What Synthesizer do you recommend?

[Nielzie]

Wow! Thanks for the update Ruben... I'm delighted to hear that Sylenth will be making a comeback.

Well afaik Lennard is working on the code, which he has to rewrite almost from ground up to make the current Sylenth1 available for Mac has been told. So don't expect a new major version with new or enhanced features for Windows/Mac yet..

[Ruben(LD)]

Nielzie, you're right...it has taken Lennard a couple of years to create Sylenth so it's a lot of work to redo this all in 64-bit.

(And yes, the Windows version is allready done. In te Mac version Apple decided to drop the graphical interface which Lennard used to make Sylenth with.)


We've been looking into new ideas and improvements to do when the (free) 64-bit update is online

[Jellydonut]

Hey man, I'm a bit of a noob, too.
I think that based on what songs you've listed, you are indeed looking for romplers. Since I'm not quite into dumping money, I really like to use DSK Music's stuff.
While it doesn't sound quite studio quality, if's great if you toss a bunch of effects on it. I usually use their brass, strings, and other romplers.
Heck, the only thing that costs money on their site is their HQ Instruments pack which has 446 instruments for only $25. I haven't bought it, but it looks really good.
Their romplers does seem more geared towards orchestral stuff, but I would still check them out.

Here's a link to their site: http://www.dskmusic.com/
Here's the video of their Strings plugin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZOBefzDy3o

For a synth, there's been one VST that I've never stopped loving. It's called the T-Force Alpha Plus, and it ROCKS. It seems to have really good quality for a free plug, and I always find myself use it for my leads and pads, and really EVERYTHING. It reminds me of Tiesto's Let's Go, heck I'm pretty sure you can make any sound from that song with this guy. Even though your song style focuses on acoustic instruments, I'd still recommend this, hence the forum title.

Here's a link to their site: http://www.mastrcode-music-vst.com/main.php?cat=8
Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1C64Ky5rso


I hope this helped! Good luck producing!

[zerocrossing]

Maybe I need a synthesizer which also can sound like "real" instruments.

HALion Sonic 2 is good in that regard, it has excellent synths and real instruments. We sell the educational version for $106.24 so it's right around your price range if you're a student.

Check out the sounds at 8:38:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLQ7ONSWZQU?t=6m2s

I'll agree with this. In terms of bang-for-buck you're not going to do much better and cover more ground than a good ROMpler. Dimension Pro is also super cheap now and it's pretty damn cool for $50.

http://www.store.cakewalk.com/b2cus/Pro ... DM1.50-30E

[fluffy_little_something]

Why is the stuff that comes with FL not enough? I am not a big FL fan, but since you got some synths for free, you might as well use them.

I don't know any of the songs you mentioned

[codec_spurt]

You have so many bases covered with free and low footprint and versatile synths like SQ8L and Synth 1. Thousands of high quality sounds that won't tickle your cpu at all. You could have 64 instances of both of these on a modern processor.

That would give a pretty wide sound palette too. From fat to thin to thick to wirey to resonant to full to warm and back again. Just two random examples.

So you say you have about a oner to spend. This is what I would go for if I was you, it has loads of presets and is easy enough to tweak and also fun to tweak - LinPlug Spectral -



It can be warm and beautiful, harsh and nasty, terse or evolving, or all these things together. The truth is you don't need to buy any synth at all, so if you do, make it a fun one, a different one, but one that covers all the bases. That would be a good investment for a first paid synth. Spectral only costs a few euros more than your budget. Save up, it will be worth it.

The presets it has are vast and cover all the bases. Check out Simon Stockhausen's presets if you need more or just want to see what this beauty can do.
http://www.patchpool.de/spectral.html

This is a very special synth that is yet to gain the recognition it deserves. It isn't hard to operate. But it will cover every single sonic requirement you could possibly have. People should just stop making synths now. There is nothing this can't do as an overall bread and butter synth and much much more...

Just for the love of sweet baby jeesus, don't get Massive, okay! Please?

[Jellydonut]

Just for the love of sweet baby jeesus, don't get Massive, okay! Please?

Are there problems with Massive? I was honestly thinking about getting it soon, it looks good to me.

[Uncle E]

Are there problems with Massive? I was honestly thinking about getting it soon, it looks good to me.

Pretty much everyone is using it these days. Personally, I don't think it sounds good at all but it's perfect for all those over-the-top electro and dubstep sounds that are popular these days.

[codec_spurt]

Just for the love of sweet baby jeesus, don't get Massive, okay! Please?

Are there problems with Massive? I was honestly thinking about getting it soon, it looks good to me.

No problems. It is an amazing synth. But everyone and the dog uses it. I don't use it, but I can see that like any other synth it has a certain way of working and that might lend it its sound as much as the oscillators and what not.

I was just being glib for the sake of it. NI aren't going out of business any time soon, and Peter et al from LinPlug could use the extra sale or two, coz not enough people value their synths. They are the best, bar none.

I just figured it might be nice to be part of a small and evolving club than to be part of the clawing throng for what is, pretty much a cliche now.

Massive is good. I don't know it so can't say really more than what I have heard others do. I would be very surprised if you could not take things a lot further with Spectral though. Maybe someone who has both will correct me. As always, just my opinion. Not even rooted in fact.

[Jellydonut]

No problems. It is an amazing synth....

Ok thanks for the info. What do you guys know about Nexus2? I haven't seen it mentioned here (probably because its price point), and it looks simply amazing to me!

[Uncle E]

I just figured it might be nice to be part of a small and evolving club than to be part of the clawing throng for what is, pretty much a cliche now.

Since when has that ever deterred anyone.

Seriously, though, if someone gets Massive, Sylenth1, and Nexus, they'll have everything they need to sound like most popular electronic music out there. We should have a sticky thread that just says "Noobs who want to sound like Swedish House Mafia and Avicii, buy these."

[codec_spurt]

No problems. It is an amazing synth....

Ok thanks for the info. What do you guys know about Nexus2? I haven't seen it mentioned here (probably because its price point), and it looks simply amazing to me!

Well, first off, Nexus is very popular but it uses a dongle. That may or may not be a deal breaker for you.

It has lots of nice sounds, but lots of people are very unimpressed with it. I would say, leave it alone. You are only going to sound like the crowd with that. Not that anyone will notice, but there is a certain thrill to using 'boutique' VSTs like LinPlug Spectral.

For the price of Nexus which is 250 Euros, you could buy Spectral which is 120 Euros Plus the soundsets from Simon Stockhausen which are the best of class - world class - the cream - not just in this synth, but all synths - they cost 40 Euros or something for a massive library - that takes you up to 160 Euros = 90 Euros change, and that is just with the base Nexus - extra soundbanks cost you more.

There is no competition. At the end of the day, a synth makes sounds, and someone has to program those sounds. The library that comes with Spectral is already massive, with Simon's patches, it is beyond all practicality of what you could ever need or use in reality. And a 100 Euros cheaper just about.

I just give Spectral as an example. There are probably other synths that are just as good with other sound designers. But they won't be better. I assure you of that.

Nexus is popular. Popularity comes at a premium (and with a dongle). Spectral is under the radar and is priced as low as it possibly can be without people not taking it seriously. It has a demo. Try it out. No dongle!

[Uncle E]

It has lots of nice sounds, but lots of people are very unimpressed with it. I would say, leave it alone. You are only going to sound like the crowd with that. Not that anyone will notice, but there is a certain thrill to using 'boutique' VSTs like LinPlug Spectral.

For the price of Nexus which is 250 Euros, you could buy Spectral which is 120 Euros Plus the soundsets from Simon Stockhausen which are the best of class - world class - the cream - not just in this synth, but all synths - they cost 40 Euros or something for a massive library - that takes you up to 160 Euros = 90 Euros change, and that is just with the base Nexus - extra soundbanks cost you more.

Keep talking like that and the crowd will all be using Simon Stockhausen Spectral sounds.

[Jellydonut]

Well, first off, Nexus is very popular but it uses a dongle.

Wait whoa what do you mean by dongle? Like a required hardware piece? I guess I didn't do enough research...

[codec_spurt]

I just figured it might be nice to be part of a small and evolving club than to be part of the clawing throng for what is, pretty much a cliche now.

Since when has that ever deterred anyone.

Seriously, though, if someone gets Massive, Sylenth1, and Nexus, they'll have everything they need to sound like most popular electronic music out there. We should have a sticky thread that just says "Noobs who want to sound like Swedish House Mafia and Avicii, buy these."

I agree with what you are saying. But I would go further. I would say that if someone bought Spectral and the soundbanks by Simon Stockhausen, then I would bet good money (and I am not a betting man) NO ONE could tell the difference between any of them (Sylenth/Massive/Nexus). I could do a track with just Spectral for everything, and no one would be able to tell it apart from a track made with all of those other synths.

Well, maybe not me as I am not that talented, but Simon Stockhausen certainly. Have you heard the stuff he has done with Spectral? It sounds as if he has recorded the sun and moon and stars and ocean with that one VST. Others may need to aspire to his status before they can achieve this, but it proves it can be done. Maybe they would be better off just buying the common romplers after all. The music is indifferent. And the punter certainly is. I am not a snob about this.

Somebody needs to do this test to compare them all. This is how far our technology has come. But public opinion has not caught up yet. A lot of people would be very surprised and a few would be a little humbled.