Hello

I have 200 $ and want to buy new softsynth and learn it "inside-out" .

The two that I thinking about right now are Sylenth1 and Zebra 2 . They both sound great IMO and I hear only good things about this 2 .

I have now Komplete 7 that include many of NI's synths but I think that they are not in the same level as Sylenth1 and Zebra 2 .

My real concern about Sylenth1 is that there wasn't any update since 2010 ( I think it's operating great right now , but my concern is about getting support on future OS's and DAW updates )


Any advice and suggestions for another synths besides this 2 is welcomed

Thanks

Zebra!
or Alchemy

Strange. I thought NI has top quality synths.
If you wanna learn fast. Choose Sylenth1.
If you want to spend long time learning very complex synth choose Zebra.

ANA by Sonic Academy seems interesting and its cheaper than Sylenth1. It is VA like Sylenth1.

I'd also check out Loomer Aspect.
I've recently been playing with the demo and it's very well laid out.
It's also very flexible and sounds great.
It doesn't have on board effects to cloud your judgment of the sound either,which can be a good thing.

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/aspect-by-loomer

Also check out Rob Papen Predator is great.

+2 on Zebra (many different types of synthesis in one.) if you buy Dark Zebra as well as Zebra 2 you will get Zebra 3 for free. Also Spectrasonics Omnisphere is AMAZING and could very well be a one stop shop for you this would be my "stranded on an island and can have one synth!" The thing with Alchemy and these are my top three synths btw is it lacks FM synthesis for example but man you can mangle your own samples in bad ass ways! All three of these IMHO are my personal faves.

Go with Zebra, you won't regret it!

Also contrary to what some might say, Zebra is actually NOT that hard to learn. It is very very straight forward. It gives you the essentials when you want them quickly and easily, and will grow with you as you learn more advanced synthesis techniques.

you have komplete, start there

massive is a good synth to learn on...and what about reaktor...some fantastic synths to learn on that are included in the install, then the user library for when you want to grow some more

save your money till you find out what it is that you aren't getting from komplete, then buy something to fill that gap

What could be missing for you also is being able to LAYER soft synths in a meaningful way it KILLS me that they killed off Kore 2 I would have been ok with it IF they put ALL that functionality in Maschine. In particular layering keyzones visually and in a meaningful way.... I REALLY miss that. Though if you happen to have Ableton Live the racks feature I hear is a decent replacent. But I think while Komplete is AWESOME I would say STILL the OP is correct and those other 3 softsynths I suggested would open your Palette significantly as those three do very different things.

I think Zebra is a fantastic synth for learning. You have an array of synthesis techniques to learn and they are all easy to grasp with Zebra. Each preset structure is easy to see at a glance. Because of the semi-modular nature, you can explore synth structures that most other synths cannot do.

Zebra can do regular subtractive, FM, Additive, Wavetables, Physical modeling, you can draw your own waveforms and you have a wide range of filters and other modules to explore. You can mix the different synth methods. I think there is no synth with as much flexibility and synth power that is as easy to learn and use. There are a bunch of simple tutorial videos to watch as well.

If you really are looking for one synth to learn about synthesis, then Zebra is a great choice.

If you are just bored with what you got, then you might not learn more even with Zebra. Sylenth is very simple and has a short feature list. I would not recommend it for learning synthesis other than the most basic subtractive structure. It is even lacking some basic subtractive features. It is an excellent sounding synth, but not what I would look at for learning synthesis.

BTW, Zebra has a demo and you can really use it. It can save and load presets, including the many third party presets. All features work and it does not time out. Note pitch goes wonky after 15 minutes but you can keep using it, save your work, then use another instance, load the preset you saved and keep going. So you can really try it out first and see if it is of help to you before buying.

When they are going to release Zebra 3 and should I wait for it or grab the 2.5 version ?

Thanks

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=362210&highlig ht=dark+zebra

read this man! That will clarify things in addition I think it is better to go this way the TDZ has some awesome presets there!

The Dark Zebra sounds great but I don't like to use presents , maybe in the beginning to learn and hear the capabilities of the instrument and to get inspired by it

With this mindset Zebra seems ideal.

To say that NI synths are not on the same level as Zebra or Sylenth is plain wrong. You need to spend some time with Massive and Absynth, not to mention FM8. Sylenth is a plain subtractive synth with very limited options, but it does have a very special sound that appeals to a lot of people.

If those 200 bucks are burning a hole in your pocket, then by all means get Zebra. Its range is unrivalled in my opinion, and even when you think you've seen and heard all it can do, it will continue to surprise you.

It will be a year before Zebra 3 is out... So if you are going for Zebra, get Zebra 2.5 now.

If you also get The Dark Zebra, then you get a free upgrade to Zebra 3 when it comes out... The Dark Zebra has approx 400 additional presets (lots of Dark Knight stuff), but it also has the filters from Diva in it and 3 extra filter types including the Tyrell filter. It also has an extra effects module which is a resonator. I think TDZ is worth it for the features alone.