No, definitely not needed. Analog gear is just a diffferent way of achieving a sound, with experience you can get very similar sounds from digital equipment too, especially some of the plug ins that have come out in the last couple of years. Not saying there’s not a palce for analog gear and the flavors it can bring for some people, but don’t look at it as something you HAVE to have. Making tracks sound full is just down to practice, not the gear you use in most cases.
Mainly what Tarekith said, long have gone the days where digitally made music sounded cheap (unless you don’t know how you work your tools). If you are trying to replicate analogue sound, you will be better off with hardware, but there are lots of things that can be achieved in the digital realm only, let’s not forget there are lots of plugins that instead of trying to imitate their intercessors choose to innovate.
My mate was showing me this the other day, drop that bitch in divine mode and you damn near on par with any analog synth out there. The filter is so smooth it’s hard to believe they were able to do this with a VST
Samplers and synths imply a little more than the units themselves, as it suggests a mixing console.
I would say that analogue really can bring something unique to the party. If you are working purely in the box vs someone who is using an external sampler, synths, mixing console, nice bus compressor there is a chance given the same recording, production mixing ability, the hardware mix might sound different. This could be related to both the operational differences/mindset and the sound of the units themselves. The small variations even in output opamp type / analogue circuitry of a digital machine such as synth or sampler can make small differences to the audio as a whole. Of course add analogue summing and the chances of a different sound quality have been created. A common cited problem with ITB is " I cannot get any separation" and things can end up sounding “samey”.
As far as sounding rounded well thats subjective and I cannot say specifically it will sound more rounded. It will sound different and a lot of people still seem to feel it is worth the investment in their mixes to approach it this way. A great deal can be achieved ITB these days with the many emulations there are, a big part will come down to eq and dynamic control ultimately and this requires a fairly high level of skill to get right.
As a peculiar example… say you take a mix ITB and one from a hardware/mixer studio you could make either sound fuller or thinner with 2 eq moves, very easily so do not be too hung up on it as the tools will be secondary. However given a skilled mixer and the same equipment abilities the hardware version has a chance to sound better subjectively speaking.
I would say you can get a rounded sound without analogue/hardware. However I know analogue can do things digital cannot yet sonically achieve. Analogue is highly complex, the way components interact, disparities between channels, aging of components, circuit interactions, unique non linearity that changes with level/ frequency content. It’s organic and that in itself imparts something which the closed digital system cannot yet achieve.
I know my clients appreciate the analogue touch I can add to their productions.
Thanks for taking the time to put such good reply together. Its always one of them topics that will never go away and its good to get other peoples views.
