There's a few reasons why I love analog hardware synths: - Hackability: Hardware is the "open-source" of the music world. If I have the hardware, there's nothi

There's a few reasons why I love analog hardware synths: - Hackability: Hardware is the "open-source" of the music world. If I have the hardware, there's nothing anyone can do to stop me from tweaking it in some way. I can open up any of my synths and solder components to cables in order to patch in CV to various parts of the synth that the manufacturers never intended. Additionally, modular synths are totally DIY and you build each component, then route them in various ways. In fact, much of the allure of hardware synths comes from the ability to run patch cables between components...changing the routing could mean changing the entire sound. - Personality: Hardware analog synths, especially vintage hardware, have their own personality due to the erosion of their components. Typically, the older a piece of hardware gets, the more interesting and complex its sounds become. The tuning and accuracy of each VCO and VCF are affected over time and this becomes apparent when you leave the synth running for a while (letting it "warm up"). It takes a while, but I've made some pretty amazing sounds using my college's Moog Modular and ARP 2600 (when I still went there). Digital hardware and software synths will always sound the same no matter what year you turn them on. This is great for performers, but it makes old digital gear disposable while old analog gear is valuable. - Tactile control: You just can't beat the feeling of twisting knobs and hitting pads. It's so god damn fun. Plus, I'm a performer at heart...it's more entertaining to look at someone banging on hardware than it is to see them staring at a computer screen. In fact, myself and several of my peers have been working on a "no-computers" live set in which the entire set is made up of analog synths and no computers are used on stage, to avoid a central point of failure should anything bad happen. All that being said, I still don't own an 808 and I still wouldn't. Why? Because the 808, while it is analog machinery, is quite limited in its abilities to tweak each sound. You can't just synthesize a drum sound from scratch with the 808, you have to use the 808 kick no matter what. So in my opinion, there's not really a reason to own those old drum machines these days. If you want the tactile control, get a TR-8...the samples in it sound great! If you just want to play with 808 samples, download them from that sample thread on /r/electronicmusic or something. Sounds pretty much the same at the end of the day. I do own a TB-303 though. There's just nothing else like that original acid sound. The x0xb0x, however, is much more stable and I use that while playing out...keeping the 303 in the studio for when I produce. I'd rather not risk that getting broken because it has a lot of sentimental value to me. Much of my favorite electronic music uses the 303 somewhere in its production.