Looking for a user friendly synth that has alot of potential

[Nephew]

Might be asking for a lot here, but I'm looking for a user friendly synth that still has a lot of potential that I can grow with and get more out of it the more I use it. I'm still loving my Operator, but I want to try and see what other synths are out there.

A friend of mine suggested "Rob Papen Blue" and the "Novation Bass Station" as well as "Predator".

Any thoughts and opinions on these for starting out with? Any other ones I should look into?

Cheers!

[jonathan harker]

this thing is cool! http://www.futureaudioworkshop.com/circle/

[flippo]

z3ta

[carrieres]

the future synth from synapse audio http://www.synapse-audio.com/index.php
sound awesome, i will post some teaser from the beta as soon as i am allowed

[Zygi]

Synth1 !

[doghouse]

The good news about softsynths is you can download demos and try them in Live before you spend any money on them.

User friendly and potential for growth are almost direct opposites. The more stuff a synth can do the less user friendly it is, at least in the sense that you get a lot more controls to learn. Look for synths that have "easy modes" that let you do simple tweakage without having to deal with the whole thing at once. Consider synths that have single screen interfaces (many have multiple screens because of som many controls) as they are easier to digest.

Circle is a good suggestion as it has a very intuitive visual interface.

Predator sounds fantastic, has a lot under the hood but does it with a single screen. Comes with lots of very usable presets from vintage to ultra-modern.

Bass Station is a one trick pony that does basic 2 VCO analog type stuff, I'd pass on buying this but if you get it free (it's in many software bundles) it is easy to program.

Free ones:

U-62 from TAL Audio is a Juno 6 clone and very easy to program.

Crystal from Green Oak is cool if you're into heavy modulation options including very powerful EGs

[Nephew]

Really digging the Rob Papen synths (Predator/SubBoomBass/Blue). Might invest in these. Anything I should know about them before sinking some cash into them?

[Nephew]

Also, instead if user friendly I should have said a synth a gentle learning curve that I can grow with if that makes more sense.

[The Northern Contingent]

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Lennardigital's Sylenth or FXpansion's Synth Squad (a collection of three different synths with a combination unit to mix and match, together with its own step sequencer!). Both are outstanding synths, very user friendly and have real depth to them. Perfect for beginners or advanced users.

[screamingstrings76]

Hardware~!

Moog Little Phatty Stage II

[luddy]

I don't know if others think it is user-friendly as well, but I think that Zebra2 is worth looking into, certainly worth demoing. One nice thing about it is that you can easily see all the routings and modulations that are active in a patch. There are a *lot* of presets available for it, most free, including patch sets from Howard Scarr. It's capable of about as wide a range of sounds as any soft synth out there. I tend to think that anyone who can understand Operator would be able to use it no problem.

-Luddy

[twisted-space]

U-He ACE
Camel Audio Alchemy

One is a semi modular VA, the other is a additive/sample morphing/granular/va/resynthersizer.
They can both be user friendly/gentle learning curve, and can both get very deep. demos are available for both.
ACE is a steal, when I have some cash spare it's going in my vst folder, already have Alchemy.

[carrieres]

the future synth from synapse audio http://www.synapse-audio.com/index.php is landing at the end of the summer !

[Usedtobe]

maaaaaaaasssiiiivvvvveeeeeee is pretty cool. pretty darn cool if i do say so, mopho is too but not user friendly by a long shot. after saving presets that are close to what i'm usually after in fatty analog bass it's a dream, but before that it wasnt't

[[email protected]]

Hi..Omnisphere by Spectrasonics has some great possibilities and is very friendly in regards to the interface and possibilities.. Jon