Try a soft synth on your PC and if you think it's a fine synth emulation then try it again with another soundcard! The result is that your fine sounds have changed their face!!!
Compare it with a real hardware synth! If you create a good sound on your Korg then save it on disc, bring it to your friend's Korg and you'll have the same sound.

Well, another problem is: The only computer that was ever made for music were the Atari ST/Falcon series (and following clones produced in Europe). Also newer hardware synths which can easily be named as "music computers".

Why this?
Well, at first the computer. The Atari Corp. decided to create a computer concept which includes a midi interface and a special MFP chip which controlled the midi interrupt. So it was easy to develope music software - especially soft sequenzers - for it. Also the (T)OS operated in single task (switchable between single and multi in the later TOS version "Multi-TOS"). So, the music software could handle with 100% of the task window (no latency). Also the Atari computers were built in robust and habile cases with long life electronics.
Unfortuntely this computer concept died a long and painful way... ...but that's another story...

Second, the music-computer. At the beginning of the 90's I bought a synth which had touched my soul with its fantastic sounds - a K2000 by Kurzweil!!! It was the 19" rack version K2000RS with a 16MB sampler on board. With its big display (I guess it was one of the first soft button menus), its floppy disc drive (DOS 1.44MB) and its two SCSI ports the K2k seemed to me more like a computer than like a synth. More than ever if I knew that all the filters, envelopes and oscillators are only programmed parameters. Hm, and the sampler came with its own sample editor. And samples are wave files - again digital parameters and values. But the whole hardware is made for music only - both electronic and case.

Conclusion: I will never renounce my hardware gear including the Atari. I will never use computers and their software in life situations (especially not for main control functions). Though I trust it I have to include the Atari because it's never easy to handle a software in life situations and it isn't very advisable to use computers in open air concerts (especially on rainy days).

It's another thing if you're working in studio surrounding. There you have time enough to try this or that, to simply do what you want. If your computer hasn't a good timing invest your time to correct it in an editor. If your software is hard to handle then no matter because you have time. If you want to create loops with your sampler (hard or soft based) you'll always spend many time for it.

I don't see that emulators are similar to the original synth but they are near to it. I don't hate soft synths but I don't need it. Though if I'll find a good soft sound then I'll feel free to record it with my hardware sampler...

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Greetings from Frankfurt (Germany),
Sheriff ;-)

[This message has been edited by Sheriff (edited 09-25-2005).]