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

[Tannaliini]

This whole "analog hype" was mostly just marketing for offering products which do hardcoded what you already could do with the tools you had before...
There might be some exceptions though...
...

What devs you mentioned spent a lot time on is to nail the sound of special hardware that the digital part sound almost exactly like the original... respectively with the less amount of work for the user as possible...

Yes, that's exactly it. That's why I'm not interested in Phaseplant and similar. I like creating my own synth patches but i don't like when I have to create the character from the ground up - even if we assume it's possible, I just don't have enough time and experience for that. I prefer synths where everything has been already matched and fine-tuned by the developer to sound good.

TBH, i'm yet to hear a convincing audio example of Phaseplant. Sure, the possibilities are enormous but appearently becuase of that it also takes enormous time and effort to make something that sounds really good.

I am on the same boat with PhasePlant. It looks good, it seems it could make hugely different sounds... But when I went through the demo sound bank/presets I found many sounds sounding similar to each others. And when I tried to make my own sounds, they all ended up sounding pretty same (I have tried other much simpler synths offering less functions and I could get more versatile sounds out of them = but then again I am not sound designer so...).

I am not saying PhasePlant is bad synth, or the sound is bad. I am just saying it's not working for me - even though I was hoping it would

[audiot]

I would agree with the ratings, if the thread was called "How to completly take away the joy from a beginner"

Falcon? Seriously? Same for Zebra. I love Zebra but I wouldnt recommend it to a newbie. Zebra gets a bit more accessible with some alternative skins, but it's not the best option for starters.

I would recommend Serum. It's limited compared to others, but it's fun. UI, workflow and visual feedback are unmatched and the reason why Serum is so popular. It's used by a lot of pros and there are lots of tutorials. Most of the time you dont need 10 oscillators or layers to make a good sound.

[recursive one]

I would agree with the ratings, if the thread was called "How to completly take away the joy from a beginner"

Falcon? Seriously? Same for Zebra. I love Zebra but I wouldnt recommend it to a newbie. Zebra gets a bit more accessible with some alternative skins, but it's not the best option for starters.

I would recommend Serum. It's limited compared to others, but it's fun. UI, workflow and visual feedback are unmatched and the reason why Serum is so popular. It's used by a lot of pros and there are lots of tutorials. Most of the time you dont need 10 oscillators or layers to make a good sound.

Spot on!

Seems that a big part of KVR users has some kind of feature list length feitsh. Only two oscillators in Serum - nah, too limited, Zebra can't import samples - nah, too limited. Some people might indeed have exhausted the possibilities of "normal" 2-3 osc synths with fixed architecture but this takes years of specializing on sound design.

In fact I think any of Dune3, Serum, Rapid will be enough to keep anyone busy for years. I'd probably wouldn't want to have Serum as my only synth but this depends on the genre and the individual sonic preferences, it's a very flexible synth indeed.

[chk071]

TBH, I think the OP should make his homework, and stop reyling on other's opinions. It's the worst experience I ever made -> making buying decisions made on other's opinions. Really bad. You will never be happy that way, unless you have no demands at all.

There are demos for the most if not all of the mentioned synths available.

[fmr]

There are demos for the most if not all of the mentioned synths available.

There isn't for Falcon... but he can't be wrong with Falcon.

There is another option not included, that I would mention: HALion. I can't understand why HALion is always absent in these kind of lists. It is the only one that can fight with Falcon shoulder to shoulder.

[audiot]

I would agree with the ratings, if the thread was called "How to completly take away the joy from a beginner"

Falcon? Seriously? Same for Zebra. I love Zebra but I wouldnt recommend it to a newbie. Zebra gets a bit more accessible with some alternative skins, but it's not the best option for starters.

I would recommend Serum. It's limited compared to others, but it's fun. UI, workflow and visual feedback are unmatched and the reason why Serum is so popular. It's used by a lot of pros and there are lots of tutorials. Most of the time you dont need 10 oscillators or layers to make a good sound.

Spot on!

Seems that a big part of KVR users has some kind of feature list length feitsh. Only two oscillators in Serum - nah, too limited, Zebra can't import samples - nah, too limited. Some people might indeed have exhausted the possibilities of "normal" 2-3 osc synths with fixed architecture but this takes years of specializing on sound design.

In fact I think any of Dune3, Serum, Rapid will be enough to keep anyone busy for years. I'd probably wouldn't want to have Serum as my only synth but this depends on the genre and the individual sonic preferences, it's a very flexible synth indeed.

... yes, sometimes I have the feeling that a lot of threads turn into "name your favorite plugin" regardless of the topic And yes, sometimes 2 oscilators are not enough, but there are enough options for modular synths.

[Hadrondrift]

I can't understand why HALion is always absent in these kind of lists.

Dongle maybe. HALion is on par with Falcon, but not a synth for beginners.

[fmr]

I can't understand why HALion is always absent in these kind of lists.

Dongle maybe. HALion is on par with Falcon, but not a synth for beginners.

Dongle cannot be an answer - Falcon also uses a dongle. And neither of them is for beginners (as Avenger also isn't)...

[teilo]

I can't understand why HALion is always absent in these kind of lists.

Dongle maybe. HALion is on par with Falcon, but not a synth for beginners.

Dongle cannot be an answer - Falcon also uses a dongle. And neither of them is for beginners (as Avenger also isn't)...

I have Halion. I find it much more difficult to use than Falcon. Even making sense of expansion packs is more trouble than it should be. The UI is a bit of a hot mess. If they put some time into improving the UI, I'd probably reach for it more.

But, of course, neither is for beginners.

[chk071]

Isn't it awesome that you get a thumbs down when you suggest to use your own head?

[starflakeprj]

I just realized I own all the synths above, except MSoundFactory. I have had some Melda plugins before, like MPowerSynth and a couple of effect plugins. Boring GUI, but really powerful. A pain to sell second hand though, since you often need to go below 50% of full price to sell them. Ha the chance to buy MSoundFactory at €75, but GUI and second hand value stopped me.

My votes goes to RAPID, Falcon and Icarus 2. RAPID and Icarus 2 are really CPU friendly, Falcon really is not, but of course depends on how you program it. You can to a pretty straight comparison between Falcon and HALion, they are similar in many ways, and I own HALion as well, but HALion is a pain programming compared to Falcon.

The order I'm using them in:

1. Icarus 2
2. Icarus 2
3. RAPID/Falcon

Ps. RAPID can't be sold second hand at all, so you might take that into consideration as well.

[audiot]

Isn't it awesome that you get a thumbs down when you suggest to use your own head?

I always get a thumbs down when critizising Falcon.

Lets try this again ...

Falcon is as much fun as Microsoft Excel

[starflakeprj]

Isn't it awesome that you get a thumbs down when you suggest to use your own head?

I always get a thumbs down when critizising Falcon.

Lets try this again ...

Falcon is as much fun as Microsoft Excel

I love Excel!

[StardragonEX]

Hardly anything is as versatile as Avenger, but i'd say Falcon 2 definately can do even more. As some people said, it's got a steep learning curve, but once you get used to it it's super powerful. Has the best effect section of any synth out there i think. They could sell this effects suite alone for 200+$ i believe...
What also makes it stand out is that it's a full sampler for multi-sampled instruments, comparable to Kontakt.

A bit less versatile but still awesome synths with tons of functions: Omnisphere 2 and Pigments 2.

Nice, It's difficult to see what Falcon 2 does without a demo, so it's nice to know a little about it. Thanks.

[Hadrondrift]

I have Halion. I find it much more difficult to use than Falcon. [...] The UI is a bit of a hot mess. If they put some time into improving the UI, I'd probably reach for it more.

So maybe the GUI is the reason, why HALion is always absent in these kind of lists? I have HALion 6 and agree, the GUI is not very appealing, to say the least. At first glance, Falcon looks more user-friendly. But I was told that in detail the operation is also somewhat fiddly.