using recording software such as a Cakewalk program, would it not be too much of a hassle to go back and forth between recording screens and synth screens with only one monitor?

Just looking for ideas as to where to go from here. At one time I had a Korg MS2000 and a Roland RS-5, but I would prefer to have something I can sit on my desk. If it helps, the type of music I work on is ambient, space, atmospheric, New Age type music. I am looking for sounds that will fit into that genre.

Any help is appreciated.

[LfO]

We write the same style of music, and while I have a few hardware synths in my studio, I find myself using them les and less over time. If, like you say, you have a cpu with decent processing power, you can open plenty of softsynths simultaneously, switch them out easily, and they remember their settings on their own. I'm also using Cakewalk, and while I am enjoying the upgrade to a 16:9 ratio monitor I recently purchased, I worked for a three or four years with a standard 17" monitor, and switching between dialogs was never really a problem.

Yes, you have the idea with softsynth/MIDI controller interaction. If you want the best of both worlds, get one nice hardware synth with MIDI outs, which you can then use as as both a synth and controller, while taking up only one devices' worth of space.