Project: 80s Synth Pop - Best VSTs???

[wagtunes]

Yeah, it's project time again.

I want to do 80s synth pop. What are best emulations for this genre? I know that anything wub-wub, supersaw is out as it didn't exist yet. At least I sure don't remember it.

So what's best to use? I own pretty much everything so what should I pull out of my arsenal for this project?

Thanks for the suggestions.

I thought you were quitting the net to do a prog project

The prog project is done. Where you been?

[AnX]

A lot of bands used 'real' drums with electronic pads as extras. Not every drum track is a drum machine.

Indeed, and, related, even though synths and arpeggios were overused, a lot of the sound was still about applying technology to traditional instruments. New Order's sound isn't just about the synths. The sound of the bass, guitars, and vocal play a large role. The bass is particularly interesting, almost melodic at times, but not in a "bass solo" kind of manner. Similarly, the guitars are often doing an "almost lead", kind of a minimalist variant of Buddy Holly's "rhythm lead."

There's a huge sense of experimentalism in the 80s that I think dried up somewhat in the mainstream towards the very late eighties and the early 90s.

Indeed, New Order, well really, Joy Division, was driven by Hooks bass technique (no pun intended) and sound as well as Stephen Morris's amazing drumming. Hence New order sound crap now without Hook.

Similarly, Duran Duran basslines are very good. Lots of funky slaps and riffs.

OMD used a real bass, Tubeway Army/Numan used real drummers and guitars/bass, all mixed with synths.

Many other indie bands used trad guitar/vox but used a drum machine....

I'd be pushed to think of more than a very few band that were synth/dm only.

[AnX]

Yeah, it's project time again.

I want to do 80s synth pop. What are best emulations for this genre? I know that anything wub-wub, supersaw is out as it didn't exist yet. At least I sure don't remember it.

So what's best to use? I own pretty much everything so what should I pull out of my arsenal for this project?

Thanks for the suggestions.

I thought you were quitting the net to do a prog project

The prog project is done. Where you been?

I didnt see anything...but i wasnt looking. I thought it was a 6 month plus project... you wrote a whole album..? Maybe i misread what you were doing.

[ghettosynth]

Synthmaster has Polymoog waves on board. Combined with its "inside filter" drive for that thick Moogy sound, you can get a convincing Cars lead from it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9iusnt2dbci7i ... n.mp3?dl=1

Not bad, but, definitely missing the resonator. There's a variant of the resonator in the Reaktor user library though. Really, it's just three resonant bandpass filters so you could probably do it with a number of different tools.

That said, it's just a paraphonic effect, so it does not need to actually be built into a synth.

[wagtunes]

Yeah, it's project time again.

I want to do 80s synth pop. What are best emulations for this genre? I know that anything wub-wub, supersaw is out as it didn't exist yet. At least I sure don't remember it.

So what's best to use? I own pretty much everything so what should I pull out of my arsenal for this project?

Thanks for the suggestions.

I thought you were quitting the net to do a prog project

The prog project is done. Where you been?

I didnt see anything...but i wasnt looking. I thought it was a 6 month plus project... you wrote a whole album..? Maybe i misread what you were doing.

Yep, whole album. 8 songs. All done.

[wagtunes]

Synthmaster has Polymoog waves on board. Combined with its "inside filter" drive for that thick Moogy sound, you can get a convincing Cars lead from it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9iusnt2dbci7i ... n.mp3?dl=1

Not bad, but, definitely missing the resonator. There's a variant of the resonator in the Reaktor user library though. Really, it's just three resonant bandpass filters so you could probably do it with a number of different tools.

That said, it's just a paraphonic effect, so it does not need to actually be built into a synth.

Well, it's all moot. I just bought Synthmagic's Polycom which is as close as I'm going to get short of going out and finding a working Polymoog, which is not happening. So this will have to do.

[AnX]

Yep, whole album. 8 songs. All done.

Link please?

[wagtunes]

Yep, whole album. 8 songs. All done.

Link please?

Oh no. Not posting links here. Not with all the "fans" that I have just itching to tear me to shreds.

But nice try.

[AnX]

Oh ok, sorry, i thought it was a public thing i'd missed.

Sorry for the derail

[AnX]

On topic, try the RX5 drum machine. Later 80's but well used and very underated. One of my favs.

[ghettosynth]

On topic, try the RX5 drum machine. Later 80's but well used and very underated. One of my favs.

Right, which gets us to another important point about the 80s. Technology was constantly evolving and although people remember synths like the D50 and the M1 as key contributors to the use of sampled sounds, there were other important instruments going all the way back to the early eighties, notably, sample based drum machines.

This is important for more than just getting the samples, the earliest sample based drum machines used fairly simple technology and retriggering sample restarted their playback giving you the notorious "machine gun toms." This is also true for analog synth toms, clearly, as they were monophonic.

[jdnz]

Depeche Mode doesn't sound like Gary Newman who doesn't sound like OMD who doesn't sound like Ultravox who doesn't sound like Human League who doesn't sound like The Buggles who doesn't sound like The Pet Shop Boys who doesn't sound like A-ha and on and on and on.

not only that - but each band's sound evolved massively as the decade progessed (not always for the better either)

listen to ultravox's entire vienna album (1980) - then listen to rage in edge (from just one year later)

similarly compare duran duruan's first album (81) to Rio (82), or Human League's Travelogue (80) to Dare (81) to Hysteria (84)

not only did their sound evolve as technology evolved (and as band members came and went in the case of HL), but there was a general tend from 'pure' synth-pop towards what would be be described as synth-tinged pop/rock

oh and whilst you're researching - make sure you go listen to some Propagand and Art Of Noise, prime examples of the Trevor Horn/ZTT sample driven sound from back when sampling was new tech.

[Richard deHove]

To emulate an 80s synth band on a budget play most parts monophonic. Polyphonic synths were expensive.

[wagtunes]

Thanks to the above posters for the additional info. Yeah, I get how polyphonic synths weren't cheap.

Art Of Noise was one of my favorites.

Like I said, grew up during the era (okay, in my 20s already) but still, lived through this stuff. Just taking a bit of a refresher as I haven't listened to a lot of this music in over 30 years.

[fluffy_little_something]

Just use emulations of the most common synths back then.

I think the 80's sound had more to do with production and song writing rather than specific synths.

Also, bands were still using real instruments alongside synths, even with synth pop. Synth pop was not all synths...