I Have Yet To Hear A Free VST Synth As Good As A Paid One

Hypomixolydian · Post by **Hypomixolydian** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:15 am

As the title says, I have yet to hear a good free VST synth that can match a paid for one. I mainly use the Komplete 2 package from Native Instruments. After playing around with what they have to offer, freebies don't come close. Believe me I have heard a lot of freebies. They just don't cut it or even get anywhere near cutting it. Crystal 2 has had good reviews, but in my opinion the sound is thin and the reviews are exaggerated. Perhaps the only good thing about freebies is if you are short of cash and you can't afford a decent soft synth. Something is better than nothing.
The only reason I am writing this, is because I have read so many posts saying how good such and such a Free VST is and I just don't see/hear it.

dirtystudios · Post by **dirtystudios** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:18 am

buzzer rocks like paid synth...but i think in general, i'm inclined to agree with you.
k

milfbait · Post by **milfbait** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:11 am

Superwave P8, Lallapolooza Lite, Annti Asynth, Synth 1, those are right up there with the paid stuff. The Ugo stuff also comes to mind, those are very good sounding, unique synths.

I agree about Crystal. So many people rave about how good it is, but I could never get a good sound out of it. The same goes for the non free RGC Z3TA, it's one of the most popular softysynths ever, but to my ears it is cold and unmusical, I wouldn't even use it if it were free, much less pay $149 for it. That goes to show it's all personal preference. But there are freeware synths that are every bit as good as payware.

I've been really impressed with some of the freebies, the Synthedit stuff in particular. I used to think the Synthedit stuff was inferior, but once I tried some of it I was really impressed.

FaX-01 · Post by **FaX-01** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 6:13 am

I totally disagree with regards too Crystal V 2.4 ......
The wavesequencing possibilities alone (yes you can wavesequence with it) .
And the ability to use soundfonts makes a huge difference.
You have to dig really deep to pull the most out of it though .
The patch bank that comes with it IMHO does not do it justice.

I still maintain Superwave P8 and PolyIblit sound as good as many payware synths also.

UGO's Motion 2.8 , String Theory 1.0 and the new update of Texture (V1.2) are as good as anything you'd pay for also.

Ditto Concrete FX - Ensembler and Rock (the new skin released for it is fantastic by the way).

iJ Media's - Rebel , Ninja and Klangerformer also great GUI's very pro looking and incredibly great sounding all round (Ninja and rebel have a fairly brutal harsh sound that is very cutting in a mix).

OXE FM easily gives FM-7 a run for it's money in the sound stakes and Ganimed whilst having a shitty interface isn't half bad either.

ODO - SeeqOne - great acid machine I might add also.

The only payware that's really grabbed me is Concrete FX - Kubik which is about as close to Waldorf as I'm gonna get.

And the WNA trio of Additive , ZeroVector and Dopplemangler which I'm still sadly saving up for (too broke won't be getting them for at least 6 months).

It isn't what you use it's how you use it IMHO.
The biggest fastest computer doesn't = great music.
Nor does a swag of NI/Arturia/AAS plug-ins either for what it's worth either.

And lastly their's ALOT of freeware I wouldn't touch with a ten foot barge pole either ,that said I think criticising alot of these dev's is a moot point because well.... ahem they don't charge you a cent for the use of their products

dpel · Post by **dpel** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 6:14 am

Superwave P8!!! dude

Winterpark · Post by **Winterpark** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 6:20 am

ok... shall i be the person to say it???

i've never heard a software synth that sounds as good as a hardware synth.

inflamatory!

that all said... i do like how absynth sounds.

-am

Vercengetorex · Post by **Vercengetorex** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 6:42 am

If you dont think that any free softsynth can sound as good as a commercially produced one, all I can say is... enjoy those presets!

supster · Post by **supster** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 6:56 am

I tend to agree. One's I found that are commericial quality imo:

yeah ... Lallapalooza, Superwave P8 ...

z3ta (commerical) is a great sounding unit imo, yes it has a metallic quality but thats what it excells at - guess it depends what kind of music you do.

Honestly I find myself tweaking and effecting sounds so much in Live that you would never know where most of them came from anyway ... but the time I'm done, I sometimes forget

forge · Post by **forge** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 8:26 am

supster wrote: Honestly I find myself tweaking and effecting sounds so much in Live that you would never know where most of them came from anyway ... but the time I'm done, I sometimes forget

Yep me too...

FaX-01 wrote: It isn't what you use it's how you use it IMHO.

that's the point really - I might not use a whole tracks worth - but if you have one mixed in with other paid ones you get a really well textured mix

Saying that one of the best sounding tracks I have on the Go at the moment started as a canvas for trying some freebies - namely PolyIblit and Motion and both are still there and sound great.

Sometimes they might only get used for one particular sound

dirtystudios · Post by **dirtystudios** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 9:10 am

on the mac however, i'm still inclined to agree.

k

Komplex · Post by **Komplex** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 11:16 am

am wrote:ok... shall i be the person to say it???

i've never heard a software synth that sounds as good as a hardware synth.

inflamatory!

that all said... i do like how absynth sounds.

-am

Not quite, many hardware synths sound poorer than software ones and vice versa.

Same goes for free synths vs expensive ones. Probably depends on the sounds you need too.

But what I have noticed in my own studio is that software synths pale in comparison to hardware synths when it comes to bass... it just sits in the mix so well when coming out of a hardware box, even when recorded and put into the computer.

mosca · Post by **mosca** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 11:24 am

triangle I
triangle II
drumatic 3.0
synth1
polyiblit
stringer
superwave
minerva (all tweakbench's stuff is good)

and others, all good

mosca

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 12:25 pm

Komplex wrote:
am wrote:ok... shall i be the person to say it???

i've never heard a software synth that sounds as good as a hardware synth.

inflamatory!

that all said... i do like how absynth sounds.

-am
Not quite, many hardware synths sound poorer than software ones and vice versa.

Same goes for free synths vs expensive ones. Probably depends on the sounds you need too.

But what I have noticed in my own studio is that software synths pale in comparison to hardware synths when it comes to bass... it just sits in the mix so well when coming out of a hardware box, even when recorded and put into the computer.

I'm down with that, but I would say hardware analogue synths. Digital is digital to me, in fact the FM7 sounds better to me than the DX7 ever did. Nothing on the computer sounds quite like the Memorymoog I have though.
Also, Reactor seriously wipes any digital hardware synths face in dogshit!
So once again, no emulation of an analogue soft synth compares to a real analogue, and no digital hardware synth is worth it to me at this point, the computer sounds just as good.

As far as free VS paid.
Buzzer 2 has one of the best sounding filter sections to me of any synth.

Crystal is odd, I think I don't like it's sound, or that it's thin, or too muffled sounding or whatever..... then it ends up sitting in a mix perfectly? Basically some synthesizers stand out when you first hear them, but don't really work that well in a song, and others make great accompaniment synths....

noisetonepause · Post by **noisetonepause** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 1:01 pm

I can't get the bass from Reaktor to fill up the bottom end like my bass guitar - and I don't care what you say, stuff coming out of the S2000 I used to have just sounds better than the same samples from software.

Having said that, I doubt I could get the same kind of sounds from any hardware synth that I squeeze out of Reaktor...

-Paws

robert_philp · Post by **robert_philp** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 1:21 pm

If you can't find quality freeware synths then you aren't looking hard enough!

Get over to KVR and have a GOOD look around the forum and reviews etc, there are many freeware synths that produce great sound and are being used by signed artists on commercial releases.

Unfortunately there does seem to be a myth that no-one would bother writing a quality plugins for nothing, but that simply isn't the case. Talk to the developers in the KVR DSP section and you'll see there are many fantastic DSP coders doing it pretty much for the love of it, and to provide themselves and others with free (or very cheap) synths and other musical toys.

Let me put it a better way - don't for one moment think that price is directly related to quality. In some cases if course you get what you pay for, but in others you get many times more than what you pay for.

EnergyXT for example. Not a synth i know, but one of the most innovative hosts on the market, it can fit into any existing PC software setup, and it costs only 39 Euro. Incase anyone hasn't heard of it, its a bloody revelation. Its a full standalone sequencer, or a modular host, or a plugin instrument, or a plugin effect, its got a poweful sampler now, it can do all kinds of MIDI trickery, cut and re-arrange audio, record audio, layer up VST synths and FX etc etc.

You get the picture.

Anyway its not worth an argument for anyone, i'm just saying that to dismiss all the great freeware is a huge mistake. Same as the commercial software, there are some real gems and some total crap!