Members mister natural Posted July 14, 2009 Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 LIVE has some terrific sounding instruments within the new vers. - a bit out of your price range, however Z3ta+ is so inexpensive now - Amazon.com for under $100 GURU for drums is so versatile & has many, many layers & samples Reason or Komplete might be all you need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paolo Di Nicolantonio Posted July 14, 2009 Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 I don't have many soft synths (Most of my studio is still hardware), but the ones I have are the ones in Reason 4: Subtractor = a bit vanilla but useful Malstrom = cool Thor = powerful some of the ones from Cakewalk Sonar: z3ta+ = really, really, really cool synth dimension pro = nice rompler-substitute Triangle & Pentagon = powerful analog-likes Native Instruments FM7 = replaces the DX7. Among the free ones, I enjoy using: fxpansion Orca Crystal Delay Lama Free Alpha PolyIblit Tal Elek7ro & U-No-60 and the outstanding PowerWave P8... really really good soft synth.. Here I have some demos from z3ta+: First Contact Organish Pad (sorry for the slight clipping.) Analog Bass 2 (with some added 909 samples) Rave Standard Arp (also with added 909 samples) constantly moving No 303 Jupiter-8 bass and here I have some examples from Dimension Pro: 01 Accordion 02 Acoustic Drum Kit 03 Alto Saxophone 04 Analog Pad 05 Bamboo Flute 06 Bass & Wurlitzer Electric Piano 07 Clarinet 08 Classical Choir & Strings 09 Clavinet 10 Digital Pad 11 Dulcimer 12 Electric Guitar With Tremolo 13 Elka Rhapsody 14 Female Vox 15 Fingered Bass 16 Grand Piano 17 Hammond Organ 16 & 1 18 Hammond Organ 19 Male Choir 20 Mellotron Male Choir 21 Mellotron Strings 22 Minimoog Lead 23 Mute Trumpet 24 Rhodes Electric Piano 25 Roland VP-330 Choir 26 Slap Bass 27 Special FX 28 Synth Bass 29 Tenor Saxophone 30 Trance Lead 31 Violins 32 Wavy Digital Pad --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members idiotboy Posted July 14, 2009 Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 I'm not using my soft-synths very much these days, but I still really like the sound quality of ImpOSCar, the granular, random and chaotic stuff of Reaktor, (the "electronic instruments" synths are really good), MicroTonic is probably the best drum synth out there,... I have several more soft-synths, but those are the one that pop into my mind right now. At some point, I'll probably buy Korg Legacy Digital collection, because I want to try the soft version of the Wavestation, and maybe Zebra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members b3keys Posted July 14, 2009 Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 FM8Scarbee KGBWaldorlf PPG 2VArturia JP-8VStylus RMXKorg Legacy - Digital & AnalogOmnisphereOP-X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members evildragon Posted July 14, 2009 Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 Softies? Try some of these: VAZ Modular - great sound with low CPU hit. AWESOME filters! Waldorf Largo - new, fresh, and that typical Waldorf sound. You kinda don't need it because you have Blofeld. But then, get Licence SL and SPECTRE and fill the Blo with your own samples! z3ta+ - one nasty mother{censored}er of a synth. Great filters here, too. Nice FX. GSi VB3 - better Hammond emu than NI B4-II, IMHO. GSi ZD6 - Clavinet model. Sounds awesome to me. Stillwell OLGA - gritty and ugly son of a bitch. I love that beast. Try the free Elektrostudio plugin pack. 10 VSTs for FREE. Awesome sound, even if they are not quite as true to their originals (some of them). They have very inspiring presets, and I just like to sit and play them! Get them here. KLCD is a must definitely. OP-X is also a mother, great sound, but a little off-putting GUI (small knobs) SQ8L if you like Ensoniq stuff. But since the entire GUI of ESQ-1 is duplicated, editing a patch can be a chore. It's free, too. But, only 8 poly. The full version SQ8X is highly anticipated for years already. Unfortunately, seems like the developer is quite busy doing other stuff... NI Kontakt 3 is the best sampler around. Also, I really, really love Addictive Drums for drums. Great plugin. There are more but I think those are just enough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomkeen Posted July 14, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 I'm going to have to wait for adding anything, just ordered a brand new iPhone 3GS 32 GB. So no new stuffs for me this time.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MuzikB Posted July 14, 2009 Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 That's an interesting point, I've been running Massive in standalone and it is a lot more focused. Yeah. Makes me wonder why more software makers don't make their synths standalone and the ones that aren't standalone, why give them FX? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jskpongoui Posted July 14, 2009 Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 I've heard good thing about omnisphere, you can get it for 380 at B&H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fuzzball24 Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 Not really got too heavily into softsynths, but the Korg Legacy Collection and Crystal have been a somewhat pleasent experience so far.Always quite liked the look of Virsyn-tera. Maybe I will give it a go at some point. I like Crystal a lot too, it's great for a free synth. Hell, I'd pay for it. Also, nobody mentioned Novation V-Synth? I like that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members evildragon Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 That's Novation V-Station. And yeah, it's a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meatball Fulton Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 Absynth is the only one I've actually paid money for after trying lots of demos out. It's often pigeonholed as a pad/effects synth but you can do lots more than that with it. I also wonder why more softies can't run standalone, since my rig is mainly hardware (including my multitracker) I actually prefer that to running inside a DAW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members evildragon Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 I also wonder why more softies can't run standalone, since my rig is mainly hardware (including my multitracker) I actually prefer that to running inside a DAW. Why run them standalone when you have programs like Brainspawn Forte or Plogue Bidule? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tangerine Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 Sonic Charge Synplant is my all time fav! http://www.soniccharge.com/synplant Native Instruments REAKTOR and FM8 is second and third. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members setAI Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 right now I mainly focus on Vaz modularSynplantLargoVoid ModularArp 2600vSQ8LCygnusVCS-5EVM Ultrasoniq HG Fortune stuff [Lazy percuMat/ STS-33/ Anvilla/ AlioNoctis/ Shunji] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members evildragon Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 That one positively has me holding my pants in terror. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gribs Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 That one positively has me holding my pants in terror. I demo'd some of HGFortune's stuff including AlioNoctis and found it odd and counter-intuitive. Many of the presets sounded cool for spacey drones but started to all blurb together after a while. WTF does "Inferno / Spooks" do anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members evildragon Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 They add inferno / spooks? Seriously, don't know, but I think granulator is in question. And maybe comb filtering. For ambiental and horror soundtracks, AlioNoctis is probably unbeatable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P321 Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 Most of the stuff I'd recommend has been mentioned. If you like OP-X Pro though, in that same SE vein, you could check out Memorymoon Messiah. It's not quite as faithful as OP-X in terms of being a Prophet 5 emulation (although I still think OP-X is somehow closer to the more precise tones of the OB-8 than an OBX ) but people who like OPX will probably find it worth their time, and it's not very expensive.. Another is the (VCS3 inspired) modular emulation, XILS 3, from XILS Labs, which is the company of the ex-Arturia coder Xavier Oudin who left to do his own thing. This was the result.. http://www.xils-lab.com/pages/XILS-3-audio-samples.html Oh, and it's probably safe to add DCam Synth Squad to the list when it's released next month Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meatball Fulton Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 Why run them standalone when you have programs like Brainspawn Forte or Plogue Bidule? OK, maybe I'm ignorant but what advantage do I get with running a softsynth from inside another program rather than standalone? Just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members evildragon Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 Well, go to Brainspawn's webpage for example, and see what Forte offers: * route different VSTs to different soundcard outputs* manage presets over the course of the song/song sets* in-depth MIDI filtering per VST Basically, you can set multiple VST configurations and switch them with a footpedal (via program change or something), you can save patch changes related to a certain song, then juggle the order of song in the set list - whatever floats your boat. If your band's setlist is changed from night to night, that is indespensable. Imagine how much time would you use by doing all that manually, per VST. In Forte, you load up your VSTs, assign them to MIDI channels, give them various outputs (if needed), set layers/splits if necessary, filter unneeded MIDI messages (for example you want aftertouch to affect that pad sound, but not the synth string sound, or whatever), and save that as a patch. Then you have several patches during your song, that's good too. Forte can load up all VSTs beforehand (including samples in Kontakt or whatever) so you can have seamless patch change (that also depends on the VST, will they produce an audible gap or not) etc. MANY OPTIONS which you don't really get when you just open a bunch of softies in standalone. At least not AS INTUITIVE as with Forte. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P321 Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 OK, maybe I'm ignorant but what advantage do I get with running a softsynth from inside another program rather than standalone? Just curious.The additional routing features of that program, whether that's layering one synth on top of another via a keyboard split, or performing additional tasks on incoming MIDI data, or just routing the audio through far better FX. Even simple hosts tend to give a few more options than just running it standalone.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meatball Fulton Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 OK, I understand but for my home usage I certainly don't need the capabilities of those programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members evildragon Posted July 15, 2009 Members Share Posted July 15, 2009 That is true. Those programs are geared towards live use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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