KVR Audio

utopiainmind · Post by **utopiainmind** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 5:58 pm

Hi folks,
after more or less ten years I finally have the time to get back into music making and I'm quite overwhelmed by the abundance of plugins. Set aside the mandatory advice "try the demo", which I'll surely do, I need some suggestions for a VSTi.
These are the guidelines:

subtractive;
I don't care a lot about versality, I'd rather get a good simulation of analogue sounds;
friendly and streamlined UI.

So, to cut a long story short, I'm looking for a very good sounding analogue emulation VSTi that's all about ease of programming rather than flexibility. The music I'm mainly into is some kind of experimental ambient downtempo, think of Boards of Canada or Autechre.

Thanks everyone for any advice!

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 6:06 pm

For free: Tyrell N6. Payware: Diva. Both by u-he.

toine6 · Post by **toine6** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 6:13 pm

Start with this and consider searching for all the presets if you want them.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 6:30 pm

utopiainmind wrote:Hi folks,
after more or less ten years I finally have the time to get back into music making

utopiainmind wrote: So, to cut a long story short, I'm looking for a very good sounding analogue emulation VSTi that's all about ease of programming rather than flexibility.

Synth1 is a good synth, but there's plugins doing a much better job in analogue emulation.

Lotuzia · Post by **Lotuzia** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 6:39 pm

utopiainmind wrote:Hi folks,
after more or less ten years I finally have the time to get back into music making and I'm quite overwhelmed by the abundance of plugins. Set aside the mandatory advice "try the demo", which I'll surely do, I need some suggestions for a VSTi.
These are the guidelines:

subtractive;

I don't care a lot about versality, I'd rather get a good simulation of analogue sounds;
friendly and streamlined UI.
So, to cut a long story short, I'm looking for a very good sounding analogue emulation VSTi that's all about ease of programming rather than flexibility. The music I'm mainly into is some kind of experimental ambient downtempo, think of Boards of Canada or Autechre.

Thanks everyone for any advice!

You can visit this page on my site, where you'll find around 60 A/B comparisons clips between Xils-Lab Oxium synthesizer, and a real ..... Roland Jupiter 8. ( the 4 audio files are in the middle of the page )

Oxium/Jupiter 8 Clips

If then you're convinced by Oxium sound you can visit www.xils-lab.com and find more info about it ( Quite Affordable, rather cpu friendly, and indeed very versatile, with its double filter structure, and plethora of unique modulators etc. Also dongleless, only protected by serial )

LtZ

toine6 · Post by **toine6** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 6:58 pm

But it will get the job done fine.

You'd have to define analog for me. Yeah, there are great vintage synth emulations that are not stale and have character, if that makes it analog. But is my VA JP-8000 analog or is it digital? It's hardware, and goes analog into my computer. Is my Roland Juno 6 analog or do the DCO's make it digital/analog. My Prophet 600 has VCO's and character, so I'd like to call it analog sounding. But my Prophet 8 has DCO's and analog filter, so hybrid, but if I send it through my Sherman Filterbank, analog console, and tube preamp does it stay digital or turn analog? Is my Diva Vsti more analog than that? More analog than my mid 80's Korg EX-8000 digital/analog synth?

I don't exactly know what analog is entirely in a virtual synth, and that it's better than something non-analog. I mentioned the newer version of Synth 1 because I think it can sound great and gets more use than Diva over here (not a knock on Diva, which I like quite a bit). I understand many stale vst synths sound a little plastic and plain, but Synth 1 can sound pretty good if you use it right, send it out into the analog world and back for that extra spice.

Otherwise the consensus of today would probably recommend Diva, and that would be a good choice if you have the processing power.

mridlen · Post by **mridlen** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 7:17 pm

I always have to recommend my standby, MiniMogueVA-TD and MiniMogueLUXUS-TD (TD versions have selectable polyphony, oversampling, and zero delay filters). I use it in almost every song and it sounds quite good, and it's very straightforward to learn and use.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 8:22 pm

toine6 wrote:But it will get the job done fine.

Keeping in mind that the OP asked for a very good sounding analog emulation, it won't get the job done in this case. Honestly, there are much better plugins in that regard.

utopiainmind · Post by **utopiainmind** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:06 pm

Analogue can be a broad categorization indeed sometimes.
Thanks everyone for the advices!

Aubrey Lamont · Post by **Aubrey Lamont** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:38 am

Diva
Synth Squad
LuSH-101
Monark
TAL synths
Arturia SEM V

GaryG · Post by **GaryG** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 10:01 am

utopiainmind wrote: [*]subtractive;
[*]I don't care a lot about versality, I'd rather get a good simulation of analogue sounds;[*]friendly and streamlined UI.[/list]

I'd say Charlatan ticks all those boxes. 'Limited' only in the way an old analog synth would be (no multi-destination mod matrix, complex waveshaping, built-in effects etc).

Great for creating solid core sounds that can be further processed and warped (as the bands you mention would do).

http://www.blaukraut.info/

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:22 am

Too many suggestions already, IMO. The OP stated: "The music I'm mainly into is some kind of experimental ambient downtempo, think of Boards of Canada or Autechre."
So, googling for BOC, we have references to a Roland SH-101 and a Yamaha CS80 (which someone contested, identifying it as a Crumar). So, you have TAL Bassline-101 (the closest emulation of the SH-101 - Lush-101 can qualify here too), and for the Yamaha CS80, you have Arturia CS80v and Gunnar ME80.
Also, there are references that BOC are using NI, so, visit their site, and see what you have there. With Komplete, you can't go wrong

For Autechre, I suggest you read this: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr04/a ... techre.htm

Frequently, there's a lot more in the sound of a band, specially experimental ones, than just the "instruments". The production techniques and software like Max (used by Autechre) does a lot to the sound, perhaps more than the instruments themselves.

Aubrey Lamont · Post by **Aubrey Lamont** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 3:40 pm

fmr wrote:Too many suggestions already, IMO. The OP stated: "The music I'm mainly into is some kind of experimental ambient downtempo, think of Boards of Canada or Autechre."

You can have a BOC-inspired sound without using an SH-101 (emulation). Diva and Synth Squad (which can sound like an SH-101 anyway) would likely serve OP just as well as TAL or LuSH.

OP: Check out Audio Damage Axon for some crazy Autechre-inspired percussion!

Frequently, there's a lot more in the sound of a band, specially experimental ones, than just the "instruments". The production techniques and software like Max (used by Autechre) does a lot to the sound, perhaps more than the instruments themselves.

Agreed!

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 3:49 pm

Aubrey Lamont wrote:
fmr wrote:Too many suggestions already, IMO. The OP stated: "The music I'm mainly into is some kind of experimental ambient downtempo, think of Boards of Canada or Autechre."
You can have a BOC-inspired sound without using an SH-101 (emulation). Diva and Synth Squad (which can sound like an SH-101 anyway) would likely serve OP just as well as TAL or LuSH.

Both are more expensive and are worse on that specific task than Bassline-101

If he's just looking for THAT sound, he will be better served with my suggestion. IMO, of course

Now, if he wants MORE... I am into DIVA since the beta (I am one of the guys who did sounds for it). He can't go wrong with DIVA either, but I answered his specific demands, not more.

utopiainmind · Post by **utopiainmind** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:20 pm

Thank you all so much for all the details!

Generally, my approach is to start with very simple synthesized sounds: I used to rely on just on one or two very basic software synths. I'm more interested in what happens to the sound after it leaves the synth, so as long as I have a synth that I like how it sounds and that I find easy to program, I'm good to go.

So far I'm liking a lot the TAL products. Soon I'll be able to demo them on proper monitors and I'll make my call. Oh, and I'm totally into Audio Damage plugins: love them!

Thanks again!

Advice needed for a VSTi