In the latest Vulture Culture video, host Alex Dalliance shares a head-to-head comparison between the original Alesis Andromeda A6 hardware synthesizer, and the Isla Electronics ASYX software plugin.

“I put the Alesis Andromeda A6 against Asyx, Isla Electronics’ software recreation of it, with no labels,” he notes. “56% of my chat picked the plugin as the hardware.”

Dalliance shared this about his comparison:

• The SEM-derived 2-pole filter. On PWM pad material they’re virtually identical. Push the resonance and the hardware pulls ahead. It goes further and it sounds juicier, closer to that OB-X “Tom Sawyer” territory. Brad has already said he’s working on boosting the plugin’s resonance after watching this.
• The ladder filter. Slight differences in parameter scaling, but the software passes more bass and more signal through, and I prefer it. At maximum resonance the hardware gets coarser and more unstable, though I’m not sure anyone is actually running it there.
• Ring mod. The ring mod itself is spot on. But the hardware lets you mix the pre-filter ring mod post-filter, and on the software that path is much louder with a different character. That’s the biggest difference in the whole video.
• A Memorymoog-inspired vocal patch through the Andromeda’s internal chorus and room reverb. The plugin’s effects aren’t closely matched, but they sound just as good, and between those and the ladder filter I ended up preferring the software version.

Check out the video, and share your thoughts about the software vs hardware comparison in the comments!