Members Anderton Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 Charlie Clouser's post in the thread on copy protection got me thinking...there are now, by a conservative estimate, 40,655,491 software synthesizers. Do we need that many? Do YOU need that many? Do you just have a small collection of favorite synths, or are you the type who just has to load up your hard drive with everything? Do you find the choices suffocating or liberating? Comments, please...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rabid Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 I have over 100 "purchased" soft synths, including what comes with Sonar, P5, Orion Plat, etc. That is way too much. At one point I made a list of various types; ROMpler, FM, VA, Wave Sequencing, piano, Orchestral, drum, etc. and came up with 12 types. Then I chose my favorite of each type and said I would not buy anything unless it could displace one of them. That worked for a while. Lately I put 4 on a laptop and can use those to start and sucessfully build any song. THEN, I can go to the big folder and start exchanging VSTi's and sounds for variety. Right now my 4 are Dimension Pro, RP Blue, Albino 3 and Battery II. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Geoff Grace Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 Craig, just for clarification, do you mean to include sample-based virtual instruments in this discussion or do you want to focus on synthesizers? For me personally, there are gaps in my sample libraries that I still want to address; but I have enough software synthesizers for now. The next synth I plan to purchase is a Poly Evolver Keyboard (hardware), but there are other gear purchases in line first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members panthalassa Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 Well, ahem, I'm still using Reason (since version 2), although that's not because I think the sounds are superior straight out of the box or anything. You really have to dive in to make unique sounds. I do happen to think that for the money, nothing can touch this studio-in-a-box. In answer to your question, I really think the sky (and your CPU) is the limit in terms of acquistion and implementation of soft synths. With Reason or Arturia or anything it's so easy to dive in and learn and work. I feel much less constrained creatively. I started on a Poly 800 and a DDD-1, read everything I could (stand) about synthesis, and reached the conclusion that as a string player I liked keeping the "hardware spread" down to a dull roar. Now that we all have that option, there's no such thing as too many soft synths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 39,337,431... THAT's enough. So could 1,318,060 of you VI publishers pull your products off the market to cut down on marketplace confusion and clutter? I used to believe in the wisdom of the market... but, clearly, this is a wake-up call that it is simply TOO DAMN EASY to write a soft synth now. Or you could just nuke SynthEdit headquarters and take out about 40,000,000 VI's at the root. [That's a joke. I think SynthEdit is very cool. It's kind of (the old) Mp3.com for synth creator wannabes.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gdoubleyou Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 Since I use Logic all of the basics are covered, I did add EXS sample libraries, and I added a couple of East/West Kompakt drum romplers. Don't really need anything else, still learning and creating soundbanks for the Logic instruments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kiwiburger Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 I calculate that out of those 40,655,491 synths, 40,655,471 of those are utter shyte. Just like plugin reverbs and compressors and eq ... the reason we churn over so many is because they simply haven't been good, so we go have to upgrade from one shade of kack to another. They are getting better, certainly. But at the same time, these guys are adding stupid "protection" rackets and charging the same price as hardware. There is a reason why many musians and studio owners are returning to investing in hardware instead of WWW-dependent vapour ware. Plus hardware sounds better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Trick Fall Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 I've yet to buy a softsynth. I've mucked around with the digi one and the ones built into garage band, but I find I like hardware better. At least so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modul8 Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 I'm a sucker for the vintage recreations although I only own the TimewARP 2600 and the reFX SID emulator. Logic has a decent complement of noise makers.I still prefer the sound of hardware most of the time. In all fairness, I have yet to run any soft-synths through D/A and amp back into my DAW. I'm glad there are a lot of options but, I find the Virus TI and similar concepts are the most appealing. Hardware that can be used like a virtual instrument. Easy workflow and you can drag the thing to a gig without having to sample or emulate sounds. I wondered how long it would take for companies to take that into consideration. Hardware is important. Listening to some of the new analog stuff going on (like the MacBeth M5) makes me want to go all analog and until someone makes a convincing 12-bit card for emulation of classic samplers, I'll hang on to my Emaxes and SP ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members philbo Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 Geez.... One good drum sampler, one good general purpose GM with great samples (like the Edirol in early Sonar), and one good wave-sample playback synth would about do it. Though it's always fun to play a bit with new ones, I rarely end up using them in any actual work unless I happen to be delving into experimental "musique concrete" phase, which happens every couple of years or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members veracohr Posted July 20, 2006 Members Share Posted July 20, 2006 Originally posted by Geoff Grace The next synth I plan to purchase is a Poly Evolver Keyboard (hardware) I played with one of those at Banjo Center. :love: And then I cried at the price tag. The only softsynths I've come across that I really want are Absynth and the Arturia Modular Moog emulator. But I confess I haven't really looked into all the different ones. I guess I have a love affair with hardware synths, in my head (since I can't afford hardware OR software). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members D Charles Posted July 20, 2006 Members Share Posted July 20, 2006 Yeah, there's so many that it's kind of a blur sometimes. I think you need to commit to one or several specialty ones and totally figure them out. I just got the Emulator X2 and been experimenting with the 'synth swipe' feature. It's actually very good although being mostly a guitar, live sound, old school recording dude, it seems like sometimes it does one thing and sometimes another. I've got option anxiety me thinks. I hope to master this puppy and get rid of some hardware I keep around for just several sounds. Haven't the foggiest why I spend so much time with this synth stuff when most of my songs are primarily guitar-vocal based. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kiwiburger Posted July 20, 2006 Members Share Posted July 20, 2006 An interesting thing i've observed: when talking about soft synths, most people include Albino in their top 3, at least for synthesis (no samples). And yet I find that Albino has the most disturbing aliasing sound, which is most audible on their Lead presets but basically just part of the sound engine. And the low end is just harmonically gutless - the bass sounds have no balls. I have a couple of freeware softsynths, one of them made with Synthedit, that are far better than Albino at subtractive synthesis. Makes me wish I didn't believe the hype and pay full price for Albino, because I can't find a use for it. In fact, most of my 'go-to' instruments are freebies, which proves that there is real potential for truely great softsynths that hasn't been tapped yet. I've owned real analog synths, and the hybrid digital stuff like Roland Juno's and other polysynths. They weren't perfect either, but they had something that is lacking in software. Even for sample based stuff - hardware romplers have superior samples. This is because of the substantial investment that Roland/Yamaha/Whoever has put into their librarys. It seems that any software developer can make a synth, but they don't have the time/money to make decent sample libraries. They also follow the marketing model of Microsoft (you make your money out of bug fixes, not stable product). Hardware tends to be stable before it's shipped, more or less. Microsoft has had it's corrupting influence even on hardware now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nat whilk II Posted July 20, 2006 Members Share Posted July 20, 2006 Well, all these softsynth makers are fine with me. Anytime you have such widespread interest in a technical/artistic endeavor, the more people who dive in just increase the odds that the rest of us will greatly benefit from the communal effort. Also, they haven't made enough of 'em in my estimation until they make them BETTER THAN ANALOG. Will it happen? I dunno, but I'm ready anytime to buy a softsynth for $300 that sounds better than a mini or a MOTM or a Serge. innnnneeeeetiiiiiiime. nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kiwiburger Posted July 20, 2006 Members Share Posted July 20, 2006 But in the meantime, some of these guys are trying to pass off inferior software at hardware prices. And insulting us with dongles and C/R and other devices that cripple perforance, increase the bug count and generally piss off the paying punters. Definately buyer beware. The other reason that freeware synths can be greater than the commercial ones is simply because the really deep-geek developers don't have the marketing skills, so it's easier just to give away for the recognition they crave. The marketing experts possibly just see this as a means to a fast buck, and don't have the same care and anal retentive, autismn-eque drive for perfection that some of the lone developers have. Then there is the fact that we are visual creatures, and anyone who can whip up a nice looking GUI can sell tons of product, regardless of how {censored} it sounds. Tack on a Brand name and you have a winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members realtrance Posted July 20, 2006 Members Share Posted July 20, 2006 I've found that Reaktor 4/5 have covered most of the basis I've needed for softsynths. Between their extensive library and my own twiddlings and constructions, there's little I feel the need for beyond what I can do in Reaktor. That being said, I've taken advantage of Cakewalk's discount offers and find Project5 and the stuff offered with Sonar 5 top quality, if basically conventional in design and default library. I might find an interest in Rapture if the demo version weren't so completely annoying in its approach to maintaining its demoware status. Particularly the fading-out every 12 seconds -- barely gives me a chance to think about what it's sounding like. Beyond that, it strikes me that a few gigabytes of good sample files, related to one or two software-based samplers, rounds out the picture just fine. Particularly if you can warp, stretch, granulize or otherwise munch existing sample files, you're basically set for eternity. An upgrade to Dimension Pro in my case would be, I'd think, all the rest I'd need for a lifetime! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed A. Posted July 20, 2006 Members Share Posted July 20, 2006 Originally posted by gdoubleyou Since I use Logic all of the basics are covered, I did add EXS sample libraries, and I added a couple of East/West Kompakt drum romplers. Don't really need anything else, still learning and creating soundbanks for the Logic instruments. I also use the instruments in Logic exclusively ,the only difference in my case is that Sculpture is my primary synth. Concentrating on just what's in Logic helps me to focus on composing, which IMO is better than having excessive softsynth choices and getting nothing done. At one point, I had dozens of softsynths from other companies (NI, Arturia, Camel Software, Green Oak, Reason, etc.), but the instruments in Logic do everything I need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rabid Posted July 20, 2006 Members Share Posted July 20, 2006 Originally posted by Kiwiburger An interesting thing i've observed: when talking about soft synths, most people include Albino in their top 3, at least for synthesis (no samples). And yet I find that Albino has the most disturbing aliasing sound, which is most audible on their Lead presets but basically just part of the sound engine. And the low end is just harmonically gutless - the bass sounds have no balls. I have a couple of freeware softsynths, one of them made with Synthedit, that are far better than Albino at subtractive synthesis. .... And THAT is why there are so many VSTi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alndln2 Posted July 20, 2006 Members Share Posted July 20, 2006 Originally posted by Anderton Do you just have a small collection of favorite synths, or are you the type who just has to load up your hard drive with everything? Do you find the choices suffocating or liberating? Like a lot of people, I went a little crazy for a while plus downloading lots of free offerings from developers from KVR, but around 2 years ago I started scaling back. I now mainly use NI's FM7 and the older Kontakt(never upgraded), Rhino and H.G. Fortune's STS-17 for exotic stuff, Dr-008 with custom samples and the new Toon track EZ Drummer for drums. It got to the point I wasn't really taking advantage of my collection properly because I didn't spend enough time with all of them, in fact it slowed me down because I really didn't know what to call up anymore, let alone remember all the banks/patches. With my Korg X3 I pretty much knew all 200 patch's and 200 Combi's, probably because I used that one Instrument mainly since 1994 till now. The only new instrument that I want that impressed me lately is Terratec's Komplexer that was designed by some people at Waldorf. That's the only VI that competes with hardware sonically to my ears. There is too much to digest out there though, and I don't know if that's good or bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted July 20, 2006 Author Members Share Posted July 20, 2006 > This seems to be a trend. Some Korg hardware that was shown at NAMM (MicroX, X-50) has software that lets you use the hardware as a plug-in. The only limitation I see is that the USB is for control only -- you still have to bring audio back into your computer via an audio interface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members techristian Posted July 22, 2006 Members Share Posted July 22, 2006 Between my Bitheadz sounds, Sonar sounds, Cubase SX Sounds, freeware sounds and Logic sounds I have hundreds of sounds maybe even 1000, but I would say that I always gravitate back to 30-50 of my favorite sounds all of the time. Lots of the sounds have no real place in music. Dan http://musicinit.com/pvideos.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Doe Posted July 22, 2006 Members Share Posted July 22, 2006 Alas, I have no softsynths. I'm a dinosaur. I'm not sure what to do with them if I had some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Raymar Posted July 22, 2006 Members Share Posted July 22, 2006 I have a few and they've served me well, kept me from going overboard buying hardware synths. I don't have the brain or personality to get excessive amounts of softsynths though because I'm overwhelmed by the possiblities of the ones I have which are good for soundscapes as well as music. BTW Jon Doe, we look like distant relatives. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eightyeightkeys Posted July 23, 2006 Members Share Posted July 23, 2006 Then again....I bought The Grand and thought it was super.But, now there's Ivory. There goes more cash...when I get it. I thought ABSynth was amazing. Then I recently tried the Virus synth that comes with the Powercore 2 software. Clever devils ! Right away, I though that this is the sound of electronica and that I've got to have it for that style of music. And so it goes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Geoff Grace Posted July 23, 2006 Members Share Posted July 23, 2006 Originally posted by eightyeightkeys:Then again....I bought The Grand and thought it was super.But, now there's Ivory. There goes more cash...when I get it.I thought ABSynth was amazing. Then I recently tried the Virus synth that comes with the Powercore 2 software. Clever devils ! Right away, I though that this is the sound of electronica and that I've got to have it for that style of music.And so it goes... A fellow keyboardist friend of mine once likened being a keyboard player to participating in the arms race! Best, Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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