Grrrr.....tough choices, dunno what to softsynth to buy

roach808 · Post by **roach808** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 4:41 pm

SO, arturia has that rather slick buy one, get on free deal going on. I've been eyeing the JP8v for awhile, but I'm very very tempted to get the Korg Legacy Bundle instead. I downloaded the Demo of the Korg and I must say it was sonically very very nice.

thoughts, comments?

polyslax · Post by **polyslax** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:19 pm

If you're into the Korg sound, their emulations are pretty faithful. I had the legacy set cause I thought I wanted my Korg hardware again, but in the end it wasn't right for now (for me) and I sold it. The MS-20 certainly rocks hard.

I've owned Arturia's MMV and 2600V, and they were both quite nice warm synths, haven't used their others. Do they use dongles now? I don't mind, but you might.

db2 · Post by **db2** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:41 pm

I really love the arturia minimoog, 2600, and CS-80V. It really brings me right back to the days of playing with mine and friends analog synths. you can really get some great strange sounds and playing with them feels more organic to me then most soft synths. That being said, for production workhorses I don't think you can go wrong with the NI stuff, FM8 and Massive and the Pro-53, and also the Rob Papen stuff is very nice sounding. Me personally Id start with the NI stuff and then the Arturia stuff. Both top notch imo.

XPM · Post by **XPM** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:49 pm

I have the first four arturia synths, (moog modular, minimoog, cs-80 and 2600) and find them to be brilliant and versatile synths that have a certain warmth and character that is rare in softsynths. They can be fairly heavy on the cpu, but you have to take some hit for the quality.

Out of them all, the most interesting to me (for pads, evolving atmospheres, e.t.c.) is the cs-80. The most complex, but rewarding however is the moog modular.

As the buy one get one free deal is currently on, I'd personally plump for a couple of these, but there is also the option of Reaktor, for the included synths, user library, and perhaps later on, the options available for your own experimentation.

Other people on these boards recommend zebra, absynth, massive and circle amongst others, but if it's analog style warmth you want, I'd plump for arturia, and for digital variety, Reaktor.

Hope that helps

XPM · Post by **XPM** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:51 pm

haha,

seems two arturia and NI fans posted simultaneously

glitchrock-buddha · Post by **glitchrock-buddha** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 6:15 pm

It really depends what you already have. If you're going for versatility, go for some all-in-one like absynth, tera, zebra etc. Zebra doesn't do sampling/granular but does most else. And probably will do in the future.

Otherwise if you want the warmest phatest analog sound, straight forward to program, I say sylenth1.

I used to think the more features the better, but modular is harder for hands programming since there are so many controls, that's why I do like the fixed architecture softsynths quite a bit like sylenth1. But if I could just have one, it would likely be along the lines of zebra2.

roach808 · Post by **roach808** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 6:56 pm

polyslax wrote:If you're into the Korg sound, their emulations are pretty faithful. I had the legacy set cause I thought I wanted my Korg hardware again, but in the end it wasn't right for now (for me) and I sold it. The MS-20 certainly rocks hard.

I've owned Arturia's MMV and 2600V, and they were both quite nice warm synths, haven't used their others. Do they use dongles now? I don't mind, but you might.

I already own the Prophet V, so the dongle thing isn't really an issue with me.

roach808 · Post by **roach808** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 8:24 pm

Well what can I say, I think I'm just a sucker for the MS-20. Cheers for the other synth recommendations, btw. I'm not a huge software synth fan really, but there are afew piece of software kit I am a rather large fan of. I've been itching to get Reaktor for quite some time, last time i used it was back in '02 with some other producer/musician type i was collaborating with. Must say i brought some interesting sonic mayhem to my tracks that I have been without for a long time. Anyho, rather stoked bout the Korg Bundle. Also, i really really like that generic FX plug-in that comes with it too. Dunno, its wickedly handy right along with live's built in FX.

I must admit, nothing is gonna replace my good old Nord Lead for a long long time. What can i say, i freaking love that synth.

NorthernMonkey · Post by **NorthernMonkey** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 8:46 pm

Sylenth is definitely one of the best sounding softies right now - it puts many of the previous top ones to shame.

landrvr1 · Post by **landrvr1** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 8:54 pm

...

hardware.

FTW

...

amoeba · Post by **amoeba** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:03 pm

1. zebra
2. there is no 2

NorthernMonkey · Post by **NorthernMonkey** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:09 pm

amoeba wrote:1. Sylenth
2. Zebra

Fixed.

For VA's sylenth is number one.

Silwolffe · Post by **Silwolffe** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:16 pm

Check out the Native Instruments line; http://www.native-instruments.com/

I currently use FM-8 and Massive from them, and they're absolutely amazing.

Zebra is also an incredibly cool synthesizer. You can find Zebra here: http://www.u-he.com/zebra/

Rapture and Z3TA from Cakewalk also provides a nice sound. You can find their products here: http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/instruments.asp

Vanguard and Nexus from ReFX is great, too, although Nexus isn't really a synthesizer - it's like a sampled library. It does offer great sounds, though, and they just upgraded it to Nexus2 recently. Check it all out at http://refx.com/

Hope this gives you some ideas.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:19 pm

The JP8V is awesome. Arturia's plugins really capture what they are modelling very well. So if you are trying to recapture the sound of specific vintage analogs, they are awesome. Dongles required and preferably a fast computer as the CPU hit is sometimes heavy.

Massive, Zebra and Sylenth are all good synths, they are not specifically trying to model a vintage synth, so maybe are not the best at trying to recreate a moog patch or whatever, but they are very programmable and offer more sonic potential in some ways with all their oscillator and waveform choices which go beyond what you could get in the a vintage synth. Some of these add elements of wavetable and FM synthesis as well as as analog subtractive techniques and a range of built in FX.

roach808 · Post by **roach808** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 10:13 pm

landrvr1 wrote:...

hardware.

My thoughts exactly.

my old rig, before I had to sell most of it.