I'm really really on the fence about a second synth here. I have Sylenth1, but I'm looking for one more awesome soft synth to fit the bill. My current considerations:

z3ta
zebra2
Gladiator
FM8

I'm really leaning towards Gladiator, since it seems to offer multiple synthesis methods that I haven't gotten to play around with much...Does anybody have a lot of experience with it, and have you used it regularly in your projects?

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I haven't used Gladiator personally, but I would highly recommend getting FM8. It's brilliant once you have put the effort into understanding it.

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Practically everything I do nowadays is with Gladiator.
It's an amazing piece of software, combining different methods of synthesis and then providing crazy options for mashing, destruction and reconstruction of the sound on a unparalleled level.
Word of caution though, getting a simple sound out if it the most difficult part, and it's easy to get lost in the gazillion options, but once you master it, it becomes a great tool.
Gladiators sound is a league above everything else in the softsynth market, also a point worth mentioning

It's really not expensive considering it's features, coupling sylenth with gladiator is a great choice, I'd recommend looking into Alchemy as well, and then you'll have the best softsynths known to man I'd guess

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Another Gladiator 2 user here - actually, it's my favorite soft synth. I definitely recommend downloading the demo and going through the sound design tutorial in the manual. It's very clearly written and, within a very short time, you'll have a good understanding of what HCM synthesis is all about and you'll know your way around the synth. It's a very powerful synth. But, I will add that, in general, it's a little more "digital" sounding synth than Sylenth1, which is generally more "warm" sounding - makes them a good complement to each other IMO.

But, since you already have a good subtractive synth in Sylenth1, you may want to consider an FM synth like FM8 or Rob Papen's Blue, or as Tarpex mentioned, something completely different like Alchemy, which is a sample mangling additive/granular/spectral synth with subtractive capabilities.

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I would personally go with FM8 for the reasons already suggested

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Either z3ta or zebra2. I haven't used the other you mentioned. But these two is very nice, I don't know which one of those I like the best. But if I gotta choose, I'd say go for z3ta+ ! The interface is simple and user-friendly and easy to work with! And it's sound is brilliant. Zebra2 is also very nice, but I feel it's quicker to work with z3ta+.

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Id say z3ta also.If you really get into it, you can do some nice stuff, it has Addaditve, FM, Ring, PM and "sync" synthesis. It has 6 operators and build in verb, delay, chorus, phaser, distortion, and a compessor, it has a graphic EQ though It has a wave shaper/editor. And it has one of the biggest and [imho] best modulation matrixes ive seen. It has some of the other standard stuff too, like an arpeggiator [with 250 patterns, incl basic up down updown downup and random], 6 LFO, 6 EG, 2 filters. Did I mention you can also import your own wavforms?

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Largo or Omnisphere. Seriously, is there another synth to consider here? WTF. Well, alright, I guess I would *consider* Arturia synths synths they desperately try to emulate classic analogs, but still manage to sound NOTHING like them. Whatever. Go with Largo. Waldorf for the win.

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Sylenth1 is a beast. The suynth I live by currently.

You ever consider Rob Papens Predator?



more importantly what kind of music you tryna produce?

quote:

Originally posted by alanzo Largo or Omnisphere. Seriously, is there another synth to consider here? WTF. Well, alright, I guess I would *consider* Arturia synths synths they desperately try to emulate classic analogs, but still manage to sound NOTHING like them. Whatever. Go with Largo. Waldorf for the win.

Although the Arturia may not faithfully replicate the original hardware, they still sound great and feature fairly prominently in my productions. The Minimoog V is definitely a lot "cleaner" than an original Minimoog.

The Minimonsta, on the other hand, does a pretty good job of emulating the "grit" and "raw" character of the original. Really, really good for a software instrument.

These guys did a comparison of the Minimonsta versus the Voyager, and the results were surprisingly close.

http://www.rhythminmind.net/presetb...sta-comparison/

For me, the Minimonsta has become my "go to" synth for just about everything monophonic. The other G-Force emulations are really good as well. Highly recommend impOSCar as well. The G-Force guys seem to be putting out some really good software ATM.

I love the Minimoog V!

It may not be as gritty as the original but I have gotten some nasty basses out of it. it's def my go to for anything nasty.

Why don't u add to your setup all the Rob Papen/Linplug beasts? Blue, Albino and Predator.
They are incredible!

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