Soft Synths - recommendations how to get started ?.

dano

I'm after getting into soft synths, never used them butbhavingvwatched a few youtube videos looks ideal.

Can anyone recommend some good (free) ones to start ?

hugbot

Synth1 is free

If you're using Logic the included ones are pretty good. 

blobb

Free WASP synth here (daHornet), haven't tried it but that's tonight sorted :-0

http://nusofting.liqihsynth.com/freeplugins.html

Edit: you need this serial number for daHORNET, copy / paste into the panel. It's legit, you just need to search for it on their site so I saved you the bother. Sounds good for nought: TMKMKIHGNNKJFMKMKIHGNNKJF


This one is a single voice version of the mighty uHe synth:

http://www.u-he.com/cms/zebralette

Synth1 (Nord Lead clone)

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/synth1-by-ichiro-toda

You can also download MikroPrism from NI here:

http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/mikro-prism/

This is a demo version (it clicks periodically but otherwise all features work) of the EMS Synthi

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/synthi_avs_by_ems/details

blobb

.....oh, and savihost so you can use soft synth's (or any VST) standalone without having to open DAW. (Windows users).

http://www.hermannseib.com/english/savihost.htm

ToneControl

you cannot beat what native instruments produce, and they do free samples:

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/free/

blobb

Agree, their soft synths are great. Enjoying Monark at the moment.

Drew_TNBD

I highly rate Reason. I use it more than any other collection of soft-synths.

Heartfeltdawn

U-He's synths are fantastic. Ace is on the To Buy list. NI are obviously good but I don't like the user interface that much. 

In the free world, if you're still running a 32-bit OS, then SQ8L gets a lot of use from me. It is absolutely spot on with how I remember my Ensoniq ESQ-1 sounding.

http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/

Crystal is very decent and has been around a long time. 

http://www.greenoak.com/crystal/indexDesktop3.html

Finally for free and paid stuff then Togu Audio Line are very good. Bassline 101 is fabulous. 

http://tal-software.com/Products

ToneControl

the thing to remember with NI is that Kontakt is THE standard sampler now, all libraries are focussed on the Kontakt engine, so it's wise to get experience

blobb

That TAL Electro is fun, cheers for that. Sorry, Elek7ro.

EdGrip

I went for Reason (somewhat arbitrarily - the rack UI appealed to me, and I knew I'd probably be doing more in-the-box than recording. DAWs be an overwhelming market for n00bs. I digress.)

You can try most of the major DAW systems for free, and things like Reason, Native Instruments, Ableton, Bitwig, FL Studio and Logic (if you've got a Mac) come with their own soft-synths that you can crack on and play with - so why not do that? 

As far as Reason goes, you can get Reason Essentials for £39. It comes with Subtractor (Reason's stock - fairly average - analogue-style soft synth). 

Crucially, though, you can try any of the various soft synth Rack Extensions (Reason's version of VSTs) free for a month at any time - and there's no restrictions on their use during that month, so you can design patches, build up songs, export audio, etc etc.

I stress that I mention this only because it's what I happen to know about - there may be similar things you can to to play with all the goodies by Native Instruments and others.

Drew_TNBD

ToneControl said:

the thing to remember with NI is that Kontakt is THE standard sampler now, all libraries are focussed on the Kontakt engine, so it's wise to get experience

I can't name names, but most of the content developers I have spoken to in the industry pretty much HATE Kontakt. They hate that to do anything remotely clever, you have to get into scripting. They hate the license fees that they have to pay in order to bring their content to the platform, and they hate that they don't get the ability to truly brand their content in their own way.

Problem is, currently there isn't any better alternative. That's the only reason Kontakt is the main engine at the moment. But I think that will change eventually.

I think as a platform UVI Falcon might give it a run for it's money. But it all depends on the licensing fees and restrictions - that's the number one bugbear with sample developers I'd say.

http://www.uvi.net/en/software/falcon.html

EdGrip

Wish more people would do refills for NN-XT.

racefaceec90

i am a complete novice when it comes to synths i have to say,but whilst asking about them on another forum,i was recommended caustic 3  (you can download it for free here for your desktop/laptop http://www.singlecellsoftware.com/caustic  

 

dano

Thanks for the suggestions chaps, plenty of stuff to read and watch this weekend.

With regards to a MIDI controller would a cheapish my audio, novation etc one be ideal with these soft synths ?

wave100

yup - anything that connects to the 'puter via USB should be fine. Some soft synths have "MIDI learn" functionality which makes it a cinch to assign the knobs on a controller to various functions on the synth - fun and useful!

Sarge

ImpOscar is superb, also v-station from Novation.
Go to KVR.com for a list of all tje freebies, theres some incredible stuff out there!