In 20 years most external hardware will be vintage gear and companies won't be producing them anymore. Algos will get better and better and computers will get faster and faster. I have no doubt that it will get to the point that every single piece of analog gear can be modeled so close to 100% as to be undetectable to human ears or even most audio analyzers.
 
(jumps back into the shadows)

smallstonefan
In 20 years most external hardware will be vintage gear and companies won't be producing them anymore. Algos will get better and better and computers will get faster and faster. I have no doubt that it will get to the point that every single piece of analog gear can be modeled so close to 100% as to be undetectable to human ears or even most audio analyzers.
 
(jumps back into the shadows)

Just look how much things have changed in just the last 5 to 10 years...
 
Dan
 

Someday they will be selling NOS plugins...
 
- for my guitar geek buddies out there! :)

dcumpian

smallstonefan
In 20 years most external hardware will be vintage gear and companies won't be producing them anymore. Algos will get better and better and computers will get faster and faster. I have no doubt that it will get to the point that every single piece of analog gear can be modeled so close to 100% as to be undetectable to human ears or even most audio analyzers.
 
(jumps back into the shadows)

Just look how much things have changed in just the last 5 to 10 years...
 
Dan
 

A hundred years ago musicians were blowing horns, fifty years ago they started slinging strings... Nowadays musicians draw patterns.
The best of us create masterpieces, regardless of the equipment. The rest just keep on coveting the magical gear. Sometimes, listening to the greatest hits of the past, I wonder, how could engineers release such crappy recordings?
That legendary tone of [your favorite Artist name here] pulled out of the mix isn't that fancy, or inspiring, in fact mediocre at best. That is, according to modern standards. I firmly believe, that the role of gear in music is highly exaggerated. The reason we enjoy those sweet, great songs of good ol' days is mainly because the music itself speaks books to us.
 

 

Interesting discussion.... and a great read.   Personally I believe ITB is totally doable these days assuming one has captured good audio on the way in.     One thing I didn't see in the discussion was comparison of a professional hardware studio to a professionally crafted ITB audio chain that follows the same audio flow as a hardware-only based studio.    
 
Something to consider when mixing ITB is to create the entire hardware chain used in a pro studio with your plugin tools, not just adding random plugins or presets and expecting your mix to magically sound professional.  Spent many years and $$$ buying plugins with little progress in quality and little to show for it:(
 
For me, only when someone suggested starting with a basic framework to truly emulate all the components that make up the professional hardware studio's "audio magic"  did it start to come together.    i.e, start with a proper Channel Strip chains(tape, compressor, console emulation, etc), Bus Templates (compression, delay, reverb, etc), Master Bus settings (Tape, Console Emulation, Compressor, Limiter, etc...), that are all properly gain staged, so your mix starts from a solid foundation.    If you don't have that initial foundation to start from, all the great plugins you find out there will never sound as good as the video demo that prompted their purchase.      I think what is missing in many ITB mixes is that something is missing in the overall chain or a bad initial capture of the source material  occurred.  
 
When I first bought a UAD Apollo and some UAD plugs last year and started inserting random plugs into my mixes, my mixes were not incrementally better as a result.   After watching a video on the EMT Plate 140, understanding it,  and using the plug in a digital realm did not automatically produce the same results as how they were used the EMT Plate in a studio back in the days of tape and mixing desks.   However, set-up the EMT Plate Reverb Bus to include some Studer or other Tape Sim, Compressor, EQ'ing and then it comes pretty close to the original hardware results in my opinion.  This is of course assuming a good initial capture, proper gain staging, etc...  My 2 cents...
 
 
Regards

yorolpal
@Mosvalve...Then you need to check out the work of Sylvia Massy. A well known, well respected and creative engineer, mixer and producer who has worked with some of the biggest names in the business. She has used all manner of hi and lo fi gear to record simply stellar projects and doesn't adhere to any of the conventional rules when doing so. Thankfully, she puts the lie to many hidebound notions in the audio ethos.

 
Here in this video Sylvia Massy makes my point about hardware. She states that she records through a console and that the most important gear is a preamp. She said no matter what mic's you use you must have a good preamp. I don't see any cheap gear in this video.
I'm not taking Technique, making sounds with garbage can lids etc I'm saying the signal going into the box and every engineer video I watched used the good old hardware that some here say don't matter anymore. An SM57 was used on Michael Jackson recordings, Mick Jaggar used one and many others but it wasn't plugged into a two hundred dollar preamp. That's my point. I'm talking before the box not after. Where are you Larry?? Lol.
 
 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ksVA69HICE

Soundwise

dcumpian

smallstonefan
In 20 years most external hardware will be vintage gear and companies won't be producing them anymore. Algos will get better and better and computers will get faster and faster. I have no doubt that it will get to the point that every single piece of analog gear can be modeled so close to 100% as to be undetectable to human ears or even most audio analyzers.
 
(jumps back into the shadows)

Just look how much things have changed in just the last 5 to 10 years...
 
Dan
 

A hundred years ago musicians were blowing horns, fifty years ago they started slinging strings... Nowadays musicians draw patterns.
The best of us create masterpieces, regardless of the equipment. The rest just keep on coveting the magical gear. Sometimes, listening to the greatest hits of the past, I wonder, how could engineers release such crappy recordings?
That legendary tone of [your favorite Artist name here] pulled out of the mix isn't that fancy, or inspiring, in fact mediocre at best. That is, according to modern standards. I firmly believe, that the role of gear in music is highly exaggerated. The reason we enjoy those sweet, great songs of good ol' days is mainly because the music itself speaks books to us.
 

 

I'm sorry but most of the music today is crapp. Back in those days they were real engineers. Today were are using plugins like Abbey Road Real ADT and the creativity of those engineers back then was amazing.

Mosvalve
 
I'm sorry but most of the music today is crapp. Back in those days they were real engineers. Today were are using plugins like Abbey Road Real ADT and the creativity of those engineers back then was amazing.

It's not that I disagree, but wasn't there the same amount of crap in music in the days of old?

Soundwise

Mosvalve
 
I'm sorry but most of the music today is crapp. Back in those days they were real engineers. Today were are using plugins like Abbey Road Real ADT and the creativity of those engineers back then was amazing.

It's not that I disagree, but wasn't there the same amount of crap in music in the days of old?

The days of old had its share of crap music to. 

Yummy, yummy, yummy...I got love in my tummy!