Which Software Synths do you use and recommend?

Drew_TNBD · July 2017

Max, send me a PM re: synths.

guitarfishbay · July 2017

Instructions followed

octatonic · July 2017

LOL.
Serum is great.

Here is the truth with digital synths, most people own far more than they use and understand virtually nothing about synthesis.
They end up as semi-skilled button pushers who eventually happen upon something musically useful.
What is much better is to use some very simple synths, like the ones built into Logic, and to understand what an oscillator does, how an LFO works, what you can do with a filter etc before graduating to more complex stuff.
Then it doesn't matter so much about presets or even feature set- you just adapt to what you have to work with and make music.

guitarfishbay · May 2018

Well, it's been nearly a year since I posted this.

Skill wise I have improved, but I've also come to realise just how deep a topic it can be if you really want to get creative with it.

I do feel like I can create simple pads, basses and leads from scratch to my liking, so that's progress.

I'm mostly using Hive, Serum, and Waves Element 2.0.

The more I learn about synths the more I realise how powerful Serum is. I could do almost everything I need in Serum - actually I find the presets more distracting than anything else as so many are based around very specific movement that doesn't tend to fit what I'm looking for.

I'm demoing Repro 5 right now though and I absolutely love the sound of that. It's also nice and simple to use quickly. I've tried creating similar patches in Hive and Repro and while it does use more CPU, the sound is thicker and lusher in Repro 5.

octatonic · May 2018

guitarfishbay said:

The more I learn about synths the more I realise how powerful Serum is. I could do almost everything I need in Serum - actually I find the presets more distracting than anything else as so many are based around very specific movement that doesn't tend to fit what I'm looking for.

Yup, the secret is largely out now but for a long time it was a bit of a secret weapon.
It has become the soft synth I use most of the time, although I use a lot of hardware synths too.

guitarfishbay · May 2018

Which hardware synths are you using? Is it a tone thing or a workflow and tone thing?

octatonic · May 2018

guitarfishbay said:

Which hardware synths are you using? Is it a tone thing or a workflow and tone thing?

I've got a fair few few.
I had a massive sell off a few years ago and then started buying the ones I love back and added a few more.
Favourites are Moog Sub 37, Roland JP8000, Korg Prophecy, Nord Modular.

I just picked up an Arturia Matrixbrute today, getting it tomorrow, which is very exciting.
It is a monster.
Plan is to get a lot of the Japanese stuff in Singapore when we are out there.

It is a combination of sound and workflow- there is something more immediate about turning physical knobs, rather than moving knobs on a screen.
I haven't found anything as snarly as the Moog Sub 37 in software form.
Also, some of them allow me to run guitars/drums/vocals etc through them, which is fun.

Funkfingers · May 2018

octatonic said:
I haven't found anything as snarly as the Moog Sub 37 in software form.

+1

In my case, the hardware instrument is an old Creamware Minimax ASB. One or two tracks of this can really fill out a multi-track Project in a way that a shedload of ROMpler replay synth sounds can not. If, for example, you are going to use a Taurus style bass part, it needs to throb in the low registers. Through loudspeakers, at decent monitoring sound pressure levels, the walls and floor should vibrate sympathetically.

Other hardware favourites of mine include the Creamware Prodyssey ASB, an expanded E-Mu Orbit 3 and the Roland JD-990 with the SR-JV80-04 Vintage Synth expansion board.

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Which Software Synths do you use and recommend?

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