Best VSTs

[TheOnlyProphet]

I'm pretty new to Ableton. Previously I used Reason / Record only. So now that I have Ableton I'm all excited about being able to use VSTs. Only problem is I'm on a pretty tight budget. Can anyone suggest the best VST synths / effects? It doesn't matter if they're free but I'm interested to know which free ones people think are just as good as some of the paid ones. Are there some that are comparable? Like what's a free synth that's pretty comparable to Massive?

Are there any exotic VSTs that aid in the production of glitchy electro house or dubstep with beat repeats and other randomizing stuff?

There may already be a thread or two about this but I went through the first few forum pages and didn't find anything.

Thank you in advance for your responses!

[ian_halsall]

In my opinion it might be best to use the Live instruments.

For instance Simpler may look - er - simple but it can do a load of things that you can't do with other VST samplers when used in conjunction with automation.

You can make glitch using this very easily - google around and look at some videos.

The Live additional instruments (Operator, Sampler, Analog) have a deceptively simple interface which makes it look they do very little.

But their integration with Live makes them work really well.

If I had my time again I would have just bought Live Suite and forget about other VSTs.

I own Kontakt, FM8 and Absynthe but I have never used them since I got Live - used to use them with Cubase (Halion sucked then).

[chizkelly]

as far as vsts go id say Reasons synths/effects are second too none, you mention you use them. Re wrie into live, you cant go wrong.

Fab filter synths are pretty nice sounding too, thier EQ has a good visual display which helps alot with nailing frq cuts, as well as trainging you on the genreal art of EQ

visit
http://soundcloud.com/ickaris

[chizkelly]

ps for glitchy stuff id go for dblue glitch if you got a pc

otherwise effectrix is good for macs

http://soundcloud.com/ickaris

[footsy]

A lot of the instruments can be as good or even better then a lot of the VSTs.

Operator and Simpler are pretty goodly once you get used to them.

Go on youtube there are a bunch of tutorials on how to use them and get the sound you want.

If you have the money, I love Nexus. In my opinion, it's worth the 299. I tried, massive, and sylenth1... but I fell in love with reFX-Nexus2

[darkenedsoul]

Search These sites:

http://www.vst4free.com/

http://freevst.blogspot.com/

http://www.vstplanet.com/

http://www.dskmusic.com/

Also check out http://www.kvraudio.com and search there for effects, instruments, etc...

Just make sure they are Window or MAC VSTis you are snagging so you get the right versions.

[TheOnlyProphet]

Wow! Thanks for all the great posts! I'm going to go through and address a few individual posts now.

[simmerdown]

dblue glitch is too fun, and deeper than it looks, watch some vids on it

free synths i like

the itchy bundle (6 great lil dubstep synths)

tal noisemaker

string theory

crystal

triangle II

DSKbrass

[TheOnlyProphet]

In my opinion it might be best to use the Live instruments...

Thanks for the tip! I've heard people rave over operator and simpler. I will be digging into those post haste.

[Tone Deft]

uhbik

I discovered them fairly recently and everyone was like "yeah, duh, those are great, didn't you know??"

[TheOnlyProphet]

Yeah +1 for Suite.

Save up for a pro limiter like Fabfilter Pro-L, The Glue, BBE Sonic Maximiser, Apqualizr and maybe a reverb like Reverberate if you wanna splash out a bit later on.

Cool thanks for the post production effects suggestions. It's good to know what the best stuff to use to finalize your track is. Reason has a few tools built right in. But with Ableton I knew I was going to need to find a pro mastering rack.

[TheOnlyProphet]

as far as vsts go id say Reasons synths/effects are second too none, you mention you use them. Re wrie into live, you cant go wrong.

Fab filter synths are pretty nice sounding too, thier EQ has a good visual display which helps alot with nailing frq cuts, as well as trainging you on the genreal art of EQ.

Yes that's what I'm doing right now. I can't bear to part with Thor or Malstrom, RPG-8, Dr-Octo, Matrix... The list goes on. It's super easy to rewire so if you have both, you might as well utilize it. I had some issues at first with midi latency going from
Ableton to Reason and then the sound coming back to Ableton, but I was able to fix that by adjusting the buffer settings in audio preferences. So there's absolutely no reason to NOT use Reason. Ok so it was a bad pun! lol

I'll check out the Fab filter stuff later today. Thanks again!

[TheOnlyProphet]

...If you have the money, I love Nexus. In my opinion, it's worth the 299. I tried, massive, and sylenth1... but I fell in love with reFX-Nexus2

----

Search These sites:

http://www.vst4free.com/

http://freevst.blogspot.com/

http://www.vstplanet.com/

http://www.dskmusic.com/

Also check out http://www.kvraudio.com and search there for effects, instruments, etc...

Just make sure they are Window or MAC VSTis you are snagging so you get the right versions.

----

Thanks for the tips! I'll be scouring those websites for sure.

[TheOnlyProphet]

I'm quite excited about the TAL plugins (free) which you can grab here and some cool tools & effects can be grabbed from Reaper; the freely available ReaPlugs which you can find here.

And since you're a fellow Reason user... Both Live and Reason have quite a few pro's and con's, IMO its an almost perfect duo, but even so; one of the things Live (without Max for Live) doesn't have its an arpeggiator as extensive as Reason's RPG-8.

But you can use the RPG8 in Live as well, even though you normally can't use rewire to send MIDI out of rewire slave (such as Reason). You'll need the ReaPlugs mentioned earlier, ZenMonkey's javascript program and some time & effort.

I've explained the whole setup on this blog post. Dunno, maybe you'll like it.

Neat! those TAL plug-ins look pretty nice. I'll grab all those! Checking out you're blog too. It'll be a little later though.

[TheOnlyProphet]

dblue glitch is too fun, and deeper than it looks, watch some vids on it

free synths i like

the itchy bundle (6 great lil dubstep synths)

tal noisemaker

string theory

crystal

triangle II

DSKbrass

Great list! Thanks for those. This is turning into a good day! lol