heres where you say why you chose what you did / name any runners-up / debate others choices / etc

slainte rob

my honourable mentions ...

dicer
theabstractguitar
emm-knagalis
beatburner vsti
rhino
vertigo

why energyXT ??? ... one word ... versatility

slainte rob

I voted Motion, mainly as I as of yet don't have too much money to invest in the commercial ones.... This machine has never let me down in supplying ideas or working out ideas that were in my head making a song....

My honorable mentions;
Cube-I know additive's the flavor of the month,but I find Cube a lot easier to get around than Vertigo.Worth the extra $,and on my list of things to get some time.
XPhrase-as a former WS owner,I was blown away by the possibilities I may be getting this one from Alex and the PA people(go and rate the Vitamin,you Reaktor folks )

Why EXT?As Rob said,versatility.It also provides more bang for the buck than anything else released this year .
ew

chose mine cos its one of the few i actually bought, and it gets a shit load of use, nearly every track

EnergyXT - extremely usable, fun, cheap and it's future is very bright.

Honorable mention for Vertigo - ok, the first version wasn't as good as it should have been, but the newest version can make some stunning sounds.

i chose BFD because a: i have been waiting for something like this for ages and b: the pictures on the swing and timing automators

Lounge Lizard 2 was the most improved VSTi of 2003. But for me the sheer controllability, variety of sound types and quality of samples made Trilogy stand out a mile. And 12 months ago I thought it would be a total waste of time.

My runner up would be CA5000. Not a VA for a change and great editing options!

Peter.

experimentfour wrote:

each post should be JUST the name of what you think is THE best vsti of the year is (actually released in 2003 - not an update please)

wayover wrote:

Crystal

VitaminD wrote:

virsyn tera 2

MfLI wrote:

z3ta+ v1.2

See how that works?

Sorry, I was wrong too, Z3ta+ is around since 2002! (didn't know that since I bought it in 2003)

So I changed my vote to CA5000 and I choose EVE as runner up.

Peter.

right ... i started this as a way to let everyone have their say but im not going to check all entries as valid 2003 releases

all ill do is publish the results as they are next week and you lot can pick out the duffers for yourselves

slainte rob

Maybe you should have listed those who actualy came out in 2003 first? And then let us choose only from that list.

Peter.

i hope your tongue is firmly in your cheek as you type that

slainte rob

I chose Virtual Guitarist (and maybe VG EE) becaue I cannot play guitar (well, not very good anyway), but I really want heavy guitars in my tunes. In contrast, there are a lot of cool synths, drums, etc. that are more interchangeable IMHO.

JeffN

Excuse me Im looking for the "Worst thread of 2003" thread. Im sure it was around here somewhere, anyone seen it?

X4 wrote:

i hope your tongue is firmly in your cheek as you type that

You are The Teach!

Peter.

experimentfour wrote:

i hope your tongue is firmly in your cheek as you type that slainte rob

What ? you start a thread/poll, and then expect us to do the research?

Typical bloody teach.

Take no notice of him. He's always grousing

Meanwhile ... BFD, BFD, BFD.

Massive!

Acid Phreak Machine for obvious reasons.

BFD. Haven't bought anything else in 2003, but drums are most important to the track.

kevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv wrote:

Meanwhile ... BFD, BFD, BFD.

make sure you vote in the voting thread kevvvvvvvvvvv...

Can't get that excited about drums, I'm afraid. The're a very utilitarian part of what I do. I have my favourite sounds that I have been collecting for years and I'm happy to stick 'em in any old thing. It's the rhythms i create with them that are of greatest interest to me. That's why I thought BFD was such an appropriate name.

OTOH, I voted for Hydra because I think it's a very clever combination of familiar elements to create something special and it fairly rocks.

but then you don't write freeform jazz, do you?

Hard to decide: BFD, CA5000.

Interesting how many votes there are for EnergyXT. What does it do that a host doesn't? The only thing I can see it being remotely useful for is handling multi-timbral VSTi better than ORION can. Or is it one of those things you need to play with in order to fully appreciate?

Well, a lot of hosts can't hack the MIDI processing of EnergyXT, and the ability to easily layer VST stuff is pretty cool...

I messed with it for quite a while (pro) and it doesnt do anything i cant do in Orion, so im guessing most ppl use it for its ARP function in other hosts.

i use energyXT for makin sf2s out of vst/fx meltdowns
but i picked CAMELEON5000
because...
its CAMELEON5000

Kriminal wrote:

I messed with it for quite a while (pro) and it doesnt do anything i cant do in Orion, so im guessing most ppl use it for its ARP function in other hosts.

Krim, Energy Pro and XT are quite quite different beasts... it's probably worth your while looking again at XT

Gargoyle wrote:

Kriminal wrote: I messed with it for quite a while (pro) and it doesnt do anything i cant do in Orion, so im guessing most ppl use it for its ARP function in other hosts. Krim, Energy Pro and XT are quite quite different beasts... it's probably worth your while looking again at XT

i would have to agree here

what it does in my basic understanding is turn all your loverly vst plugs into modules for one big massive modular synth with bells

I voted sfz+ for the sound, midi and huge resources for sf2s,waves and gig (beta vers only)..... but also wanted to mention Console... but realised I use Console more as a host for my sound xperiments recording into Sound Forge.
Maybe in the best 2003 app thread.

BONES wrote:

Can't get that excited about drums, I'm afraid. The're a very utilitarian part of what I do. I have my favourite sounds that I have been collecting for years and I'm happy to stick 'em in any old thing. It's the rhythms i create with them that are of greatest interest to me. That's why I thought BFD was such an appropriate name.

No, I listened to your music and I thought the name BFD was much more applicable to that.

vurt wrote:

Gargoyle wrote: Kriminal wrote: I messed with it for quite a while (pro) and it doesnt do anything i cant do in Orion, so im guessing most ppl use it for its ARP function in other hosts. Krim, Energy Pro and XT are quite quite different beasts... it's probably worth your while looking again at XT i would have to agree here what it does in my basic understanding is turn all your loverly vst plugs into modules for one big massive modular synth with bells

sorry, doesnt interest me, i prefer to make music rahter than spending hours trying to join shit toghether.Besides, i like the sounds the synths make as they are, i dont want to melt them all into one big mess. My host lets me work how i chose to, so i dont feel the need to change. There is nothing i cannot do in it. Besides, energy sounds awfull, to me.

fair enough horses for courses

vurt wrote:

what it does in my basic understanding is turn all your loverly vst plugs into modules for one big massive modular synth with bells

At the end of the day, isn't that what your host does? So I'm right in assuming that it does nothing that I cannot already do very, very easily in ORION and, therefore, only non-ORION users would find a use for it? I'd test it out for myself but Rich spiked my VST's and now I can't see any of 'em. Doesn't matter because with ORION you really don't need any.

BONES wrote:

So I'm right in assuming that it does nothing that I cannot already do very, very easily in ORION and, therefore, only non-ORION users would find a use for it?

I've not used Orion so I appologise in advance if Orion already does the things I'm going to mention! But EnergyXT...

...does so much more than just allow you to layer VSTi's and add effects. You could create an fx chain that you use when mastering, with as many effects in it as you want (or machine will allow) and recall it at any time for use in any song. You can use it as a midi fx plug, there is the ubiquitous arpeggiator but also modules that allow you to generate (and change in realtime) chords (which can also be arpeggiated), a new module that allows mapping input notes to specified scales. A 'midipart' module that you can import (or record - but no quantise yet - it's coming very soon!) midi files into - as many as you like - and then trigger with a single key on your controller. You can then add more midipart modules to in turn control other modules - arps/chords etc.

There is endless scope for eXT as a performance tool, you can literally assign a whole raft of sound bites and sequences/loops to your entire controller and play them all in realtime. Of course, due to modular nature of eXT you can make things as complicated as you want (and screen space will allow - although you could simply load another eXT inside of the original eXT!).

You can also map any VST parameter (that the plugin makes available) to any controller you wish and use the built in Envelope module to modify it etc.

Oh yeah, in the near future eXT is going to have a fully fledged sequencer (with hard disk streaming/recording, insert/send effects, track freezing) and a very powerful sampler too.

And I know there's even more on Jorgen's Todo list - full PDC, patch breeding (I do know that Orion does this already), ports to Linux/Mac?!

Well as you can see, there's a little more going on than just layering VSTi's

Shif.

Shifrin wrote:

You could create an fx chain that you use when mastering, with as many effects in it as you want (or machine will allow) and recall it at any time for use in any song.

MultiFX or BandFX containers do this kind of thing with awesome control.

Quote:

You can use it as a midi fx plug, there is the ubiquitous arpeggiator but also modules that allow you to generate (and change in realtime) chords (which can also be arpeggiated), a new module that allows mapping input notes to specified scales.

ORION's arpeggiator does all that.

Quote:

A 'midipart' module that you can import (or record - but no quantise yet - it's coming very soon!) midi files into - as many as you like - and then trigger with a single key on your controller. You can then add more midipart modules to in turn control other modules - arps/chords etc.

Kinda like triggering patterns from a keyboard which you cannot do in ORION but I would not want to do that anyway. EDIT: I take that back because it could be handy if ORION was running in SONG mode providing the basic structure of a song.

Quote:

There is endless scope for eXT as a performance tool, you can literally assign a whole raft of sound bites and sequences/loops to your entire controller and play them all in realtime.

ORION's Sampler.

Quote:

You can also map any VST parameter (that the plugin makes available) to any controller you wish and use the built in Envelope module to modify it etc.

Kinda of like a cross between the Event Editor and PCF.

Quote:

Well as you can see, there's a little more going on than just layering VSTi's

So basically it seems to provide the virtual studio functionality of ORION or maybe Fruity to the more traditional style big sequencers at a ridiculously low price. I'm actually quite impressed because it would allow you to build entire songs up within and then import them into other projects. So, for example, I could put a whole set, say 8 or 10 songs, into a single ORION song by having a separate EnergyXT with each song in it. That could be very, very cool. Where's my credit card?

I get the feeling EnergyXT has won the vote. With BFD a far second.

Phaedo wrote:

I get the feeling EnergyXT has won the vote. With BFD a far second.

not publishing any results until next monday or tuesday though

slainte rob

So then we come to the quandry...is EnergyXT a vsti or a host???

Or, given most of its users: a MIDI processor. ( )

sooo....

Moog Modular V ??? Nobody?
Also I think LinPlug RM4 deserves very honourable mention. So does Rhino, and definately Muon Tau2 as something that sounds bloody wicked, costs next to nothing, and pretty much does what it says on the tin.
Xphrase looks like it could be the shit, but I haven't had the opportunity to really use it.
In the end though, I would have to cast another vote for Energy XT. super!

Kriminal wrote:

So then we come to the quandry...is EnergyXT a vsti or a host???

use it standalone its host

load it as a vsti ... its a vsti (duh)

seriously though ... an ealrier comment comes closest i think ... see it as a modular synth (with all the attendant arp / chord / routing functionality) that just doesnt have its own oscilator modules but rather allows you to load other vsti in place of this

of course ... you can also throw in vstfx and midi plugins too ...

slainte rob

Hmm ... but what can i vote for?

mtron isnt 2003 ... is atmosphere? Is phatmatik?

ouh .. my memory is Always bad when it comes to times ...

putte

so all the people voting for it are actually voting for an app that only becomes a synth when you load some other synth into it?

de:leteded

opiadream wrote:

so all the people voting for it are actually voting for an app that only becomes a synth when you load some other synth into it?

quite possibly ...

but we are voting on the best VSTI of 2003 - not the best vsti SYNTH

the 'i' is for instrument ... and i for one think energyXT is definitely that

slainte rob

My initial vote was "donkey tugger", but now i saw that it was removed.
I, for one, have my donkey running flawlessly as AU.
But i have to admit that it was released in 2002 (march, 15th).

Anyway - my donkey-plugin can make such wonderful sounds that can make me cry. But on the other side you can also get topmodern aceeeed or top-blocking bockwurst beats out of it.
(it even can sound close to the original wurst-o-phon)

If there´s one plug to guarantee goosepimples, it´s the Donkey Tugger.
It´s GUI is awful, but the plugin itself is the best.

Try it! (available on all platforms)



putte

has anyone voted for the squeeker yet?

hmm maybe i should change my vote again
the poor devine machine is being left out in the cold I guess not many have wrapped their brains around that one
couldn't we do a top 3?

opiadream wrote:

couldn't we do a top 3?

im going to publish all the results so you can see your own top 3 or top 10 or top trumps

slainte rob

wow, I'm in shock! Thanks for all the votes

Oh, XT is not only a modular host. It can slice and play wav-files (with envelope) and wav-sequences via MIDI input. Use it as a drum machine. http://webmassiva.com/energyXT/help/audiopart/



jorgen

I've just bought Energy Xt,and what i can say...awesome, endless posibilities...I'll use it to perform live in Orion...with each instance of Energy with a song in it.....i can believe what i can do with it...in the first place i bought it to have better multiouts Vsti management in Orion (reaktor for example..)and in two days of experimenting it turn out to be an essential tool in my studio and for live performance..
Thanks jorgen, and yes for me it's definetely mybest Vsti investment of 2003 (apart from Reaktor 4 for sonic mangling)

I voted for xphrase because it came out in '03. If we were allowed to vote for upgrades, then I would shout and scream REAKTOR 4

bluedad wrote:

I voted for xphrase because it came out in '03. If we were allowed to vote for upgrades, then I would shout and scream REAKTOR 4

I'm with you here,Gary
ew

Although I voted for Xphrase, its amazing that no one voted for Cube. I wonder why that is? People not into additive? Too expensive? People still mostly into analogue type sounds, or what?

PPG just because i love wavetable synths 'ho sorry is not a 2003 synth'

i like Xphrase it makes very complex sounds VERY easy to do and sorry for the pun but it is greater than the sum of its parts. the only thing is you can get similar results with a bit of hard work with sequenced modulated fx and freebie softsynths+samples controlled by your sequencer. Still Xphrase is a lot more fun.

I've put in another vote for EnergyXT, simply because I think its the most innovative vsti to appear on the market yet, and in my opinion, that's what it should all be about. I mean... do we really need any more VA synths? Hasn't the world had enough already? Guess not huh?

I would have liked to vote for Devine Machine too. I'm sad it hasn't got more votes because it really is a powerful, and extremely unique instrument.

It was a tough call.

I would vote for Cube but it's going to be a long uphill climb to create any of my own patches. It's cool but so is Calculus but I'm not any good at that either.

On a more simpler subtractive note the more I play with CS-80V the more I like it.

They're all good.

Has to be Imposcar - it only just made it into 2003 though.

It's a wickedly accurate sim of one of the best analogue synths ever made. It improved on the original too. I suspect alot of others would say Imposcar too, but they probably haven't got around to editing their original posts which were done before it was released?

in the end does it really matter how many ppl vote for it?

if you enjoy it.. then isnt that good enough?

nah.... I want everybody to enjoy it.... it's my way or no way....

I think that VG and VGEE were incredible products. I'm a keyboardist and those plus Groove Agent reduced my mouse time tremendously. I also have to give credit to Sampletank2. A lot of people have dissed the product, but I've found it very flexible and supportive.

I chose SFZ+ because I use it every day and I think nobody would have thought the much laughed-at soundfonts (and giga too) would sound THAT good. Unbelievable. (I don't know gigasampler to say the truth but to be honest I don't need to as I can play with SFZ+). What a surprise. And the support is wonderful (as it is with DiscoDSP and dashsignature). Got recommendations for Maestro Grand Concert (giga) and Splendid (soundfont)-pianos that sound absolutely wonderful with SFZ+.

Vertigo was simply pleasure for me since version 1.0, didn't find that bad in any way but 1.5 was even better and 2 will be able to load bmp-pictures... Lots of things I still have to find out. One of my favourites.

EnergyXT as part of my Massiva is sth. like Chainer and leads to enormously new things you can try. I like to connect different instruments, effects, play with the arpeggiator, chord-maker and many other things. I like the Chainer-demo too but EnergyXT offers more possibilities, it seems.

EMM Knagalis has such wonderful sounds. I always wanted to have bagpipes and so many other instruments nobody I know is able to play in SUCH a quality... You can play things now you couldn't before, or at least I did think so. I was stunned when hearing it at first time!

M-Tron is another favourite of mine but it didn't came out in 2003.
The brand new Symptohm Melohman from Ohmforce I bought for christmas is toooooo new to put it here for me, but it's still another kind of sound, people say "more analog than anything else", well, I don't know, but in 2 weeks I know more. Their Frohmage and Ohmygod (from Computer Music Magazine) are very good effects and for free... I think Melohman might be my favourite in 2004...but I'll have to look at what I buy as for a non-pro t'was quite so much this 2003 and maybe I cannot buy anything next year .

CRONOX didn't come out in 2003 but it's such a pleasure to load own wav-samples into it and fiddle and play. T'was said 4 Vst-is were too much as we should mention only ONE, but Cronox would be definitely another one I should have mentioned. Okay why restrict yourself: ALL THE SIX are wonderful, Melohman, Cronox, SFZ+, EMM Knagalis, Vertigo, EnergyXT (which is standalone and an effect-chainer too)...

There are surely many other fine instruments, but some are tooooo expensive at least for me. And I like the support from smaller companies, that was another reason to buy 4 or so very fine Vsti-s instead of the indeed extraordinary Vokator (you can play or sing live into it, that's wonderful!) of which I tried the Demo and was veeeeeeery pleased indeed, but it's nearly 300 Dollars I think. Would it be a bit cheaper, I'd surely would have thought of buying it. So then there would be 7 )).


As for the synth-edit-instruments which I often find very good I'd like to mention the KrakliWebster products, for example Meta4, Abacus or many others, and I like the works of Istvan Kaldor and of Tweakbench very much. Invection and GrunT of Experiment4 are great too.
Synth edit is the software that made music-making for beginners possible in a way nobody would have thought before. In my case with Synthedit and other small programs everything began and lead to the fact I bought more than I thought I had before writing this a bit long post

I voted VirSyn TERA 2 for improved UI and flexibility.

If TERA 2 was a 90% the following were literally ties:
VirSyn CUBE, Camel Audio Chameleon CA5000 and Rhino on the additive/digital side

rgc:audio's z3ta+, but I wasn't sure if it was released in 2002 or 2003. Very close as well Steinberg's XPhraze, Reaktor Session and Absynth 2. All great synths and great sounding in their own right.

Albino for analog with props to CronoX 2 and the Reaktor designers who have pushed the envelope alost as CUBE, PLEX, Chameleon CA5000 and Rhino did with unashamed digital roots and manipulation of additive theory and/or resampling as a means of synthesis that can get as simple or complex as you want to.

2003 was a great year for synths.

I bought the Novation V-Station, so that gets my vote for the best VSTi of 2003...

Warm, Phat and is the real thing


benw