Regarding the sound quality of the VAs

[Reptilian]

I am planning to get a Virus TI (I have also the Micron). My question is:

 

I heard from some people that VSTs like Zebra 2 or Absynth sounds as good as the Virus TI or the Ion or the Nord Leads (VAs in general), so my question is: is this true?, maybe it is better to buy a software which is much more cheaper than a hardware? (I have a good computer, so the specifications are not a problem, also I dont play live, it is only for home studio purposes). Do you think hardware sounds better because of the DSPs?. I just want the best possible sound quality, and if the statement that the VSTs nowadays sound as good as the hardware, maybe it is more convenient to buy a good VST. If the hardware sounds slighly better, I will purchase a hardware, but what I read is that the difference is not noticeable.

Note: I know, a real analog would sound better, that is why I have buy a nice Moog Slim Phatty which is traveling to my country right now, but my question is only about the Virus because the VAs bring you a lot of possibilities.

Note 2: I like the sound of the Virus since I had a Virus B in the past, but I have not tried the mentioned VSTs

Thanks!

Ricardo 

[Purity_Control]

Listen to demos and decide for yourself.

[Citizen Klaus]

 

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Reptilian wrote:

 

 

I am planning to get a Virus TI (I have also the Micron). My question is:

 

 

 

I heard from some people that VSTs like Zebra 2 or Absynth sounds as good as the Virus TI or the Ion or the Nord Leads (VAs in general), so my question is: is this true?, maybe it is better to buy a software which is much more cheaper than a hardware? (I have a good computer, so the specifications are not a problem, also I dont play live, it is only for home studio purposes). Do you think hardware sounds better because of the DSPs?. I just want the best possible sound quality, and if the statement that the VSTs nowadays sound as good as the hardware, maybe it is more convenient to buy a good VST. If the hardware sounds slighly better, I will purchase a hardware, but what I read is that the difference is not noticeable.

 

Note: I know, a real analog would sound better, that is why I have buy a nice Moog Slim Phatty which is traveling to my country right now, but my question is only about the Virus because the VAs bring you a lot of possibilities.

 

Note 2: I like the sound of the Virus since I had a Virus B in the past, but I have not tried the mentioned VSTs

 

Thanks!

 

Ricardo 

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I agree with mate_stubb.  Most of the soft-synths you posted have full demo versions available, so take the time to try them out and see if you get along with them.  (Also be sure to try Synapse Audio's Dune; I often see people comparing it favorably to the Virus, and it does nail that classic VA sound.)

 

From my personal experience, I've owned two top-notch hardware VAs (Korg's RADIAS, and the AL-1 engine in the Kronos) and found them to be comparable, sound-wise, with the best soft-synths.  The benefit to hardware, IMO, isn't so much in the sound, but in the user interface and tactile experience.

[Gribs]

I am in agreement as well. With hardware VA's it is about the interface and DSP outside of your DAW PC. To borrow a phrase from a friend and fellow synth enthusiast, "I am an office monkey and sit in front of a computer all day. That is the last thing I want to do when I come home from work.". I have a TI2 and a Q Phoenix, which is probably overkill, but I just can't let the Q go.

 

Zebra and Dune are fine synths. You can get light versions of both for about $5.00 by purchasing an electronic copy of a Computer Music magazine. Another popular and extremely powerful and versatile softie is Synthmaster. AFAIK there is no demo for Omnisphere, but that might be another to consider.

[Stokely]

The main question (for me) is whether you are only talking in-studio or live.  For live I prefer hardware; I have a Virus kb and love tweaking the knobs, plus the keyboard feel is just oustanding and has a no-latency connection that's hard to describe.

For home/studio use, to me software has one monster factor that can't be overstated--it's really really convenient.  I never need to save patches (saved with the song, I probably should do this LOL), no patches to pull up with the song, no program changes, no sysex, no audio routing (it's all in the computer).  I can play tracks until the cows come home and never need to set midi channels or setup multitimbral patches; if I hit CPU limits I start freezing tracks (turning midi tracks to audio tracks).   Since I use a laptop my "studio", including all my "keyboards", is whereever I happen to be.  

(I changed one track from using a prophet5 to a minimoog during a meeting once at "work" LOL...shhhh)

EDIT: one big one is the ability to use FX plugins.  There are some crazy ones out there (camel space is an old favorite) that can completely turn your synth patches on their side in unforseen ways.

I don't know if there is an audio trade-off--a lot may depend on your audio interface and which software you use--but I just can't go back to that extra hassle and time, especially since I tend to work on several different songs at once in a given period of time.  If you tend to set up and go until complete with one song then the "old way" is not so bad

[craigwer]

quote "massive blocks of text /quote}

 

I'm with pc on this one, as in u decide !

 

one thing most hardware makers have is experience making synths, sounds stupid but that advice shouldn't be discounted

 

I may or may not have read thousands of threads about this very issue ! try the search function

[ElectricPuppy]

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Reptilian wrote:

I am planning to get a Virus TI (I have also the Micron). My question is:

 

I heard from some people that VSTs like Zebra 2 or Absynth sounds as good as the Virus TI or the Ion or the Nord Leads (VAs in general), so my question is: is this true?, maybe it is better to buy a software which is much more cheaper than a hardware? (I have a good computer, so the specifications are not a problem, also I dont play live, it is only for home studio purposes). Do you think hardware sounds better because of the DSPs?. I just want the best possible sound quality, and if the statement that the VSTs nowadays sound as good as the hardware, maybe it is more convenient to buy a good VST. If the hardware sounds slighly better, I will purchase a hardware, but what I read is that the difference is not noticeable.

Note: I know, a real analog would sound better, that is why I have buy a nice Moog Slim Phatty which is traveling to my country right now, but my question is only about the Virus because the VAs bring you a lot of possibilities.

Note 2: I like the sound of the Virus since I had a Virus B in the past, but I have not tried the mentioned VSTs

Thanks!

Ricardo 

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 "Sounds better" is very, very subjective.  Go online and find demos of the things you're interested in and decide for yourself.  Keep in mind that a lot of online demos use compressed audio, so if you have super-picky ears, you may hear things that aren't necessarily accurate for what's being demo'd, but at least you'll get a flavor.

Re: Hardware DSPs sounding better than software?  Rubbish.
It's all about the algorithms, and hence it's all about the software.  Just because software is running on a DSP doesn't automatically make it better than software running on a general-purpose CPU.  The difference is in how much audio work a DSP can do vs. a regular CPU.  That's the ONLY advantage.

Re: "analog would sound better".  I'm just going to come right out and say it: This is bull{censored} if for no other reason than "better" is still entirely subjective.  What you may like and what I may like may not be the same thing.  Frankly, modern DSP algorithms and the high-computing power available now make purely digital synthesis sound really, really, good.  

This is not to say that a VA will sound absolutely 100% identical to some analog device, though.  What you really have to decide is What Is Your Goal?  Do you want the exact sound of a Minimoog, for instance?  If you do and you're picky and you KNOW what a Minimoog is supposed to sound like, then do yourself a favor and get a real one, because you'll just be disappointed with the emulators.  On the other hand, if you just want some really good sounding synthesis and don't have preconceived notions of "analog is better", then get a VA and be happy you didn't blow a big wad of cash on a collector's item.

I happen to own a Virus TI.  I love it.  It certainly has the trance sound down, no doubt.  But it can also come really close to real analog sounds, too.  Close enough for me that I have no real desire for a real analog for it's sound quality.  The only reason I still have an interest in analog is for the immediacy of the UI (knobs, buttons, etc.) and for the limitations that a real analog imposes.  When it comes to programming, having a VA with a bazillion options can be overwhelming and sap your creativity.

This is all just my $0.02, so take it as you will.

[liliththekitten]

Its six of one, half dozen of the other. They're the same to me, the only difference is the interface of the hardware VA. I think Massive sounds as good as any hardware VA, so much so I wish so they'd make a box for it like Maschine.

I like the Micron a lot, it does things for me that software doesn't - although the interface is so limited I end up using a computer programmer so it might was well be a VST. Ion would be nice of course, though I havent had space for more big synths in the past and when I did what I found was overpriced or broken.

I like some old VAs better too - mainly old Korgs like the Prophecy, MS2000.

Ultimately all these things are tools, so it doesn't matter what you use, whatever works. I am currently thinking of re-locating and will be down to a laptop and controller keyboard. Plus interfaces and Monotribe (for funzies). Whatever inspires you is important too, I find I can get inspiration from software.

[veracohr]

I'm not familiar with Zebra but Absynth isn't a good one to use for comparison. It's not a VA. Its strength is crazy sound manipulation. Massive would be the better NI synth to compare to VA's.