What synths are in equal or better footing than VPS Avenger?

[Teksonik]

I’m surprised there are so many votes for falcon. It’s a really good synth, but it’s not very intuitive. I’m recommending against it. Rapid is great. Try out pigments, too.

I'm surprised Zebra 2 is getting so many votes. It does not allow full sample import as VPS Avenger does.

Apples and oranges. Yes Zebra 2 is a very nice orange but an orange none the less

[Danilo Villanova]

Reaktor gives you more possibilities than anything else and the sound quality is (IMO) superior to anything I’ve ever tried. When I was demoing synths Dune 3 and ANA 2 stood above the rest in terms of sound quality. Avenger was nice too and it’s a more complete package but the synth part is not as nice as the other two. I bought Dune in the end... until I tried Reaktor. Now I’m selling Dune.

PS: CPU use is bananas but freeze and bounce are your friends .

[recursive one]

One thing to keep in mind, if you are just starting out and not very skilled in sound design, getting someting like Zebra or Falcon, not to say Reaktor, would be quite an overkill. I think you don't need the most flexible synth nor the synth with the longest feature list at the moment, it will likely lead to some kind of frustration rather than creative freedom.

My suggestion would be installing the demos of all the synths listed in the thread and buying the one where you like the factory presets the most. You can use them right away or reverse-engineer them and learn sound-design this way.

Falcon has no demo afaik, so I'd propably put it out of consideration.

[Trancit]

...Phase Plant is impressive if you invest in all the effect snap-ins, but its greatest weakness is the filters. The main filter is a simple digital multi-mode. They recently added a ladder/diode-modeled filter, so that helped a lot, but it's still limited: 4-pole only. If you are looking for filters with a lot of character, look elsewhere. I expect this will eventually be addressed...

That´s a bit overdriven, isn´t it???

Ok, the ladder filter is just 4 pole only but the other filter capabilities in Phase Plant are nothing but outstanding...
Being able to use distortion everywhere can add a lot of character and the ability to build your own per voice filter shape using even SnapHeap and Multipass, EQ´s and multiple combinations of all type of FX in parallel and Multiband, the filter architecture will perhaps hardly deliver an authentic hardware emulation (even this I think would be possible if you know how) but filter sounds never heard before...

Yes it´s more or less modular...means the basic modules are more simple and doesn´t deliver everything out of the box but if you make your hands a bit dirty you get results which can do more than 99% of all other synths offer...
That´s for me hardly a weakness...

[Tannaliini]

I also have been searching for that "ONE". And what I can say is, try the DEMOs! As many as you can (and keep in mind, if you're not in hurry - most of the synths will be in discount sooner or later except Serum...).

There are some very very popular synths that can give awesome sounds, but for some reason they might not work with you (the workflow is not good for you, they don't work well with your DAW, your CPU is not enough for that synth, or you just don't like the sound even though everyone else + their granny are braising it etc etc).

So in that in mind, synths without demos to try are very difficult ones to know if they work for you... You can check youtube videos etc. But it's still not the same as having it in your own hands, testing it how it feels + sounds on your use, on your beats etc.

[Kwurqx]

Maybe you are right. Maybe I'm too obsessed with finding the best synth for me.

I'm just trying to help you make informed decisions. The first step is trying to find out what you actually want to achieve. And then what tools you might need.

Building a brick wall requires different tools (and knowledge) then building a wooden fence. With complex tools (like a modular) you might even need to first work out how bricks and mortar or planks and screws are made.

Generally, with flexibility comes complexity. You might drown before learning to swim if you jump in at the deep end.

[dionenoid]

Phase Plant is impressive if you invest in all the effect snap-ins, but its greatest weakness is the filters. The main filter is a simple digital multi-mode. They recently added a ladder/diode-modeled filter, so that helped a lot, but it's still limited: 4-pole only. If you are looking for filters with a lot of character, look elsewhere. I expect this will eventually be addressed.

Uhm, on the contrary. Did you use the filters in the generator section ? You can combine as many filter modules as you like, and modulate them with each other, use other generators (distortion/saturation for example), or even modulate them with the osc's.
No they don't give you the same standard options like with other synths, but let you create your own filters. Which might take a little time but really is far more flexible than any other synth (except for MSF maybe). All the character is there, but you have to build it.

[zerocrossing]

One thing to keep in mind, if you are just starting out and not very skilled in sound design, getting someting like Zebra or Falcon, not to say Reaktor, would be quite an overkill. I think you don't need the most flexible synth nor the synth with the longest feature list at the moment, it will likely lead to some kind of frustration rather than creative freedom.

My suggestion would be installing the demos of all the synths listed in the thread and buying the one where you like the factory presets the most. You can use them right away or reverse-engineer them and learn sound-design this way.

Falcon has no demo afaik, so I'd propably put it out of consideration.

Yeah, and Falcon, which is great and one of the synths I picked, is by far one of the hardest instruments to get used to. Normally I can install a demo and get into it with minimal trips to a manual, but Falcon had me scratching my head until I went though all the tutorials and read a lot of the manual. Once you see how they set it up, it all makes logical sense, but if you’re not used to it, I’d say avoid it until you’re comfortable with synthesis in general.

[StardragonEX]

Sorry guys, I added two options and the votes were deleted, I didn't know that would happen. I'm pretty new at this forum.

Regarding some questions:

I mainly want to do EDM (like Trance, Synthwave, etc.) and Orchestral music, I also like Metal, POP, etc.

I don't really know what kind of sounds I want to create.

My computer is powerful enough. I can run most AAA video games at high or max.

I don't really know any hardware synthesizers, so I don't really think I want to emulate them, yet. But I like analog sound, but I like Serum also.

Yes, I want to invest my time learning a supersynth, but I know little about sound. I've just watched some youtube tutorials, so I know the basics.

I have like 100usd every month to spare.

Yes, I probably should buy a synth with a lot of presets and reverse engineer those sounds to learn about synthesis.

For what I saw in the votes before I erased them by error, the most popular options were Falcon, Zebra 2 and Phase Plant, then RAPID and SynthMaster.

I think I will save for some months then I will buy up to three of them.

[teilo]

Phase Plant is impressive if you invest in all the effect snap-ins, but its greatest weakness is the filters. The main filter is a simple digital multi-mode. They recently added a ladder/diode-modeled filter, so that helped a lot, but it's still limited: 4-pole only. If you are looking for filters with a lot of character, look elsewhere. I expect this will eventually be addressed.

Uhm, on the contrary. Did you use the filters in the generator section ? You can combine as many filter modules as you like, and modulate them with each other, use other generators (distortion/saturation for example), or even modulate them with the osc's.
No they don't give you the same standard options like with other synths, but let you create your own filters. Which might take a little time but really is far more flexible than any other synth (except for MSF maybe). All the character is there, but you have to build it.

I was talking about the filter in the generator section. It's a further weakness that the ladder/diode 4-pole is only in the effects section.

Putting multiple filters in various topologies, and adding crazy modulation to them is not creating your own filters, nor does it give you the ability to model the character of filters that are commonly covered in many of its competitors. It's great that you can do what it does, but it's not a substitute for filters with character. Further, even if it were a substitute, I don't want to have to jump through so many hoops to do something that other synths handle with a simple dropdown. So the filter is still a weakness, and Kilohearts has admitted as much. I'm sure they will address it.

[OzoneJunkie]

I haven't read all of the responses here, so sorry if I repeat something someone else has said already:

I think there's synths out there that can compete in the functionality of Avenger, although maybe not covering all of the functionality. But, where I think Avenger is unmatched is the expansion packs, as far as quality, for the genres of music its targeting with those packs.

It's not that all of the sounds within are overly complex, because most EDM sounds don't need to be. It's just that they're well done and boosted well with the effects within. So, you get very great sounding, highly polished sounds that are ready to go right into tracks.

Of course, there's other synths that you can argue have the same, but for the genres Avenger targets, I think the expansions are unmatched. They just plain sound amazing, in a way that I haven't heard from other synths' presets. Again, other synths sound as good as far as the base engine goes, it's just those expansions are perfect for the genres they target.

EDIT: And, I will defend the statement that it's targeting EDM, despite having expansions for other genres. Even those other packs have a certain sheen to them that fits into the EDM world, to me. The Avenger stuff sounds very very different than say, the Native Instruments (formally Maschine-only) Expansions. And, at the same time, because of that sheen, that's also a limitation in a way - the expansion presets have a similar sheen that makes the sounds sit and sound differently than other synths - which can be a detriment, if it's not the particular sound/vibe one is going for.

Suffice it to say, the sounds are great, but also, because of the similarity of sound across the expansions, there's justification to owning other synths, particularly if you don't do sound design yourself. Avenger presets, by way of the sound designers, sound very different than say U-He presets for the U-He synths. Not better or worse, different. And so, it means picking the right presets/synth for the job.

[StardragonEX]

I haven't read all of the responses here, so sorry if I repeat something someone else has said already:

I think there's synths out there that can compete in the functionality of Avenger, although maybe not covering all of the functionality. But, where I think Avenger is unmatched is the expansion packs, as far as quality, for the genres of music its targeting with those packs.

It's not that all of the sounds within are overly complex, because most EDM sounds don't need to be. It's just that they're well done and boosted well with the effects within. So, you get very great sounding, highly polished sounds that are ready to go right into tracks.

Of course, there's other synths that you can argue have the same, but for the genres Avenger targets, I think the expansions are unmatched. They just plain sound amazing, in a way that I haven't heard from other synths' presets. Again, other synths sound as good as far as the base engine goes, it's just those expansions are perfect for the genres they target.

EDIT: And, I will defend the statement that it's targeting EDM, despite having expansions for other genres. Even those other packs have a certain sheen to them that fits into the EDM world, to me. The Avenger stuff sounds very very different than say, the Native Instruments (formally Maschine-only) Expansions.

Nice take too.

[OzoneJunkie]

Thanks - sorry I was continuing to edit/refine

[kvotchin]

I think I will save for some months then I will buy up to three of them.

Strongly suggest not doing that. Buy one (better yet, demo it for free first) and learn it inside out.

You only need one “supersynth” of that kind. If that.

Personally, I’ve cut down to zero do-it-all synths, but I can see the appeal of having *one*. Used to, in fact.

[Teksonik]

PS: CPU use is bananas but freeze and bounce are your friends .

Synths that don't require you to freeze and bounce are your true friends....