LennarDigital

bryzd · Post by **bryzd** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:24 am

I've been playing live on most of my recording and only gotten into synths in the last year or so. Other than sylenth1 and a couple others, the vast majority have been bitter disappointments. Most of these synths sound no better than pure sine wave generators. Just horrible without any depth, feel, or variation to the sound, or they just make cute booop noises.

Could someone throw me a clue and shorten my search for synths that have life to their sound. I'm asking here because I think you all know what I mean when I say that sylenth1 has feeling and expression that most other synths do not. What are those other synths that do? Thanks for taking the effort to respond.

koalaboy · Post by **koalaboy** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:39 am

Zebra (and the newly release ACE - almost forgot)
Omnisphere
DCAM: Synth Squad
Largo
Tassman
Vaz Modular

(Alchemy should probably be included, but I don't find it as accessible as the others)

Edit: I didn't include Reaktor, but some of the ensemble synths are superb.

All IMHO of course. This does depend on your definition of 'life' being the same as mine

Doug1978-OLD · Post by **Doug1978-OLD** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:45 am

In addition to Koalaboy's good tips, try any of the synths by GForce, for instance minimonsta or impOSCar.

As noted by Koalaboy, Alchemy is an excellent synth (which I found easy enough to use) and the presets are soon to be improved further, which will help if you're a lazy sound designer like me who just likes to tweak these slightly!

koalaboy · Post by **koalaboy** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:50 am

Doug1978 wrote:...try any of the synths by GForce, for instance minimonsta or impOSCar.

Good call. I have minimonsta but don't use it as much as I probably should - I did have a great evening running it through the UA moog filter though

I don't own impOSCar, but it definitely has life.

(If you have a UAD-2, the Moog Multimode and the Fatso can further improve many VSTs, I find - they're like a touch of seasoning to an already fine dish

)

Nielzie · Post by **Nielzie** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:29 am

If you are looking for that rich and wide sound that Sylenth1 is known for than Vanguard comes to mind, but also z3ta and FireBird+ for instance.

But also note that too much synths with an upfront sound don't compliment eachother either very well. A synth like Sylenth1 is best combined with a synth that has a less "in your face" character.

Zebra2 could be a good choice actually because it can do it all (very versatile and wide sound spectrum). But you'll have to become familiar with the modular approach of Zebra2 of course.

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:34 am

Admiral Quality Poly-Ana
Tone2 Firebird+
AAS Ultra Analog

sonicpowa · Post by **sonicpowa** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 12:15 pm

..and check out what Rob Papen has to offer..

kyodeejay · Post by **kyodeejay** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 4:51 am

Korg legacy análog edition, i'm in love with them: )

djanthonyw · Post by **djanthonyw** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 4:54 am

Yep, Korg stuff is my fav, then Synth Squad.

ozmoz2008 · Post by **ozmoz2008** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 5:10 am

bryzd wrote: Other than sylenth1 and a couple others, the vast majority have been bitter disappointments.

It's funny, I was not impress by Sylenth. I think all the suggestions here surpass by far what Sylenth have to offer, but that's my opinion. I may have played with Sylenth demo with a certain expectation sound wise though. Maybe too high expectations, that happen sometimes.

For me, even the ImageLine Harmless deal at $9 surpass Sylenth! You can also have Unison on it and the sounds are also expressive.

But it's just my little 2 cents.

LeVzi · Post by **LeVzi** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:17 am

Alchemy can produces sounds like Sylenth, Predator, Ultra Analog.

All good synths, but to me Sylenth has a nice feel and quality of it's own, that they don't have.

But then I find that with most synths, that they have something a bit different to offer.

I rely on Sylenth in my projects like I do my other synths, I just am so familiar with it.

Nice to have an arsenal of synths that you can goto for certain things, or mix them up, and Sylenth along with the others I mentioned are deffo that for me.

(Just wish it would get the memory leak patched once n for all, for peace of mind)

jedilaw · Post by **jedilaw** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:42 am

If you like Sylenth, you may be interested in Predator, UltraAnalog and Vanguard. Those all have some similar qualities, with slightly different approaches. All have their merits. For something different than what Sylenth is doing, you might try Albino, Blue, or Rapture.

JimmiG · Post by **JimmiG** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:09 pm

bryzd wrote:I've been playing live on most of my recording and only gotten into synths in the last year or so.
----
Most of these synths sound no better than pure sine wave generators. Just horrible without any depth, feel, or variation to the sound, or they just make cute booop noises.

Remember that with synthesizers, the sound also depends a lot on how you program the machine. Most synths give you the same basic building blocks (oscillators, filters, amp, EG:s and LFO:s). It's up to you (or whoever made the presets) to create interesting sounds using those building blocks.

I think the "depth" you speak of comes from Sylenth1's ability to stack up to 32 oscillators per voice and detune and pan each in stereo. Many virtual analogs only give you 1-3 oscillators per voice with no ability to pan them individually. Many Sylenth1 presets also make heavy use of distortion and effects. So Sylenth1 is quite unlike "real" analog synths, although it can be made to sound like one if you only use a few oscillators and no effects. If you just want the "shiny", detuned sound, classics like Adventus and Vanguard are probably your best bets. Audjoo Helix can sound very similar to Sylenth1, but it's a much deeper instrument which means it's more difficult to program and learn. Maybe not want you want when playing live but great if you want to spend an evening creating a single sound.

Examigan · Post by **Examigan** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:00 pm

Just wanted to mention, someone here mentioned Alchemy, which (I think) usually uses samples, and Sylenth1 doesn't (actually... it can't use samples) so it isn't a fair comparison.

Making a sound from scratch is different than manipulating a sample of something.

ariston · Post by **ariston** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:10 pm

Examigan wrote:Making a sound from scratch is different than manipulating a sample of something.

Are you very sure about that? In programming a sound, you use small building blocks, be they a sample or a sine wave, and then manipulate them. I don't see a difference.

Besides, Alchemy CAN do VA, among other things. That's why it's such a versatile monster. In the end, though, All that matters is the sound, and not how you got it. I don't own Sylenth, because I've got too many synths already, but I was very impressed by the demo.

bryzd, I would like to know which synths you were disappointed in. It's time to get this thread a-cookin'!

LennarDigital

KVR Audio

What other synths are in the same league as sylenth1?