I'm looking to buy my first VST, but I'm unsure of which to pick

[sjm]

Kontakt doesn't cost $99. Stop confusing the newbie with silly suggestions of non-VSTs.

@OP: If you don't already know the basics of synthesis, I would say: get some free synths (like Tyrell etc.) and play around with them to learn synthesis. Once you know what you are doing, download the demo versions of paid products that interest you, and play around with the various plugins to see what clicks.

You definitely don't need to pay any money to learn the basics of synthesis. There are a lot of very good free resources online.

[dark water]

Clear and simple advice is what you want ziegler12.

You don't need to spend money on any vst synth instrument.
There are plenty of excellent free vst instruments that will load into a DAW, such as Reaper.


However, as you like Juno sounds from the 70s-90s, I would recommend buying the simple to use but excellent sounding TAL-U-NO-LX which you mentioned before for $75.
https://tal-software.com/products/tal-u-no-lx


If you want a couple of extra wonderful sounding TAL-U-NO-LX soundbanks, which you load into TAL-U-NO-LX, then visit these top quality sound designer pages:
http://www.theunfinished.co.uk/shop/uno-lx-vulcan/
http://www.luftrum.com/luftrum12/
https://vintagesynthpads.com/ocart/tal- ... 60_Presets



You won't find a one-size-fits-all synth. There are too many sonic variations amongst synths.
However, TAL-U-NO-LX is an excellent sounding synth that is clear, simple to learn on and sounds great. Most of all, you already like Juno sounds.



Additionally, I would advise buying Reaper for $60, as it's an excellent and cheap DAW to use and it will allow you (like any other DAW) to easily combine your hardware and software together.
However, that goes beyond the remit of your thread question!

[Roman Wisniak]

Definitely I would recommend you TAL-U-NO-LX if you're interested in sound of 80's, although bear in mind it has quite limited polyphony according to today's standards. Also nice sounding is a free VSTi called PG8X - Free Roland JX-8P Emulation. You can feed it with sysex patches from JX-8P.

If you have more money buy U-he's Diva. You won't regret. It covers quite broad range of analog sounds (can emulate Moog, Roland and other analog classics).

[Aloysius]

Analog was old in the eighties. Digital was fresh. What style of '80s music do you like?

[Harry_HH]

Kontakt doesn't cost $99. Stop confusing the newbie with silly suggestions of non-VSTs.

@OP: If you don't already know the basics of synthesis, I would say: get some free synths (like Tyrell etc.) and play around with them to learn synthesis. Once you know what you are doing, download the demo versions of paid products that interest you, and play around with the various plugins to see what clicks.

You definitely don't need to pay any money to learn the basics of synthesis. There are a lot of very good free resources online.

Stop you confusing people, nothing silly in my suggestion. I paid less than $ 99 for my first full Kontakt version, especially around NI annual sale those are often available in seconhand. I pointed out that if the OP has time to wait, there will be opportunities for better prices.

Yes, there are free Vsts, nothing forces to buy - but for some reason most of us buy things, constantly.

[Zexila]

Rent-to-own Sylenth1, that thing is so covered and popular, sometimes only thing you need to know how to get some sound in it is to use internet search or You Tube, tons of videos for it, tons of sound banks for plenty of genres out there, low CPU usage, great sound, fun to tweak, you really can't go wrong with it.

Personally, if I decided to start fresh and just use one synth in the genres of your interest, I would probably get Spire, it grows all the time and becomes more more versatile, also sounds great, fun to tweak, not as low CPU usage as Sylenth but moderate, plenty of sound banks for it, very popular among folks.

Diva is good call, it actually represents era's you are interested in and it's few good emulations in one, great sound, little higher CPU usage, fun to tweak.

Demo all of them and see what works for you the most, you can't go wrong with any of the 3 I mentioned, I give slight advantage to Sylenth1 because of his popularity, CPU usage and rent-to-own payment plan, Spire because it's awesome and growing and Diva because it's really perfect fit for your needs.

Syntorial + Sylenth1 could be ultimate learning experience for sure.

Also there's second hand market for plugins here, you don't need to pay full price.
viewforum.php?f=43

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Denpends how much money you´ve got.
One of the most affordable investment at the moment in the genre you mentioned, is
9,99 $ (!), you get nine 80´s synths
https://audioplugin.deals/the-deal/

My choise, because it seems that you can put up to $ 200, is Repro1.

Arturia has some great vintage emulations, from which to choose.

Outside your genre, more modern sounds, I´d say Reaktor 6 and all the stuff you get with it.

If the sound examples of that audioplugin deal are anything to go by, I'd probably look elsewhere

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I would definitely demo Repro and Diva

[whyterabbyt]

Or maybe I should just use all the free VST I can find, but buy ‘Syntorial’ so I can learn how to really use them in the first place.

Almost this. Pick up some of the best free plugins, get a copy of Computer Magazine for the coverdisc giveaways, and spend some time learning the basics. Then if and when you reach the limit of what you can work out for yourself, decide whether you need to spend money on Syntorial or somesuch.

[pettinhouse]

For old POP music 70s,80s, 90, compared to other styles where you need just synth sounds, you need several instruments.
A good drum, bass and guitar and then a generic synth.
Unfortunately the first three require a "sampler" or sample player.
Now a days kontakt is the way to go if you want to load the majority of drum, guitar and bass sample libraries available in the market then for Pads, strings etc you need a generic synth which is not difficult to find one for free.
The cheapest solution for drums, guitar and bass could be a soundfont player.
Soundfont is a file format that contain samples. All you need is the soundfont player ( search for free sfz player) and then a good soundfont pack. There are many soundfonts pack in internet and I'm quite sure you can find decent drums, guitars and basses, commercial or free.
Regarding 80s synth pop is a different story, much easier to find free samples or VST of electronic sounds. It could be enough a generic synth that emulates drums, bass, guitars and other stuff.

Andrea

[SLiC]

Take the 1 month free trial of Roland Cloud and get dozens of realy rather good VSTs to try (including what may be the definitive Roland synth emulations) - it’s free, you have nothing to loose....for someone without any VSTs the cloud option (paid monthly) is worth considering after the free month, as if the bug doesn’t bite you can cancel anytime but you will have a world class studio full of instruments mainly with that 80s sound whilst you deside. Have it all, have it now

[Zexila]

My humble advice and the way I will go now all over again is gaining real knowledge fast and use few tools and master them, I did demo of Syntorial and there's really no better alternative to get good grasp and results fast, there's so much info out there and you will spend enough time seeking for them, in the end of the day you would wish you had someone by your side to assist you, that's how Syntorial is in some way, you get your sound design trainer, lessons, exams and all.

Thing with starting with synth freebies is that you will spend more time downloading and trying different, you will resort to using few of them and that seeks more time to grasp all of them, again in the end of the day you will wish you mastered one and learned how to get all of your sounds in it. That goes for effects too.

I didn't said you can't learn with freebies and without Syntorial, but wish we could start experiment with two newcomers, one is learning hard way in sea of internet resources and freebies, other is learning with Syntorial + Sylenth1, by the end of the month, we get both of them to gather what they know and what they did in in past month. I'm quite sure that Syntorial + Sylenth guy could even assist newcomers here on KVR on how to go about making 70% of sounds that get asked here.

[enroe]

My opinion: Stick with Reaper and go through freeware (bedroomproducersblog can help you there greatly. Or latest issue of computer music magazine). But don't put a dime in to a softwaresynth.. Yet.

Best advice!

There are hundreds of freeware VSTis, which are really
stunning good, which all function with Reaper.

After you checked them all - and so after several years (!)
and songs later - you may look for even more specific
instruments ...

[rod_zero]

Definitely start with synthorial, first because you will learn a lot in a short time if you commit to it and second because once you finish it, or maybe at half the lessons, you will be able to really judge the capabilities of lots of synths and make a much more educated choice.

You could also pick synthorial and a cheap synth (u-he ace or maybe look for fabfilter twin2(good to learn on) or massive second hand), and use what you are learning with synthorial with the other synth.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Sylenth1 combined with free synths,some free presets for newbies like you :
https://velltone.wixsite.com/velltone