Softsynth recommendations for good leads and pads on Mac

[Maddcow]

Hi all. I'm a wind controller player and am looking for some softsynth recommendations that have a good variety of fresh-sounding leads and pads for use on Mac. There are so many softsynths out there at the moment but quite a number all tend to sound the same to me. As wind controllers are monophonic and I'm specifically looking for fresh-sounding leads and pads, I don't want synths that are predominantly full of pianos/sequences/arps/percussion etc. I bought SampleTank 3 when it was first released but for my particular needs, I was very disappointed with its offerings. I use Kontakt 5 with a number of Kontakt libraries and also currently use Korg M1 LE, WIVI, SampleModeling and the Apple ES2 plugins. I'd love to get some very organic and/or full-sounding digital leads and pads. I'm not a huge fan of NI synths but perhaps someone can persuade me otherwise?

I need synths that can be easily configured to use CC02 breath control on numerous parameters simultaneously and so a comprehensive mod matrix would be ideal. It'd be nice to be able to draw/edit the response scaling curves for CC02 on the various parameters I assign it to (as you can in Kontakt) but that's not essential...so long as I can edit min/max values. Finally, I'm using Apple MainStage on OSX with a bunch of other synths and it'd be good to try and avoid resource-heavy plugs if possible. I'd love to try Omnisphere 2 with my rig but without a demo, that's impossible...and it might be too resource-intensive anyway. That's where the recommendations of this community would really come in handy for advice.

I realise that I may have asked for a tall order with this particular request but I'd love some recommendations, guys. Fire away!

Cheers in advance
Gary

My MacBook Pro specs: mid-2014 15" Retina i7 2.8GHz, 16GB, 1TB SSD, Yosemite 10.10.3, MOTU Ultralite Mk 3 (FireWire only)

[Halma]

Hey Gary,

I don't have any experience with a windcontroller as a midi controller. And I don't know what kind of Lead or Pad sounds you are after.

My recommendation would be Meldaproductions MPowersynth. I don't use factory patches that often so I can't comment on the quality of them. But think about it that way:

- mostly every parameter can be modulated via midi (some can't due design choice) including all fx parameters (and we are not talking about dry/wet, velocity or rate changes).
- mostly every single Meldaproduction Fx is within the fx section from MPowersynth
- you can draw your own curves for mostly every parameter for everything you can imagine including every kind of scaling
- if something is not implemented ask the developer

I really don't know if the presets fit your style. But if you like some real experiments like exploring various modulation options via your windcontroller then this should be on your list. Ever wanted a nice vintage leslie emulation where everything can be controlled via midi cc messages? Or a chorus with round about 20 different parameters and each can be modulated. Or the granular unit...

The fx matrix is fully modular, you can create and route a feedback loop wherever you like and the osc and filter section are very unique as well. Btw as a monophonic player the mode where you can add extra harmonies could become interesting for playing chords. I could imagine that even those patameters could be controlled via midi eg adding a 7th or playing a major chord only if cc message hits a certain threshold. Otherwise you would only play your root note. Or delaying each of them...only sky is the limit.

Demo is available and I don't think you computer is too weak. I have a oldschool dual core which is a few years oldp and have problems with lots of voices with long release times at high quality. Newer rigs should not have a problem with that.

Cheers
Sebastian

[~Pd~]

You probably want Zebra 2. It has tons of lead and pad banks available, it has a comprehensive mod matrix that will allow you to easily send breath virtually anywhere, scale it, change the curves through mod mappers, plus it sounds superb and uses very little CPU. Also the comb filter has a "blown" mode that will interest you. Try the demo.

My main thing is Reaktor and normally I recommend that for everything but mapping breath the way I think you want for existing ensembles would take some building skills in order to manage the scaling and targeting properly.

[Maddcow]

Guys, thank you so much for the replies...I really appreciate you taking the time for that.

Sebastian: I hadn't heard of MPowersynth and downloaded the demo. It looks very interesting and I'll continue to play around with it.

Pd: I looked at Zebra (1 or 2??) a couple of years ago and can't remember why I didn't go further with it at the time, but will take another look.

I realized after my post that I should have included what I'm looking/not looking for in terms of sounds. I also realized that Legato mode is pretty important

SOUNDS I'M NOT INTERESTED IN:
-Trance, EDM, Dub....electronica essentially
-I've already got plenty of saws

SOUNDS I'M INTERESTED IN:
-Love the analog stuff
-Breathy sounds
-Sounds with some vox (to some degree)
-Pads with some movement and "sparkle"

[dumbledog]

One thing you might want to take a look at is Blue Cat's Plug 'n' Script. I use it to rebind aftertouch to my expression pedal as the AT on my keyboard is finger-breakin' stiff, and I'm pretty sure you can move it to CC02 as well.

As far as what synths, I know u-he's stuff explicitly supports CC02, Diva and Hive in particular.

[Fleer]

Dive into Hive!

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

omnisphere....job done

is this what you mean ??

http://www.worshipmusicians.org/communi ... -ewi.1064/

[Maddcow]

Thanks again guys for the feedback.

el-bo: It's funny...I was looking at that same article today and figured that Omnisphere may be the way to go after all. I've checked out the synths already mentioned in this thread and to be honest, the demos and/or audio samples didn't blow me away....although Hive sounds pretty cool. There are also a lot of sounds in those synths I'll never use e.g. the arps, sequences, bass, percussion, SFX, pianos etc. I played around with a friend's install of Omnisphere 1.5 today and there are quite a few sounds I can imagine myself using and there seem to be plenty of ways to integrate CC02 and the other things I'm looking to do. It also isn't nearly as hard on system resources as I thought it might be, especially if I turn the polyphony way down.....wind controllers are monophonic, after all.

[D N A]

When it comes to pads, I would recommend you tone2 Gladiator. It is capable of creating very long, evolving, organic pads. It has very interesting synthesis form - it's very easy to create new, interesting sounds, it's actually fun synth to play with.

Here's an example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgnSKZm1TBY

Great synth for ambient, filmscore, sci-fi etc.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Thanks again guys for the feedback.

el-bo: It's funny...I was looking at that same article today and figured that Omnisphere may be the way to go after all. I've checked out the synths already mentioned in this thread and to be honest, the demos and/or audio samples didn't blow me away....although Hive sounds pretty cool. There are also a lot of sounds in those synths I'll never use e.g. the arps, sequences, bass, percussion, SFX, pianos etc. I played around with a friend's install of Omnisphere 1.5 today and there are quite a few sounds I can imagine myself using and there seem to be plenty of ways to integrate CC02 and the other things I'm looking to do. It also isn't nearly as hard on system resources as I thought it might be, especially if I turn the polyphony way down.....wind controllers are monophonic, after all.

i think it's really a great option. it's a very expressive instrument anyway, and it seems like it will really play well with your controller. you'll still have a lot of fun when you sit at a keyboard

[Kaboom75]

Zebra is the most versatile. Omnisphere is great if you want ready made presets and less options than zebra.

[realmarco]

Have you tried NI's Massive ?

[deastman]

Any synth can make leads and pads if you understand the basics of oscillators, filters, and envelopes.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Any synth can make leads and pads if you understand the basics of oscillators, filters, and envelopes.

and the breath control ??

[Maddcow]

Have you tried NI's Massive ?

Yeah, I have. I felt that many of the leads sounded very similar, either to synths I already have or similar within Massive.