What does everyone mean when they say "Anologue Sounds" compared to "Normal" sou

[ChrisEllington]

What does everyone mean when they say "Anologue Sounds" compared to "Normal" sou

What does everyone mean when they say "Anologue Sounds" compared to "Normal" sounds? Do they sound better?

Also, I need help on finding a good synth mainly for an R&B artist(myself). I like to record studio music but also "live" sounding music and I have a Soundblaster Live Soundcard.

 

[mikeh]

Analog sounds are created by generating a sound wave and then shaping that wave useing filters and other electronic controls to synthesize a musical sound - as an example to synthesize the sound of a piano. In the 70's and 80's before digital sampling was affordable most "keyboards' were analog synthesizers. Many players like analog because there are lots of knobs and sliders to play with - and you can get some bizarre sounds (some sorta real sounds).

Although I don't know what you mean by "normal" sound, I will assume you mean a "real" sound, such as the sound of a real piano.

During the last several years most keyboads are "sample playback machines" which means the sounds they create are from digittal samples of "real sounds" - like a piano. Thus, with digital samples, the piano (or whatever) sounds more "real" - or to use your phrase "normal". Many players like samples because you can quickly load in a sound you want (without having to shape it).

Regarding a good synth for recording - it all depends on what you want the synth to do. I personally think the Roland XP30 provides plenty of good sounds with the ability for certain real time control.

 

[Chriss]

You might be talking 'bout Analogue synths and Virtual Analogue synths.
Real Analogue synths are build up by small component oscillators and their oscillation is totally smooth and nice. The frequency is controlled by voltage level which is a bit unstable, but this only adds extra character to the sound.
With Virtual Analogue you have to imagine that the oscillators are replaced with small computers. Instead of smooth operation, the amplitude is gained in stairlike increases of one at a time, how rough it sounds depends on the bitrate and the processor speed.
a bitrate of 4 means 8 steps on one oscillation while 16 bits means 65536 steps.
The frequency range of the analogue oscillators is usually higher, except for the Novation Supernova/Nova series where the oscillators have a exceptionally high range for digital synths. (up to 21000 Hz, while 15000Hz on the virus and similar)

Real Analogue is extremely expensive these days but their popularity is coming back because of the clear and crisp sounds.

As for modulation, (sliders and such which mikeh mentioned), todays Virtual Analogue by far exceeds analogue synths in every way. The routing possabillitys are only dependant on the amount of dsp available and the programming crew , while on analogue synths, space and algorithms are a problem.

Just look at the new Alesis Andromeda. 8 voices (compared to 48 on the SNII and 30 on the Virus B) and a rather big modulation matrix of about 40 routings as far as i remember, while on the supernova you have more than 130 routings and 110 on the virus.
You don't usually have effects on Analogue synths like you do on V/analogue...

What a long post...