Do you ever use a synth's own effects?

[Vectorman]

Often, yes. Obviously the effects are sometimes an integral part of why the patch hits you the way it does. I've tried to turn them off with certain patches and replace the internal effects with "better" reverb plugins or whatever, but just couldn't quite get the vibe of the patch back.

[omiroad]

I don't think there is much reason to use the built-in reverb in particular, unless you happen to like the sound of it.

[drdriller]

sure, i mainly design my preset out of any project with the synth in stand aleone without any external FX, then when i am in a project i may add a layer of fx or replace the onboard fx but usually i keep the preset like it was designed.

fxs are really part of a synth sound signature, who care if i don't get the most advanced reverb, phaser, flanger, chorus.. the one included do the job. (i use Serum, Sylenth1, Massive and FM8 they all have differents fx strentgh...)

the main external FX i often add is the melda multiband waveshaper, distortion module on my synth are always single band..

There's also no better onboard saturation effect than what i get out of NI Dirt, Klanghelm SDRR, or Wave Arts Tube Saturator Vintage. The closest is the saturation in NI's Monark, but, that's part of the synth, and no onboard effect.

Serum distortion include a waveshaper mode, so you can get any saturation/distortion/fuzz sound.

[zerocrossing]

As with everything, there are good and not so good examples of built in effects. Something like Mpowersynth has MXXX as its effect section and you’d be a fool to ignore it. A fool, I say!

Other synths... well... many seem like they get some effects tacked on because the developer felt they were supposed to include them. Those are usually the ones that get disabled and maybe replaced with a specialized plugin.

[Coda4]

Yes, some synths have really nice effects

[rustyvst]

All the time. I just make sure nothing sounds out of place when I mix the track.

[Auplant]

I do on condition that they do the job fine. I will nearly always use the synths filter, because I usually use the filter envelope.

[exmatproton]

As with everything, there are good and not so good examples of built in effects. Something like Mpowersynth has MXXX as its effect section and you’d be a fool to ignore it. A fool, I say!

Other synths... well... many seem like they get some effects tacked on because the developer felt they were supposed to include them. Those are usually the ones that get disabled and maybe replaced with a specialized plugin.

Yeah...powersynth is sick...awesome fx section for sure

[Weasel-Boy]

There are a few percussion presets in U-He’s Hive that cleverly use their reverb as the primary sound generator.

[bill45]

uhe zebra reverb. The efx in Syntronic and sampletank 4

[ckoe]

When the FX are good enough then I use these. If not, I use Insert FX Plugins. Never in my life I used SendFX, cause I didn't need it in a DAW.

[dune_rave]

Hm, I always use the included effects, arps, seqs if I can.
On the other hand nowadays I usually turn down the FM8 arp (because of the 64bit arp bug),
and use the Avenger ARP instead of that.
So I play FM8 with the arp from Avenger.

[simon.a.billington]

There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s quick convenient, often great sounding.

As for myself though, I tend to turn them down, simplify them or turn them off entirely. This is so I can look at the effects on the “mix level”, as part of the whole. I feel things have a tendency to get too washed out otherwise. Too many layers of effects across different instruments making them sound more diffuse in the mix. Not all the time, but it’s just a good workflow I’ve found that works for me.