Im trying to go for the best one under all profiles.
Flexibilty.
Quality.
Options.
Features.
etc. etc.

cya
nixis

Flexibility in terms of being able to create sounds based on many kinds of synthesis?
I´d vote for Virsyn Tera then. Dunno any other synth with such many different synthesizer techniques. And then it´s 16 part multitimbral, which is still, unfortunately, a very rare thing to see on VSTi´s.

Regards

Roman Empire

I'd second that - Tera is brilliant and there's a demo to try. My other faves are Absynth and Reaktor - Absynth is not as flexible but it makes some really unique sounds - Reaktor is extremely flexible but very complex and not as user friendly or stable as Tera.

The only synth to come close to Tera's flexibility and ease of use is Logic's E2 but it only works with Logic.

RCG's z3ta+ looks promising as well.

I'd also consider Tassman if you want more "realistic" sounds but its less good for wierd and wonderful sounds.

The best free synth has to be Crystal.

But my overall vote would still be for Virsyn Tera - on all the profiles you mentioned it has nearly all the bases covered.

If you can afford 2 get Tera and Absynth (if you want a wider range of sounds) or Tera and Tassman (for physically modelled sounds).

I'm STILL torn about which high priced vsti to put on my christmas list,but I keep gravitating closer towards virsyn with each new thread I read.

Best overall synth, I'd have to agree would probably be virsin terra, for a synth with vast programability.
On the other hand, a great vst that covers all the bases is sonic synth. but, there's no programability there (just has synth in the name)
(sigh)I'm spent out for the next two years (at least), but if I were just starting out I'd get 1.sonic synth 2. terra

Well Sonic Synth is a sample player and that even only for Sonic Synths own sounds (rumours out that this is gonna change though) and then it´s got an efx section.. but synth? Nah, it´s not!
If I was gonna buy it, it´d be for everything it´s got that can´t be made on a synth - its acoustic instrument samples, that just are unimmitatable on any synth.
But again, if you´re not after a synth, but rather a collection of already wellknown sounds that stand well in a mix, sonic synth should be suiting your needs.

Quote:

.. but synth? Nah, it´s not!

and that is why I added "just has synth in name" in parenthesis. yes, synth it's certainly not!
just wanted to clarify that, and say that I agree with all you said.

There actually only one VSTi that covers everything right out fo the box :Sampletank. It has synthsounds, acustic sounds, drums, percussion etc etc. I would consider Sampletnk before Sonic synth, because ST has 4 viritual outputs (SS only one) The FX's in ST (same in SS) can be demanding on your CPU, but with 4 outs, it's possible to use a send effect (reverb, since reverb is really heavy on CPU usage if you need a top quality one) Then, after getting ST, you can complete it with all the sounds from SS. But go for the 4 output version, with possibilities to load AKAI.

VAZ Modular. Sound quality is exceptional and you make whatever synth you like.

ES2 or Absynth (Fm7 if you like Fm synthesis)
no doubt.

Depends on what you want, too....do you want a sample player (Sample Tank) or EXS24, or do you want a PHATT syntht! (Nothing against sample players I love EXS24)

Sorry Bluedad, if what I said was taken as an attack, it wasn´t ment to! Just to emphasize what you said, actually
To bobb - ST or SS, none of them are synths - I think that´s what the topic maker is looking for.

Tera for me...

Absynth.

Much nicer lookin' than Terra, killer sound, lots of user banks/sounds.

Roman Empire, it isn't on my list but if I needed sounds on demand Sonic Synth is the most useful prototyping tool I have which also has most of the sounds I use included in finished mixes although tweaked with the very expressive effects.

Synthesizer> analog: VirSyn TERA - most versitile, especially mixing FM and wavesequencing plus having several channels, splits, velocity splits and amazing modulation capabilities - try before you buy, it's a big synth!, also consider rgc Audio's z3ta+, it has less bells and whistles and is less money than TERA if that's out of the question, you still get a lot of great sound out of it and incredible flexiblity - not multitimbral if that matters

Synthesizer> digital and exotic: Absynth, if you can't find a wide range of timbres including some warm sounding pads, leads and basses besides some trippy and beat oriented stuff you are dead, FM7 if you are more traditionally minded but want a leap forward in FM synthesis

Sound-on-demand. That´s a good way of putting it - better than how I did it

Absynth for sure is interesting, but it´s not multitimbral, and the impression that many users, including myself, got from it, is that it´s very hard to make provide the desired sound, especially sounds with hard attack = leads that are useful.
I was so impressed when I first heard it, but then later realized that it´s the kind of synth I´d buy if I had specific needs in direction of making ambient music, which I don´t - at least not at the moment.

FM7 is nice too, but not as flexible as Virsyn, and neither is it multitimbral.
Btw, I never tried out VAZ modular... some people are worshipping it, telling it´s very flexible too, and also multitimbral. Anyone who think this one should be considered in this thread?

Well for me, the best I've used so far is Dynamo. I has quite a broad range of sounds, and isn't too expensive. Though I must admit, the manual is practically worthless, and the host of free ensembles that were promised will never occur! (what with reaktor session around the corner). I suppose it depends on what kind of music you write. I like abstract/boards of canada type music, so Dynamo is quite useful in that respect. In fact, dynamo is always the first VSTi I fire up.

Delta III is a good overall synth, ok It dosn't cover the sound range of other synths listed on this thread, but it's got quite a huge range of sounds!
As soon as Peter adds a noise oscillator, it will expand the range even more!

I find it kind of silly to try to determine the "Best Overall VSTi". Everyone has an opinion. My best overall VSTi is Reaktor, because It can do just about everything. But I have other synths that are favorites too...

mytas...
Delta III does have a noise oscillator, or at least version 3.04 does. Select "Digital 1" as the oscillator, and a noise button appears in the upper right of the module.

Roman Empire wrote:

Btw, I never tried out VAZ modular... some people are worshipping it, telling it´s very flexible too, and also multitimbral. Anyone who think this one should be considered in this thread?

I already did. It's a fully modular synth - like Reaktor but more at Reaktor's macro level so easier to get in to and use. I can't emphasize how great the sound is - it's as close to hardware as I've heard. Fantastic filters. It can also be used for creating effects too. 16 synths per VSTi (i.e. 16 part multitimbrality) and you can add multiple plugs to a song. You can create/edit your synths directly in the host (it can pop up a fully resizeable editor window). It's a serious piece of kit.

VAZ 2010 has a lot going for it but I suspect it's better for people that are looking for analog. The step sequencer to me wasn't nearly as intuitive as VirSyn TERA and unlike TERA I don't think they've made a demo for VAZ yet.

It does sound good, it's been awhile but I think it's a VSTi host as well.

Overall there is nothing that touches VirSyn TERA as a synth except Reaktor which isn't multitimbral. BTW, the way Absynth works it's really 8 channel multitimbral in that you open instances off the Absynth engine. This is similar to how VirSyn Works in terms of added channels creating more CPU load. TERA does it better but in terms of CPU use you only open one engine of Absynth, each instance is even numbered so you know where you are.

Check out TERA, if you can. The demo has about 800 presets to play with and tweak.

stonerwitch wrote:

Well for me, the best I've used so far is Dynamo. I has quite a broad range of sounds, and isn't too expensive. Though I must admit, the manual is practically worthless, and the host of free ensembles that were promised will never occur! (what with reaktor session around the corner). I suppose it depends on what kind of music you write. I like abstract/boards of canada type music, so Dynamo is quite useful in that respect. In fact, dynamo is always the first VSTi I fire up.

On paper Dynamo looks terrific, but I seldom use it. It requires way too much CPU to be practical on my no-longer-new G4, and many of the ensembles are too flaky in Logic to be useful. NI has not followed through on their promised new ensembles, and who knows when Reaktor Session will ever be released?

Scot Solida wrote:

mytas... Delta III does have a noise oscillator, or at least version 3.04 does. Select "Digital 1" as the oscillator, and a noise button appears in the upper right of the module.

Oh yes, so it has, I can't beleive I missed that function, Thanks Scot, you've made my day!
But didn't Peter talk about a white/pink/brown noise option or something like that (I remember some silly jokes on the brown noise )
But anyway, I'm diving back into my DeltaIII

Roman Empire wrote:

Absynth for sure is interesting, but it´s not multitimbral

Absynth Engine (the "brain" that powers the Absynth VST plugin) is eight part multi-timbral, and so Absynth VST is very definitely multi-timbral.

You can get just about any synth sound out of Absynth – although some kinds of sounds will require more time spent programming than others. You can also get a whole lot of sounds that don't really sound like a normal synth at all.

Absynth is really something special.

Has anyone took a view to Mvm at
<a href:http://www.mvxsynths.galeon.com>MvxSynths </a>
Its a semimodular synth programmed with synthedit that altoug is still in beta gives very good timbres.
J

x_bruce wrote:

Overall there is nothing that touches VirSyn TERA as a synth except Reaktor which isn't multitimbral.

uhhh... Reaktor IS multitimbral...

Reaktor for sure, it can duplicate any of the other synths on the list. If you add in all the Dash stuff and free user ensembles its simply amazing. I have hundreds of synths in it and thousands of patches. Enough to last a lifetime.

Crystal is the best freeware.

Yep, my bad.

I don't know why I never use it that way....

Ok, thanks for the info about Absynth - applause for another developer caring a bit about us customers No, I just mean.. if you already know how to program a plugin... how hard it is then to make it multitimbral and polyphonic? Not that much, I suppose...

Have a happy weekend!

Roman Empire

Neon!

once again the decision becomes harder to make

at first I thought it would be pro 53 but now I'm flipping a coin over
absynth and virsyn tera.
No disrespect to all the sonic synth/sampletank fans but this christmas
i'm looking for something to build my own sounds that have little to do with the real world.

How much better would you say FM7 is compared to the other fm synthesizers available these days?

Roman Empire wrote:

Ok, thanks for the info about Absynth - applause for another developer caring a bit about us customers No, I just mean.. if you already know how to program a plugin... how hard it is then to make it multitimbral and polyphonic? Not that much, I suppose... Have a happy weekend! Roman Empire

The problem is, that the VST specification hasn't multi-timbral instruments in mind. Just look at the automation. The FM7 has already now over 2000 parameters. Because the automation doesn't know anything about midi-channels, a multi-timbral FM7 must work with 32000 parameters. I know for sure that some hosts have a limitation about the max. parameters. Or take a look at the preset-selection of Cubase. What preset to you select there, if you have 16 different presets (one for each channel)? I definitly think it's a wrong way to make vsti-multitimbral, the better way is to do stacking of sounds (and this is the only case where i see that multi-timbral synths are useful) inside the host (and a host should allow this to be easly done, in SX and Logic this is the case).

Bye,
Steffen

If you are looking to build your own sounds, then I would highly recommend you demo Reaktor 3. Absynth and Virsyn are cool but both can be done similarly in Reaktor and at least Absynth already has been. Yes it's not exactly the same but it's similar. If you dig around you can find it in the user section and if you can't find it Crystal is very similar in many respects and it's free. Not only that but with Reaktor you will have FM, sequencers, drum machines, samplers, fx and much more. It's your money but you'll be missing out if you don't at least try it. And no I don't work for NI, but it was the first software I bought and still the best and it's not even close. Not that you can go wrong with either of the others, but eventually you'll end up with Reaktor if you are even slightly serious about making unique sounds.

I didnt realize reaktor was that powerful.although I'm looking to build my own sounds I'm not exactly ready to build my own synths and I just assumed that the ensembles were on the same level as the freeware synths I already have.

Quote:

I didnt realize reaktor was that powerful.although I'm looking to build my own sounds I'm not exactly ready to build my own synths and I just assumed that the ensembles were on the same level as the freeware synths I already have. _________________

there are ensembles that are simple, much like the freeware synths we all love. If you're wanting to do stuff for your own sounds - go Reaktor. it is much more that simple little synth stuff. It blows my mind, there is so much stuff already made - that I'm still getting my head around. You can be so creative using stuff already made in Reaktor. I've alluded to this before - Reaktor is a massive tool box. It's cpu heavy, but so is the sound. I've found the absynth ens mentioned, and it's wonderful; so is liqih's virus (virux) clone, and the wavestation clone. If you have any imagination for electronic music, then this is almost a must have.
bluedad

yikes and its only a couple of hundred dollars out of my ballpark

I suppose I could go for the non-traditional peanut butter and jelly christmas dinner.

opiadream wrote:

yikes and its only a couple of hundred dollars out of my ballpark I suppose I could go for the non-traditional peanut butter and jelly christmas dinner.

Consider it. Reaktor catches a lot of flack because of the price tag, but once you have it, you will not be tempted by every other little VSTi that comes along. The reason? You'll start looking for ways to do what the latest and greatest VSTi does in Reaktor, and you'll usually find a way to do it.

There are individual VSTis that beat Reaktor in niche areas (RGC Audio's Pentagon and VAZ Modular have marginally better analog simulations, for example), but when you consider how close Reaktor can approximate them in addition to being a sampler, drum machine, effects unit, sequencer, etc.....

Worth every penny.

Hope you don't mind me mentioning that VAZ Modular, in addition to the fantastic analog sources, also has multiple sampler modules, wavetable, graintable and live input modules as well as effects processing (including VST/DX plugs), three sequencers in addition to sequencer modules that you can build directly into your synths, and a mixer.

Nick

It all started innocently enough....a friend went to a dj convention and brought me back acid music.Then I got fruityloops and read something online about a 'vst'........

NickMilner wrote:

Hope you don't mind me mentioning that VAZ Modular, in addition to the fantastic analog sources, also has multiple sampler modules, wavetable, graintable and live input modules as well as effects processing (including VST/DX plugs), three sequencers in addition to sequencer modules that you can build directly into your synths, and a mixer. Nick

True enough. Nothing against VAZ! I'm just surprised at how frequently Reaktor is overlooked in these (often silly) "ultimate" VSTi discussions. I mean, it's really an amazing piece of software in every regard. Also, Reaktor's large, active user community (hosted by N.I.) has created a massive library of ready-to-use modules/ensembles/instruments/patches.
It's this feature of Reaktor I like most -- that Reaktor users are not reliant on N.I. alone for expansion of the software's capabilities.

For me the ULTIMATE VSTi is the PPG Wave. Not because I use it in every track, not because it has the widest sound possible (although it's darn good), not because it's so easy to program (wake up )......

It's because it gave me an exact reincarnation of the synth I used to drool over twenty years ago but could not have because the thing was soooooo expensive.

And now I can even use multiples in a song

It is THE synth (together with the Pro52) that made me do away with all my hardware (although it's still lying around unused) and go all "soft".

hey peter, since your not using your hardware anymore, my shipping address is 1015 east.......lol

The BEST overall VSTi - that's a tough one. I would have to give Reaktor the best for flexibility, but not in its practical application with a host. I think overall, I would have to go with VirSyn Tera. As many have already advocated. But in terms of flexibilty, versatility, and actual usability in in a host, it wins overall. And I say this only from using the demo!

I have been playing with the Virsyn Tera demo for a few days and I have now ordered it. This thing is amazing. The deeper you go the greater the possibility's. Best sounds I have ever heard in a software synth and the greatest potential to create new ones. Yes, I'm gushing, but I am very impressed. I saw another thread on KVR asking if the "Pro" level synths were worth the money. If you need an answer to that question just download the demo of this synth and spend some time with it (also download the manual, you will need it).