Arturia Collection or Uvi VV2

[egbert101]

No idea why people are recommending Falcon.

Sounds like Arturia are exactly what you're after. Be warned, they're not perfect, they are not identical to the original but close, and have the spirit of the originals. Their later products are better than their earlier ones, for example the digital synths DX7, CMI, Synclavier, and analog SEM, for example. I find the older CS-80 particularly satisfying, but that's my own personal opinion.

Basically Arturia provide everything you want to get started with a vintage sound, and there is always the chance to upgrade to future versions if you do go for the V Collection 6.

For more specialized emulations and higher quality, you might have to go elsewhere, but you won't know that until you know exactly what you want.

[thecontrolcentre]

For "authentic" analog sound, I'd say Uhe, G-Force & Xils Lab synths are the way to go ...

[AdvancedFollower]

I have the Arturia V Collection 6 and absolutely love it. You get a very varied and interesting collection of 21 synths, from sought-after analogs like the Prophet 5 and CS-80 to purely digital ones like the DX7. Since they are not ROMplers, but actual re-creations, all the parameters can be edited just like the originals.

They are not the absolutely best emulations available, but they have a bit of an undeserved poor reputation IMO. They sound fine and get the job done. You could buy all the top-of-the-line emulations separately from U-He, TAL, Xils, Sonic Projects, NI, Synapse, Roland, G-Force etc. (which I have done in a few cases), or even go for hardware synths, but that's going to cost a lot more than the V Collection, which is frequently on sale (bought it for €249). The V Collection is a great starting point.

From UVI, I only have the Synsations collection, which includes stuff like the D50 and M1. It doesn't make sense IMO to sample analog synths, since so much of the fun comes from making your own sounds, not just playing back presets. However when it comes to digital synths, it was much more common to use presets, because those synths were more difficult to program, and often relied on PCM samples anyway.

[dangayle]

They are not the absolutely best emulations available, but they have a bit of an undeserved poor reputation IMO. They sound fine and get the job done. You could buy all the top-of-the-line emulations separately from U-He, TAL, Xils, Sonic Projects, NI, Synapse, Roland, G-Force etc. (which I have done in a few cases), or even go for hardware synths, but that's going to cost a lot more than the V Collection, which is frequently on sale (bought it for €249). The V Collection is a great starting point.

Like I mentioned, the DX7 plugin is definitely than the original, and now arguably, the Synclavier and the Fairlight are better than the originals too. Not sure of the Buchla, but that's such crazy beast anyway. These are literally the top-of-the-line emulations to be found, anywhere.

[dangayle]

dp

[DjCiccillo]

I strongly suggest to try U-he Diva.Maybe after that you don t need anything.

[UnWorldly]

I have both. I think you should get one or the other but I couldn't tell you which. Gun to my head if I had to keep only one it would be UVI only because I have a linnstrument and it does MPE. Both is just way too many synths. I also have NI Komplete and a yamaha montage, plus all the included stuff within fl studio and cubase. I don't have enough space in my head to know when to reach for which plugin, my comfort zone is limited to only a few instruments and the rest go unused. I keep lots of spreadsheets and notes but building an awareness of my collection and its various uses is going to take years at this rate.

If you're really enthusiastic, you can probably maintain in-depth knowledge of maybe 5-10 synths at a time depending on your head and the complexity of the instruments. Most of us are probably best served with only 2-3. Right now my own head only fits maybe montage, falcon, cs80v, zynaddsubfx, fm8. It's a stretch to say that I'm good at all of them, I can 'get by' okay though. There are parallels between different synths but the knobs are always in different places and often called different names, some things are just wild departures from the usual (the buchla v plugin for example).

I've always wondered just how many of these synths a full time working producer actually uses. It is very tempting to trim down to just a couple instruments and sell the rest.

[DjCiccillo]

I have both. I think you should get one or the other but I couldn't tell you which. Gun to my head if I had to keep only one it would be UVI only because I have a linnstrument and it does MPE. Both is just way too many synths. I also have NI Komplete and a yamaha montage, plus all the included stuff within fl studio and cubase. I don't have enough space in my head to know when to reach for which plugin, my comfort zone is limited to only a few instruments and the rest go unused. I keep lots of spreadsheets and notes but building an awareness of my collection and its various uses is going to take years at this rate.

If you're really enthusiastic, you can probably maintain in-depth knowledge of maybe 5-10 synths at a time depending on your head and the complexity of the instruments. Most of us are probably best served with only 2-3. Right now my own head only fits maybe montage, falcon, cs80v, zynaddsubfx, fm8. It's a stretch to say that I'm good at all of them, I can 'get by' okay though. There are parallels between different synths but the knobs are always in different places and often called different names, some things are just wild departures from the usual (the buchla v plugin for example).

I've always wondered just how many of these synths a full time working producer actually uses. It is very tempting to trim down to just a couple instruments and sell the rest.

Hell yeah man you re perfectly right!I own so many plug in and just get confused every time I need to use.Best just have a couple of them and focus on something else.