Top 5 favourite Software Synths!

[MikeInOttawa]

1. Oatmeal
2. Synth1
3. SQ8L
4. CS33
5. ShortCircuit

Funny- these are all free synths. But cool of course.

[crimsonwarlock]

1. Oatmeal
2. Synth1
3. SQ8L
4. CS33
5. ShortCircuit

Funny- these are all free synths. But cool of course.

Yes, I'm moving to completely freeware plugins. Mind you, I do have a very nice arsenal of commercial instruments, all official licenses. But I'm trying to build a software studio that can run from a portable drive without having to re-install license keys and all that. So over the last few months I've been busy by testing and selecting a small set of really good free instruments and effects. This list is my ultimate set of free synths that are now the core of my studio, so this topic was a nice opportunity to list them

[firepile]

Mine are (in alfabetical order):

Alchemy
DCAM: Synth Squad
Omnisphere
Sylenth
Zebra

Runner up: Absynth.

[CJDJ]

1. u-he Zebra 2.5
2. CamelAudio Alchemy
3. Waldorf Largo
4. Korg LCAE 2007
5. Linplug Albino 3

[ariston]

After a fun evening with the newest addition, my list has changed:

1. Alchemy
2. Zebra2
3. ACE
4. Synplant
5. Olga

Oh yeah, the list has changed again:

1. Alchemy
2. Zebra 2.5
3. DCAM Synth Squad
4. ACE
5. Symptohm. Been getting into this one a bit more, it's very unique, which is not something you can say about most synths. Preset saving is a bit of a headache, though.

[Ingonator]

Sylenth1 v2.2

Alchemy

VAZ Modular 3

Firebird+

NI Massive

The vote is already quite old so i change my current TOP 5 to:
1.) FXpansion DCAM Synth Squad

2.) Waldorf Largo

3.) Camel Audio Alchemy

4.) KV331 Audio Synthmaster 2.0 (currently 2.1 alpha...)

5.) Native Instruments Kontakt 4

Quite a change... only 1 common

It's easy: i didn't have the others at the first time. The thread is already quite old...

[moody]

Rarely look further than Sytrus these days, Top 5:

1: Sytrus
2: Oatmeal
3: eJ (still gets some love)
4: Harmless
5: Need to treat myself.

[Peevy2000]

This shouldn't be difficult since I only really use about 5 or 6 synths. So not including samplers my Top 5 synths are:

1) Rapture
2) Ace
3) Alchemy
4) Twin 2
5) Toxic Biohazard

The order of preference might change since I haven't had as much time tweaking with Alchemy yet. But for now I'm really enjoying creating patches with Rapture & Ace.

Shit, I completely forgot about Twin 2. I just bought it about a week ago but I'm really liking it. I had to take Oatmeal out of the top 5 so lets call it sixth favourite.

[JAKEYBUBBA]

just heard harmless for the first time. sounds really nice, but im on logic...if not id get it now....

[kelvyn]

1) PolyAna
2) Ace
3) Fab Filter Twin 2
4) Da Hornet
5) Alchemy

I just got the PolyAna and I'm really impressed by just how analog it sounds and like Ace it seems to jump out of the speakers sounding much louder and forward than other soft synths at the same meter levels. Da Hornet is just plain nasty and cheeky sounding with lots of character. Twin 2 is good for digital sounds and Alchemy is good for all kinds of things plus it's great for sample destruction/manipulation.

[Gribs]

Kore 2 (+ Komplete 6 == cheating?)
ACE
Alchemy
Blue
Omnisphere

[cosmosis]

hmmm.. I don't think I actually use 5 synths.

Synth1
Sylenth1
Minimonsta

I've been meaning to try out Zebra, Alchemy, Massive and FM8. ATM I've been messing with DiscoDSP's Discovery.

[arbee]

zebra2.5
ultra analog
xils3
synth1
TAL-ELEk7ro

[Brittlestem]

Kore 2 +expansions
Nexus 2 + expansions
Omnisphere

Kontakt for orchestral/ethnic

5th one would be for drums - still undecided between Microtonic and GURU.

[Waker]

This is a "use the other stuff" week, so Kore, Stylus, Omnisphere, Kontakt and Zebra has been on the shelf.

Helix
BFD2
Trilian
Korg Wavestation
Golden ASET (Oldie but goodie)