Well, I have tried both
one could argue with a proper studio setup behind, it would be hard to tell the difference, especially once everything is mixed.
but you're not reading me right, to me it's, of course about the sound, but also about the feel, a mouse and a lambda master keyboard are not inspiring at all to me, I've tried, numerous times, and failed to do any sort of music using those.
I'm a fan of Jarre since the 80s, his music and approach heavily influenced me, and you could probably tell by my music. But I'm not convinced at all by his latest works. I'm not saying it's about the soft vs hardware.
To me, and this is a very important part, to me, it's all about the process of creating music, feeling different instruments drive my inspiration throughout the composing of a given track, it's all about using my hands on different keyboards, knobs, controllers. Each instrument is unique.
And about the sound, it's not really hard to compare at home, I've done this a long time ago, and again recently, to me, sound wise, there is no comparison. Jarre can say whatever he wants, he still has walls full of modulars, vintage and also newer keyboards and he's not getting rid of them.
I could also challenge you to get some moog, prophet and compare them to their virtual counterparts in your home studio. if I get the time, I can probably do a side by side recording of an analog vs its vst counterpart, same treatment, same mix.
you can not ever reproduce the uniqueness of any given synth, in their way, they're all different, even between the same series.
You can take the majority of known producers and artists, they all have analogs, I'm not saying they're not using virtuals also.
Hardware is not only about the sound, it's also about the journey, the experience, the relationship between the gear and the self.
you can also listen to my tracks, you can tell on the oldest ones I was all vsts, then I went with a virtual analog, the sound got noticeably fatter, then I got my MS 20 and began using it for basslines and leads, the sound got much bigger and also the style slightly changed. it's actually easy to tell.
I'm not trying to convince anyone, each to his own, especially when it comes to creativity, you don't have to believe me or agree with me, I trust in my experience and my own ears. And we all experience the world in our own way, it's ok to disagree as there is no "right way" to create art. it's just one person expressing oneself in the most pure and honest way possible, ideally.
since you posted an interesting vid, let me post one of my own, it's far from hip hop, but it depicts how one's hardware becomes a complete and central part of the creative process, inducing a great deal of, if you let it, randomness.
it's all about the relationship, at some points, it's not even about the music anymore, it's just the ability to craft raw sound with your hands, manipulating sliders, knobs, faders, patching cables. it has this transcendental aspect to it, with the right gear, it just clicks, but sometimes, you have to work to build the relationship and it has its own rewards, each synth in its very unique way. It's all about the process.
I also love the fact that in many analogs, you don't have user patches, or even factory patches, you can not recall a sound you made a couple days ago, so there's also this learning curve that goes on about synthesis, you have to truly understand everything that's going on with any of the controls if you want to be able to recreate a given sound. it's challenging and rewarding, because then you can use this in other areas.
It's ok if, to you, it's all about vst, it really is, but for me, I wouldn't have it any other way, and I truly believe my own music is good enough that way, it is for me at least. And to me, that's all that matters. I do my music primarily for myself and those who enjoy it as it is. they don't really care about how it's done, most of them wouldn't understand a word of our conversation anyway. the only person who truly cares is myself, and I'm fine the way I do my music, thankfully.
