Analog Synths sound dated?

But things like Arp's and early polysynths to me do sound dated at times. 

 

It's a perception issue, nothing else.

 

What is called "analog synthesizer" these days is akin to a musical instrument ... what is called "digital synthesizer" these days is not an instrument ... it's a "workstation" and a replacement for a lot of other instruments in an orchestra or otherwise.

 

In those days, synthesizers were used as an INSTRUMENT and many players solo'd with it. Folks like Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson pushed that envelop and also started using the synthesizers as an instrument from an orchestra, for the most part the string and organ sounds, with slight variations to make them more attractive and not as copycat.

 

The old debate that one is warmer than the other, isstrictly a preference and has nothing to do with anything else. If it were the opposite and digital came first we would be saying the same thing since that was what we heard first and got more familiar with. But how it is used, as an instrument by itself, or as a replacement for the strings in an orchestra (let's say) .... yeah ... the real thing will always sound better and warmer ... but then, I'm also gonna say, that you have not been listening to some things out there ... Miroslav samples are insanely good and even Genesis and many other bands have been using them for years, which means that our perception is slanted,... and badly so!

 

An instrument is, really, never outdated. We may think that the contracello is outdated, but it is still used in orchestras and there are many pieces that have parts written for them ... thus, an analog synth will always have a spot here and there, depending on how the musicians uses it and brings it alive.

 

No one sits here and says that Miles is out dated ... we might say that Chuck Berry sounds out dated ... but instruments themselves don't usually die and disappear ... they morph into other instruments. In the end, an analog synthesizer is going to last a lot more than the other synthesizers, that these days are a dime a dozen ... and more often than not too difficult for anyone to do anything with it, unless you have a year off work, and get paid to learn it. An analog synthesizer is more of an "experiencial" thing than an instrument, since one can change things as they feel them an dillustrate them with their vision, and that is not something that a regular "instrument" does as well. It has other sonic structures, based on its differences in sounds and effects, that almost all instruments do not have and can not produce at all.

 

In the end, the "Analog Synthesizer" will be remembered. All others will not be called synthesizers anymore because ... they aren't! ... they are samplers and workstations whose job is to help you stay organized during a performance and bring up the sound samples when you need them ... the keyboard player only "plays" when he/she is doing a solo ... which is one of the reasons why in so many of the bands these days, I do not consider their "keyboard" player ... because he's not playing ... and he probably couldn't play a lick if he was slapped into doing it! I might as well go sample everything and then ... show you how good I am ... and I didn't play a single chord, and you thought I was great!

 

It's a 100% perception issue ...

 

But many did, hence the popularity of the Oberheim and Prophet synths.