Analog snubbery

2013-02-21 09:40:40

I recently came along a thread on one forum where a guy was attempting to write his own emulation of the legendary SP1200 sampler. He was met with derision and claims how you cannot "replicate the analog warmth". When some other guy pointed out that vinyl actually has a lower dynamic range than the evil digital CD, other guys immediately wrote what pretty much amounts to "But it sounds better anyways right? Right?". Then another guy started to go on about how we should not listen to digital because it is "ones and zeroes" and we are not robots, and about how nobody is making plugins to emulate the sound of computers (tell that to every bitcrusher maker, Amiga mod enthusiast, chiptune maker etc.). All these people seemed to be under the impression that SP1200 aliasing is actually ring modulation and that it is somehow an analog sampler despite its typical warm and crunchy sound coming from the very limitations of low samplerate digital audio. How to counter people who think just because they have some nice old gear that they are suddenly doing "analog sound" and stuff like this?

Analog snubbery

Reply #1 – 2013-03-31 22:28:15

Tell them the stuff you told us. Then you have argumentatively countered their erroneous POV. If you expect to sway them, prepare to get disappointed most of the time. You may convince a few handful in your lifetime, but don't expect anything breathtaking.

It's not simply a matter of erroneous technical analysis here, it's a matter of faith. Yeah, I don't understand it either, but again, faith. It's like arguing with creationists etc. There's nothing to be understood about it, as even Martin Luther allegedly readily confessed, though he seemed to be proud of it.

"Die Vernunft ist das größte Hindernis für den Glauben, weil alles Göttliche ihr absurd scheint."

"Reason is the greatest hurdle for faith, for all that is divine seems absurd to her."


Edit: Oh boy, I see this forum is generally inactive enough to have threads older than a month on the front page. Guess I'll need to read more carefully from now on.

Analog snubbery

Reply #2 – 2013-06-07 11:21:29

Hey mate it's all right