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Old 01-12-2016, 02:44 PM   #1
lolilol1975
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 1,739
Default Your favorite virtual instruments ?

Just got the Dune 2 synthesizer, and I have to say I really like it.
It sounds lush, warm, and it's reasonably versatile.

My other synth is Synthmaster. Although they probably can do the same patches I prefer the output of Dune 2, as SM sounds less dynamic and a little bland next to it; I've yet to understand why but it sounds congested in comparison with Dune. Curiously, to me SM sounds a bit like Spire, that many people, for some reason say sounds better than Dune, but I find the contrary is true.
On the downside, the Dune presets can only be found by browsing the menus. No search by name, keywords or "like". I don't know why authors of synthesizers don't implement that feature. In 2015/2016, having to search in menus by name is primitive. I don't like to have to spend hours searching for sounds. Especially since with something like SQLite, it's very easy to implement.

SM is probably even more versatile than Dune 2, except for the arpeggiator, which is quite a bit better in Dune, and you can layer up to 8 sounds with 3 oscillators each (you can do the same to a certain extent in SM with the 2 layers/4 oscillators). SM comes with many more presets (1200 vs a couple hundreds), but many of them are kinda boring compared to Dune presets imo. They don't showcase the capabilities of SM as much as they could. Lots of people find the graphical interface confusing, but it's not my case. I think it's very visual and relatively easy to use. But all in all, because of its great sound, for me Dune is the better synthesizer. OTOH, while Dune 2 is quite expensive since it's the same price as Zebra 2, which is arguably more capable (but probably doesn't sound better), SM is the deal of the century when you grab it on sale. I got it for €45.
And finally, I like to complement it with the free Kairatune for making weird high sounds.

Also Kontakt player. I'd like to buy Kontakt and a shitload of samples too, but it's way too expensive for what I do right now.
So I use the excellent and free Grace to play sfz samples.

Last edited by lolilol1975; 01-16-2016 at 02:25 AM.
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