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01-02-2012, 02:28 PM
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#81
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Sacramento, Ca
Posts: 313
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SampleTank 2.5 XL + 18GB sample library and growing
NI FM8
NI Reaktor 5.5
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01-02-2012, 07:17 PM
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#82
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posts: 17
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01-02-2012, 10:50 PM
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#83
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,826
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Started selling off most of my software synths, Z3ta2 is just so far above anything else available right now it isn't even worth me bothering with the other stuff.
__________________
Stop posting huge images, smaller images or thumbnail, it's not rocket science!
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01-02-2012, 10:59 PM
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#84
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 16,031
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisharbin
It would be razor if it/reaktor wasn't such a steaming pile
For now the "go to" would most likely be Dune because it pretty much always sounds good and it' pretty easy to use/stable.
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With the reaktor update makes razor really quite lovely. Really lays in well
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01-05-2012, 01:07 PM
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#85
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Banned
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Oud West, NL
Posts: 2,335
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Synth1 -- even after testing and long-term use of just about every other freeware synth, I'm still using this as my No.1 and I love everything about it (always loved the Nord sound from way back in the hardware-only days anyhow).
Alchemy -- full of real sweet sounds and a joy to use (fast).
Zynewave Nucleum -- the latest addition to my collection, this synth is a sleeper in DAW-World but it's a brilliant design and loads of fun.
ProteusVX -- can't imagine how good the commercial version must be. This VSTi almost dims the lights in my house when it loads, but what great sounds included with the install package.
Triangle II -- I'm liking this one a lot lately.
Got plenty more, but I'm only listing my favorite "pure" synths. Got good Arp, MiniMoog, Mellotrons, and String-style plugs too, but I think of them more as specialty sounds. They sure take me back to better eras in music! I'm not listing the ones that are basically just real instrument emulations, either. I must have 9 of the DSK sort in those, and they are awesome for what they do but they aren't synths.
I should add that I don't do any of the electronica or Eurodance thing at all. I'm not interested in loop automation much either. I'm basically just an old rock blues non-keyboardist geezer who has always been more interested in capturing real live PERFORMANCE. I formally began using MIDI last year, mainly to add instruments to basic trio and quartet settings and then fell in love with (mostly) the free softsynths that seem to be everywhere on the Net.
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01-07-2012, 02:46 AM
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#86
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2008
Location: France
Posts: 322
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1. Software: Thor (Reason 4.0)
2. Hardware: MS-20
3. Software: Atlantis
The choice depends on what I am looking for (I'll go straight to Atlantis for pads, straight to the MS-20 for analogue...) but I usually start with a Thor even if just as a filler to be replaced once the compo is started.
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03-02-2013, 09:32 AM
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#87
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 57
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ZynAddSubFx
I have been extremely happy with ZynAddSubFx - It seems to be the redhead stepchild of softsynths, but it is an amazingly capable instrument, produces very warm sounds, and since I come from the world of large analog synths, I find the interface very intuitive (but a bit ugly...).
I have been thinking about asking the music fairy for the Arturia V Collection 3 - mainly because I really really miss my ARP 2600, and the thought of a polyphonic version makes me have to wipe my chin. Has anyone here tried the Arturia V plugins in Reaper x64? Do they integrate well? Do they make good use of multiple processors? I would just hate to spend $400 and find they don't work and I have to buy/learn a new DAW.
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03-02-2013, 09:41 AM
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#88
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Italy
Posts: 129
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Synth
Synapse Dune
IL Harmour
Sampler/romplers
Sforzando
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03-02-2013, 09:51 AM
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#89
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Denmark
Posts: 376
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Zebra2, learn it well and you can do anything, subtractive, additive, spectrum, wavetable etc..
Omnisphere, yes as a synth. Most people use it for the rompler, but it has a very powerful synth engine without using a single sample.
__________________
i7 Sandy Bridge K2600 16Gb RAM 3x240GB Intel SSD | Win7 Pro 64bit | Reaper x64 | Focal Solo 6 BE, Yamaha NS-10 | Focusrite Saffire Pro 24
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03-02-2013, 12:58 PM
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#90
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 152
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First, I think you have to break it down into what is a synth, what is a controller and what is a program. And I think the most important part of that chain of the instrument you know inside and out lays in the foundation of what you use as a controller. It may also be a synth in itself, but when speaking in production terms like this, that becomes secondary. So then, the consideration turns subjective accordingly and basically starts with 'keyboard or pad' controller. We may get use to one particular thing and find we have to add on more devices to keep it up with the changing technologies. With each stage of controllers I've used, what has been the definitive decisions in changing them out was either a choice to move ahead and simplify the process by reducing the add-ons to one controller, or in some cases, because the controller became unavailable. My favorites for communicating MIDI with sequencers and then moving to computer DAW's were probably the DX7IIs; M1; MPS+; K4; N5; TritonEX; XBoard; VMK188+; M3; V-Synth GT; KronosX. (And in that order of time progression). Sometimes the decision to stop using them was technology or company support moving away from them. Or as is the case of the MPS+, that it was stolen. (And it did have the most positive timing to a closer to zero latency in that period of ownership.) The K4 had release velocity and was the single feature I loved on it, but the noise level of certain samples and OP amps eventually made it unbearable.
So my wife plays the M3 now and my main controllers are the V-Synth GT and the Kronos X. But for me, it is because they are performance instruments above all the others I've owned. For simple triggering (which we use more for practice at another place we live) we use the XBoards and the VMK188+.
As far as soft synths, latency and/or company issues have left me cold with many of them. Two full sets of EMU libraries, I've mostly dumped. I still hold on to my favorite sounds of the planet earth and virtuoso but I don't really use them, so they will probably get sold with the XBoards when it gets time to. I have an older copy of Omnisphere, which I don't use because I don't like its flow and I feel it is a real system hog. I still also have a copy of the Novation V & Bass synth SW and sometimes use certain patches from the V. The Korg Legacy stuff I dumped because of the dongle snafu attached with it, but may get it back now that they've removed that part. Also, as a simple secondary to my Kronos.
Since the Sonar comes with three free synth players, I've been researching if they may fit any particular need. Finding I might be able to implement with a Garritan Library I like cheaply enough. But just on a level of shopping/researching/introspection, I seem to be leaning more and more towards Alchemy. But since that uses five forms of sample/synthesis, can we really consider it as a single synth? Or just a really good program.
The most important idea to me is in my intentions for the software, not the software itself though. And controllers are like cars to me. Drive it until it can't be driven to where you want or need to go.
Last edited by Stipes Vigilo; 03-02-2013 at 01:45 PM.
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03-02-2013, 01:09 PM
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#91
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 152
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Oh, and I think where I'm headed though is just using Reaper as the DAW and Alchemy with imported samples as the simple and most complete software for me. With the Korgs and Roland as the performance instruments and controllers. If I can use Alchemy to import samples into the Korgs & Roland, I can't see anything else as needed.
It has been my personal experience that in VST/Plugins that the more you have, the less you create.
Keep It Sonically Simple.
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03-02-2013, 04:24 PM
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#92
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 1,824
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For me it is the Native Instruments FM7 which is ancient now ( got it back in 2002. Still running 1.03 version .
That is my everyday GOTO synth, because of all the options available on it, you can get amazing sounds of this VSTI which is very small in size!!!
Another synth I use is the OPX II oberheim VSTi
So for me without questions 1st is always Ni FM7
A VSTi from 2002 that is still light years ahead of 2013 VSTi's.
Seems like the new VSTi's do not look like the damn product they are emulating which is dumb.
For now FM7 still one of my all time favourite VSTi.
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03-02-2013, 07:02 PM
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#93
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: London, UK
Posts: 423
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Virus TI - any kind of sound, maybe a bit too clean sometimes, but processing can make it crazy
Massive - electronic clean, cold or mayhem
Sylenth - electronic fat, clean or cold
Predator - fat and mayhem
Albino - fat and mayhem
Cyclop - mayhem
Little Phatty - fat and low
Thor - any kind, but needs layering for fat sound
Imposcar - fat and mayhem
Zebra - any kind, a bit clean but fat, and processing can make it nasty
It depends on the character I need. My goto synths are the ones that can do a lot of various results.
Last edited by ADDIKTION; 03-02-2013 at 07:13 PM.
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03-03-2013, 01:29 AM
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#94
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Japan
Posts: 26
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The software synth I use the most is probably Minimonsta. The fonqiest VSTi I've come across so far.
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03-03-2013, 05:31 AM
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#95
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 298
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The software synth I use most is NI Massive. For all my electronic based stuff (as opposed to conventional Rock/Pop songs), that is the first synth I start up and use to lay down the foundation of the song. For drums I use NI Battery, but I'm not really enamoured with it. For bass I used the Novation Bass Station, but recently I switched to Razor, which I also like for "crystal" pads.
I've got oodles of old (late 80ies to late 90ies) hardware expansion boards at home, but to be honest, most of them sound veeeeeery dated nowadays and apart from the EMU Vintage keys that rack stays mostly switched off.
For my conventional songs, I think I have everything I need (ok, a new acoustic guitar is on the shopping list) at least from an electronic point of view. For the trance & ambient songs I'm currently considering either the Gladiator or the Sylinth. I might, however, also invest more time to get to grips with the Absynth which I started using on my last song. I have the feeling it is very powerful, but also that I'm constantly out of my depth and although I love tinkering with sounds and spending hours tweaking them, I don't want to feel like I should have a degree in sound synthesis and electrical engineering to be able to make Absynth do what I want :-)
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03-04-2013, 07:50 AM
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#96
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1,717
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KenC
Zebra2, learn it well and you can do anything, subtractive, additive, spectrum, wavetable etc..
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I have too many synths to list, but Zebra is the only one I would need - a true desert island synth. It can do any sound and they all sound superb. It also comes as one of the most low-CPU multi-effect VST (Zebrify) I have ever tried. (Delay, modulation (chorus, phaser etc) reverb, dynamics)
Zebra3 is under production now and is going to use DIVA's famous filters and more.
But a mention to ZynAddSubFX too, it's on a lot of projects.
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03-06-2013, 03:24 PM
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#97
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 274
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1. hardware: virus ti snow for pads, leads, bass, arp sounds
2. software: arturia minimoog (free) for bass
i also got lots to choose from but these i use mostly
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03-07-2013, 10:28 PM
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#98
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 152
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The more I play with these 'new to me' VST(i)'s,
the more my 'go to synth' is my Korg Kronos X.
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03-16-2013, 06:43 AM
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#99
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 21
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I have so many synths - both hard and soft - that none of them is a go to, unless for specific sounds or types of sounds. The ones that probably get the most use, however, would perhaps be the following
Zebra2
Omnisphere
K2600XS
Q
SY77
ACE
Little Phatty
Eurorack modular
Nord Modular
Reaktor
Alchemy
Harmor
E-mu E-Synth
I also recently got SynthMaster 2.5 - that could become a bit of a "go to" soon, I suppose...
Zebra2 & Omnisphere are probably the synths I use the most at the moment. Both are great, and would work well as "go to synths" for a lot of people, I think.
Last edited by Harald; 03-16-2013 at 09:45 AM.
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04-09-2013, 09:42 PM
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#100
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 11
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Go to top 10
These VSTi are in heavy rotation depending on my mood.
SYNTHS
discoDSP Discovery Pro(3 osc,3 LFO + wave synthesis and can load the Nord Lead sound banks)
Sylenth 1 )
G Sonique UltraBass MX
FX NEXUS,Vanguard
Audio Realism Bassline 2 & Bassline Pro
NI Masssive
SuperWave P80,Ulimate,Tarkus,Performer
Rob Papen Blade,Blue & Subboom Bass
D16 Group LuSH 101 (8 layers of unbelievable fatness)
DRUMS
ISM BassISM
NI Battery 4
D16 Group Drumazon & Phoscyon
Audio Realism ADM
Stylus RMX
Arturia Spark
Toontrack EZ Drummer
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04-09-2013, 09:56 PM
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#101
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 57
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Minimogue VA
Just added the Minimogue VA to my toolbox. Lots of fun and free!
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04-10-2013, 07:04 AM
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#102
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Alabama
Posts: 434
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I'm a guitar player getting into mixing and production. Was looking to recreate some 80s sounds and found the Virtual Oberheim OP-X family of synths from http://sonicprojects.ch/obx/welcome.html.
These synths have everything from old school 80s vibes to current sounds in them and I think they sound great!
Not to mention they look pretty cool....
__________________
PRS 2014 Brushstroke 24 / PRS 2008 Custom 24 / Axe-FX 2
Reaper / RME HDSP Multiface 1 / Tannoy 502s / Monoprice 10" Subwoofer
Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister 18 and 1x12 cab
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04-19-2013, 04:48 PM
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#103
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: London, ON
Posts: 54
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It's new and everyone seems to hate it. But, yeah, Element by waves.
I've never liked a synth so much.
Makes everything else sound cheesy, forced and water'd down; which has it's place, but yeah.
__________________
Sounds are like bubbles of silence;
The best ones have little square rainbows.
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04-19-2013, 05:04 PM
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#104
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Putnam County, NY, USA
Posts: 3,950
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Hi-
My first go-to is usually NI's Bandstand (discontinued but still works fine) because it's very easy to set up a GM ensemble using it. Once I have a basic idea of the instrumentation I want I can start substituting far better sounds, but it's nice to have a basic drawing board like Bandstand to start with.
-Susan
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04-19-2013, 05:51 PM
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#105
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Göteborg
Posts: 1,322
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FM8 (NI)
Bazille (U-he)
Olga (Schwa)
These 3 takes care of 90% of my synth-stuff if we are talking software. I have a Roland JX-8P and a Yamaha EX-5 too though, both are used regularly.
I have a lot of soft-synths actually, but most of them i rarely use. A few that does get some exercise every now and then is ACE, Virus Powercore, Phosphor and Absynth.
But i could probably get by with just the three i mentioned first. That Bazille-thing is just awesome!!! If you are nerdy enough to handle it that is
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04-27-2013, 09:13 AM
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#106
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 599
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Susan G
My first go-to is usually NI's Bandstand (discontinued but still works fine) because it's very easy to set up a GM ensemble using it. Once I have a basic idea of the instrumentation I want I can start substituting far better sounds, but it's nice to have a basic drawing board like Bandstand to start with.
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Hi Susan - would you have a template for multi-outs using Bandstand that you could share? Thanks!
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04-27-2013, 01:26 PM
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#107
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Putnam County, NY, USA
Posts: 3,950
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bharris
Hi Susan - would you have a template for multi-outs using Bandstand that you could share? Thanks!
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Hi bharris-
Bandstand only outputs on two channels. I have a template for inputs on 16 MIDI channels and you can do some rudimentary mixing in the GUI (volume, pan, reverb & chorus) but that's about it. That's one of the reasons I like it for a scratch pad, actually, because in this case the less I can futz around, the better !
-Susan
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04-27-2013, 02:57 PM
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#108
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Santa Cruz, Ca
Posts: 480
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Go To Synth/sampler
I use True Piano, Sampletank, EZ Drummer,East West Symphonic and for quick sketched Cakewalk TTS-1(great little GM player. Some people have trouble getting it to work, work's fine for me. You may have to have Cakewalk installed for it to work(I have X2 installed). I wish I could use Yellowtail Independence but so far, no go :-(
I love the 4.40 update, Thank you Justin and his possee...
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05-23-2013, 12:04 AM
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#109
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 510
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Minimoog, Arp ProSoloist, Prophet 5. (The MemoryMoog a saw a lot of action too....while it worked. Gotta get it fixed some day. Grrrr.)
Question for you Tyrell N6 users. Any idea how to do a pitch drop via a single envelope? Easy in most softsynths, but I can't find that parameter that will give me the big smooth multi-octave drop.
Thanks
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05-23-2013, 06:21 AM
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#110
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Central Maryland, USA
Posts: 92
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xzyt_Now
It's new and everyone seems to hate it. But, yeah, Element by waves.
I've never liked a synth so much.
Makes everything else sound cheesy, forced and water'd down; which has it's place, but yeah.
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There are a lot of Waves haters out there for whatever reason, but it's hard for me to find fault with the way Element sounds. I've only scratched the surface so far, but it's a great-sounding synth IMO.
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05-23-2013, 07:58 AM
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#111
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Posts: 5,465
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MinimogueVA, default preset. Can't tweak for the life of me.
http://home.no/gunnare/
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05-23-2013, 09:14 AM
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#112
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Berlin
Posts: 77
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software: u-he tyrell or linplug alpha 3
hardware: DSI evolver or modular system
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05-24-2013, 12:59 AM
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#113
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 4
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Yamaha CS-01
Instant-gratification-cutie-pie-analog-synthisizer. its tiny speaker resonates with my body when I wear it with the guitar strap. You can't do much with it, but you get creative with the little you can do.
I truly love my CS-01
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05-24-2013, 06:17 AM
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#114
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Central Maryland, USA
Posts: 92
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lurking
Yamaha CS-01
Instant-gratification-cutie-pie-analog-synthisizer. its tiny speaker resonates with my body when I wear it with the guitar strap. You can't do much with it, but you get creative with the little you can do.
I truly love my CS-01
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That's awesome! A bass player buddy of mine bought one of those new back in the early '80s. I remember thinking it was a toy until he played it for me through his bass amp (Peavey TKO-100?). Holy effin' crap! What a FAT little gizmo!
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05-24-2013, 11:16 AM
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#115
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 57
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jorgen
MinimogueVA, default preset. Can't tweak for the life of me.
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Interesting.
I recently started playing around with the Minimogue VA, and have found it very tweakable (to the extent that the Minimoog itself is tweakable, at least). I have run into a couple minor bugs, and I don't think it does polyphony very well (but then I am spoiled by ZynAddSubFx in that department), but I have found it to be a nice, solid mono lead synth.
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02-13-2014, 06:47 AM
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#116
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Sacramento, Ca
Posts: 313
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Update
Update, I got NI Komplete 9 during the Thanksgiving Sale with cross grade discount $199, it is indeed everything you will ever need in the way of synth/sampler plugins a great deal I thought, Kontakt 5 alone was worth that price.
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02-14-2014, 01:49 PM
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#117
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Adelaide, South Australia (originally from Geelong)
Posts: 5,598
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Harald
I have so many synths - both hard and soft - that none of them is a go to, unless for specific sounds or types of sounds. The ones that probably get the most use, however, would perhaps be the following
Zebra2
Omnisphere
K2600XS
Q
SY77
ACE
Little Phatty
Eurorack modular
Nord Modular
Reaktor
Alchemy
Harmor
E-mu E-Synth
I also recently got SynthMaster 2.5 - that could become a bit of a "go to" soon, I suppose...
Zebra2 & Omnisphere are probably the synths I use the most at the moment. Both are great, and would work well as "go to synths" for a lot of people, I think.
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This might be an older post but it is good to see someone else who lists an SY77 in his go-to (or non go-to?) list. A VERY highly underrated synth IMHO. I use mine frequently and am still creating new patches for it on a regular basis. The latest and one of the most challenging has been an emulation of the JP8000 SuperSaw. I'm actually using the SY77 patch as the main SuperSaw sound in one of my latest electronic tracks and I'm quite happy with the outcome.
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02-24-2014, 05:06 PM
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#118
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 44
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My go-to Synth is the Tone2 Firebird
The Firebird is freeware and pretty much a typical bread and butter synth.
- 2 Oscilators (with a lot of waveshapes to use)
- LFO
- ADSR
- Filter Section
- Arpeggiator
- Effects Section (Delay, Chorus, Reverb etc)
- etc
Quite standard so far. Sounds solid, is free.
But what really stands out for me personally is the little "Random" button. Hit Random and get a Random-Preset. I love that. I never run out of presets and I get Oscilator and filter combinations I wouldn't have tried on my own.
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02-25-2014, 07:20 PM
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#119
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Montreal, QC
Posts: 797
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Not a big synth user but when I need one, I turn to FabFilter Twin 2.
__________________
My Music
Reaper(x64) 4.72 - Studio One Pro (x64) 2.6.3
i7-3630QM 2.4GHz - 8Gb RAM - 256Gb SSD - RME Babyface - Eve Audio SC204 - Windows 8.1
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02-26-2014, 02:28 PM
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#120
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 2,629
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skel
My go-to Synth is the Tone2 Firebird
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For me it's still Oatmeal, but Firebird is moving up in the ranks over here as well
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