What is your favorite VST?

[Half Shell]

Right now I use the software instruments in Ableton as the keys and synths in my band.  We play electronic rock music and I'm looking for a VST that could expand our sound and give us more options.  What do you guys recommend?  I've listened to some u-he Diva and Sylenth demos that sound really good so far but there are so many options!

[jellycott]

Hey! I'm no expert on these things but I have tried a few of these VST synths and own a few.

 

Sylenth is good! I like it and based on your music I think you would like it too! In my modern pop projects I sometimes find that the sounds doesn't really fit in but for your music I wouldn't think it's a problem.

 

I've also used Serum and Massive a lot. Serum is in my opinion a synth that is more for people that really want to build their sounds from the ground up. But if you have ableton 10 the wavetable synth can do pretty much the same stuff. Massive is cool too. I haven't really had time to go through all the presets but there's a lot of useful sounds there and a lot of very strange sounds too.

 

I've tried Nexus too at school but that wasn't really my thing. I think Omnisphere looks amazing but it's kind of expensive and has a huge library. But it seems like the possibilities are pretty much endless with that one. Haven't seen u-he Diva, will check it out.

 

Do you make your own sounds at all? Ableton is really good for that if you want to play around using the Analog, Operator and Wavetable instruments. There's tons of tutorials on how to get started and it's a good feeling when you have made your own sound and used it in your song! Also check out maxforlive.com if you want to download some free instruments and effects made by the ableton community. Most people put them up for free! You just need to get the max for live extension first, i'm pretty sure that's free too on the ableton website.

 

Hope you got something useful out of this haha!

 

 

[Half Shell]

Thanks jellycott : ) This is very helpful and I'll go check out those ones you metnioned.  When I make my own sounds it's mostly with Ableton Analog.  I use wavetable a bit but I'm not very good.  Yeah, I'm mostly looking for a vst that has a great analog-like sound.  Other capabilities would be cool too.  Another one I'm looking into is Parallels by Softube, apparently the sound source is from sampled analog synths which sounds cool.  

[john]

Hard to call with such diversity in purpose.

 

During recording, as a sound creation tool, it has to be Native Instruments Kontakt. So versatile with a huge range of sample libraries/ instruments available. Of those I would say any of Output’s instruments are awesome.

 

During mixing, possibly T-Racks, though there are many simple ones that do one job well that I am ruling out purely from a versatility perspective. AmpliTube is also awesome, though my main grumble is with limitations caused by their pricing model.

 

For mastering, Izotope Ozone. Expensive but awesome. The entry level tools are pretty good value.

[geographyhorse]

I'm a hardware guy and own 4 synths (I prefer the immediacy). I do own a Korg M1 soft synth. Although, it's mostly because I have fond memories of that 90s Korg sound (the Korg X5D was my first synth). I'm going to download and play with Noisetar at some point. 

[ALOPRODUCTIONZ]

On ‎3‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 4:57 PM, Half Shell said:

Right now I use the software instruments in Ableton as the keys and synths in my band.  We play electronic rock music and I'm looking for a VST that could expand our sound and give us more options.  What do you guys recommend?  I've listened to some u-he Diva and Sylenth demos that sound really good so far but there are so many options!

if your good at tweaking and making your own sounds go for gladiator or harmor

if you want to use pre-sets say with a subscription to splice then id choose massive  or sylenth because availability of preset

if your looking for real instrument sounds etc id recommend play by east west you can buy a monthly subscription to all of there plugins in 1 vst

[subvibe]

here is a nice free synth plugin

https://www.amazona.de/freeware-synth-tyrell-n6-v3-03/

[starise]

Do you have the full version of Ableton?  They have some amazing synths in their flagship program. I had intended to move up the next time Ableton offers a sale. Right now I'm using Live 10 which is a fully functional version that doesn't have these synths.

[ImKeN]

On 4/12/2019 at 5:09 PM, ALOPRODUCTIONZ said:

east west you can buy a monthly subscription

 

I was, kind'a, waiting for this. Good to know!

 

 

On 3/26/2019 at 1:27 AM, john said:

For mastering, Izotope Ozone.

 

I'm thinking of going for the O⁸ & N² bundle, rent-to-own style..🤔

[Levi Para]

I only recently started working with a synthesizer on my latest project so I am not well versed, but I took a plunge with Harmor on FL Studio and paid for the full working version, I have not been disappointed.

 

Being ignorant to the workings of synthesizers and how to build your own sound from scratch with them in a DAW environment, Harmor was an excellent option with tons of great premade sounds that I could tweak to fit what I was looking for without creating something from scratch.

 

So as a beginner getting into synth, I have loved Harmor for its ease of access, but has a lot of power for extend-ability when I learn more about how synths actually work and am ready to make my own sounds from scratch.

[BigBubbaBrown]

Tough call. I have several favorites. Fortunately for you if you're on a budget I'm a cheapskate when it comes to software synths. If I'm going to shell out $400 it's going to be for a hardware synth (currently eyeing the Roland D-05). That way if I find my computer can't handle it I haven't lost a month's wages or put myself in a position where I have to get a new PC. In fact, I'm so cheap that all but one of the plug-ins I currently use are freeware.

 

Synth1 is my go-to synth. Any time I get a new computer or replace a hard drive it's the first one I get after I reinstall my DAW. It's good for pads, good for leads, has a built-in arpeggiator, with the right settings and one of the built-in distortion effects you can even get a fairly convincing metal guitar sound, which can come in handy even if you're not into metal.

 

Kamiooka is another good one. It's not quite as straight forward as Synth1, in fact it tries to simulate a modular synth, but if you're willing to sit down and tinker with it for an afternoon you can get some pretty good results.

 

Hexagon 85 is an emulation of one of the Simmons SDS series drum kits. I believe it's the SDSV, though I could be mistaken. All I know is that I can use it to get the exact drum sound used in the second part of Genesis' Home By the Sea, so if you've heard that song it will give you an idea of what to expect from the VST.

 

Dexed is a great one. It's a DX7 emulator, mostly indistinguishable from the hardware, and much easier to program than the original hardware. The only reason I don't use it in everything is because I lucked out and found an actual DX7 in my price range.

 

There is only one VST to date that I paid for, and that is the Korg Wavestation. I fell in love with it when I heard it on Genesis' We Can't Dance album. It has a lot of great pads on it, especially if you layer it with an instance of Synth1. The only issue is, at least in my experience, that the hardware version was so popular in its day that a lot of the good patches are practically (though not legally) trademarked by the people who used them. There are still countless patches that are still free for the taking, and if you're willing to tinker a bit you can make your own.

 

I'm also keeping an eye on Realivox Blue. I haven't used it, haven't been able to afford it, but I'm very impressed by what I've seen. It's hard to describe, but it's basically a virtual singer. Much higher quality (though more limited) than the likes of Vocaloid. It's the one exception to my "if the price gets to three figures just get a hardware synth" policy.

[Leon T]

Spectrasonics and Native instruments produce my go-to libraries. I love Keyscape for vintage keys in particular.