Quantifying Touch: Examining the Differences Between Hardware and Software Input Methods in a Musical Context

Putting the decades-old discussion of analog vs. digital to the test

“The success of the computer as meta-tool is not so much a result of the aesthetic qualities of digital technology, but rather a result of the cultural significance that vintage technology has achieved in opposition to the earlier digital production tools.”

— Gaute Barlindhaug, Analog Sound in the Age of Digital Tools: The Story of the Failure of Digital Technology

 

“A lot of the records you buy, there's nothing you can hold in your hand, it's all 1's and 0's, this digital cloud floating in the ether. but with analog albums, you can hold it in your hand.”

— Dave Grohl

Human-Computer Interaction, Data Analytics, Audio Synthesis

The digital vs. analog debate in the music world was born out of the evolution of audio technology. Within decades, synths and mixers evolved from expensive hardware to quick & simple downloads, creating a divide between lovers of analog and the modern day point-and-click producer.