New Synth. . . Should I pump up the GAS???

[Iva]

Error

[Iva]

Error

[Iva]

Avenger is the best choice if you need more of a synth side. Otherwise, get yourself Halion 6 if you need rompler sounds with a little weaker (in my opinion) synth engine. It’s almost like buying Yamaha motif workstation. Very soon halion will receive fm section too. Both synthwill compliment Komplete very well. Don’t buy omnipshere - it’s very overestimated and overused, original atmosphere was released back in 2004 I think, so big part of omnis lib is more than 10 years old.

[voidhead23]

Sell Komplete and buy Zebra.

To be clear, i i've been in the exact same situation and only now am getting out of it. You don't know enough about synths to get the sounds you want and everything you have isn't getting you what you want at the outset, so it's not encouraging much tweaking on your part to dig deeper. The other problem is you have this mountain of stuff, effectively what would be an entire studio of gear, and what you really want is just to focus on one thing and all this other crap is distracting. Do you really want bass guitar sims? Drums? Pianos? Compressors and EQ's? A complete modular environment? Do you use these things? It doesn't sound like Komplete has been of much value to you.

You have some extremely powerful but somewhat specific tools in your arsenal. Massive and FM8 are insanely flexible and powerful, but if wavetable and FM synthesis aren't your cup of tea at the outset i think you'll be fighting what makes these synths great to get where you want to be, which is never fun (i share your dislike of Massive, though i'm a big fan of wavetable and cold, digital synthesis). Absynth is a sound designers dream...again, not what you're looking for.

You also have Synthmaster, which is almost a one-stop shop for plugin synthesis. Before buying anything i'd take a CAREFUL look at this synth because it covers a lot of bases. i'm not a fan of its sound, but plenty of people are, so there's something undeniably there. Synthmaster One is another wavetable, so i'm not sure how much that will be of use to you.

At this point in your work, i don't think buying more things will help. i think removing things will be a better option and then, as you said, focus on something and stick to it. Heck, even FL Studio comes with some kickass synths.

That being said, if i had to go through this process all over again, i'd buy u-he's Zebra first and then discover what kind of sounds i liked and didn't like, and make careful selections for more specific synths later on. There are a ton of great presets for it, both free and paid, and it can do convincing VA and digital synthesis (while not going full bore in either direction). It's easy to tweak and see what's going on, and the sound is good and meshes well with live instruments. But i think you could have a very similar experience with Synthmaster.

i wish you luck.

[rlared]

Sell Komplete and buy Zebra.

To be clear, i i've been in the exact same situation and only now am getting out of it. You don't know enough about synths to get the sounds you want and everything you have isn't getting you what you want at the outset, so it's not encouraging much tweaking on your part to dig deeper. The other problem is you have this mountain of stuff, effectively what would be an entire studio of gear, and what you really want is just to focus on one thing and all this other crap is distracting. Do you really want bass guitar sims? Drums? Pianos? Compressors and EQ's? A complete modular environment? Do you use these things? It doesn't sound like Komplete has been of much value to you.

You have some extremely powerful but somewhat specific tools in your arsenal. Massive and FM8 are insanely flexible and powerful, but if wavetable and FM synthesis aren't your cup of tea at the outset i think you'll be fighting what makes these synths great to get where you want to be, which is never fun (i share your dislike of Massive, though i'm a big fan of wavetable and cold, digital synthesis). Absynth is a sound designers dream...again, not what you're looking for.

You also have Synthmaster, which is almost a one-stop shop for plugin synthesis. Before buying anything i'd take a CAREFUL look at this synth because it covers a lot of bases. i'm not a fan of its sound, but plenty of people are, so there's something undeniably there. Synthmaster One is another wavetable, so i'm not sure how much that will be of use to you.

At this point in your work, i don't think buying more things will help. i think removing things will be a better option and then, as you said, focus on something and stick to it. Heck, even FL Studio comes with some kickass synths.

That being said, if i had to go through this process all over again, i'd buy u-he's Zebra first and then discover what kind of sounds i liked and didn't like, and make careful selections for more specific synths later on. There are a ton of great presets for it, both free and paid, and it can do convincing VA and digital synthesis (while not going full bore in either direction). It's easy to tweak and see what's going on, and the sound is good and meshes well with live instruments. But i think you could have a very similar experience with Synthmaster.

i wish you luck.

What a great and thoughtful reply. You are right in your assessment. How did you get out of your similar situation? Did you just stick with Zebra?

[Cinebient]

Your DAW and Komplete should be enough until the end of time!
I‘ve gone back to a minimal set-up and it‘s refreshing and more productive

[DJ Warmonger]

If you don't want to program patches, but have Komplete Kontrol, all you need is just to use NI browser to select sounds by tags, right?

That's at least what I do with VIP browser here. I have many synths and can program them, though 80% times it's just enough to pick a preset from browser and go from here.

[voidhead23]

How did you get out of your similar situation? Did you just stick with Zebra?

i think two things happened.

For years i really didn't understand synthesis at all but wanted to include those sounds, and kept buying plugins because i didn't know what i was doing. It was just so alien and confusing to me, coming from a guitar-amp-pedal background where i could touch stuff in reality.

On a whim a couple years ago i bought a very simple, knob-per-function hardware synth with no patch storage and spent a year making songs with that one synth, and only that one synth. i got very familiar with what basic waveforms sounded like, what an envelope could do, what an LFO was, what the filters purpose was, because i could hear the change happening as i touched something in real life. i had to end up selling it before moving (i wept ) but i could then sit down in front of something way more complex, like Absynth or Operator, and have a general understanding of how to get a sound i wanted from scratch or, if i didn't like a preset (i usually start with a preset, not from scratch, btw), how to change it to get it closer to what i was going for.

A lot of people don't have that tactile disconnect and so learning on software isn't a problem, but it was for me.

The second thing that happened was i stopped copying other artists so directly and realized the plugins i had (mostly analog hardware emulations) weren't getting me the sound i naturally gravitated towards when making a song. So i worked a lot with Operator, the FM synth built into Live, but it didn't sit with all my guitar parts the way i wanted it to. Then i bought Zebra, which just sounds great, and exploring that i found that i really liked extreme wavetable and additive sounds, so i added a couple of instruments later because i saw some use for them in what i was making already. i said this in another thread, it's really important that your purchases have a context, so it's best to make music first and then augment your toolset to help what you're making now, not what you think you may make in the future.

The instrument you choose to learn on doesn't matter except that it should sound great to you right away, or you'll find it hard to summon any desire to learn it. Hence my advice about the NI stuff.

That said, i'm just as much a victim of GAS as the next person. i have way more than i need. i'm using five synths right now that i really enjoy using, fit nicely into my style of music, and that i generally know my way around (i'll never be a synthesis expert)...but i'd really like to whittle it down to just one or two in the next year or so. i don't think there's anything wrong with having a bazillion software synths...once you know how to use them. But starting out that way was really costly and delayed my learning of synthesis for years.

[shonky]

Your DAW and Komplete should be enough until the end of time!
I‘ve gone back to a minimal set-up and it‘s refreshing and more productive

I made and finished more music just using Emulator X2 than I do now with shedloads more synths. Less options mean you learn your instruments thoroughly and can figure out how to get what you want more quickly. If I were going to start my synth collection again, I'd probably just go for the best quality I could afford across each different synth type (e.g. wavetable, va, granular, etc) and get the most from those, it's more cost-effective and wastes less time than having tons of synths of which you only scratch the surface and often don't add a great deal to what you already have.

[EnGee]

@OP:
You said you have Montage 88, is that the Yamaha Montage? If yes, then just lock this thread and 'shut up' (friendly shut up!) If not, then sorry for the dump comment!

[Cinebient]

Your DAW and Komplete should be enough until the end of time!
I‘ve gone back to a minimal set-up and it‘s refreshing and more productive

I made and finished more music just using Emulator X2 than I do now with shedloads more synths. Less options mean you learn your instruments thoroughly and can figure out how to get what you want more quickly. If I were going to start my synth collection again, I'd probably just go for the best quality I could afford across each different synth type (e.g. wavetable, va, granular, etc) and get the most from those, it's more cost-effective and wastes less time than having tons of synths of which you only scratch the surface and often don't add a great deal to what you already have.

Indeed! I just would buy now Logic again and P900 (can´t live without it). I wouldn´t need any other synth really. The only thing my DAW can´t deliver are good sample libraries if needed.
I also just bought me an iPad again and it´s also refreshing and often more fun and creative.
At the end a listener wouldn´t hear a different at all between a 5 dollar app and a 200 dollar plug-in.

[glokraw]

I have been looking
I already have Komplete 11 Ultimate
I don't like having to learn 10 different synths.
I'd kind of prefer
I can get super-comfortable with
I mostly tinker around
I'm not a sound-designer.
I'm never going to
I don't need to select
I just want to spend a few minutes
I like electronic music,
I also play piano.
I love new toys
I'd be buying it
I already own but don't have installed

I think your first needs are friendship and inspiration,
(as are mine) and as you make investments
in the people around you, by being a friendly
and helpful person, new and positive interactions
will begin to grow inspiration, and then, assuming
you embrace a work ethic worthy of your
high quality purchases to date,
you'll find yourself making music naturally,
music worth hearing a second, a tenth,
and a hundredth time. Todays choices
affect tomorrows outcomes, what do you hope
to be asking and doing five or ten years from now?

The main gear you lack is a decent 88 key rompler,
so there is immediacy at your disposal. Just take a seat,
and play something new. Become a good enough musician,
that you enjoy just playing, as well as playing for people,
(maybe you already do, but that wasn't the impression I got.)
Good luck, the future is bright!

[enCiphered]

I disagree with Zebra. Definitely not the right synth to start with and not the proper one for the op, according to his first post.
Its a great synth, no question about it. But Wagtunes is right with Omnisphere, this is the one and only efficient solution for what the op is looking for. Of course its expensive but it is an investment at the same time. Instead of buying several different softsynths and trying to learn how they work, invest in Omnisphere and don´t waste time but focus completely on your music.
Omnispheres GUI is so easy to learn and straightforward like no other synth out there. It is multi-timbral, it has a stack and a live mode and you can use your own samples if you wish to. It has a wonderful browser engine and a sound library bigger than life.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Omnispheres GUI is so easy to learn and straightforward like no other synth out there. It is multi-timbral, it has a stack and a live mode and you can use your own samples if you wish to. It has a wonderful browser engine and a sound library bigger than life.

Also, there's that feature that allows you to lock certain parts of a preset while mixing-and-matching other elements

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Double-posted....