What Vsts Do You Use?

[john]

Hi gang

What VSTs are you currently using? Any you would recommend, or any to avoid?

Cheers

John

[TapperMike]

I have four main vsti's of which have sufficient vst effects so I don't generally run separate effects anymore.

1. Proteus VX

Unlike it's bigger brothers Proteus X and Emulator X It will run on Vista and Windows7. However you will need to install using right click run as administrator and access the vsti in the same manner. It has a wide assortment of sounds from the command station years. Some of them are really stunning. It takes forever to load because all the files load at once. The initial sculping is always pertaninent to the instrument. You can set your CC's once for one sound and then even if the character/scuplting changes the cc's will remain the same.

2. Korg M1 Legacy Edition

Though not free it's a great cheap sound library based on the original M! and all the cards / later versions. It loads fast and is well organized (unlike proteus) It does have two (and only two) fx while not boutique fx they still get the job done.

3. OP-X Pro II

I love this thing, Sometimes it's a moog, sometimes it's any variety of Oberhiem's, Sometimes it's a jupiter, or a prophet. It's got all those great 80's sounds. The videos and mp3's on the site really don't do justice to the quailty of the sound. It's amazingly flexable and the 1500 presets that come with it are great starting points if you want to use the sound as is or alter the sound.

4. Korg Wavestation Legacy Edition

This is essentially the "AI" of Kronos, It's part FM, part additive but mostly 'wave shaping" synthesis. It's a bit heady for me I'll never understand all the features but I sure love playing the presets and playing with the presets. The only thing I really don't like about it is how it handles split. Splitpoint is determined by note value. Which is great if you are a keyboard player with only one keybed. But if you like working with more then one "manual" or are a midi accordianist or like me a ztarist. It's a pain. I would so much more prefer to determine voicing splits by midi channel. I do have a work around by using a host and bringing up two instances of wave station each with it's own channel. Then digging up the same preset on both instances and catering the layering/spilt. But I do find that rather boring.

About my host

Sure I have Abelton Live and Reaper and Sonar and Samplitude. But I make it a point not to open my DAW unless I'm going to record and I only record when I have something two record. I'm one of those old school guys who believes in working out solid ideas before hitting the big red button. But I digress.

I'm using Cantible as my host. Unlike other hosts Cantible is a great live host. You can set up racks to channels and then sidechain or a million and one other things. Then save them as sessions, sub sessions and sets. this is great because after you've tweaked all your settings for the individual vst's and vsti's it saves the values in the parent host. So when it does come time to gig you don't have to trip over yourself remembering where you put each vsti, the fpx for the vsti's

About the Rest

I used to be one of those guys who would spend hours a day trying out free vsts and vsti's Some were good, some were great and some really weren't my thing or were just plain lousy. I've had enough problems with addiction in the past I didn't want to become addicted to downloads like I see on KVRaudio. First your are endlessly downloading vsti's, Then your endlessly trying them out. Then you forget what you have and download again. It pulls one away from making music. Better to keep a clean well organized tool box with just the right tools for the job then a junkyard of a few useful items lost in the sea of broken promises.

[seriousfunn]

I use a lot of the Wave VSt's. Unfortunately they are not cheap but they do special the odd one now and again and they realy get the job done. I found the Masserati collection to be the one I utilise the most. It has presets which are all usable and give you different sounds. It comes with a bundle of VST's for Bass, electric guitar, accoustic Guitar, drums and vocals. I cant recomend it highly enough. Saves a lot of eq problems as everything sits in the mix nicely from the get go when using these.

[Nine]

3. OP-X Pro II

I love this thing, Sometimes it's a moog, sometimes it's any variety of Oberhiem's, Sometimes it's a jupiter, or a prophet. It's got all those great 80's sounds. The videos and mp3's on the site really don't do justice to the quailty of the sound. It's amazingly flexable and the 1500 presets that come with it are great starting points if you want to use the sound as is or alter the sound.

I love and extensively use this VST too!

My main VSTs have to be

1.IL Poizone

This is my favorite of all synthesizers I use!

2.NI FM8

I'm still learning this one but I simply love the sounds you can get out of this thing.

3.Oberheim OP-X Pro

TapperMike explained this one perfectly

4.IL Toxic Biohazard

I don't use this one as much but it has a really grainy sound that I seek most of the time (without mixer effects)

I have a love for subtractive synthesis (haven't learned much on additive synthesis yet)