Software / VST synths?

Chris.B

I'm listening on an old Denon system, a long way from the clarity and power of a decent set of monitors.  

The world of synths fascinates me, driven by Tony Banks' work in Genesis and going back a long way Jean Michelle Jarre, Isao Tomita and  Kraftwerk were often on my turntable.  I'm too busy learning to play the guitar and piano at the moment so I have to resist the temptation of synths - it will have to wait until I have acquired the skills to play the keyboard. 

Keep up the great work, I love to hear what can be done with modern synth technology.

stratman3142

There are a couple of free VSTi synths that are probably a match for some of the 'paid for' stuff.

One Is Vital, which could possibly give Serum and Massive X a run for their money. It's fairly intuitive and there are some very good Youtube tutorials.
https://vital.audio/

The trouble is, it seems to have gone very quiet and I've not seen any recent updates. However, it's very good as it is. The only issue I've found is when I've downloaded midi tracks and sometimes it didn't play well with midi control messages embedded in the files (such as pitch bends etc).

The other one is Surge XT. I found it quite challenging to learn and I only got the basics. It sounds great but, as I haven't used it for a while, I'll probably have to refresh my memory, as I didn't find it that intuitive.
https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/

I wanted to just have one just synth I could use for a variety of synthesis styles.  Vital is good for that, but I often revert to NI Massive X as my workhorse.

monquixote

stratman3142 said:

There are a couple of free VSTi synths that are probably a match for some of the 'paid for' stuff.

One Is Vital, which could possibly give Serum and Massive X a run for their money. It's fairly intuitive and there are some very good Youtube tutorials.
https://vital.audio/

The trouble is, it seems to have gone very quiet and I've not seen any recent updates. However, it's very good as it is. The only issue I've found is when I've downloaded midi tracks and sometimes it didn't play well with midi control messages embedded in the files (such as pitch bends etc).

The other one is Surge XT. I found it quite challenging to learn and I only got the basics. It sounds great but, as I haven't used it for a while, I'll probably have to refresh my memory, as I didn't find it that intuitive.
https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/

I wanted to just have one just synth I could use for a variety of synthesis styles.  Vital is good for that, but I often revert to NI Massive X as my workhorse.

Vital is great, but what I would say

It completely wrecked my machine on performance and it was stuttering all over the place with a complex patch running where I can have 5/6 instances of something else chunky before my machine gives in.

If you are going to value your time then it's much better to spend £135 or Diva or Pigments if that's going to be your main synth and you would spend that on a stomp box without much thought.

BTW I'd consider selling my Pigments license as I never use it if anyone is after a copy.

Vintage65

If I could only have one VST synth it would be u-he Diva.

stratman3142

I've got Diva and really like it.

Personally I still prefer NI Massive X as my workhorse, as it can do the Analogue, PM and Wavetable stuff and is very versatile. Also, once I eventually got my head around it by watching numerous tutorials, I found it quite intuitive.

Having said that Diva does have a certain analogue warmth.

That reminds me: we did a Synth challenge way back in 2020 (link below), where we each used a single synth and I used Massive X. Given the interest in Synths, maybe it's about time we did another one.

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/184704/voting-for-softsynth-challenge-1#latest

TTony

I've been playing with both Pigments and Diva today.

Diva was initially a PITA.  S1 (latest version) blocked the plugin, so a bit of Googling later led me to a beta patch which was then accepted by S1.  Obviously a lot of functionality in there, and will probably be worth a (fair) bit of learning on my part.

In comparison, Pigments was a complete breeze and most of my time has gone into playing with that through Midi Guitar 3.  Loads of fun.

stratman3142 said:

That reminds me: we did a Synth challenge way back in 2020 (link below), where we each used a single synth and I used Massive X. Given the interest in Synths, maybe it's about time we did another one.

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/184704/voting-for-softsynth-challenge-1#latest

There seems to be quite a lot of interest in synthy things nowadays @stratman3142 so that'd probably be quite popular.

drippycat

There are a few synths that always seem to be at the top or near the top of consumer polls:
Omnisphere (a career in a box)
Pigments
Serum
Massive (& Massive X)
Diva
Zebra 2
Synthmaster
Sylenth 1 & Spire for more trancey type stuff.
Kontakt for sampled instrument libraries


Then you have your emulations of real world synths of which there are very many. Arturia Collection, Cherry Labs Audio, Roland Cloud, GForce, U-He, Xils Labs etc.

Then you have your effects - compression, eq, reverb, delay etc. & companies like Fabfilter, Sound Toys, PSP Audioware, Valhalla Reverb, Waves (although it seems you never stop paying for the same plugin), Izotope etc.

monquixote

drippycat said:

There are a few synths that always seem to be at the top or near the top of consumer polls:
Omnisphere (a career in a box)
Pigments
Serum
Massive (& Massive X)
Diva
Zebra 2
Synthmaster
Sylenth 1 & Spire for more trancey type stuff.
Kontakt for sampled instrument libraries


Then you have your emulations of real world synths of which there are very many. Arturia Collection, Cherry Labs Audio, Roland Cloud, GForce, U-He, Xils Labs etc.

Then you have your effects - compression, eq, reverb, delay etc. & companies like Fabfilter, Sound Toys, PSP Audioware, Valhalla Reverb, Waves (although it seems you never stop paying for the same plugin), Izotope etc.

I would add: Dune 3 and Hive to that list. 

monquixote

Some crazy, crazy deals on here: https://www.imaginando.pt/products

TTony

Although it's specifically focused on the newly released Imposcar3, I found this video really helpful in terms of demonstrating what the various components of a generic synth do in terms of creating and shaping the sound.



The interface initially put me off - just too many knobs to work out where to start and which one to twiddle.  But the video helped with that a lot. 

And Imposcar3 is currently on a 40% off new-release deal.

monquixote

Try DRC in the link I shared.

It's 15 euro at the moment and very easy to learn.

TTony

monquixote said:

Try DRC 

Downloading the trial now ...

monquixote

TTony said:

monquixote said:

Try DRC 

Downloading the trial now ...

That is a genuine sale. It's not usually anywhere near that cheap.

It's not the most powerful synth, but it's very easy and clear what all the bits do.

TTony

Much easier (simplified!) UI for a beginner, and works with midi Guitar, so for £13, it's a no-brainer.  Bought it.  Thanks Nick.

monquixote

TTony said:

Much easier (simplified!) UI for a beginner, and works with midi Guitar, so for £13, it's a no-brainer.  Bought it.  Thanks Nick.

Awesome!

My suggestion would be try and get past presets and spend some time starting with an init patch and having a session with each of the:
* Oscillators
* Filters
* ADSR Envelopes (As applied to note amplitude)
* ADSR Envelopes (As applied to filters)
* LFOs 

Once you've done that you basically know synthesis. 


If anyone is interested in learning Diva. This tutorial basically covers every single feature and what it does:

Jonathanthomas83

monquixote said:

TTony said:

Much easier (simplified!) UI for a beginner, and works with midi Guitar, so for £13, it's a no-brainer.  Bought it.  Thanks Nick.

Awesome!

My suggestion would be try and get past presets and spend some time starting with an init patch and having a session with each of the:
* Oscillators
* Filters
* ADSR Envelopes (As applied to note amplitude)
* ADSR Envelopes (As applied to filters)
* LFOs 

Once you've done that you basically know synthesis. 


If anyone is interested in learning Diva. This tutorial basically covers every single feature and what it does:

Is that video enough to help someone learn the basics of synthesis too?

monquixote

Jonathanthomas83 said:

monquixote said:

TTony said:

Much easier (simplified!) UI for a beginner, and works with midi Guitar, so for £13, it's a no-brainer.  Bought it.  Thanks Nick.

Awesome!

My suggestion would be try and get past presets and spend some time starting with an init patch and having a session with each of the:
* Oscillators
* Filters
* ADSR Envelopes (As applied to note amplitude)
* ADSR Envelopes (As applied to filters)
* LFOs 

Once you've done that you basically know synthesis. 


If anyone is interested in learning Diva. This tutorial basically covers every single feature and what it does:

Is that video enough to help someone learn the basics of synthesis too?

It wouldn't be my first choice.

Syntorial is amazing if you don't mind paying.

Buying a Reface CS was what taught me. ( I'm selling mine)

Jonathanthomas83

monquixote said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

monquixote said:

TTony said:

Much easier (simplified!) UI for a beginner, and works with midi Guitar, so for £13, it's a no-brainer.  Bought it.  Thanks Nick.

Awesome!

My suggestion would be try and get past presets and spend some time starting with an init patch and having a session with each of the:
* Oscillators
* Filters
* ADSR Envelopes (As applied to note amplitude)
* ADSR Envelopes (As applied to filters)
* LFOs 

Once you've done that you basically know synthesis. 


If anyone is interested in learning Diva. This tutorial basically covers every single feature and what it does:

Is that video enough to help someone learn the basics of synthesis too?

It wouldn't be my first choice.

Syntorial is amazing if you don't mind paying.

Buying a Reface CS was what taught me. ( I'm selling mine)

Thanks, I'm currently learning bits through the Ableton synth site, I'll carry on with that. I had hoped to learn both synthesis and Diva at the same time with the above video, but I'll stick with the Ableton site for now, until I'm ready to dive into Diva. 

monquixote

There are plenty of synth tutorials that do use Diva though so have a look and though it's a video about learning Diva you will probably learn a few general things by watching it.

Basher

I love good old NI Massive (not Massive X). It's the only synth I've ever got close to being able to think up the sort of sound I want and then create it. I find the interface really well done and love the idea of just dragging an LFO to the oscillator pitch or an envelope to filter frequency.
I realise there are elementary things but I've had hardware and VST synths that make these simple tasks quite tricky.