So.. I keep hearing and hearing and hearing how cheap vsti are in comparison to hardware synths.. but is this really the case over the long term?.. in car terms this is "total cost of ownership"
 
given the depreciation of the host computer and the zero residual value of a plug I just don't see it...
 
I buy most of my gear used. Some stuff I have sold I have made a sizeable profit, some a small loss.. The thing is, if I liquidated all my synths I would pretty much get back what I paid for them..  so I have taken the view that hardware synths are free and vsti are expensive.
 
and they are so much more fun to play with..:D
 
 

If you liquidate a hardware synth does it not stop working?

those darn three sillybubble words!.. I should have known better down 'ere

Hi,
 
I want a synthesizer ... but I know that the cost involved will be wasted, as time goes by ... I'm not even sure that "instruments" will be that important in 50 years, as we make them out to be, and computers don't!  The problem is that in a computer, adjusting the knobs and sliders is a bit harder when you are playing ... and that part will have to get easier, but too many tools out there, are taking the ability to do this as you go, away, and instead have you create the sound before, you play it.
 
In some ways, the computer has taken the "now" out of things, and the intuition that the "now" can create ... and I think that this is the part that the computer has to improve on ... but all the midi boards are taking the knobs and buttons and sliders off ... meaning that using those details live ... is going to get harder!
 
Where is Dave Smith, when we really need him? Instead of making another synth that you and I can not afford!

The outlay for hardware is usually much higher than for software but you are right that you can often get back much of the money you spent...this is assuming you are selling the synth several years after it is no longer in production.
 
But even then it has to be the right kind of synth to make money.
 
My TG77 cost over £1000 in the day but now is worth it's weight in paperback books, about £60  

Add in the time to post an advert about the synth, all the calls from the low ballers, the time wasted on that one guy that does not show up, selling hardware ain't all that profitable IMHO.
 
And as Karyn says, they cease to exist (like the bird in the Monty Python skit) and then you have another outlay for the new betterer piece of gear that will cost you twice what you just recouped.