What softsynths (VSTi/DXi) do you own or use?

[TheStoryteller]

Just out of curiosity.

I'm planning to get some good ones, but I don't know where to start. I'd like some analog-ish leads a´la Ayreon, some Hammond B3-like organs and some synthetic 80's pads/strings. Not necessarily in an all-in-one plugin though. What do YOU use? And do you have any suggestions for ME?

 

[Black neon bob]

Sure... being a huge synth fan, i use these:

- Imposcar:
has a good lead, some really nice pads, and some fat sounding bass sounds.. this one is pretty cheap as well, and does the job well.. lot's of control and easy to use.

- Rob Papen's Albino, and Blue:
Some good sounds as well.. both seem to be used a lot for techno and trance stuff, but there are a lot of good pre-sets and stuff to fiddle with.

- If you have nuendo or cubase.. check out their own synths as well! it comes with the programs and have some really nice leads as well... good pads as well, def worth checking out!

As far as that hammond synth your looking for... there are a couple out there, but i have been nothing but dissapointed when i tried the demos of these B3 organs... i tried a couple, last one was native instruments VSTi, and i could NOT get that attack in it at all... it seems to work well for pop music or mellow stuff, but if you are out to do some 60/70's rock/metal like spiritual beggars, i dont think you should look at software synths for that... hardware should do the trick though.

That's about all i use that is worth mentioning for me.. there are sooo many plugins out there these days, i can hardly keep up as well.. but have a look at some native instruments stuff as well, and check these synths out i posted above... well worth a try for sure and good luck!

 

[Machinated]

Hmm was just looking on the powercore site, and they have an Access Virus model, thats a cool synth, had great experiences with that. Not sure if there are any VSTi/DXi emulations of it though. They can be picked up off ebay fairly cheap and are worth a punt imo

 

[greyskull]

east west symphonic orchestra

 

[-Gavin-]

I usually leave stuff like that to my band's keyboard player!


However, on my system i use:

Sonar 5's built in ones and a few from that freeware plugin site i posted.. namely "Gargoyle" as i love adding some evolving landscapes/sounds to my music


I'm also partial to arturia minimoog however, i don't own it... My friend does so i just send him the midi files

 

[-Gavin-]

I also use Peti - Accordion

 

[KnifeVariable]

I was never really satisfied with any VSTi synths I tried, both commercial or free ones - if they had nice pads, the leads sounded like crap and vice versa. But then I discovered Adventus... oh my dear Adventus, how gracefully you oscillate! Seriously, this is the one synth that fulfilled all my expectations - great pads, leads, you name it and it doesn't require a phD to operate like some do (big plus in my book). It seems to be created with the trancy/techno/80sPop people in mind, so if that's what you're after give it a try, otherwise try something else for this is the key to tranceland indeed. The only downside I can think of is that it's quite a CPU hog and has some bugs, but we'll call them "eccentric moments" out of respect for this wonderful piece of software.

 

[chadsxe]

east west symphonic orchestra

I wish I could afford that. How is it?

 

[-Gavin-]

I wish I could afford that. How is it?

I use Gold and LOVE IT


When we were tlaking about "synths" i figured you guys meant like... analogue style ones...



My friend uses Silver and i honestly can't reall the difference when used in metal songs. Really.

Gold is only really awesome if you're doing proper orchestral arrangements.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Reason 3.0 and a freebee called cheese or some shit like that. I love reason for it's synths everything else about it though :yuck:

If your on a PC there is also the Hahaha cs01: a free software synth that emulates a yamaha cs01 only for PC though.

 

[TheStoryteller]

Thanks guys! I've been doing a bit of googling and thinking since I started the thread, and I've found a pretty good B3 emulation; and it's free! It's called ORGANized t r i o, and you can find it HERE!

I started from the "deep rock" (or something similar) preset, and adjusted the drive etc to my likings. Love at first sight!

I also remembered one of my OLD favourites; the japanese beast named Synth1! It's ugly, it's old, but sounds absolutely wonderful for leads, arpeggios and other stuff. Sounds reeeeeally analog-ish. Take a look HERE!

edit: Synth1 is also free. Free stuff is nice.

 

[korpse pop]

Try ZR3 for organ sounds too. Sounds great especially when used with a guitar amp sim for overdriven sound.

 

[KnifeVariable]

Synth1 looks like my kind of thing, I'll give it a try. Thanks for pointing it out Fredrik!

 

[greyskull]

symphonic orchestra is beautiful!
i could only afford silver, but the sounds are unbelivable

 

[Black neon bob]

Fredrik,

How did you install that ORGANized t r i o plugin?
I opened up the file, and did not see a proper way to install the files into my nuendo plugin folder.. all i got is 3 files that were unknown to my PC...

Any idea?

Cheers.

 

[Polpotkin]

symphonic orchestra is beautiful!
i could only afford silver, but the sounds are unbelivable

Can you (or anyone else) post something? I'm thinking of getting it myself but I haven't found any demos that I know is silver and not gold/platinum

 

[TheStoryteller]

Fredrik,

How did you install that ORGANized t r i o plugin?
I opened up the file, and did not see a proper way to install the files into my nuendo plugin folder.. all i got is 3 files that were unknown to my PC...

Any idea?

Cheers.

Just copy the .dll file to your plugin folder. (maybe c:\program files\steinberg\vstplugins)

 

[AStacy2]

symphonic orchestra is beautiful!
i could only afford silver, but the sounds are unbelivable

I just got Gold and it's amazing...it sounds even better than I imagined it would.