Softsynth recommendations

[TheHobbit]

Was going to respond in the Largo post but here instead. Decided not to go down the Largo route, too many issues on researching it and to be honest after demo'ing I didn't quite do it.

TBH recently purchased a few plugins that really compliment the Virus's sound and my music genres.

The following, imho, are really worth checking out (in no particular order) :

Lennards Sylenth 1
(The latest update swayed me once the bugs from the previous version were resolved). An amazing synth and really hits home the sounds I was after (303 styles etc) which the virus doesn't quite hit.

u-he Zebra 2.5
Something about this plugin that just catches my ear. For me this compliments my Prophet08 very well. Again an amazing sounding plugin with a lot of quality presets/soundbanks (dance, ambient and the like) out there for it. Good fun to program and a great learner for those who want to mess with modular synthesis. The sound on this plugin is to be honest excellent.

Freeware really worth checking out :

Synth1
http://www.geocities.jp/daichi1969/softsynth/

Synth1 is a software synthesizer. Functionally it is modelled on the Clavia Nord Lead 2 Red Synth.

I have never got on with this until recently. The latest update is more user friendly and finally I have got into using it and downloading some presets. This plugin is fucking awesome. It's basically a NordLead2 clone and in fact will actually load the hardware's versions patches (how cool is that).
Try it you wont regret this one....promise!

NI Kore player
http://www.native-instruments.com/#/...r/kore-player/
Great freebie from NI and has some amazing free patches. Reason it's free there's loads of soundsets you can buy. That aside as your don't have to buy them there are some really good free patches available. I dont like romplers (think they are a waste of money, prefer synths but that's personal taste and logic I guess).
TAL-Elek7ro

Free simple and fun.

TAL-Elek7ro is a virtual analog synth with some special features like oscillator hardsync and frequncy modulation. Including improved alias free oscillators, new developed fast envelopes and lfo's with a wide range from 0.1Hz up to 400 Hz. A free routable envelope with attack and decay is available too. This synth is useful for a wide range of sounds from percusion to deep bass sounds.

http://kunz.corrupt.ch/?Products:VST_TAL-Elek7ro

Boomed-FM II
http://speargear.awardspace.com/news.htm
Really nice bass sounds and a good compliment.

Anyway thought I'd share. I am NOT saying that these are better than anything else. They are what I have found that HAVE impressed me and being used in some current productions.

Others to think about :

NI Massive
NI Kontakt
NI Battery (I have really got to liking this for drums and routing beats)
reFx Vanguard (Little dated and over used, some good sounds waiting for Vanguard2 which should be in the pipeline).
Oatmeal. (It's raved about but I dont get it)

I am sure there are many others thought i contribute some thoughts. It's Sunday and a nice sunny hot day ;•)

[MBTC]

Well you mentioned two of my favorite go-to synths, Sylenth1 and Zebra.

The thing about Zebra -- like you said great for understanding modular synthesis, and once you get the hang of it, it's just incredibly powerful. This is one of the first synths I've ever been able to sit down with a sound idea in mind, and after sculpting, the end-creation was actually what I originally wanted! This one is well worth the learning investment.

If you like modular synths, Karma FX is worth a look and very cost effective.

Some others I find useful: Gladiator, Rob Papen synths (Predator, Blue, Albino). In fact if you're waiting for Vanguard2 I think that's actually Gladiator, the original developer of Vanguard created Gladiator under his own company, although it's a much more elaborate and feature rich product.

[TheHobbit]

I didn't realise that about Gladiator. Just read a forum a while ago about V2 might have been nbefore Gladiator. Thought Gladiator was a rompler which I am personally not keen on however jsut done a bit of digging and whilst I was aware of Gladiator I'd overlooked it. Sounds nice from the demo (but then doesn't everything until you get under the sheets).

I am still getting to grips with Zebra had it only a few days splurged cash without demo and not regretting the impulse purchase. Gladiator will have to wait!

I liek the idea of the Rob Papen plugs but I am avoiding 'dongle softs' like the plague. If a company goes under at least I have serials/c/r and cracks to fall back on...dongles look after the company not it's customer 'its my opinion only but there you have it'

Sylenth1 is just so powerful and love it was well worth the money.

[MBTC]

Hmm.. you have me wondering about Gladiator being a rompler under the hood or not. There are a finite set of waveforms, you cannot really "draw" your own for example like Zebra, but there are so many ways to morph one into another that I've never really felt the kind of limitations that I feel with something like Nexus. Nexus does occasionally find use in my music, but overall I don't like the limitations of a rompler either. Whenever I use Nexus, it might be for something like a guitar sound that would be harder to find among my other plugins, and I just think of it like I'm using it as if I had a Triton or Motif or something in my studio (at least I think those two boards are similar under the hood)?

[PaPi]

I already have the Virus and several other VA gems to provide that kind of sound texture, and therefore I tend to look for the exact opposite in a soft synth, namely digital, sample-based, huge ability to manipulate the sound and integrate it with sources of a different nature.

I totally agree with TheHobbit's suggestion for the Kore Player, but I would go even further and suggest buying the whole Kore 2 package, including the hardware controller (you can find the combo for about $300 from NovaMusik and other discount retailers), which gives you excellent real-time tweaking abilities, even in a live setting. Besides, it's so cool in its brushed metal/black matte plastic finish and red LCD display that it looks like one of those marvelously designed but outrageously expensive Bang Olufsen pieces of stereo equipment. Also, if you own NI's Komplete (which is another package I heartily recommend) or even only parts of it (Kontakt, Absynth etc.), Kore will provide such a degree of integration you won't find anywhere else. Not to mention the ability to look for sounds in a single tightly-integrated database searchable by keywords (yep, our problem today is that we have tens of thousands of patches to sort through and not merely a few hundreds, like when the whole MIDI thing started in the early eighties.) Let's not forget that NI also provides reasonably-priced add-ons for Kore (also usable with the free Kore Player), some of which (like Evolve Mutations 1 and 2) are true gems that will knock your socks off. Also, having professionally grown in the eighties with the legendary DX7, I find NI's FM8 VSTi indispensable (yes, I can still use the same sounds I programmed when I was a quarter of a century younger!!)

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/...?category=1302

I can say that most of my soft synth sounds come from Komplete and Kore, including lots of add-ons for both, either from NI or third parties.

Outside of NI's plugins, my recommendations include:

Alchemy. Definitely fun to play with and easy to program. A very unique and distinctive sound engine.

http://www.camelaudio.com/Alchemy.php

Omnisphere. Yeah, I know it's expensive, but IMHO it's worth every penny:

http://www.spectrasonics.net/instruments/omnisphere.php

H.G. Fortune's quirky creations. If you're into highly unusual, dreamy, odd, spacey, randomly-generated sound textures, look no further than his range of very reasonably priced soft synths.

http://www.hgf-synthesizer.de/

Rob Papen's Blue and Albino:

http://www.robpapen.com/

Big Tick Audio's Rhino:

http://www.bigtickaudio.com/bigtick/home

AAS's Tassman 4:

http://www.applied-acoustics.com/tassman/overview/

LinPlugs' Octopus:

http://www.linplug.com/Instruments/Octopus/octopus.htm

LinPlug's Sophistry:

http://www.linplug.com/Instruments/S.../sophistry.htm

[feedingear]

Alchemy seconded... it's incredibly powerful and with the right plugins sounds amazing. And it's just plain fun to use - so simple to program but incredibly deep in it's modulation and capabilities.

[MBTC]

Based on what you said Papi and the kind of synths you like, you might want to check out Omnisphere. Its very good at some of the theatrical / sound scape type sounds you allude to. I have it, and I keep it updated (patch and sound library updates), but I only occasionally reach for it, and I haven't quite figured out why. I think its because it feels like a work station in itself (I think Kore is like this? not sure). Whereas I seem to have an affinity for letting the DAW be the workstation, treating each instrument individually. You can do that with Omnisphere I guess but the whole UI is just more feature rich (thus heavy feeling) than a standard plug-in. Just installing the thing takes hours, I think the library it came on 6 or 8 DVDs!

Some of the demo videos show off what it really can do. As I said it feels like a high-end workstation. I just find it's a little too much for trancey type sounds like I prefer to make.

[TheHobbit]

Totall agree with you regarding Kontakt. Since it's price drop and if I remember a good promotion I got Komplete 5 around £300+ and upgraded to Komplete 6 for another £130....bargain and woth every penny.

The functionality of Battery for drum beats s excellent once you get your head around it and the customable routing, along with Kontakt (which I use more of a rompler than a 'true' sampler is fantastic and a must in my book. FM8, Absynth and Massive have some great sounds and Pro53 definately has its place. Whilst Massive is complex and CPU intensive on older systems it has 1000's of patches. But I must say I find Massives overall sound a little thin at times...don;t dismiss it because of that statement. it is still a powerful and great synth.

Alchemy as I understand is a synth/sampler is that correct? Never really looked into it but seems to be making a lot of vibes on various forums. I'm put of by its flexibility/comlexities but I await to be sounded out as wrong on that point.

[PaPi]

Originally Posted by MBTC

Based on what you said Papi and the kind of synths you like, you might want to check out Omnisphere. Its very good at some of the theatrical / sound scape type sounds you allude to. I have it, and I keep it updated (patch and sound library updates), but I only occasionally reach for it, and I haven't quite figured out why. I think its because it feels like a work station in itself (I think Kore is like this? not sure). Whereas I seem to have an affinity for letting the DAW be the workstation, treating each instrument individually. You can do that with Omnisphere I guess but the whole UI is just more feature rich (thus heavy feeling) than a standard plug-in. Just installing the thing takes hours, I think the library it came on 6 or 8 DVDs!

Some of the demo videos show off what it really can do. As I said it feels like a high-end workstation. I just find it's a little too much for trancey type sounds like I prefer to make.

I do have Omnisphere. At the beginning it was my go-to synth, and I still think it's excellent. But it's not as flexible and easy to program as Alchemy. Once I used its most exotic samples (you know, like the burning piano or the bowed drying rack...) I kinda lost a bit of interest in it. If you want to play with samples and synthesis, Alchemy is a lot more intuitive and achieving the desired results is a lot easier.

If you're using Kore like a "workstation", you're really barely scratching its surface. What Kore gives you is complete integration of every sound and effect. I don't know of any workstation capable of that.

[PaPi]

Originally Posted by TheHobbit

Alchemy as I understand is a synth/sampler is that correct?

What's unmatched in Alchemy IMHO is the ease and speed with which you can accomplish incredibly sophisticated sound manipulations involving samples, synthesis and effects. Yes, you can do the same thing with many other produts, but it's just not that easy and fun.