What are your top soft synths?

R

Robmobius

Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
How do,

I'm still saving for an Acess Virus :) But in the mean time - I've been using my trusty Soft synths. I'm kind'a curious what you guys are using for cool Bass?

My top ones so far are:

1) Massive
Originally, I had no joy with this thing whatsoever. And thought it sounded a bit flimsy compared to Sylenth. But after learning more about subtractive syntheses I really go into this thing. The options are endless and I was able to eek out some nice analog aouds using some of the cool filter toptions. Very pleased with it so far... :) Still learning it mind, and have long way to go. :)

2) Rob Papen's Predator
My second "go to" synth... I think this is a really nice sounding synth. It has some mad modulation options. And I've managed to get some really nasty bass out of it.

3) Sylenth
This sounds great out of the box with all the ocilators smashing away. But I found that I'm not using it much anymore. Prolly more suited for "trance" music (etc). Personally, I found the bass, while nice, sounded a little bit "bright" for my taste. Plus, the modulations are a bit limited. But a great synth.

Heard good reports about Albino and Z3ta, but I've not checked them out yet.

Rob.
 
id like to like those fancy ones more but i dont. cant be doing with it. if i want to sample complex pads though, ive got a good un for you, heres my list:

1. 3xosc
2. ts404
3. chameleon5000
4. padmaker (i know, funny right)
5. synth1 (with no damn presets anywhere for some reason)
 
3osc and synth1!! <3

thats a good source of synths Logikz, my fav synths infact (and buzz' FSM infector!)
 
Robmobius said:
How do,

I'm still saving for an Acess Virus :)
.
Click to expand...

Yeah thats the dream man... Would love to own one of those bad boys.... Im a bit of a novie to all this production thing really... Kinda know some basics... My mate earlier today was telling me that there is Soft synth by Access virus based on the Virus C (i tihnk) and said its only available in logic????

Do you know if this is true?
What other soft synths are there out there than are really close when it comes to recreating that lovely virus sounds???

Like i say im a bit of a novice so if you could shed some light on this for me that would appreciated...

Cheers man..
 
I've only ever used NI Massive, but it does seem a little bit limited for me. Very simple to use though, so I'm wary to swap to anything else, and although I've heard good things about sylenth its just hideous to look at....

I want something which can give me better and more complex bass sounds, and also better pads. Not Albino though, didn't like it.
 
Ive been around with soft synths and have found my favs i think, I tried massive and liked it at first but it seems to have some limitations and is not the most user friendly with our Korg Kontrol49. p.s. if anyone can help with linking the two let me know.
anyways favs are as follows

1. Rob Papen Blue <- this is a beast of a program, once you learn it the potential is limitless
2. Rob papen Albino 3, oldie but goodie
3. Gladiator, awesome for tripped out layered FX
4. Sytrus, just cause

But really any synth can be cool if used propah!!!
 
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months ago.. i decided to stick to 1 VST and learn it through and through, now i've basicly mastered every pixel of it, good thing it's sound deisgn capabilities are limitless

* Zebra 2.5 FTW, every single sound in my tracks is made with it.
 
Computer music's Dominator, very simple but effective, only down side it is theres no LFO tempo sync. other that that its pretty cool for makeing sounds. i prefer to use effects to shape the sound more anyway!
 
1. Ableton Analog
2. Massive
3. Albino3
4. Phosycon
5. Absynth

tbh i've recently only been using abletons built in tools, but not long ago all 5 of those would have made an appearance in practicly everything i wrote
 
3xosc for everything that isnt an instrument, and for everything else, dsk series, various pad and string synths and some rhode vsts.

z3ta and albino come into use every now and than aswell tho.
 
mental marv said:
Yeah thats the dream man... Would love to own one of those bad boys.... Im a bit of a novie to all this production thing really... Kinda know some basics... My mate earlier today was telling me that there is Soft synth by Access virus based on the Virus C (i tihnk) and said its only available in logic????

Do you know if this is true?
What other soft synths are there out there than are really close when it comes to recreating that lovely virus sounds???

Like i say im a bit of a novice so if you could shed some light on this for me that would appreciated...

Cheers man..
Click to expand...

yup its been around for aaages, since 2002 or something like that and its for pro tools only. fucked up mane. but a 2nd hand virus wont run you more than 300-400 eur so its perfectly possible to actually buy one, not like one of them oberheim jobbies for 4 gillion
 
@Mental Marv
Yeah, the virus, when I can get my mitts on one! I know they are decent money second hand (well, the older models are as Logikz said). The newer ones like the "Snow" and "TI" are pricey as hell. The other thing is though, I'm not too sure if I should go for a Virus A B or C. :(

Other than that I can't be too much help as I'm a newbie too. So I'm sure some of the Mekons here will be able to help ya' a lot better than I could. Of course I'm not saying that they look like Mekons - that they just have Mekon brains (supposed to be a compliment, but I'll prolly get stabbed for it). :)

Re. soft synths sounding like a Virus. Can't be too sure, as I'm not 100% sure what sound you are going for. The three that I mentioned are pretty good. Massive seems to be used by everyone these days including guys like Subfocus. But if your looking for an analogue type, sound some of the Arturia stuff is worth checking out. Especially the Mini Moog - It can do some lovely liquid bass stuff... Not as good as the original obviously, but I don't have 5k to spend on a "voyager" or whatever the latest one is called.

@Logikz
3 OCS sounds damn nice on a lot of the demos that I saw on youtube. A very full sounding synth alright. Synth 1 I tried before, after hearing how good it was. I didn't really get it to shine . But, in fairness I knew a lot less when i was using it - can't go wrong considering it's free!
Um, well... I still don't know much now... :)

@everyone else:
Ta' for all the comments!

Interesting list that people have come up with.

Papen's blue looks cool alright. Some of the Ableton stuff is nice as well not sure if it growls like Massive or Predator. Ironically, I don't actually have any of the Ableton synths though, because I'd got my mitts on a few soft synths before I had Ableton. Couldn't really afford any more. I picked up z3ta when it was on offer there a while back (20 euro - I'll have that). Haven't really had a good chance to check it (plus it looks scary!).

Thought Alchemy looked kinda interesting... after I downloaded the demo.

Cheers,

R.
 
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