Any virtual synth recommendations

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-- Any virtual synth recommendations

Posted by Alpha219 on Oct-10-2011 21:21:

Any virtual synth recommendations

I already have Albino 3, NI Massive, Sylenth. What else should I consider?

Is Sytrus any good?
Vanguard?

Posted by Looney4Clooney on Oct-10-2011 21:37:

Dune is the best sounding synth as far as pure oscillators i have heard. All round I think Zebra is one of the best. Semi modular and extremely powerful.

Posted by meriter on Oct-11-2011 00:52:

Zebralette is still free I think...

Posted by Looney4Clooney on Oct-11-2011 01:10:

for owners of Zebra

Posted by PlasticSoul on Oct-11-2011 01:36:

Re: Any virtual synth recommendations

quote:
Originally posted by Alpha219
I already have Albino 3, NI Massive, Sylenth. What else should I consider?

Is Sytrus any good?
Vanguard?

u-he zebra.

Posted by SystematicX1 on Oct-11-2011 06:35:

Fell in LOVE with Z3TA

Posted by cl0ckw3rk on Oct-11-2011 15:40:

I figure with Sylenth, you've already got your basic subractive, so why not explore something with a little more versatility?

Maybe something that uses additive, FM, granular, etc. Just to throw something a little different in the mix.

Two that come to mind: Tone2 Gladiator, Camel Audio Alchemy

If it were me and my money, I wouldn't buy a synth that'll get me pretty much the same sounds.

Posted by cryophonik on Oct-11-2011 16:38:

Re: Any virtual synth recommendations

quote:
Originally posted by Alpha219
I already have Albino 3, NI Massive, Sylenth. What else should I consider?

Would you run an ad that simply says "looking for a new car"? Give us something to work with here. What sorts of sounds are you looking for? Why do you need/want a new synth? As cl0ckw3rk mentioned, you have subtractive covered with these three synths - are you looking or something completely different? More of the same? Are you looking for a great synth for serious sound design, or something with a bunch of trance presets? What's your budget?

Zebra2 is excellent, but not heavy on trance presets and it can be very intimidating if you don't have a good grasp on synthesis. DUNE is excellent and highly recommended, and I'd throw Fabfilter Twin2 out there as well, although it is also semi-modular like Zebra2 is.

Vanguard is pretty dated if you go by its presets and it has a very distinct, metallic sound, but is still a good all around synth for EDM, particularly if you're any good at sound design/preset tweaking. Never used Sytrus.

Posted by tehlord on Oct-11-2011 16:53:

KarmaFX

The mans choice.

Posted by J.L. on Oct-11-2011 16:57:

Try FM8 and give FM synthesis a try. It gives you a lot of interesting tones to play with.

Also, I would give spectrasonic omnisphere a shot as well.

Posted by skyhunter on Oct-11-2011 19:32:

quote:
Originally posted by meriter
Zebralette is still free I think...

yep, it's free.

Posted by Nicolas Oliver on Oct-12-2011 00:54:

Personally, I love Sylenth1 and NI Massive.

Posted by Mel David on Oct-28-2011 11:23:

This is my current arsenal of soft synths:

Beatscape

Cakewalk Sound Center

Cyclone

Dimension Pro

Dreamstation

DropZone

Garritan Personal Orchestra

Pentagon

PSYN II

Rapture

Roland GrooveSynth

RXP REX Player

Session Drummer 3

SFZ+ SoundFont Sampler

Square I

Studio Instruments Drums

Studio Instruments Bass

Studio Instruments E-Piano

Studio Instruments Strings

TruePianos Amber

TTS-1

Z3TA+ 2.1

I haven't even had the time to play with all of them yet but I do want to be able to compose any genre of music so I want to have all synthesis types covered as well as have some decent presets as starting points.

Today I demo'd Zebra2 and Alchemy. I was very impressed with Alchemy's presets, however Zebra2 to me sounded quite similar to Rapture/Z3ta.

So Alchemy has shot up to the top of my want list, however, I think I may be doubling up since I already have Dimension Pro.

What else should I be trying out?

Posted by Julz on Oct-28-2011 11:28:

Zeta is really a good choice, to bad they dont make a mac version.

I find the Gforce MiniMoog a really good synth for Bass.

Posted by Alpha219 on Nov-08-2011 05:52:

cl0ckw3rk,
Thanks for the tip. I bought Tone Gladiator. For $189 I can't complain -- Sure beats paying $2,000 for a hardware synth like back in the "olden days". It has opened up some new horizons for me. It took me a long time to explore all of the factory patches. Seems like a lot of the patches work well with the modulation wheel.

Anyone know how to create your own patch directory with Tone Gladiator so that you can save your favorite patches in there and easily click through them one by one?

Posted by J.L. on Nov-08-2011 15:21:

Personally, I think people should get a package like native instruments komplete and be pretty much covered for most of their synthesis needs

Posted by evo8 on Nov-08-2011 16:42:

Alchemy defintely - some top quality soundbanks available for it but they are quite pricey - covers sooo much sonic ground that synth, simply could not do without it