For $35, is Square 1 worth getting?

Would you get it over Scorpion or LinPlug Alpha?

I just bought PlasticZ (haven't received it yet) and want an inexpensive VSTi that is decent for bass and pads and leads or any one of the aforementioned!

My VSTi's include Battery, Sonic Synth, PlasticZ, and then everything that's in SX (A1, JX16), as well as most of the freebies.

Nevermind - it's down to 3 choices:

1) I buy Square 1, Alpha, and Muon Tau Pro

or

2) I buy Delta III

or

3) I buy Pentagon 1

pentagon I or Delta III . PI is fatter and just what I like (Just ordered it myself). Delta III has that great mod matrix

prog

i got Square1 a while ago, and i dont really like it. its got plenty of knobs to tweak and all, and almost 200 presets, but a lot of the presets sound the same. the interface is decent and its stable, but it doesnt measure up to the other synths that rgcAudio makes (pentagon I is good, and triangle II is really good considering its freeware). pentagon 1, though a bit more expensive ($99 i think?) has much better quality for pads and such. i think you should save the $35 and spend it on something else... IMHO there are many freeware instruments that are as good as or better than square 1.

*edit* hmm... two posts appeared while i was typing! its a tough choice between pentagon I and delta III... both are pretty good synths. for some reason, i want to say deltaIII just because it's linplug and i like the quality of their work.

I am really indecisive!

Screw it all - i'm just going to save up for VirSyn Tera - it's really the only one i feel strongly about right now. it's just a little out of budget!

I'd vote for P1. It's about the only VA I use nowadays, and works great for getting quite a large variety of sounds has plenty of options and sounds great. The only thing I can think it needing is an arpegiator.

VerSyn TERA's a good choice Lanstar Zero. You'll probably hate me by the end of this response but here's a couple of observations as I use both TERA and Pentagon 1.

To some degree Pentagon 1 has a sonic color that I like, it's bass and treble eq are very well designed as they help make it one of the fattest synths out there and in general tend to hit sweet spots in the sound. The output simulations are pretty cool too as well as the built in effects.

VerSyn TERA has more diversity than just about anything else right now beyond Reaktor. It's also has a substantial learning curve although the book that comes with it covers the basics well. As like most manuals it would have been great to have a few tutorials. The presets are good and you get a lot of them, 700 I think. To get that Pentagon sound you will need to think differently about how you program in TERA, IMO you work a bit harder to get Pentagon's big sound. Of course this is offset by an amazing amount of timbres you can get.

But I do want to say a couple things about Pentagon. If you want something that's less complex and capable of a lot of high quality timbres that run the analog to digital/analog hybrid then Pentagon is it. I loved it the first time I heard it and still think it's a great synth and a bargain even though $100 is a lot of money to me. The routings are great, not as powerful as Delta III (which I have not spent much time demoing) or VirSyn TERA but as a performance synth that is reasonable on computer resources it's hard to beat. For clarification I find it difficult to describe TERA beyond saying that it does a lot of things well. But should I want a big solo I'm more likely going to Pentagon. If I want a nicely balanced mix I'm going VerSyn TERA if that makes any sense.

I'm not trying to confuse you more but if you demoed and liked Pentagon or any of the other synths you mentioned then give them serious consideration for purchase. If forced to choose between Pentagon and TERA...well, I'm not sure I could as they both have features that are great for the music I make.

BTW, I love freeAlpha and plan on eventually getting the Alpha plugin as soon as I can convince the band into buying it. It is the closest any VSTi has come to matching my Juno 6 which was also my first polyphonic synth. I love the sound and can only imagine how much better Alpha would be compared to freeAlpha. LinPlug nailed that sound with this plugin.

My next purchase will probably be "The Bundle" at LinPlug. Not a bad deal at all. Lots of variety.

Robert

Well, i like sounds with a crystal-like quality that sit well in a mix - that's why i like Tera. I like some grittiness, but i find that Pentagon is ussually TOO big and fat for what i like - it doesn't sit as well in a mix. Delta III has a thinner, slightly nasal sound to it yet can be gritty as well, so that would be a runner-up. In addition, Absynth is a possibility, but it is not vesatile like Tera, and i need something versatile right now. So i think Tera is the way to go.

I have to generally disagree with Lanstar, or at least elaborate on what he said about P1 not sitting well, I think Pentagon can sit great in a mix depending on what your looking for Pentagon to do. I did one predominately P1 based song and getting the bass to sit properly was a pain in the ass, whereas the organ sound (a P1 organ patch I made not another softsynth) and lead just fell into place right afterwards. But most of the other times I've used Pentagon it's been in rock songs using it as a lead synth, and not only do the leads sit well in the mix, they need just about nothing to make them cut through big rock guitars. Pentagon can just be a little bass heavy in the low registers but I'd rather have that there and work to get rid of it, than not have it there at all and try and work to add it in somehow. Lounge Lizard is kind of the same way.

I didn't mean to say that Pentagon doesn't sit well in a mix - i meant to say multiple instances of Pentagon 1 in a track don't sit very well.

And i can do leads that cut though with A1 and with Triangle 1 & 2 - i'm just not into really beefy sounds. I know a lot of people are, and i can see how that influences their like of Pentagon 1. I like Pentagon 1 as well, minus the fact that it is generally a little too thick for my taste.

Then you know what is right for you and I'm sure you'll be happy with VirSyn TERA. It's a versitile synth.

As for Absynth...well, it's my personal favorite but it is a role playing synth as in there are only certain times I'd use it's sound. It's more versitile than I thought but doesn't come close to TERA and is certainly less warmer.

Good luck with your eventual purchase.

Thanks everyone! I'm sure i contradict myself often - i'm still experimenting with my music, and am not really sure what i want - i can hear it in my head, but nothing matches the sounds. I THINK tera is the closest thing - it is smooth, not too thick and kind of glassy: which means i can layer it alot. With Sonic Synth for acoustic sounds and fretless bass, and PlasticZ for some puch, i think i'll be happy.