Cubase 4: Which VSTi's should i purchase

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-- Cubase 4: Which VSTi's should i purchase

Posted by Raphie on Aug-03-2008 12:18:

Cubase 4: Which VSTi's should i purchase

I am working with Cubase 4.13 which includes the following VSTi's

A1 (Purchased a Veangence soundbank for this synth)
Embracer
Prologue
Spector
Mystic
HALION1 (sample Player: i use the drumkits)

I've purchased the following synths:
- Tone2 Gladiator
- MUOM TAU2

for Dynamics and FX i've purchased:
- SSL Duende
- Lexicon MX200 (digtally connected via external FX)
- Tone2 WarmVerb

I am playing around with Vanguard and i am still in doubt wether this will add anything to above synths I mean how many Trance Presets does someone need?!? When looking beyond the presets i have not found anything that Vanguard could do what the other synths don't
Is that correct or am i missing something here?

Also played with the Superwave P8 and the Synth1, but both sound "cheap" to me and lack the warmth of i.e. the Gladiator. (thuogh stacked with FX I still might use them for some layering)

I use timewarp (a.k.a. recycle) to edit and play samples so no need for a sampler VSTi

What would you recommend to look into to complete my setup? I would love some good piano's and a good SW equivalent of the NL2 or Acces Virus

Posted by Owsey on Aug-03-2008 12:43:

Re: Cubase 4: Which VSTi's should i purchase

quote:
Originally posted by Raphie
When looking beyond the presets i have not found anything that Vanguard could do what the other synths don't
Is that correct or am i missing something here?

I'm not the biggest fan of Vangaurd either but I know it can be tweaked quite a bit. Just play around with it more and you'll come up with more possibilities.

Posted by pwnage1 on Aug-03-2008 12:47:

Discovery Dsp is a softsynth modeled after the nl2 i believe so that might be worth checking out.

Posted by Ry Thomas on Aug-03-2008 16:50:

How is Duende in C4? Thinking of getting one myself

Posted by mysticalninja on Aug-03-2008 21:52:

vanguard has lots of nice unique oscillators and filters. if you like programming, its a fun synth.

Posted by Subtle on Aug-03-2008 22:11:

Vanguard with all its oscilliators and filter types is great for filler sounds.

Posted by michaelconway on Aug-03-2008 23:38:

Synths:
FM8 - Great for bass sounds, and Fm Sounds, Leads

Novation V-station - Good all-rounder, analogish sounding pads. Great for leads as well

Atmosphere- Pads, and atmospheric sounds

Then there is buying an actual synth. JP8080's are in the lower price ranges, and they are great for basic elements. Especially for trance. I really can't stand any of the the stienburg Synths, there reverb is kinda crappy too. I like there EQ's though

Posted by Subtle on Aug-03-2008 23:50:

No soft synth will sound better and more versatile than a Virus imo.

Posted by michaelconway on Aug-04-2008 00:08:

quote:
Originally posted by Subtle
No soft synth will sound better and more versatile than a Virus imo.

Agreed, I do have a bit of a KIT addiction. ti, nl3, and an A6.. I only started using soft synths on my laptop when I was vacationing.

Posted by Raphie on Aug-04-2008 06:33:

In my previous studio i had quite a collection of outboard gear:

Roland JP-8080
Roland JUNO 106
Novation Drumstation
Clavia Nordlead
Korg Z1
Alesis QR6
Alesis Quadraverb II

All connected to a Mackie 8buss LM32
working with VST 5.1

Then i sold itall and had a couple of years of doing nothing and now i have rebuilt my studio.

I am looking for a HW synth, BUT i only want USB connected synths now (i.e. like the Virus TI with VSTi UI and delay compensation) i don't want to use any analoque TRS connections anymore.

The Duende is great, i've got the PCIe version and it sounds superb. It glues your mix together like nothing else. Warm dry foundations for your tracks at your fingertips.

Posted by aquila on Aug-13-2008 10:16:

I got this one real cheap...

Posted by adi_hanson on Aug-13-2008 10:32:

quote:
Originally posted by aquila
I got this one real cheap...

Darn i would well like to purchase that but ill wait until it comes with the 'sound like' option on version 1.1.13

Posted by Storyteller on Aug-13-2008 10:40:

quote:
Originally posted by pwnage1
Discovery Dsp is a softsynth modeled after the nl2 i believe so that might be worth checking out.

Better to use Synth1, also modeled after the NL2 and free

Posted by pwnage1 on Aug-13-2008 11:03:

quote:
Originally posted by Storyteller
Better to use Synth1, also modeled after the NL2 and free
Yeah, i tried demo's of discovery and it doesn't sound better than synth one its a very average soft synth. But i didn't know that synth one was modeled after the nl2

Posted by Storyteller on Aug-13-2008 12:08:

Well I'm not one 100% sure if it is sound wise, but all paramaters in Synth1 are mapped to the same midi CC messages as the NL 2 parameters. So synth1 patches and NL2 patches are exchangeable between them from what I've heard.

Posted by aquila on Aug-13-2008 13:32:

quote:
Originally posted by adi_hanson
Darn i would well like to purchase that but ill wait until it comes with the 'sound like' option on version 1.1.13

That was released last week, that's why I bought the older one cheap

Posted by adi_hanson on Aug-13-2008 13:45:

quote:
Originally posted by aquila
That was released last week, that's why I bought the older one cheap

LOL , lovin it

Posted by Vortex_SA on Aug-13-2008 13:58:

quote:
Originally posted by Subtle
No soft synth will sound better and more versatile than a Virus imo.

i doubt that a lot.

Posted by Magnus on Aug-13-2008 16:33:

quote:
Originally posted by Subtle
No soft synth will sound better and more versatile than a Virus imo.

Agreed as well. The best thing I ever did was get a Virus Ti.

Posted by cryophonik on Aug-13-2008 16:57:

This may sound a bit ironic coming from a guy with more than 4 dozen (yes, legitimate) soft synths, but I don't think you need anything else. You've got the subtractive and hybrid synths and sampler covered and a nice set of audio processing plugins. I'd suggest taking the time to learn those first and figure out what your needs/desires are. I imagine that you'll have your hands full learning Cubase 4, so more toys may just slow you down.

That said, if you are just dying to spend money (and, who isn't?), I'd second the Atmosphere and FM8 recommendations. Atmosphere (a rompler) is a highly specialized pad machine with a huge library and FM8 is one of the best FM synths on the market today. Other soft synths to consider:

- Rob Papen Blue - hybrid FM/subtractive synth

- Rob Papen Albino 3 (subtractive synth similar to Vanguard, but I like this one better)

- Nexus2 - another rompler that was just updated as of last week; some people hate it, others love it (and, unfortunately, now that Nexus has been mentioned, this thread will likely be hijacked by Nexus haters who seem to have nothing better to do)

- Cakewalk Rapture - phenomenal multi-element synth

- NI Massive - Another subtractive synth, but a massive one.

As always, demos are a good place to start.