There has been something in the back of my mind, so I am posting about this, because I find it interesting. I will use two different examples that I personally have bumped into, and it should set the stage for this discussion. The first is Steinberg's Hypersonic. I remember people posting that this is an old outdated plugin. I just kind of chuckled to myself, because I have purposely kept this around because to me it has some warm kits and good sounds. Some of my favorite mixes in my archives are done with this plugin, and for this reason I have no intention of putting it away as outdated. How does good sound become outdated? Isn't this putting way too much politics in the equation? To stop using said tool because it's not popular or new instead of letting your ear and results decide for you?

Another one is Ueberschall Elastik. They do indeed do things a little differently, but they also have things in their arsenal that is unique. I have heard people talk this down as "old hat" or "not very good", but to me it is something I actively seek out as quality.

So you see my point here for this discussion? To me it is about how the tool is used rather than how new and cutting edge it is by concensus. What say ye?

 

Don't take advice from children. If it sounds good, use it creatively.

 

Ever since I was a kid, and I heard Depeche' Mode come out with a track called 'People are people,' and how they found the sounds to put in that track. Nearly all of them came from on board a battleship, I was hooked on sound and what could be done with it.

I too still have (and use) Hypersonic, and I wouldn't part with it either, although I mostly use it now for layering sounds!

 

Isn’t Hypersonic 32 bits? For one, it’s not for sale anymore, so technically speaking, that makes it outdated. I guess when technology makes its use complicated it starts to go to green pastures. That being said, I loved it and used it a lot in the past. You just brought it back to my radar. Thank you.

 

All dubstep presets.

 

Outdated today => retro cool tomorrow

 

for me 32 bit software is outdated i have had none of it almost 10 years ( plugins programs apps etc.)
sound wise nothing is really outdated unless it just catches you as "cheesy" and uninspiring.

 

outdated is very hard to define ...
I can listen hours of "progressive rock"... and cyber gothic metal

But i can't stand playing old synth emulations like Arturia, XILS and more.
Don't inspire me at all. Cheesy envelops and such.

BUT i love Komplexer/Waldorf emulations.
Some FM stuff, like modern Sytrus can do. Less DX7 like.

It is a matter of inspiration and avoiding "clichés".

Cheesy sound, amazing inspiration. Sound is clearly outdated. Music itself is immortal :

 

you don't have time to think about this

 

Hip-Hop. It's "outdated" in that its creative and innovative potential had been reached, and then suddenly forsaken, a quarter-century ago – about the time when white kids started appropriating it as the soundtrack to their misbehavior. Rapping is mostly arhythmic and poetically artless now. I hear a hip-hop track now, and just ask, "Why?!" It sounds like it belongs in and to the 20th Century, both culturally and commercially.

 

Like in no other time, we are more a conglomerate of all that we as human creatures have distilled from the cosmic consciousness, our shared musical history but one aspect of that shared consciousness. What fuels this is our newfound ability to be but a hair's breadth from cherry picking every song in recorded history and to osmos it through our personal filter to make it our own. In the natural stride of a genre it is transformed by the forward thinking artist into something other in order that it can born anew. A genre sucks then it dies...to rise again as a phoenix from its very own ashes upon the warm updraft of its own funeral pyre. The same goes for all things in all circumstances...shit churns.
picture hosting

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 14, 2018

I don't think anything can really be outdated when it comes to sound.

Says a dinosaur.

But seriously, if you make a great new track that people love, with hardware from the 90s or 32-bit plugins from 10 years ago and this is completely, entirely, utterly possible, then what is outdated when it comes to sounds? Guitars have been with us for thousands of years and we still listen to them. Drums also hasn't changed much, but we like them as it is. Many instrments haven't changed for centuries, yet we still listen to them and love them. I think same can be applied to synthesisers and samplers.

The main ingredient is the art of making a good sounding track, with meaningful lyrics first of all. That's something that many people don't get these days, I think.

So don't be worried about using "outdated" sounds or instruments. Worry about the arrangement, melodies, chords and lyrics. That's the most important thing IMHO. That's what music is all about.

--- sent from my outdated Windows XP SP3 ---

 

That...was...fucking amazing.

 

My Les Paul is so f*cking outdated, but it's still kinda cool!

 

I would DEARLY love to read some of the submissions to Lyrics.com for this track!

 

This is SOOOO true. That's why it's in the back of my mind instead of the front.

 

I can run 32 bit softs on my 64 bit machine. I do it all the time. For me it's not a good criteria for not using it. We all know this is subjective, and we all do things differently. I just get a chuckle out of the "easily led" or keeping up with the Jones. To me it's about how you apply it rather than a date on it or bit. Just saying. You do what you want and I will continue chuckling. Cool.

 

You're a mind reader.