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Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 2:42 pm
by Marc
It's also worth considering sampler VSTs. Kontakt is excellent but very neutrally voiced - I'd recommend any of the Synth Magic range of vintage hardware synths. Rhythmic Robot does a great range of weird and wonderful and is very cheap.

If you want a VSTi Sampler with character I highly recommend TAL sampler which does proper bit reduction and the method of tuning used by old hardware samplers such as early EMU and Akai S950 etc. It also models the preamps and sample conversions of classics such as Emu II, Akai S1000 and others. Excellent filters, FX and fully automated. It isn't just a 24bit sampler with a bit of dirt... it has an excellent library with it too.

VST Synths - the people who make the ImpOscar, ARP Oddity, Mellotron and String Machine are also truly excellent.

Dexed is great for FM.

If you want super modern stuff the DeadMau5 company makes something that people swear by - you'll have to search for it I forget the name.

Finally - I use hardware samplers to resample VSTi synths. I have an Akai S3000 (earlier non XL version with nicer converters). Also got an MPC 1000 in the mail. Despite being 16bit resampling finished runs of soft synths adds some nice body and warmth... a trick I use is to play back the VST synth at double speed and one octave up - sample into my hardware and then bring the pitch back to normal... really adds something. Reamping through a tube guitar amp that is pushed to the edge of breakup and miking up can give excellent results. Give it a try!

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 8:21 am
by stevejamsecono
If you want to spend some cash, Vengeance's Avenger is pretty nuts. They've been doing sample packs forever and just put this thing out recently. I got a copy from my company and it's wild.

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 7:34 pm
by budda12ax7
mackerelmint wrote:
Sun Dec 09, 2018 10:23 pm
budda12ax7 wrote:
Sun Dec 09, 2018 8:20 am
Bought the TAL UNO 60.....glorious old school fun. It comes with hundreds of presets, but that chorus sound is amazing. It has some great arp sounds...once I set up the midi learn to the midi controller knobs it will be really interesting... This sounds great.


Looking now at the OBX pro II....it has a bank of "famous sounds" and it's on sale at 85 bucks.
OBXed is just as good. I had OBX pro II, and found it kinda underwhelming to be honest. I uninstalled it.
curious why you did not like it.

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 9:24 am
by mackerelmint
budda12ax7 wrote:
Sun Dec 16, 2018 7:34 pm
mackerelmint wrote:
Sun Dec 09, 2018 10:23 pm
budda12ax7 wrote:
Sun Dec 09, 2018 8:20 am
Bought the TAL UNO 60.....glorious old school fun. It comes with hundreds of presets, but that chorus sound is amazing. It has some great arp sounds...once I set up the midi learn to the midi controller knobs it will be really interesting... This sounds great.


Looking now at the OBX pro II....it has a bank of "famous sounds" and it's on sale at 85 bucks.
OBXed is just as good. I had OBX pro II, and found it kinda underwhelming to be honest. I uninstalled it.
curious why you did not like it.
It lacked something. The sound was just a little two dimensional. And, I mean, it sounds fine and all, good in a mix, all that stuff. But for how I used it, just sitting down and twiddling knobs and trying to get the thickest sounds I could, it just didn't get there. Also I bought an Oberheim matrix. OBXed suffers from the same problem, but not to the same degree. I think OBXed is the better sounding of the two, and having since sold the matrix, I've been perfectly happy with OBXed until Behringer comes out with their UB-Xa. I kinda just don't really get along with soft synths, not having the immediacy of a physical interface. For FM sounds it's fine since there's no way I'm programming those and it's all digital anyway, but... I'm making my way back to hardware.

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 4:30 pm
by budda12ax7
Good reply above.

I guess i'm exploring vst stuff right now.

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2018 2:26 pm
by mackerelmint
Thanks. I'm glad you found it helpful.

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2018 5:43 pm
by Larry Mal
I just found a way to get the full Rob Papen Explorer package, which is everything that he's done.

So far I'm impressed, I knew I would be, though.

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:03 pm
by budda12ax7
How...how???

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2018 6:07 am
by Larry Mal
Well, they offer a nice 50% discount on their software for students, which I somehow qualify for. I mean, I am a student, it still feels a little weird.

So, I bought a few of their low level effects and the cheapest VI, and that qualified me for the Explorer 5 full package, which I used a gift card from Sweetwater for.

Frankly, a great present.

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2018 10:07 am
by budda12ax7
AWESOME.......

I'm loving the Go2 synth.....

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 10:25 pm
by budda12ax7
sprang for the Go2 synth....can't seem to load it into my presonus....doesn't show up.....urrggggg. Frustrated.

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2019 10:17 pm
by budda12ax7
Finally loaded Go2....sounds very good. Also got Arturia Matrix 12 and Arturia Synth Lab for cheap. Not sure about either of them....lucky I did not pay full price.

Anybody use Synthmaster??

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 4:57 am
by Larry Mal
I do have Synthmaster, I like it, it's pretty new so I can't say a whole lot about it other than I'm happy that I have it.

I also got Carbon Electra recently, also. I also like that.

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 8:15 am
by budda12ax7
OOOO...I saw the Carbon Electra.....that sounds perfect....will look into that.

The best thing Arturia has on the Synth Lab is the Blade Runner presets....But all in all disappointed with the Matrix 12 and Synth Lab.


Did you buy any presets for the Synthmaster

Re: VST Synths....what to get.

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 12:18 pm
by budda12ax7
Messed about with the Synthmaster demo.....basically sounds like the Go2....not a bad thing, but for 40 bucks it's great.

Will look at Sunrizer....