A question for you all. What are the differences between free and paid virtual instruments and synths? I understand the paid versions cost money and come with more sounds, but what else differentiates them from free instruments and synths?

Now this is a strange question.

The difference is easy to detect.

Free ones can makes poor people or people who don't want expend money to make music for free. Which is a great thing.

But both, commercial and free synths are nice and valid options.

All depends on what you are doing with your music.
If you don't need more synths except your free ones because you are doing nice music with them or you are accustomed, stay with your free ones.
If you are starting to get bored of free ones, get some commercial ones, there are great stuff too.

There are great freebies that are even better than some commercial ones i can tell.
I always double valued by myself a great free synth because they are awesome, and also free.

It's a shame there are people who use warez when there are AMAZING stuff for free.

Have a good day

With Commercial Plugs you get:
1. Support + continued development....but not always

2. The right to Bitch and Moan

As uncle Iron said, no more to add.

Anyway, if you want to find out some free vst possibilities just join or browse one synch challenge http://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/about
Most of syntch used in the challenge are free vst's. Some of them are commercial (only a few) - you can check the difference by yourselfe!

Best regards,
SNoise.

It's simple:

Some free synths sound great and have lots of features and come with a ton of sounds while supporting a lot of different formats with developers who try to offer great support. Some don't.

Some commercial synths sound great and have lots of features and come with a ton of sounds while supporting a lot of different formats with developers who try to offer great support. Some don't.

Generally, commercial synths tend to be of somewhat higher quality on the whole (at least from medium to large-sized developers), but that doesn't mean there isn't good freeware out there either.

When it comes to the absolute best of the commercial market, it's difficult if not impossible to find freeware to approach that level of quality. Example: no freeware synth that I know of can rival DIVA as a VA.

Maybe it's just me, but what's I've noticed is that the commercial synths have a higher quality and louder sound to their patches. But is that really true?

Also it seems as if the pros use the commercial ones, but is it possible to make high quality songs of any genre with free synths and samplers?

Xamido: no, I'm serious about this question. I want to hear some opinions.

Possibly.

Easy fix,turn up the volume.

Definitely.

I use a lot of free synths. There are a lot of very cool ones out there, and I encourage you to explore them. You have to be careful because for every cool freebie, there are at least 20 that are mediocre or worse. The other problem with freebies (and I admit this is a generalization) is that they tend to be rather limited. They usually do one or two things well. If you happen to need those one or two things, then you have a great addition to your collection. If not...

As far as commercial synths, you have some options. There are some moderately priced (<$100) synths and samplers that work very well. They generally have more flexibility, greater depth of features and better sound than a lot of the freebies. I have a few of these as well and they play a vital role in my music, albeit a supporting role.

The next tier would be those in the $100-$300 range. These I consider really the pro level synths. These do things that you just can't find with the freebies (again, this is a generalization). They sound excellent, have a great depth of features, plus there are a lot of resources (tutorials, soundsets, etc) available for them. I have several in this range. I bought them because they were unique in some respect and they stood out it my mind from the pack. I use them because their sound and sound-shaping abilities truly inspire me to create new music.

Finally, There are the over $300 synths/samplers. These seem to be off the hook to me. They tend to be huge, complex and completely flexible. I don't own any of these because (well, the money) it seems the learning curve is just too daunting for someone who just wants to sit down and make music rather than start a career in sound design or instrument development.

One final note. If you watch for the good sales, you can often find the $100-$300 range instruments for under $100. This is how I have bought most of mine. If you keep an eye on the Bargains thread in the Market Place you will find a lot of good deals. Also consider buying second hand. I have done that as well with great success.

Good luck.

Freedom and coolness, free stuff doesn't have to follow rules, gui designs, etc.

It s all about your taste , i think there is not sample with sound poor/bad , only your use , i love the kunz synth and they are free , the difference between free and payware is in certains case psychologic , you paid so you are a 'pro' .i have buy 2-3 synth that i regret cause of their poor sound and instability.

The timing on this is lining up perfectly to the drum loop i am currently working on..

you guys think I could get by using the synths provided in Sonar Home Studio 6 XL? I'm just making personal music for fun, nothing serious at the moment.

Buy at least one issue of CM magazine. Don't bother with anything else until you've made some music. This month is nice as you get a nice little 606 drum machine from ADM.