which do you have? more of new synths or do you own more vintage gear?

also i want to say do you like older gear more or new gear more.. and explain why if yes?

 

Newer synths are generally more feature packed depending on your price range, I’m a fan of plugins like Serum 2, Pigments, Falcon, VCV, etc. but nothing beats classics, and there’s a bunch of plugins that bring older hardware into modern day compositions and transcending its original ability. It just depends on the plugin, I have more recent plugins because they’ll work on Mac and I don’t really have much hardware gear, most of the instruments not installed as plugins or libraries for a computer are acoustic, like a trumpet or clarinet.

if you use windows, you can find potential gold in 32 bit plugins and find some with more flavor and meat on the bone, but most of the ones installed on my windows laptop are one-trick monsters

 

If it makes interesting sounds and it's not too painful to use, I like it. Why differentiate?

 

Doesn't matter so much. I just love to play with the buttons and faders and hear what they do. Also, LED screens and LEDs look cool.
I'm kinda half joking. It is inspiring to play with various parameters outside "the box".
Mousing is not as much fun. That's why I also have (too) many MIDI controllers.

 

I still use a handful of rack synths and UVI Falcon for my main sound sources. Outside of this, not much else but keep some vst synths installed for older projects I used them on. I also bounce nearly everything to audio to minimize errors with missing plugins especially on older projects.

 

Some synths have such a small display that if you want to create presets or sound banks, you have to connect the synth to the PC via USB and then load the corresponding editor. The keyboard is usually too small, so you have to connect a 61-note MIDI keyboard via the Kenton box to play properly. Some synths even have mini keys, and some keys are spongy. I've sold most of my synths, and others are in my closet, mostly due to lack of space.

Access Virus - TI Snow, Novation - MiniNova, Waldorf - Blofeld, Yamaha - MX49, Roland - SH-01, Korg - R3

I now have a large box of cables and sockets. Laying the cables to the mixer is an art in itself. Once I had the repairmen home, I had to dismantle the desk and synth racks and label all the cables with paper labels: Name, Stereo L, and Stereo R.

Now I'm playing a new, modern synth, the ASM Hydrasynth, which also comes with the editor for additional presets. It even has a ribbon controller and a 4-octave Polytouch® keybed. The quality ASM has delivered is pretty impressive.

 

Last edited: Sep 13, 2025 at 5:48 PM

My answer is the same as for the old silly digital vs. analog question: Hybrid/everything is the mode of choose.

The "vintage" synth I use for their individual sonic characteristics (Roland Alpha-Juno 1, Moog Minitaur, Roland XV-5050, ...) or some presets or signature sounds. Same can be said for the more modern ones (Hydrasynth, MEGAfm, Dreadbox Nymphes, ...). On the other hands I like vst synth (Serum, Omnisphere, Kontakt, ...) for the sheer amount of possibilities and presets. Many surprising moments came from clicking through random presets in Serum or Omnisphere. One thing I love about using hardware is combining it with some other hardware (=signal chain). Of course you can send/return vst synth through your out-of-the-box gear, which I do sometimes - sometimes not, because it is another step.

Short: hybrid - all the way. I use what I like and this contains both vintage and modern. Where is the border anyway?

 

I much prefer newer, modern synths. They are easier to maintain, parts and maintenence are less expensive and they require less work to begin with. They are also more feature packed / flexible. Some vintage synths hold their value better than newer ones, a juno or prophet etc pretty much only go up in value over the years, but they can be a pain in the ass. The prophet at my studio has had to go into the shop probably every 2 years or so.

I have a beautiful Juno 106, just recently had it tuned up ( 500 bucks lol), but the rest of my personal collection is modern, including many behringer ripoffs, as well as a few i made myself, either from kits, or from my own design and circuit bending. At the studio there are a lot more vintage, but i honestly barely use them.

 

That is why I have no older synths. I'm from time to time tempted to replace the Ensonique ESQ and Kurzweil 2500SX that I had years ago but then my sanity returns and am happy with the Polybrute, Subharmonicon/DFAM and Drumbrute Impact at my disposal.