VSTi's or Ableton instruments?

[indmix]

Which one do you prefer?
Which VSTi's do you prefer, which Live instruments?
Just out of curiosity

btw, new track is up, check it out!
http://soundcloud.com/sweirie/delerium-enigma-asuri
http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=177170

[patrick.olson86]

I like both. The main difference, I feel, is the usability. Many people don't realize that the Suite instruments are just as capable as 3rd party VSTs, but they take a lot of tweaking and understanding of the controls. Check abletonlife.com for some good tutorials on building sounds. Unfortunately they don't update that site anymore... a shame.

[Danalogue]

Operator is one of my favorite synths for tight, punchy basses with direct access to the harmonics and the oscillator phase.
Sampler's morphing filter and FM/AM options make it awesome IMO.

For other VST's Alchemy, UHE Ace and NI Massive are the main ones I use.

[agent314]

Ableton's native plugs are very capable although I find myself using Zebra2 (and now DIVA) and Alchemy more than Analog and Operator simply because they've got a slightly more user-friendly interface and more convenient routing options

[doghouse]

If you need huge libraries of ready-to-go presets, you will find the Live instruments unattractive.

If you live by the no presets religion and program every sound from the ground up you should find Analog, Operator and Sampler worthwhile, add Electric to the list id you use lots of EP sounds. I have yet to find compelling uses for the others, you might.

Layer multiple instruments together in racks and your imagination, sound design skill and computer power are your only limitations.

[crystalmsc]

I like both. Using the Suite Instruments within racks is what special about it. Plus, I like each instrument as well, specially Operator, Analog, Sampler, Collision and Corpus. If being forced, not to use any VSTi at all. I can live with the Suite Instruments, plus a bunch of custom samples.

[mihai]

live's instruments are perfectly fine. on the other hand each synth will sound differently. for example analog's oscs are nowhere near as hard as zebra or a moog so it wouldn't be my first choice for basses. but. i would definitely jump to it for pads or leads. try out a bunch of synths and feel out their strengths and weaknesses.

[patrick.olson86]

I really like Ableton's preset pads much better than any 3rd party pad preset. Otherwise, when discussing only presets, I like 3rd party over Live.

[condra]

I try to use Lives native stuff as much as possible, though I use (and love) Sampletank for “real world” instruments.

Analog is a nice sounding VA in my opinion. I’ve really fallen back in love with it recently. Operator is just insanely brilliant.
Massive, Zebra, Sylenth, and Synplant are handy to have, though I need them less and less, the more I get to know Operator and Analog.

I don’t use many VST effects, but love Sugar Bytes Turnado, and iZotope Ozone.

[The Carpet Cleaner]

If you compare EQ from ableton and say, waves SSL EQ.
If you boost a lot a frequency with the ableton EQ, it will not sound pleasant
Now do it with the Waves SSL EQ, and will be better.

I find ableton effects to be pretty good especially if you want to perform live with them.

[AceLuby]

I like both, but could not live w/out suite. You can make super CPU hungry sounds that push the edge of your computer processing power, freeze a 16 bar C note, then drag that super hungry sound right into sampler. Bam... now the sound you created can be recreated at a fraction of the CPU cost. Then you get into multi-sampling, macros... the sky is the limit w/ what you want. I have some sampler presets that have 30 different sounds which can be chosen by a single macro. Don't like that pad? How about changing it mid song to see if you have something that might work better? Really useful for drum racks too. I love analog and operator too, just not quite as much as sampler.

[simmerdown]

i look for the sound i'm after moreso than the source, so....yes to both

heappiest if i can use a live rec, raw or fxed

[jsn]

IMO - As far as synthesizers are concerned, the maker of the instrument is not usually posing the biggest problem.

Inspiring sounds can be programmed in both Live's native instrument collection as well as most popular 3rd-party VSTi you hear about quite often.

It's EXTREMELY beneficial to have a nice idea how to even program a synthesizer and knowing how to program basic common patches when confronted by new synthesizers. Envelopes, Filter response, FX section, Routing and Modulation options are all DIFFERENT in each synthesizer you will come across, I mean Hardware as well. It is vital that IF you are interested in sound design to READ and experiment with what you own and then READ more before you go out an buy the next latest "greatest" thing being promoted into oblivion. You will thank yourself later when you stand in front of a new piece of gear. You will program a basic patch and you will listen to how the envelope(s) respond and interact with the various filter types and THEN you will be better able to decide. Also maybe routing options are important and allow you to get more creative, then you know what to look for. Where can feedback or distortion be placed in the signal, for instance? Or how many operators are there for FM and what modulation options are available? Now I have the patch programmed how do the FX add to it? What FX are available and do they really ADD or Subtract from the patch? Or more practically...Do I get a HEADACHE trying to program a simple patch because the layout of the interface is ridiculously non-intuitive and I lose inspiration while making adjustments? Things to look for.

So are Live's instruments better than VSTi? I say it depends on the programmer and his/her imagination, patience and ability. They all sit in a mix well enough, another advantage to learning how to program yourself. You can make adjustment in the instrument and not only EQ or compression all the time.

Now if youre maybe wondering instead who has the best preloaded patch presets? I don't know really the answer.

[Evengy]

i prefer to use only a few vst´s. less vst´s is better especially when you are new or not satisfied with your skills. more plugins = less music making (for me).

i got suite to have the most out of the box. i use diva and zebra as third party synths plus voxengo span, flux stereo tool and thats enough for me. this is so much stuff for the whole lifetime. get suite if the software fits you very well and buy another plugins when you really need them and when you know what you are doing (and hearing).

[keefbaker]

Sampler is superb... I'll use operator for some things other than that I tend to stick to vstis because i flit between live and renoise a lot.