Vangelis-style music : which setup ?

[synthlover]

Hello !

I need to compose a dozen tunes in a stye like Vangelis, sounds must be like his golden oldies "chariots of fire" and "antarctica" so for my need the most important factor are the lots of immersive synth brass, synth leads, and synth strings and a of course a realistic grand piano with eventually good string choirs and church choirs and church organs but that's just a plus.

Which setup should i choose ? i'm absolutely overwhelmed by all the soft synths and sound banks available nowadays, i stopped composing in 1999 and things have really changed in the meantime !

If possible i would pick up a complete solution, i've read about NI Komplete or ReFX Nexus for instance but really all i need is a total of maybe 20-25 convincing sounds + realistic orchestral drums.


Any feedback is very welcome !

[HunterKiller]

Those aren't even his goldie oldies, that's his middle period.

But here's a list that narrows things down for you:

For Brass:
1. ME-80 or CS-80V

For Synth strings:
2. Hollow Sun VP330

For Synth Choir:
3. Hollow Sun VP330

A great electic organ:
4. GSi VB3 or Linplug Organ 3

Pianos:
5. For Electric Pianos try: GSi MrRay73
For Grand Pianos try: Pianoteq, TruePianos. (Or huge libraries from East West and Ivory if you use money as toilet paper.)

Synth Leads, Bass, Effects
6. Pretty much any analog emu or all round synth out there. However some of the best are: DIVA, Oxium, Zebra

That's the VST world, there's a whole range of choices out there for each of these categories, including hardware solutions, but I've really narrowed it down for you. And given you the best currently available options with a reasonable price range.

You might also pick up the all important tape echo such as GSi Tape Echo GS-201 or PSP Echo

Reverb is also a huge element of the Vangelis sound, so try these: AAR, Lexicon 224 Digital Reverb from Universal Audio, Lexicon PCM Native Reverb, AriesVerb, 2CAudio Aether, IKM CSR. However, you can also do with free reverb for now, some of those are pretty serious investments for some people.

However, if you want a complete package, as in 1 VST instrument with effects as well, probably Spectrasonic's Omnisphere would cover all you needs very nicely. Nexus will give you so much pain for what you want to do, and NI's offerings don't cover enough. There is also a cheaper alternative to Omnisphere in Wusikstation and Wusik EVE.

Now go out and test the demos of each...

[synthlover]

wow !

i can't thank you enough ! i'm playing with demos all day ! Thanks a million !!

[Endor-8o8]

Don't forget the Valhalla Vintage Verb and Shimmer Verb !

[hotmitts]

Great list from Hunterkiller! There are some top quality freebies from GSi that are worth checking out.

[creativeforge]

Indeed, great list!

@synthlover:

I'm curious to hear how you're doing with your quest... What did you find?

Thanks!

Andre

[rylo]

hey synthlover , i use the ME80 , HOLOWSUN VP 330 , LOUNGE LIZARD , IMPOSCAR and the SPACE MASTER reverb in reaktor to make my vangelis style tracks . here is a link , hope you can have a listen

https://soundcloud.com/rylo-3/sets/vang ... yle-tracks



hope to hear your tracks soon . i love vangelis

[creativeforge]

Wow, Rylo, you are using the sounds very Vangelistically... well done!

Are these all VST plugins, or are there hardware synths in there?

Love listening to the sounds...

Andre

[rylo]

thanks creativeforge , yes its all vst . theres korg M1 vst in there too . id love a real CS80 but that aint happening without a lottery win and someone willing to sell

[creativeforge]

Tell me, those plugins,s where did you get them?

Here is rare footage (well now on YouTube) of Vangelis in his studio (in Paris?), a very good take of his set-up and how he improvises and travels his sound palette...



Regards,

Andre

[HunterKiller]

thanks creativeforge , yes its all vst . theres korg M1 vst in there too . id love a real CS80 but that aint happening without a lottery win and someone willing to sell

Are all those floating effects and little arps and bass all from Imposcar?

If so, you should do tutorials teaching people how to sound like 70's/80's analog, I mean, really well done!
That was the final element that made it all seem real.

Great work with Space Master as well. I see you've eq'ed the heck out of many of those sounds, to get them to sound like electronic music of the past, something often missed nowadays.

Timbrally you have the Vangelis sound down.

[rylo]

hi creativeforge ,



LOUNGELIZARD..http://www.applied-acoustics.com/
ME80 .........http://www.memorymoon.com/
VP330.........http://www.hollowsun.com/
IMPOSCAR......http://www.gforcesoftware.com/

I also use

OMNISPHERE....http://www.spectrasonics.net/index.php
ALCHEMY.......http://www.camelaudio.com/


I use these all the time

[rylo]

hey hunterkiller

most of the sounds are from the ME80 and the VP330 .I use the cs80v aswell but not as much . most sounds from all of the synths are just tweaked presets ( no major sound design going on here , thats an art IMO and i take my hat off to the people who can do that )Both imposcar and Alchemy make up the bulk of the sound effects but again just tweaked presets . i think with vangelis's music it's as much the style of playing as the synths used and effects added that make it what it is .



thank you for your kind comments

shaun.

[Ridlazz921]

Hi people.
Im new to this website, the reason why i joined you is because i love vangelis and want to try to recreate some of his sounds.

Could somone please tell me how to emulate this vangelis flute



I have tried many VSTs but havent found the right one.
Please help me