Does any other VST sound as good as Sylenth?

[The Hamburglar]

For me it's all about the filters, I love setting the cutoff to velocity. I feel more in control than with any other soft synths.

[BONES]

That's also one of our most used tricks but I don't think Sylenth1 comes within a bull's roar of WaspXT for that kind of thing.
I just had a listen to those samples that aciddose mirrored and the first thing that struck me was they all sound like they have been run through an aural exciter in a very heavy-handed way. It wore off after the first few samples but I think that is more because my ears adjusted to it, rather than it not being there all the way through. Its kind of the same effect you get listening to something through Bose speakers - very unnatural and not nice at all.

[aciddose]

yep that's what i said about those clips, sounds like both a stereo effect and a heavy phaser/reverb of some sort.

you can still get the basic sound of the synth through it though if you can manage to ignore it, or get used to it as you said. i was hearing really bad, soft oscillators and something not-quite-right with the glide and envelopes but i wasn't sure if that was the synth or the effects over the top.

i'd say it's safe to bet it's the synth though based upon every other piece of software i've heard championed as the greatest thing ever. weird how it always turns out to be not-so-good. might be as you say, with all the marketing and hype, then all the investment put into it the result is just that it breeds fanboys.

[pdxindy]

okay, here is one attempt at sounding 'analog'. Recorded in realtime, no effects at all, except a limiter added. Just raw osc. Sorry it is a bit long by the time I tried various modulations...

http://draigathar.org/sounds/analog2.mp3

I was wondering, can Sylenth do this sort of self oscillation and audio rate modulation?

[Sonic Boom Samples]

I tried to like Sylenth1, I mean I don't dislike it, but it still sounds like a virtual synth to me.

I think acidose's synth is the closest to analog I've heard. But I also find that a lot of synth makers or people that make sounds for these synths think too much about BIG sounds that sound good on their own.

How many sound designers are pro producers/composers in their own right?

Where I'm going with this is that so many of these vsti synth sounds sound good on their own but fail miserably when mixing/composing. Now everyone here rips into Nexus..... but then Nexus isn't a synth, I mean it's just not a synth at all it's a play back sampler with a shed load of reverb slapped on every preset.......but......


When you turn the reverb off, just about every sound is totally useable and there is good reason for this. The Vengeance boys are top producers so they know what works in mix. For me, I allways have trouble with virtual synths, sure I can shoe horn them into a mix but for the exception of the Virus Ti (just sold mine actually lol) and sample based vst's I just don't get on with virtual oscilator based synths (vsti's).

This is my personal way of working, and suits my sort of music, it doesn't mean it's right for anyone else just me..... but Sylenth1 sounds like just about every other vsti but with a bit more presence.

If people are going to upload synth demo's do it without:

Limiters
Compressors
Reverb
Delay

once a synth sounds great without all these it will sound amazing with them. The Roland D-50 could get away with it because it was just about the first synth with samples and fx and it was the 80's reverb fest era anyhow

Slapping on oodles of reverb just screams of an ugly girl with shit loads of make up on he he.

[BONES]

When did analogue become a synonym for "good". Analogue is what it is. If you restrict the definition to good of emulating another thing from 30-odd years ago, how do you ever expect anything to move forward? Using my favourite, WaspXT, as an example, a well programmed digital synth will shit all over any navel-gazing analogue emulation, because all the effort goes into making it good, not trying to make it sound like something else.
I love the paradigm of the V/A synth but I look for a modern interpretation, not some slavish adherence to something I've been well and truly over for 25 years.

[aciddose]

one of the things i look at when playing with a synth is the "sounds" it can make, i'm not just talking the typical stuff here.

http://xhip.cjb.net/temp/public/tehsynth.mp3

this is xhip, no effects or anything.

anyway when you talk about synths and which is better or worse you have to be really specific about exactly what you're using it for. with the type of sounds i'm hearing in most of the sylenth demos i get the impression this is popular with the trance kiddies - lots of pads and noise combined with the plain lead sounds with some effects over them, a lot of that phaser stuff.

i wouldn't even begin to argue about a synth used for those purposes so, if that's what people are talking about when they say how great it is by all means they can have the medal in that category.

when people are mentioning "analog" though it really makes me wonder, what on earth are they comparing to in order to make these assertions like "most analog = X".

http://xhip.cjb.net/temp/public/pwm_invenv.mp3

[SadPuppyBlues]

Don't you DARE like something I don't.!

You're too much, kid.

[Chopper]

Don't you DARE like something I don't.!

You're too much, kid.

ho boy, HE is going to reply...

[dover666]

on topic BTW...
@bones i love that you of all people finally did something usefull with evem lightwave osc.. and so tastefully too i might add. how about a 4X size gui though... not being critical - i love your interfaces and i finally have a monitor i can use big synths on... it would be nice to see them in abject detail... cause yr synths are teh sexay!!! (soundwise and visually!!)

f**k these hatin ass little kids... they don't know diddly.
but at 189 bucks american... it might be worth looking into.
(but probably can't do half the shit oatmeal does)

[Nokenoku]

3) stating your case using a low-quality mp3 of some less-than-awe-inspiring trance presets?

Could we please, one and for all time, stop this bullshit finally?
Those were 320kbps MP3.

It's really funny, how everyone thinks he has the golden ears, but when it comes to an A/B test they all fail even with the direct comparison.

ok, first of all your demos are terrible. i'm not going to insult the composition, i'll just say i don't like it. most importantly though we're not wanting to hear your composition, we're wanting to hear the synth.

those demos are also layered with effects, are we listening to reverb, delay and chorus effects here or are we listening to a synth?

again, where are the synth sounds? why is every sound sort of raw and then passed through a complex effects chain? we're not even hearing any features of this so-called great synth in these demos.

last but not least, from what i can hear the synth is absolutely terrible.

Those demos are the pure synth. Just want to mention that again. Yes, it comes with a bunch of great effects.

And then, ok:
We know now, that you don't like trance. Fine.
But to say, this synth would sound terrible, is simply wrong.

Even with not liking the clean sound of a highend-VA, you should see, that this sound is quality-wise just great.
Or is a NordLead3 sounding horrible for you as well?

If not, your opinion about the Sylenth1 is very biased, if yes, you simply don't have a need for those kind of sounds. Fine, but this still doesn't make it horrible/terrible .. the sound is still pleasing to some unbiased ears.



About this "analog" sounding thing:

I think a lot of people say the Sylenth1 is analogue sounding, because of its clean sound ... no aliasing, no digital artefacts.

Other people rather search for "not-so-clean things" in a synth for the "analogue" sound.

The truth is, this stupid word "analogue" as a description of sound is simply unusable, since everyone has heard different analog stuff and has other expectations.
And it should never be used as a replacer for the word "quality".

[Sonic Boom Samples]

When did analogue become a synonym for "good". Analogue is what it is. If you restrict the definition to good of emulating another thing from 30-odd years ago, how do you ever expect anything to move forward? Using my favourite, WaspXT, as an example, a well programmed digital synth will shit all over any navel-gazing analogue emulation, because all the effort goes into making it good, not trying to make it sound like something else.
I love the paradigm of the V/A synth but I look for a modern interpretation, not some slavish adherence to something I've been well and truly over for 25 years.

Synths were built better then. Most stuff these days is cheap shite even modern analogs have to be built to a price to compete with virtual hardware synths and the latest analogs even sound too clean.

Hey if you can't hear it then....well....you can't hear it. It all depends on the sort of tracks you are writing. If you're writing 80's synth pop then vst synths aren't going to cut it, if you're writing 70's to 80's electronica vst's aren't going to cut it.

Modern music, yep they'll work great, I mean very few people are going to be able to tell a real Moog from Minimonsta in a pop mix, unless say it was a bass solo with vocal lol in which case it would stick out like a sore thumb.

It's funny how when digital synths started to overtake analog ones and the latest electronic artists started ditching the old synths for these new ones their music started sounding cold and more like lift music.

The same has happend with vsti's,I bit I tried it, but had to go back in the end to my old synths.

Bones as I've said before vst synths suit your type of music down to the ground, you would get no benefit from an old Arp 2600.... and no its not an insult

[dover666]

About this "analog" sounding thing:

I think a lot of people say the Sylenth1 is analogue sounding, because of its clean sound ... no aliasing, no digital artefacts.

Other people rather search for "not-so-clean things" in a synth for the "analogue" sound.

The truth is, this stupid word "analogue" as a description of sound is simply unusable, since everyone has heard different analog stuff and has other expectations.
And it should never be used as a replacer for the word "quality".

there are two sides to the realm of an analog signal in the realm of signals you hear and the perceived qualities which are desirable.

just to be clear.
the no aliasing / digital artifacts - well, analogue oscillators generally don't use wavelets to generate the sound so, yeah... you're right.
analog filters provide the same qualities to a signal.

drawback - damn things wear out and go out of tune. i love my microkorg.

now the other thing - "not-so-clean things" - you're talking vacuum tubes, right? cause i love my korg electribe sx... that i can send my micro korg and everything on my computer into....

mmmmm. warm. anyway... vacuum tubes and analog circuits are things a softsynth can't have until computers are analog (which may be happening sooner than you think) again.... i guess i'm probably going to stay up all day, so heres to the fresh pot of coffee and the walk to the store for cigarettes...

hope i didn't offend anyone, just trying to add constructively... and if anyone wants to donate into my prototype fund... pm me... i have a mailbox.

[Sonic Boom Samples]

Is it a proper tube i.e not one powered by 9volts and has a light behind it to make it look like the tube is glowing?

The tube needs a lot of voltage to sound nice

[whyterabbyt]

vacuum tubes and analog circuits are things a softsynth can't have until computers are analog (which may be happening sooner than you think)

can't wait...