Moral of the story: tubes blow, amps fry out way more often for me than computers crash - way more reliable than my tube amps and flexibility just blows them away!
It’s over for me and real amps, I’ll toy with them at home for fun though, not for playing out or rehearsing.
With a permission of the author from the Keyboard Players in Cover Bands FB group, I share this photo.
Korg Kronos.
The author had to wiggle all the SATA connectors and the RAM modules. The worst part was removing and replacing the 20-odd screws that fix the bottom panel to the chassis.
Fortunately, the remedial work fixed the Kronos and all was working fine by the time the set was due to start.
Brian Long, in the Gig Performer Facebook group says:
Back in April, I went from hardware synths (MODX, Jupiter-X, and a Fantom 7) to 100% Gig Performer. A couple of weeks ago I took a leap and sold all 3 of those synths as I had not powered on a single one of them since May. Total in my pocket from Reverb was $6500. I guess you can say Gig Performer definitely saves you money!
That’s what I tell to my wife. This is perhaps the big difference between the very visible hardware synths and the plugins discreetly added to the existing collection … I love GP
In fact I do it from the beginning and I keep two totals: the one including special offers and the one without discounts. When I look at the first total I get worried. Then I look at the second total and I am comforted…
That’s totally fine, i didnt expect you to have only the most precious Synthesizer gems.
I mainly “wow’ed” because of the sheer number of instruments you own… must be a great view.
I use GigPerformer, because I don’t like to carry the physical load of all the gear I would need to emulate all the digital effects I can use in GigPerformer. (Could not resist to reverse the roles: digital effects are the real thing, hardware just tries to mimic them )
Further: Signal/noise ratio can be much better, less patch-cords that might introduce hum, less problems with ground-loops (Except for one: the ground connection of the computer), etcetera.
There is also the possibility of rather easily integrating, songs and patches. Even chords can be displayed. The possibility of scripting makes sure almost everything can (easily) be glued together.
Then, on top of al that, lots of effects are free or available for low prices (guitar player: so no need for an expensive (but fancy) Vienna Sound Library and so on).
This all together makes that (virtual!) I’m using a 4*12” cabinet with a recording chain using a Neve console and some exotic sennheiser mike’s for this variation, and a 2*10” cabinet with a Focusrite SC console plus Beyerdynamic mike recording chain for another variation. This all fits in my laptop-bag and it doesn’t weight anything, except for the 6 kilo’s of laptop, powersupply and a second computer display.
This answer saves me from saying exactly the same thing !
I will add however that as a MIDI guitar player, plugins cost me a bit more, but I have not invested in cabinets, mics and consoles - except for an SM58 and a Yamaha MG-06 mixer
For me the transition from hardware to computer was gradual.
There were 3 important dates in my musical equipment.
1982: the discovery of multi-track recording at home with the Fostex 250 4-track K7 (after years of hiss recordings on Revox). No more trips to the studio and no more savings to pay for overtime.
1985: the discovery of computer music with the Yamaha CX5M containing 8x 4 operator FM synths + an 8 track daw and supplied with a master keyboard. It allowed me to get my feet wet with computer music.
Coupled in 1988 with a MidiMic vocal mic with aux in, I experimented with (monophonic) midi guitar.
2020: the discovery of GP, key to the musicians’ paradise on stage and the almost definitive abandonment of the hardware that I still use during “cultural musical meetings” with my punk friends.