Has anybody spotted VSTis on famous musicians albums yet??

I heard they're all over the new Erasure album...

i think i saw NI in the linkin park's meteora.

NI was also prominently featured in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

Meffy

I guess they are being more and more used - should be at least ~50% now...

there are a lot of famous examples - e.g. Yello (Absynth, etc.)

Great thread.

Not sure of any VST stuff.

Trent Reznor talked about about Absynth before a VSTI version was released.

Liam Howlett (Prodigy) is using Reason now and a big afficianado of it apparently.

http://www.gmediamusic.com/users.html

A few there, and who is that devilishly handsome fat chap 4th from bottom?

I also bet there are alot of folks using vsts. I read all these artists who were using logic....they had to be using vsts as well, surely?

erm, BT? He's used an 80% soft studio for years.

Mighty_Hero wrote:

I also bet there are alot of folks using vsts. I read all these artists who were using logic....they had to be using vsts as well, surely?

Mmmmm yes. Herbie Hancock for example.

I think a lot of musicians are using them by now but I just don't hear them talking about softsynths as much as I thought I'd hear...

Eminem - Sampletank.

donkey tugger wrote:

A few there, and who is that devilishly handsome fat chap 4th from bottom?

Don't tell me, don't tell me!!

er.. Benny Hill?

mjones4th wrote:

Eminem - Sampletank.

Make that Eminems hired studio musicians...

All I can say is that he better have a good album, its the finest album that money can buy.

Polo. Putte.

S_A_P wrote:

mjones4th wrote: Eminem - Sampletank. Make that Eminems hired studio musicians... All I can say is that he better have a good album, its the finest album that money can buy.

actually on 8 mile which is i beleive where he started using sampletank he actually programmed his own beats ok he gets musos in for the other instruments but love him or hate him the guy can programme beats

Is there a point? I kinda doubt the fact that person XY uses a piece of gear means that by using the same gear your musical skills miraculously get to person XY's level of expertise.
Whole bloody 'pros use....' mindset is usually employed by those who only pretend to be.

rantfully yours

Markus

uhm ... i'm using VSTs...

Trent Reznor has mentioned his affection for GMedia gear and iZotope's Trash plugin on his mailing list.

HHaynes wrote:

Trent Reznor has mentioned his affection for GMedia gear and iZotope's Trash plugin on his mailing list.

OhmForce, not GMedia.

of course, read:

Cevin Key of Skinny Puppy admits in a quite recent interview he has used Absynth in his latest songs.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails says in a very recent interview about his forthcoming album that he has used not only Ohm Force plugins but also Reaktor extensively.

Portion Control also said they used some vst synths in their latest album Wellcome, and they also admitted that the sequencer they used the most is...FL Studio.

Meffy wrote:

NI was also prominently featured in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Meffy

that's an old one but always a good one


Ni ni NI ni NI Ni ...!!!

Depeche Mode used PPG Wave 2.V (replacing Martin's trademark hardware PPG Wave 2?) and TC|Works Mercury-1 on Exciter. I believe the host they used was Logic.

Erasure used Delay Lama on their version of 'Come Up And See Me', it's unmistakable.

Mike Oldfield is using FL Studio.

oh I forgot: Martin Gore used Reaktor in his latest solo album.

every muso using sampled material are expected to use a... sampler Halion, Kontakt...

i can't believe they still use their hardware samplers...

Prodigy, or Liam Howlett uses the Korg Legacy now
'a shame it wasn't out earlier'.

vurt wrote:

love him or hate him the guy can programme beats

My opinion is that he's so-so, production-wise. He has done a few gems though.

I think Fresh uses Line6 Echofarm, but he states he is "not ready for going completely digital yet", he's rather "after something a bit dirtier".

Herbie Hancock used EVP88 on a tour.

I think I spotted a foto of the Logic Setup on the artwork of LTJ Bukems "Journey Inwards", but I may be wrong.

I think the problem with most famous producers is that they don't take software as a "professional" way to make music.

An even more interesting question would be if there is anyone famous using FREE VST/VSTi plugins. I think most people have a "you get what you pay for" attitude and simply ignore freebies as something inferior...what do you think?

A better name would be:
Anybody famous NOT using VSTis yet?

ah! let's not forget that Mike Oldfield is using FLStudio !

vurt wrote:

S_A_P wrote: mjones4th wrote: Eminem - Sampletank. Make that Eminems hired studio musicians... All I can say is that he better have a good album, its the finest album that money can buy. actually on 8 mile which is i beleive where he started using sampletank he actually programmed his own beats ok he gets musos in for the other instruments but love him or hate him the guy can programme beats

Not exactly complex tho are they

jean-claude vandamme uses kontact, the full version


ok it's not funny

gol wrote:

jean-claude vandamme uses kontact, the full version ok it's not funny

What does Toe-Knee Van Mad use?

Kriminal wrote:

Not exactly complex tho are they

Not really, especially not compared to other (less famous) hiphop producers or dnb producers.

[OT]

Sticking to the famous, Eminem's beats are rather shit compared to DJ Shadow's drum arrangement work.

[/OT]

Kriminal wrote:

vurt wrote: S_A_P wrote: mjones4th wrote: Eminem - Sampletank. Make that Eminems hired studio musicians... All I can say is that he better have a good album, its the finest album that money can buy. actually on 8 mile which is i beleive where he started using sampletank he actually programmed his own beats ok he gets musos in for the other instruments but love him or hate him the guy can programme beats Not exactly complex tho are they

and krim while i agree with you,do they eed to be for what hes doing.merely pointin out that he does programme and they are beats.
anyway dont forget who it is typing this,i cant even do a simple 4/4 beat so anythings complex to me

Brain Eno is a big fan of FM7.

Portion Control cannot be called a famous band. however, they were one of the true innovators of industrial music at the beginning of the 80's.

After many many years of silence they released 'Wellcome' in 2004. A great electronic album, by the way.

In a recent interview they said this, just out of curiosity:

What are the primary tools that you use in the studio?

We couldn’t wait to sell all our old keyboards to concentrate on software. All the sequencer packages have a different ‘feel’ even with the same material. We utilise them all… Cubase SX, Reason, Acid, Fruity Loops and Orion. Plus an arsenal of synth plug-ins including Muon stuff, JunoFX2, Native Instruments stuff, z3ta, Ohmforce, Audio Mulch etc… audio editors play a key role in manipulating both individual sounds and sections.

It’s really good for us to be able to get soft emulations of keyboards we were famililar with, such as the Oscar, Juno 8, Pro 5.


If you listen to that album you'll see that it can be achieved the same good results with hardware than with software.

I use what's in my sig below.

vurt wrote:

Kriminal wrote: vurt wrote: S_A_P wrote: mjones4th wrote: Eminem - Sampletank. Make that Eminems hired studio musicians... All I can say is that he better have a good album, its the finest album that money can buy. actually on 8 mile which is i beleive where he started using sampletank he actually programmed his own beats ok he gets musos in for the other instruments but love him or hate him the guy can programme beats Not exactly complex tho are they and krim while i agree with you,do they eed to be for what hes doing.merely pointin out that he does programme and they are beats. anyway dont forget who it is typing this,i cant even do a simple 4/4 beat so anythings complex to me

I have read that he is becoming more involved in production and songwriting, and some of his stuff is quite good. However my point was that he has no excuse not to- since he has an army of musicians to play whatever is in his head. I would prolly be able to release 3 albums per year if I could hire session players.

Oh well, I guess I shouldnt complain since I would prolly do the same thing in his shoes...

VitaminD wrote:

Polo. Putte.

What did they do to his eyes?

superstition wrote:

Kriminal wrote: Not exactly complex tho are they Not really, especially not compared to other (less famous) hiphop producers or dnb producers. [OT] Sticking to the famous, Eminem's beats are rather shit compared to DJ Shadow's drum arrangement work. [/OT]

arrangement, as opposed to programming

Dick Van Dyke uses one ping only.

Kriminal wrote:

superstition wrote: Kriminal wrote: Not exactly complex tho are they Not really, especially not compared to other (less famous) hiphop producers or dnb producers. [OT] Sticking to the famous, Eminem's beats are rather shit compared to DJ Shadow's drum arrangement work. [/OT] arrangement, as opposed to programming

with you there krim i hardly think chopping loops n programmeing beats can be compared.
i do however like both artists for what they do do,and yes theyre both good in their field

true, shadow liked the loops...

I think Eminems beats are rather like his teacher the good Docta's beats. Dre has seemed to focus more on melody and instrumentation these days compared to the old days, and he has no/less samples in use.

But DJ Shadow rocks, Eminem is for the kids...

CypherOne wrote:

But DJ Shadow rocks, Eminem is for the kids...

The kids are alright!

CypherOne wrote:

Dick Van Dyke uses one ping only.

lets keep it clean here- thats penis van lesbian...

donkey tugger wrote:

VitaminD wrote: Polo. Putte. What did they do to his eyes?

Didn't I see KvR's DT way down on that list? Both BT and DT, talk about star quality on those plugs!

Difference is DT has more talent! BT sure can't sing like the Donkster.

Nor can he slander the farming class so mercilessly.

Beardedone wrote:

Difference is DT has more talent! BT sure can't sing like the Donkster.

True. And DT is even prettier.
.

donkey tugger wrote:

http://www.gmediamusic.com/users.html A few there, and who is that devilishly handsome fat chap 4th from bottom?

Peter O'Toole, after rehab?

funkstörung - smartelectronix...

Seriously, Correct me if I remember this wrong, Kraftwerk has gone totally soft nowadays, and Jean-Michel Jarre Has even given a speciel thanks to NI in one of his albums, I would give JMJ a special thanks oneday if he could eat the breakfast he was eating in the eighties, that must have been something speciel, maybe he only gets toast now.

Joni Mitchell uses elogoxa's "Devil Inside" these days, and nothing else.

Meffy

aMUSEd wrote:

Brain Eno is a big fan of FM7.

I'd love to know the source of that. In every single interview of his that ever seen, and that's quite a few, he goes to extraordinary lengths when asked to explain why computers are useless for making music.

Oh, I just remembered: Juno Reactor also gives credit to NI on thier album "Shango."

Btw, Shango is a masterpiece.

HanafiH wrote:

aMUSEd wrote: Brain Eno is a big fan of FM7. I'd love to know the source of that. In every single interview of his that ever seen, and that's quite a few, he goes to extraordinary lengths when asked to explain why computers are useless for making music.

googling 'Brian Eno FM7' isn't rocket science:

FutureMusic interview wrote:

FM: Talking of which, what soft synths do you use? [Not surprisingly, the answer is...] BE: I'm very much a fan of [Native Instruments] FM7. That's the only one that I've used extensively. I also have that one called Plex which I don't find very interesting but FM7 is really, really... for someone who's used to FM and knows thee principles of FM that is really a dream that thing. FM: So come on, how does the FM7 really compare to DX7? BE: In all respects but one it is superior. The one respect that I think is not as good is for some reason it doesn't have as good attacks as the DX7. At least that's what I think: it seems to be slower on the attack. In every other way it's a great improvement I think. FM: So have you got into it as much as you did the original DX7? BE: As I say it's an investment I calculate before I start. Actually with FM7 I have got into for some depth because I became interested in bells, the acoustic structure of bells. I want to model some of them electronically and I wanted a synthesiser that would enable me to model those very complicated interacting harmonic structures and FM7 is really that, so I learnt that in the course of doing this thing with bells. FM: So what's the main appeal with software like this? BE: What's really fascinating to me is this: the first synthesiser I ever had was the EMS where you can route everything into everything. You didn't have this chain that all other synths have had since, you know, [adopts bored voice] oscillators, filter, envelope shaper... you know, always in that line. With the EMS you could send things in any kind of circle so you could send the output of the filter back in as an oscillator input and a lot of the noises I got from those things came from doing that kind of thing. The thing that fascinated me about the FM7 software was that it had some of that feeling, the feeling that you weren't stuck to one route by which things had to follow. FM: Do you think that soft synths emulate hardware ones too much then? BE: I think there is a lot of work to be done with the grammar of the ergonomics of these things. Some of the controls are very, very crude I think. For instance on Logic the stupid rotary controls they have which work in a completely counter-intuitive. You know you push here and it goes down. They're very weird I think and you think 'surely wouldn't it make sense just to have a fader.' If you're trying to pan left to right just a line would be fine! They don't need to [make it so much like the hardware]. The hardware is only like that because it's physical and has to be like that. It's not because it's better...

http://www26.brinkster.com/brianeno/index.html?eno_int_future-feb04.ht ml~frameHOME

HanafiH quoth
I'd love to know the source of that. In every single interview of his that ever seen, and that's quite a few, he goes to extraordinary lengths when asked to explain why computers are useless for making music.

Yeah, and in every interview Ive seen he contradicts half of what he's spent years saying as though its quite profound to do so...

Doesnt surprise me he'd say one thing and do another wrt softsynths.

the man drank his own piss - what more need be said?

Banjostar wrote:

Beardedone wrote: Difference is DT has more talent! BT sure can't sing like the Donkster. True. And DT is even prettier. .

Saucy! Now I just need the cream 'smart but casual' trousers and the hair....err....

In an interview with Future Music, Orbital mentioned they'd been getting into Reaktor! A synth I imagine most Electronica guys have in there arsenal.

whyterabbyt wrote:

HanafiH quoth I'd love to know the source of that. In every single interview of his that ever seen, and that's quite a few, he goes to extraordinary lengths when asked to explain why computers are useless for making music. Yeah, and in every interview Ive seen he contradicts half of what he's spent years saying as though its quite profound to do so... Doesnt surprise me he'd say one thing and do another wrt softsynths.

Computers are hopeless! They’re so under-evolved! Of course, they offer the promise of the future of music, but Jesus, they’re badly designed! The fact that three million years of muscular evolution should end up being translated into an index finger clicking a mouse, this is the problem. Think of any analogue instrument: playing a guitar, for instance, you’re doing at least six things at once. I believe musicians have shrunk to fit the pathetic nature of the interfaces.

from "So why are we doing this?"
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/mojo90may2001. htm

“What I am always trying to do is to kind of move back to a place where I am using as much of my body below the neck as possible. Because what I really hate is when it all becomes head music, when everything becomes nicely quantised.” Gesturing towards the computer screen, he says, “That thing is very rarely turned on now, because when you get into that landscape it is very hard to keep any muscular thing going, and I think there’s a lot of intelligence stored in here [Eno slaps his arm]. Three million years of evolution and this computer thing says, ‘Ignore all that’. There is some sort of hubris: ‘I’ve got a computer and I am going to use it’.”

from Silent Retreats
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/wire00a.html

"One of the biggest problems, I think, with computers [is] that all of the designed energy is going into multiplying the options inside this box. Now, fine: that's wonderful, we're very pleased, in one sense; but the important thing, as anyone who's played synthesizers knows, is not the number of options that you have, but the rapport you can have with the instrument. This is why people playing crappy 35 year old electric guitars consistently come up with more interesting results, musically, than synthesizer players do. Because what you are thrilled by is not a new sound as such, but a new type of rapport that you feel. This is why there's a place for good players [and] why they don't disappear when sequencers suddenly come on the scene: because we still appreciate hearing that rapport. We feel that this is a musical activity. And these things [computers] as instruments are so pathetic. They depend so much on a kind of nerd's eye view of what sort of thing would be fun to do."

...

"Those programs always force you into other areas of the brain, which might not necessarily be the ones you want to be in. Some people make good use of that, of course, and some musics that come out of that are successful. But other musics that try to use the bit of the brain that it likes to use are frustrated."

...

"When I make loops on a sequencer, I always try to play them all the way through, so I play the whole part, then I listen to it, and quite often I find a long section that I like. Loop that, cut it up so that the loop doesn't recur regularly. The idea of always editing in straight vertical cuts is the most single annoying thing about most of that music. Because a whole part of my feeling has been to make music that is 'unlocked'.....this unlocked thing has been a big issue for me for a long time. And then suddenly this kind of music appears that is not only locked, but absolutely fucking bolted down together... "

http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/wire95.html

ive heard griels is using VSTis,hes famous.

Then again Eno does drink his own urine.

vurt wrote:

ive heard griels is using VSTis,hes famous.

Hang on mate, let me think of a Message before you uncloak my identity to my expectant public?

OK, I admit it, I'm Vera Duckworth.

so he doesn't like computer sequencing but likes FM7. if he likes it, he probably uses it, which makes that point nicely relevant in this thread. i don't doubt that he does the majority of his work on non-computer equipment. but since he drinks the piss, i bet he takes it too.

If Jean Michel Jarre *is* using softsynths on the Aero album, I'd like to know why his arpeggios are *still* not in time...

Sort it out, man!

It is not on the album Aero he is using them just a moment...... the album "Sessions 2000" under special thanks to ........Digidesign, Native Instruments,....

dr.wackler wrote:

10 pages list of famous artists that use VSTi

Right.

Who isn't then?

bastien wrote:

dr.wackler wrote: 10 pages list of famous artists that use VSTi Right. Who isn't then?

//raises hand

I'm not famous.

Groet, Erik

bastien wrote:

dr.wackler wrote: 10 pages list of famous artists that use VSTi Right. Who isn't then?

..and when everybody's super, nobody wil be.

This seems to be eno's theory du jour. He said something similar on the korg interview about "the physicality of the kaos pad," which I guess means that four directions to move your finger than that damn limiting two direction button press is his idea of freedom. While I like a lot of what he says in these interviews, I think it's also a bit of disliking the technology you didn't come of age with. What do you think AOR people were saying about Eno's music in the mid to late 70's? In fact, Eno being a self-described non-musician, and arguably being more talented on the technology/production side of things, I find this physicality argument even more confusing. Is it self-loathing?

LBN wrote:

Then again Eno does drink his own urine.

Doesn't everyone?

Actually The Beatles used vsti's back in the day, beginning with "sgt. pepper's". They actually had the british government give them top secret vsti's which we never knew existed back then.

Thats the truth

RonC

dr.wackler wrote:

10 pages list of famous artists that use VSTi

Queens of the stone age uing vst's..

Quote:

Banjostar wrote: Beardedone wrote: Difference is DT has more talent! BT sure can't sing like the Donkster. True. And DT is even prettier. . Saucy! Now I just need the cream 'smart but casual' trousers and the hair....err....

Don't go there. That hair is ridiculous and well you know a um bit as it were ..... "stylish" .

Youi ain't "stylish" are you Donks?

Beardedone wrote:

Youi ain't "stylish" are you Donks?

Oh yes....

Hey Watch that Foster's your eyes are getting red!

Sicklecell666 wrote:

LBN wrote: Then again Eno does drink his own urine. Doesn't everyone?

I only drink the urine of others.

donkey tugger wrote:

VitaminD wrote: Polo. Putte. What did they do to his eyes?

i know what you mean .. the moment the photo was taken i LOOKED sober (cause i used eye drops) ..

putte

Santa

rpc9943 wrote:

Actually The Beatles used vsti's back in the day, beginning with "sgt. pepper's". They actually had the british government give them top secret vsti's which we never knew existed back then. Thats the truth RonC

Yes, everybody thinks they used a mellotron, but actually what they used was a top secret experimental version of Gemedia M-Tron.

And The Doors "Riders on the Strom", that was an excercise in the first physical modeling synthesis, and actually the code from their program is the basis of Lounge Lizard.

Kevin Moore, former keyboardist with Dreamtheatre now with OSI.

Don't remember what VSTi's used but keyboard mag had done a small piece on the band and had them listed.

If you watch the new Duran Duran video you can see the Nick is using a korg microcontrol and a powerbook. Look closer and you will see that they ar3e sitting on top of a Fairlight CMI. He is pretending to be playing it... which do you think has more power?
Where is the Fairlight VSTi?

Lance

donkey tugger wrote:

Beardedone wrote: Youi ain't "stylish" are you Donks? Oh yes....

OMG! My eyes, my eyeeeeeeeeeees!

Someone save meeeeee!

woolyloach wrote:

donkey tugger wrote: Beardedone wrote: Youi ain't "stylish" are you Donks? Oh yes.... OMG! My eyes, my eyeeeeeeeeeees! Someone save meeeeee!

thing is tho you think someone has giffed that,i was actually there to witness Donks whole drag act
what a joker that man is i honestly tell you when he turned up dressed like that we fell about laughing so much what a day,if only any of us had been able to get a pic of the whole ensemble

vurt wrote:

woolyloach wrote: donkey tugger wrote: Beardedone wrote: Youi ain't "stylish" are you Donks? Oh yes.... OMG! My eyes, my eyeeeeeeeeeees! Someone save meeeeee! thing is tho you think someone has giffed that,i was actually there to witness Donks whole drag act what a joker that man is i honestly tell you when he turned up dressed like that we fell about laughing so much what a day,if only any of us had been able to get a pic of the whole ensemble

looks like a rather poor cut and paste to me but then again we are talking about the [size=24]DONKS![/size]

nah rick just bad lightin
we werent expectin it otherwise we would have hired a lighting rig

VNV Nation uses Reaktor, Virus powercore, Junox2, ...etc.

Todd Lundgren is a huge fan of Reason, uses it 100% now for all his projects. Read that in SOS couple months back.

torhan wrote:

I use what's in my sig below.

Errr... sorry, who r u again?

jones-y wrote:

Eminem - Sampletank.

Oh hell look what you've done now. Let's just hope the kiddies don't find this out. Otherwise you'll hear 50,000 teens using sampletank, and they don't know a damn thing about music. Just cause Eminem is using it.

J_Starner wrote:

jones-y wrote: Eminem - Sampletank. Oh hell look what you've done now. Let's just hope the kiddies don't find this out. Otherwise you'll hear 50,000 teens using sampletank, and they don't know a damn thing about music. Just cause Eminem is using it.

And by Eminem, I assume you mean the hired producers who actually write all his music for him?

assemblage 23 http://www.assemblage23.com/ is a fairly large ebm/industrial act. He uses a lot of vst's. on his studio page he cites:

Computer Music CM-101
This is a freebie VST instrument that comes with all issues of Computer Music magazine. It's incredibly basic, but it can actually make some really nice sounds.
Used on: Part of the bass from "Let the Wind Erase Me", the beepy monosynth lead after the chorus in "You Haven't Earned It".

G-Media impOSCar
I've always been a big fan of the 80's band Ultravox, and the original Oscar analog synth was one of their main instruments. Oscars were built in Britain and are kind of hard to find in the US, so I've never played one, but it sounds pretty convincing to my ears. This can get really gritty and fat .
Used on: I layered this under some of the Virus basses on "Storm" to add a little more balls. It also does some of the synth sounds in "Darker", one of the b-sides on the "Let the Wind Erase Me" single.

LinPlug Albino
The closest thing I have heard to a Virus in plug-in form. It was designed by Rob Papen who did a bunch of the presets on the original Virus, so the influence is natural. You can't quite push it to the extremes that you can with the Virus (it just can't shriek like a Virus can), but it is damn close.
Used on: The sort of 'frosty' synth on 'Human' - it's the last thing you hear play at the end of the song... The pad from "Tragic Figure"... The sort of rezzy sequence in "Apart"

Native Instruments Kontakt
Wonderful virtual sampler. It is very low on CPU drain, and all of the synthesis parameters are modular, so you only add what you need and therefore, each instrument only uses the system resources it absolutely has to.
Used on: Used extensively on "Storm" for drums and percussion.

Native Instruments Reaktor
The ultimate. This program basically lets you build your own synths, effects, and sequencers whose only limitations are what your CPU can handle. This quite literally does everything and it does it extremely well.
Used on: The choppy, metallic rhythm at the beginning of "Horizon"... the feedback effects in 'Horizon', the chopped up beat in 'Lullaby'... the voice sample in 'Cocoon', most of the filtered beats on 'Storm'. Most of the kick drums on 'Storm'. The ambient breath sounds in the beginning of 'Human'

Barney from New Order uses Cubase SX, but I think he prefers his synths hardware (though that interview was a couple of years back), Bowie's used Logic for the last few albums, and I'm sure I'd read Tony Visconti saying he'd used Logic's synths on some of them. The keyboard player from Keane had a laptop running what appeared to be Logic set up next to him on Top of the Pops as I remember, and in an SOS article their producer saidthey used soft synths to fill the album's sound out. By the way, I thought Eminem used and MPC on Eight Mile for his beats?