Ableton Forum

Reason is not a synth... Reason has two synths.

Reason is a synth in the since that its designed as a modular instrument. It can be a synth instrument if i want it to be and a very capable one at that.

RawTheory wrote:Reason is not a synth... Reason has two synths.

Reason is a synth in the since that its designed as a modular instrument. It can be a synth instrument if i want it to be and a very capable one at that.

Yeah man... whatever you say...

RawTheory wrote:Reason is not a synth... Reason has two synths.

Reason is a synth in the since that its designed as a modular instrument. It can be a synth instrument if i want it to be and a very capable one at that.

I agree with RawTheory

Reason's probably my numero uno goto synth right now. A couple subtractors or Maelstroms stacked, sidechained and pimped out sounds better than any synth I've bought

You can get hung up on "technicalities" all you want but

I can't see any difference of an instance of Subtractor routed directly into my Ableton mixer and played through my ableton mixer than any other synth I have

But you know - everyone's a little different in what they believe

...and for those of us poor dinosaurs still using things like a 2 GHz Pentium 4, Reason is super light on the CPU and memory.

I have to admit that sometimes I'm not as patient as I should be in synth sounds design, and that if I were I could get better results with the tools I have rather than get new ones. For instance, I like Dimension Pro but I do tend to use among the thousands of presets that come with it rather than trying to dial up sounds from scratch...

But everyone works differently which is why there's such a wealth of options out there...

well since both Reaktor and Tassman is mentioned here I`ll
have to go with those since, with the right knowledge, you can infact
build (almost) every synth possible.

the best freebie I`ve tried so far would probably be Crystal

zebra 2
z3ta +

homemade stuff in pluggos
operator
used to be big on reaktor, now I just can't get in the groove of it. We don't really get along... don't know why.

Machinate wrote:We don't really get along... don't know why.

Reaktor... I heard she is a crazy hoe and quite CPU hungry...watch out!

Another vote for Zebra 2 and equally Reaktor 5 and Tassman 4 for that matter. The Combinator in Reason is great too. Absynth 4, FM7, Xphraze and Z3ta+ also are very good. There are a few more I own that are good too like the Legacy collection and Massive. Best free VST is Karma FX.

Most over-rated free synth is Crystal. I will probably get some flak for saying that, but I have never liked it. The sound is too thin and lacks warmth to my ears.

All Around - Zebra 2

It has a vast sound palette, is easy to create presets with, efficient GUI, sounds great, is not too expensive and the developer is exceptional. No dongle, no C/R and the license lets you install on any computer you own and use yourself.

Specialty Synth - String Studio

Just my likes and dislikes, totally subjective!!

I like:
-Albino 3
(I don´t make trance, I swer ) Sounds good, easy to program, versatile as hell and doesn´t kill your cpu, what more can I say?
-Legacy polysix
(just nice funny things coming from here)
-Novation Bass-Station
(same as above)
-Ers drums
(one of the best beatbox, free or not, I´ve never seen)
-magical 8 bit
I love it too!!! You can get more whith this as many could think. 8 bit sound is forever!!!
-Reaktor (but sometimes I lost my self with it and I forget that I´m trying to finish a track)

Testing Zebra right now, it could be on the list soon

And I don´t like:
-Absynth (don´t know why)
-Crystal
(ugly interface and way of program, its oscs doesnt sound right for me)
-Karma FX (don´t like workflow)
-Reason (it isn´t a vst, I know) I always end getting the same sounds with this,despite all the cables, and not none I like, except some 8 bit sound with subtractor!


And I´m loving Live´s devices more and more theese days, Rack and Roll!!!

Hands down, REASON

I can honestly say that I can concoct pretty much any sound that springs to mind with layers of Subtractors and Malstroms along with a few FX modules. And the Combinator device makes it all that much easier.

V-Station is also pretty great for getting some nice and meaty analog basslines going. Waiting for the UB port so I can use it on my MBP!

I've never tried Zebra 2 myself, but the sound demos and the specs have really caught my attention. Might just end up buying it in the not-too-distant future

Photone it's included with EI2-XT (a Reaktor thingy). Very lush pads on there.

I agree with many of the favorites mentioned already, but one has been left out that really really stands out to me, and that's N.I.'s Massive.

Massive is....MASSIVE.

It's the best sounding soft synth I've ever heard. And I really think it kills anything else.

However, I don't use it as much as many others though, mainly because of the crazy cpu cost. And seeing how I love so many of my other synths too, I tend to go with less cpu hungry synths.

If we take into acount cpu useage, a very honorable mention must go to fm8. It usually uses 3 or 4 % of one processor on my mbp, and sounds great. That, to me, is a hell of a feat. I mean sure massive is the best sounding synth ever, but it uses 30-40% to get there. Absynth can also be quite low on the cpu meter, as long as it doesn't use too many version 4 features, and I love it's unique sound (very subjective though).

And I too, like the sound of reason, but wouldn't want to use it alone, and hate rewire, so I don't use it.

I like operator, but it needs way better filters to get anywhere near the diversity of the other synths being talked about in this thread. Although I don't want to see it get more complicated, it could do with a second filter, and a much better quality of filter. As someone said, adding a third party filter isn't the same, for expression/modulation reasons. I'm also not a fan of the filter effect in ableton, maybe they should hire a filter expert.

Anyways. MASSIVE rules, and I wish it didn't, because it makes my computer sore.

rjw

My personal fave is Vanguard, by reFX:

- Rich and fat sound;
- not resource hungry;
- goes for 69.99 bucks.

=)