Favorite soft synths?

[bill5 15]

Off the top for me:

 

FB3300

EZKeys

Absynth

 

Eyeing Zebra and Serum which I hear good things about. Need good presets though (which is why Massive will never make my list). Also this does not include "specialty" synths which are not really general, broad synths but have a niche sound etc.

[kbeaumont 56]

Omnisphere 2

KV331 Audio SynthMaster

Mainstage built-in synth Alchemy

 

On IOS:

Sunrizer

Magellan

Animoog

Thor

Polysix

Korg Module

[JazzMastaJim 14]

My top 4:

- Proteus VX: I don't always use it in the final mix (although sometimes I use a couple tracks), but it's great for quickly putting together a rough arrangement while composing.

- PG-8X: I still love my Roland JX-8P's pads and other sounds, but my physical instrument is getting very old (1984) and it's not always convenient to pull it out of the case & set it up for recording. The PG-8X VSTi is the next best thing, as its sound is basically indistinguishable from the keyboard's.

- Ample Guitar: Astounding acoustic guitar simulation. This and my Jupiter-50 together cover 90% or my guitar tracks.

- EZ Drummer: Does a drum module count? As realistic-sounding as perhaps anything else in its class, and much easier than trying to record an actual drum set -- especially since I'm a keyboardist!

[Phil O'Keefe 11,471]

I'll start with my iPad... maybe I'll come back later to post the ones on my DAW...

 

I've purchased others, but I have the following currently installed on my iPad. Ones that are listed in bold are the ones I tend to use the most...

 

Arturia iSpark

iMPC

iPolysix

Odyssei

Arturia iSEM

iProphet

Z3TA+

EHX Mini Synth

Sensual Sax

Syntronik

iMini

 

 

Sensual Sax looks as cheesy as they come, but it is actually really good - they took the complaints I had in my review and fixed them all, making it an excellent V.I. for use with a MIDI wind controller.

 

 

[bill5 15]

- Ample Guitar: Astounding acoustic guitar simulation. This and my Jupiter-50 together cover 90% or my guitar tracks.

- EZ Drummer: Does a drum module count?

No, and neither does Ample stuff. Soft synth, not guitar/drum VSTi. (I agree about both being good though)

 

[Music Bird 0]

Synth1: I use this one a lot

blooo: I use this one a lot too

Dexed: nice DX7 emulation, which isn’t dated, especially the harmonica and e. piano sounds which I use all the time!

PG8X: I like the brass section sounds, I don’t even think they’re dated!

Musyng Kite Standard Drums VST: yeah I use this for drums, even though they cut through too well and sound really live

Tyrell-N6: same with PG8X, I replace all horns in a midi with this stuff and Synth1 or Dexed.

MinimogueVA: don’t use it as much, but it’s great as well.

SQ8L: like this one as well, unique presets and sound design.

FB-3100/3200/3300: nice for anything except bass, weak on bass.

scrooo: some nice sound designs for this. I’ve gotten a nice tuba sound out of it.

Arppe2600 VA: nice one as well

TAL-Uno-62: I think it sounds just as good as an old Juno.

TAL-Elek7ro and TAL-Noisemaker: nice bass and lead machines

Phutura: once you get into sound design on this one, you can get past the EDM/rave presets.

Anything else by Full Bucket Music, and anything by GTG and Elektrostudio is worth mentioning too. OP-X Pro is on my list!

[moogerfooger 4,344]

moog model 15

moog model D

iSEM

MS 10

poly 6

[bill5 15]

Synth1: I use this one a lot

Dexed: nice DX7 emulation, which isn’t dated, especially the harmonica and e. piano sounds which I use all the time!

These are 2 of the few I've tried that I didn't like...Synth1 I can't get past the ridiculous 80s look and feel, which is dumb, it shouldn't matter, working on that...and Dexed I just thought brought nothing special at all to the table and I thought the presets were weak (preset jockey here). I'll have to re-look at the EP and harmonica. I have no problem having a "niche" soft synth for a particular sound.

 

[Tullsterx 4]

Sylenth1 - I run two instances of this

NI FM8

TyrellN6

 

Those are pretty much the only synths I use. The rest of my setup are sample players (Sample Tank, NI Vintage Organs) or modeled pianos.

[Ed A. 65]

Apple's Logic Pro/MainStage: Sculpture, Alchemy, RetroSynth,

AAS Chromaphone 2.

[koolkat 89]

VB3 II organ

Ample Sound bass

Lounge Lizard EP's

AAS (various synths)

Acoustic Samples KontraBass

 

[Tullsterx 4]

In my live rig I use:

 

IK Multimedia Total Workstation Bundle,

NI Vintage Organs,

NI Scarbee Vintage Keys;

Tyrell N6,

Sylenth1 x 2,

XLN Addictive Keys,

NI FM8

 

Sylenth is by far my fav. But I use FM8 and Tyrell N6 for some things, usually during some song where I'm using my 2 instances of Sylenth for something else. The IK Multimedia stuff, Sample Tank and Sonic Synth have some good stuff if you start digging around, but those are samples. I use those for quite a few things as well. Plus I layer them all together at times to get really deeply layered and nuanced textures if necessary.

[OPEN OCEAN 1]

A freeware Synth 1 

 

 

[ggm1960 68]

So many synths, so little time! Always loved Reason and everything in there. Used SampleTank and the other IK stuff quite a bit years ago. Then the AAS Ultra Analog and Lounge Lizard are fun. The Arturia ones may be the best but I haven't spent much time with them all. Hope to get some use out of that Codex someday also.

This post has reminded me to go back and see if I can still get logged into some of those websites!

Edited September 19, 2019 by ggm1960

[Phil O'Keefe 11,471]

On 9/19/2019 at 11:31 AM, ggm1960 said:

 

This post has reminded me to go back and see if I can still get logged into some of those websites!

 

As long as you’re still using the same email address you should be fine. Most have a password retrieval / password reset tool. I end up having to use them myself from time to time...  

I still need to add some of my favorite DAW softsynths to this thread too....  

[koolkat 89]

Arturia - Pigments
UVI - Falcon
Hexeract
 

[Music Bird 0]

Nowadays

Korg M1/Wavestation Legacy

Roland Sound Canvas VA

Kontakt with the Factory Library

Massive

[thelurker 4]

I'm slowly working my way to using some soft synths, I go back to the 80's, and have mostly hardware. 

I should actually take some time, mess with some different Virtual Synths (computer copies of older synths), and learn from some of that. 

I kind of want to avoid sample playbacks, I'll not ever really sample on my own, but a Minimoog, Oberheim, Wave, etc. copy would be fun to fool with.

I have the Arturia Synth lab bundle, but the number of noises is overwhelming.  I also have Vacuum Pro, which I do like the sound of.  Somewhere, I have a UVI collection, which has DW-8000 sounds in it (supposedly).  They feel slow to change sounds, and that hangs me up a bit.