Best synths for machine-like sounds

[JoeCat]

I was looking at Reaktor with all the NI summer sale attention. Is it difficult to use, and does it have a lot of presets? I haven't done much with modular. I see spectral is on sale and have been interested in it lately anyway. Would that be something for this style?

Reaktor can be a pain to program, but it's easy enough to use. If you're just using the pre-built instruments / ensembles from NI and in the user library, there are tons of things to give you machine sounds, etc.

Some stuff you can actually listen to:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... show/9261/
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... show/9105/
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... show/9111/
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... how/10181/
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... how/10105/
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... how/10107/

Enjoy!

[xoxos]

for "sounds like machines" i'd also recommend my own "virtual machine"

VM is a convenient package for ~clock driven noise routed through short reverbs to emulate "enclosures" for "mechanical events". of course you can do this kind of thinking with modular synths, VM makes some things convenient like switching the rate like gears.

but this doesn't seem like what you are asking for. more a machine aesthetic than motor and conveyor belt sounds.

i would suggest soundemote's spiral generator (follow current thread) and my 'black' and 'angle' vst, all free. reasoning that these algorithms produce harmonics in more complex ways than the periodic harmonic production of most signal processing techniques and sound like they are the f**k from outer space, but nobody wants you to sound like that or they couldn't sell you things, so you will never ever see any mention of black or angle because your fellow human beings are sociopathic cretins.

[JoeCat]

for "sounds like machines" i'd also recommend my own "virtual machine"

VM is a convenient package for ~clock driven noise routed through short reverbs to emulate "enclosures" for "mechanical events". of course you can do this kind of thinking with modular synths, VM makes some things convenient like switching the rate like gears.

but this doesn't seem like what you are asking for. more a machine aesthetic than motor and conveyor belt sounds.

i would suggest soundemote's spiral generator (follow current thread) and my 'black' and 'angle' vst, all free. reasoning that these algorithms produce harmonics in more complex ways than the periodic harmonic production of most signal processing techniques and sound like they are the f**k from outer space, but nobody wants you to sound like that or they couldn't sell you things, so you will never ever see any mention of black or angle because your fellow human beings are sociopathic cretins.

Damn - your stuff makes me wish I was 32-bit'n That's why I like the Reaktor library so much - lots of experimental stuff; yeah, you can do it with modular, etc., but sometimes it's just having the workflow designed in a way that gets you there quickly. Explodelay is very cool, btw.

[ENVIRON]

[waltercruz]

Bazille.

[layzer]

samplers

[AnX]

Looking for synths that are crinkly, distorted, and metally.

Anything by Tone2

[SODDI]

Frankly, i'd rather learn to create such sounds, than to look for synths, which do those, unless you use presets only. About any synths, which does FM, has onboard saturation and drive is capable of such sounds. And even if it doesn't, as you wrote, you can use effects to create such sounds....

I agree with this post. Use the synths you have, the synths you know and push them.

Of course, for about 90% of the synths I own, I demo test the programming for granchiness and oob. If they won't klang, then they are not for me.

I particularly like Synthmaster 2 for these kind of sounds because of its deep deep mod matrix and filters. Also Massive - you can go to WTF real fast if you know the programming.

[xoxos]

Whoa there seems a little harsh

you don't know the half of it. i totally can't wait until i can put my life on a chip and watch when people plug it in and find out how awesome kvr really is.

[Halonmusic]

Madrona Labs Aalto comes to mind.

[evilantal]

Looking for synths that are crinkly, distorted, and metally.

Anything by Tone2

LOL (late reaction)

[Chandlerhimself]

MPowersynth. It can do FM and Additive synthesis and on top of that it has a variety of comb filters. Metallic harsh sounds are fairly easy to make if you know what you're doing. On top of that it has the best FX section of any synth so you can get in there and really mangle to tone if you want.

[mcnoone]

I got this, and it does the sounds the op wants better than anything I've heard yet.
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... cks-wired/

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... -6/blocks/

[Nielzie]

Mr. Alias Pro will work quite well too for that kind of sounds

[himalaya]

Try synths with Spectral Synthesis. Load a sample or an image and go wild with 'painting' over the image. This can give you lots of instant metallic, twisted sounds. Care is needed though in order to get musical results.
I'm really partial to Alchemy since once you have something half-good in the spectral window it can be very easily transformed with additive synthesis (and some very cool shortcuts so that you don't need to tweak each harmonic individually).