Plugin Synths

[Sadko]

Hi guys,

Whats everyones favourite plugin synths Ive got tal elek7ro and NI Massive. I use massive mostly but i find myself getting endlessly frustrated with it so i think it might be time for a change. I don't use ableton so operator and the likes are out of the window but apart from that I'm up for all suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

[priamm]

Sylenth is cool. Jv3P synth - free Roland JX-3P emulation,sounds nice too.

[Críoch]

Sylenth is cool but I sometimes find it hard to make the 'cutting' sounds I have in my head.

I know its off the list but Operator is ace. Not U-he Ace.. but very good I mean..

[Sey]

TyrellN6 is a great synth, and it's free. Worth a look.

Also Rave Generator for creative drunkenness 8)

[Wiu]

kiloHearts One. Love it. My most used plugin synth along with Audio Realism's ABL2.

[Ttinga]

I mainly use the standards, Ableton builtin, Komplete and also Aalto and Chromaphone from time to time. Haven't bought anything in quite some time.

Has anyone tried Serum?

[AxeD]

Subtractor

[Mattias]

Sylenth is cool but I sometimes find it hard to make the 'cutting' sounds I have in my head.

I know its off the list but Operator is ace. Not U-he Ace.. but very good I mean..

I think Sylenth could do with an update of the filters. He could get away with that and call it Sylenth 2.0 I reckon!

[Planar]

Serum, Absynth, Zebra and various Reaktor bits are my bread and butter. I've also been cracking out Alchemy again after the recent Camel Audio news.

Has anyone tried Serum?

Yes. It's superb for the kind of bass sounds I want (before processing), I've got a load of wavetables imported from Massive, Codex etc, so it's feels really flexible. Worth trying, given what you're making, Ttinga.

[dylanlolwut]

Operator thats built into ableton is pretty sweet. In the right hands, some really sweet sounds can be made from it. I would mainly use it for making quick-like pluck sounds, then destroying it with a butt load of plugins.
You don't always need to download some third party plugin to be able to achieve a certain sound we all have in our heads when we're making a track, you just got to know really what the general jist of the noise you're looking for, and then adding the right effects to eat!
It's easier said then done though, of course

[dylanlolwut]

Sorry, should of read your comment fully lol.
Whatever Daw you're using should have some built in synth, right? What i would do, and still am doing, is learn how use that one, the one you're given with the daw you have. Once you've mastered that you'll see how more or less 3rd party vst's are, they may have more features than it but i'm talking more about the general feel for plugin synthesisers

[Sadko]

Thanks guys seems like, aside from the ableton plugs, sylenth seems to get the vote ill be sure to check it out. Also had a listen to Xfer Serum which sound great does it have basic (subtractive) wave's? That annoys me about massive that there is a square-saw wave and a polysaw but no bog standard saw wave unless its names something ridiculous and I'm just being a moron which is more than likely

Has anyone tried waves element ?

[Resin]

That annoys me about massive that there is a square-saw wave and a polysaw but no bog standard saw wave unless its names something ridiculous and I'm just being a moron which is more than likely

Just take the square-saw thing and move competely right -> standard saw wave

[Ttinga]

Serum, Absynth, Zebra and various Reaktor bits are my bread and butter. I've also been cracking out Alchemy again after the recent Camel Audio news.

Has anyone tried Serum?

Yes. It's superb for the kind of bass sounds I want (before processing), I've got a load of wavetables imported from Massive, Codex etc, so it's feels really flexible. Worth trying, given what you're making, Ttinga.

Right on Mark. Have you used Massive/Codex to compare? One thing I liked in the Serum demo was the graphical representation of the envelopes and LFOs, how it shows you the actual movement as you play. That's one thing I wish Massive had. Serum did seem like a CPU hog though, and I noticed it takes a while to change presets. Do you use it to make a lot of your bass sounds for your 170 tracks?

[Sadko]

That annoys me about massive that there is a square-saw wave and a polysaw but no bog standard saw wave unless its names something ridiculous and I'm just being a moron which is more than likely

Just take the square-saw thing and move competely right -> standard saw wave

Well i feel like a moron haha . Thanks dude so much makes sense to me now as in I've just realised that the wt position is just a blend between the two waves listed how i never clocked onto that before ill never know. I must never underestimate my own stupidity

Tbh I've been using tal Elek7o for basic waves but the lack of flexibility has been annoying me so this helps an awful lot.

[gedda]

I agree with what dylanlolwut said, third party plugins aren't really always needed to achieve certain sounds. Arrangement and processing is what makes a synth sound good. Sylenth is a good synth, I agree. The thing that makes it sound good is the effects on all their presets. Strip it of its effects, and to me it sounds like any other synth out there. To me, its strength is its user interface. Aside from having to hit 'b' to get access to the other two oscillators, its interface is good.

I also like v-station for basses. Its pretty much sylenth with less features and NO BPF or HPF. If it had a BPF and HPF, I would use that more often because its interface is really good. I also think Z3ta has a great interface too, it's a bit more complex than sylenth, and it has been compared to sylenth in sound quality. It has a lot of customizability which is something I like. The vst versions of hardware synths made by Arturia is really good too imo.

[Adam]

You should check out the u-he stuff. Tyrell is for free, Diva is one of the most analogue sounding VSTs out there (and is pretty versatile) and Hive is an nice alternative for Sylenth. It's in Open-Beta at the moment (until the end of march, i think). So you have enough time to test it.

[Sadko]

I agree with what dylanlolwut said, third party plugins aren't really always needed to achieve certain sounds. Arrangement and processing is what makes a synth sound good. Sylenth is a good synth, I agree. The thing that makes it sound good is the effects on all their presets. Strip it of its effects, and to me it sounds like any other synth out there. To me, its strength is its user interface. Aside from having to hit 'b' to get access to the other two oscillators, its interface is good.

I totally agree i was just getting frustrated with Massive and looking for something 2 maybe 3 oscillator subtractive with a few wave types.

[Sadko]

You should check out the u-he stuff. Tyrell is for free, Diva is one of the most analogue sounding VSTs out there (and is pretty versatile) and Hive is an nice alternative for Sylenth. It's in Open-Beta at the moment (until the end of march, i think). So you have enough time to test it.

I tried Diva a while back and my CPU couldn't handle it for a long time. Will check out Hiva thanks man.

[Planar]

Right on Mark. Have you used Massive/Codex to compare? One thing I liked in the Serum demo was the graphical representation of the envelopes and LFOs, how it shows you the actual movement as you play. That's one thing I wish Massive had. Serum did seem like a CPU hog though, and I noticed it takes a while to change presets. Do you use it to make a lot of your bass sounds for your 170 tracks?

I've got Massive and haven't touched it since I got it's waveforms in Serum. Not tried Codex. Serum is wonderful for modulation through a wavetable, which is key to my sound, and the modulation is much clearer than Massive, as you say.

It does use a fair amount of CPU but I've used it raw in a few of my recent tracks with no major issues. Now I'm resampling my basses it's a non-issue, and what I've been experimenting with in the Planar labs is sounding mean.