As an example, a lot of chiptune musicians use Game Boys to write their music. A Game Boy is just a basic computer for playing video games. LSDJ/Nanoloop/whatever is all software designed to run on the Game Boy, which people use to write music. So, it's still a computer telling a synthesizer what to do.

On a similar note, a lot of modern synthesizers/drum machines/samplers/etc are all basic computers running a specialised OS for accessing or generating a synthesized sound or playing back samples, so unless you're 100% analogue you're still using a "hybrid" approach by your own definition.

Your computer tells your sound card's hardware what sounds it needs to reproduce as well, it has to go through a hardware stage at some point.

Anyway I tend to agree with what Jellica's already said

This. I myself combine hardware and software. I use LSDJ x2, an E-Mu Systems Emulator I, a Roland Juno-2, and a ton of vstis and battery 3 plus a whole slew of software trackers and DAWs. It really depends on your style and creative process. Find what works for you.

I'm for the Hybrid way... it's true that real hardware has its special touch (especially on chips like the 6581 where you can definitely hear the difference between 2 chips) and even if an YM2149 is a simple digital chip, the audio output of an Atari has its amount of dirt not recreated by Emulations but following the current trend, is the next Years, playing samples off a Sounblaster 128 will add a Vintage touch to them (there are already Plugins playing samples like older 8 and 12 bit samplers like the Mirage and S900... and also remember the Amiga Gabber craze in the the 90s ).

Now, it's rather easy to integrate true hardware in a modern setup (with stuff like the Midibox Sid, HS4U, Prophet 64 etc) and on the other hand, the accuracy of plugin based emulations has also increased a lot. So I'm also using plugs like Chipsound and Quadrasid (when I'm on the move for example) and unless you are after the real raw sound of hardware, the amount of FXs and treatments put on the audio signal makes it hard to differentiate.

This of course also applies to higher level synths (analogue drum machines and synths etc).. but if playing a bit with real hardware is a lot of fun, you end up sampling your synth lines and loops  in your DAW and play them as samples for convenience

I went from software to pure hardware, now I'm back with software but using my hardware as samples etc. Much of it has to do with live performance and pure logistics. And of course with how I like to write music, I like to make livetakes, edit them to bits and pieces and continue with that more than say do a song in tracker and then just mix and record it.

I dont really care. If sitting front of computer when making music gets to you somehow, you probably sit front of computer too much anyway. I have huge respect for people who do music with just hardware, but it shouldnt be everyones goal to be just purely this or that. Each to it's own.

i dont really get what you mean

Well by that method 99% people using 'hardware' are doing Hybrid then, including PCs.

but in music terms, it's what creates the sound, right?

this is how i see it at least

Hardware = soundchips create the sounds
Software = programs create the sounds
Hybrid = programs tell the hardware how to make the sounds

Heh, thats true. I think what ppl mean is dedicated hardware. I suppose I could put 10 SIDs in my PC, and build a custom OS that just Boots to some software that interfaces with the SIDs. But that would be down right silly.

edit: hardSID is rad.

EDIT: that post was stupid, sorry

this just in : PC/Mac is hardware.

Piggy software on chinese hardware.

i use mostly hardware now but my computer barely functions to post crap like this, so obviously hardware but i would like to dabble around on a compy every now and again, im not opposed to the idea or anything.

I've really tried to do the hybrid approach, but I haven't yet made anything that I'd want to listen to on a PC or a Mac.

Having a limitless approach with any number of sounds and instruments doesn't help me at all. I'd rather be restricted by my own talent (on the guitar) or by CPU capabilities (on something like a Game Boy).

There's something really nice and satisfying about using pure hardware.

I guess one of the best parts of it is that you don't need to go anywhere near a fucking souless PC/Mac to make music or have any access to the internet to distract you.

a lot of hardware nowadays has the ability to be controlled via software, like providing midi data in logic for your c64 via mssiah. best of both worlds!