software synths you couldnt be without

[p_brane]

can anyone recommend any software synths that they really couldnt be without.

i'm using absynth 2 at the moment but would like something fresh to get my teeth into, looking for something really lush, and natural sounding really!

cheers

p

[stjohn]

absynth would be one of them anyway... absynth 4 is out now ,althought im still on 3. try FM8, Massive & uhe Zebra

[loopdon]

sylenth has a very fat core-sound and is easy to handle, massive seemed a little bit overkill for my cpu.

http://www.lennardigital.com/modules/downloads/

There is so many and there is some quality stuff in the free world, too!

Non-free: Predator, Phoscyon (303 on steroids), Albino, stuff from gmedia, Arturia stuff. I really woudln't know where to start. Depends what you are looking for and how much you want to/are able to tweak. Sound-wise sylenth really struck me.

[p_brane]

definately looking for something thats tweekable. want to make some kick ass lush soundscapes to mix with some heavy ass beats

[RDR]

Korg Digital Legacy

100 quid... what a bargain! Like having the synths there...

VST synths? Gotta be

Subtractor
ES1
Xpand!
Fruityloops (as a synth in its own right)
Reaktor.

[tonyc2002]

triangle 2
vanguard
abl pro
v station
massive (only just got this, but it is warm :cheese: )

[tonyc2002]

ps

native instruments synths are the dogs danglies when it comes to quality. absynth, fm8 etc sound great. i just dont have the time to learn to program them at the min

[Electrictribe]

past few weeks i have found drumazon to be excellant. not used any of my hardware drum machines since getting this.

[loopdon]

Agreed, drumazon is nice. Let's wait for nepheton now!

[p_brane]

does it only do 909. if so its def not for me.

used to death imo, but thats just my opinion

[p_brane]

anybody used atmosphere by spectrasonic. would be interested on any comments if you've used it!

[loopdon]

yep, drumazon is based around the 909. still better than only samples for some oldschool flava... don't really use it, though...

[Electrictribe]

anybody used atmosphere by spectrasonic. would be interested on any comments if you've used it!


Atmosphere is ok but end of the day it just a rompler. Never really been a fan of a rompler, would rather just have the sample banks and plug into a sampler myself. The filters ain't all that on thatmosphere either.

Should be interesting to see who has the better 808 emulation D16 or Audiorealism. Think ABL2 is better than Phoscyon. But should be close on the drum machine front.

909 may well be played out but i still like it 20 years on. Great to layer up with other kits and breaks.

[loopdon]

Regarding Abl2 and Phos. i have heard different opinions by owners of a 303. Some swear by one, some by the other. I guess if you like 303s having both is the best idea. Esp. because Phos. also brings some extra features to the table, dist. etc which is why people compare it to the devilfish mods. I guess nowadays we are spoilt for choices...

[rounser]

Atmosphere is ok but end of the day it just a rompler.
I don't get why people are biased against romplers. I mean, you can view synths as very limited romplers (any rompler worth it's salt can do the basic waveforms that a basic subtractive synth is capable of), with slightly better aliasing and maybe a trick like PWM, but that's not much more.

The "how you arrive at the result", via sample or synthesis, shouldn't really matter IMO...and yet, in people's minds synths are the sexy real thing, and romplers illegitimate fakers, regardless of the result. It's weird.

[Electrictribe]

I don't get why people are biased against romplers. I mean, you can view synths as very limited romplers (any rompler worth it's salt can do the basic waveforms that a basic subtractive synth is capable of), with slightly better aliasing and maybe a trick like PWM, but that's not much more.

The "how you arrive at the result", via sample or synthesis, shouldn't really matter IMO...and yet, in people's minds synths are the sexy real thing, and romplers illegitimate fakers, regardless of the result. It's weird.


i don't like romplers as they are a unnecessary strain on computer. if i had jus the samples i can just load up the ones i want into sampler. They also tend to take up huge amounts of hard drive space. The whole sample vs synth thing doesn't even come into it.

[acos1]

One thing i couldn't live without is Battery! I couldn't program drums on anything else.

When i comes to creating basslines its a mixture of Spectrasonics Trilogy and +z3ta. I use Trilogy to get the nice warm low end and the +z3ta to get those lovely dirty cruchy basses i love. Those two are a must for me.

I also use absynth and the FM8 for those complex textures but still need time to get used to the FM8. I suspect it will be one of my favourites when i get into it.

[rounser]

i don't like romplers as they are a unnecessary strain on computer. if i had jus the samples i can just load up the ones i want into sampler. They also tend to take up huge amounts of hard drive space. The whole sample vs synth thing doesn't even come into it.
The luxonix ones I'm thinking of pack everything into 32 meg, saving you a heap of hard drive space and faffing around with sampler patches, and they're romplers. Synths tax your CPU, which is generally a much scarcer resource than memory or hard drive space. Sniffing at instruments just because they're "just romplers" still doesn't make sense to me, but go ahead, you're far from alone in this department.

[RDR]

Romplers are just another way of packaging the wav files

and i have to agree with the atmosphere comment, but only because the filters were not accessible via automation from the sequencer...

and its not the easiest to program.

[decoherance]

z3ta! its the only softsynth i use.

[fatcollective]

z3ta! its the only softsynth i use.

yeah thats a great synth.

[BloodStar]

I dont have only one i couldnt live without, but from my favs it deffo has to be Reaktor, Massive, FM8, MicroTonic.

[loopdon]

Microtonic is nice, fm8 i haven't looked at yet and massive was to much for my cpu it seemed. But i am sure those ni synths are quality, no doubt.

[rhythmtech]

fm8 is fantastic..

im not really a fan of massive.. i probably need to get into it a bit more as everyone is raving about it but at the moment its just not my cuppa.

one i couldnt live without at the moment is audiorealism bassline pro. a great "semi-modular" synth.

and im also finding a lot of the angular momentum stuff great.

[loopdon]

I agree with you, mate. I managed to test MASSIVE but what i heard didn't justify the cpu load. It is very hyped as well. I am sure it is a good synth, though, it just wasn't for ME (yet). ABL Pro is a high quality plugin. I liked the Umek's friend preset when i first tried it out. I think this synth never quite got the attention it deserved. AM Synths are often superb and the fact that lots of them are free is a bonus. You can achieve some solid and deep bass with them and they are nicely laid out. Very kind developer, he also offers some free stuff for stylus rmx; free loops and free refills. Respect

[BloodStar]

Massive is worth spending a fee hours or days to get more deep into it. Great synth for techno, i think.

[rounser]

ABL pro weirds me out.

They take one of the 303's killer features (alongside the sequencer) - it's lack of pots and ease of programming and live tweaking - and effectively bin it, making it effectively like every other subtractive, save for some promises about timbre (probably the least important part of the 303 recipe IMO).

It sort of says to me that Audiorealism doesn't really "know their product", as far as why it's so popular in the first place.

[rhythmtech]

ABL pro weirds me out.

They take one of the 303's killer features (alongside the sequencer) - it's lack of pots and ease of programming and live tweaking - and effectively bin it, making it effectively like every other subtractive, save for some promises about timbre (probably the least important part of the 303 recipe IMO).

It sort of says to me that Audiorealism doesn't really "know their product", as far as why it's so popular in the first place.

but abl pro was never meant to be a 303.. thats what abl bassline is for.

[loopdon]

One thing that's confusing with that one surely is the wires... but i think you can switch them of - or, even better: use them

[rhythmtech]

thats the whole semi-modular thing. you can switgh the wiring to get differant sounds like an arp2600 or moog modular

[p_brane]

just got hold of a demo of z3ta for testing. sounds class. lots of stuff to tweak.

its right up my street

[rounser]

but abl pro was never meant to be a 303.. thats what abl bassline is for.
True, but if I were in their position I'd want to improve on the 303, not take a step backwards from it into "just another random subtractive synth" land. Oh well, it's all subjective I guess - probably just what the doctor ordered for some folks.

[rhythmtech]

True, but if I were in their position I'd want to improve on the 303, not take a step backwards from it into "just another random subtractive synth" land. Oh well, it's all subjective I guess - probably just what the doctor ordered for some folks.

but its not just another subtractive synth if its semi-modular.

and as mike janney said (the developer) y would he want to improve on a 303? where would you go.. hence the abl pro.. differant direction.

[stjohn]

the more i use Abl Pro the more i love it!! sounds great, can make ****ed up sounds, aswell as aciid it up!! its one of my favs

[RAAT77atBOA]

okay.

Retail/Payware:

Albino3
reFX Beast

Freeware:
All the HG Steiner Synths
Gargoyle, by Krakli
All the ArcDev Noise Industries stuff

That's most of it, after that, Samples, Samplers, and raw audio.

[teknotika]

minimonsta :)

[loopdon]

the more i use Abl Pro the more i love it!! sounds great, can make ****ed up sounds, aswell as aciid it up!! its one of my favs

It really is that good. Glad i tried it again!