KVR Audio

Ghost Snake · Post by **Ghost Snake** » Wed Feb 12, 2020 3:02 pm

Apologize if this is a redundant topic, but yesterday I watched a CM tutorial by James Wiltshire that made me think :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCdD7SabVb8

I was 'shocked' by the results he got from Serum.

Now, I've been tinkering for a month with ARTURIA JUP-8 ....and I really couldn't justify buying it. I mean, it sounds OK !
But it's flat. It does't "cut through" (lack of A/D conversion ?).

So I was wondering, maybe there are 'better' alternatives, maybe some free plugins ? I've got Synth1 (bad preset management), Tyrell, and other freebies that lack that "wow" factor that I'm looking for.

What I really LOVE is when you can Spread voices and add Drift, to get a non-linear tone....

Here is the software I'm using at the moment :

Cubase Essential 10
Tyrell N6
Triple Cheese
Superwave synth Bundle
Ob-xd
SQ8L

empphryio · Post by **empphryio** » Wed Feb 12, 2020 4:32 pm

Look at the U-He emulations. Demos are free and don't end. They sound a lot better than my hardware. TAL UNO LX is also pretty good.

Ghost Snake · Post by **Ghost Snake** » Wed Feb 12, 2020 4:52 pm

thx I will check 'em out

Robmobius · Post by **Robmobius** » Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:34 pm

U-he is the way to go for vst analog. Not the cheapest but they are well worth the investment.

Ghost Snake · Post by **Ghost Snake** » Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:27 pm

After downloading Diva Demo, I can say that it's really impressive, especially the 'Modifiers' section where one can choose the Detune value of each individual voice plus the 'drift' function, not to mention the fact that is possible to choose between various filter modules (really handy). I'm not THAT impressed with its 'sound', it has a 'lo-fi' quality if you know what I mean, but still it would be a really good investment. Still open to suggestions, especially on Wavetable synths ( I'm into Tangerine Dream 80's / 90's style ).

mcbpete · Post by **mcbpete** » Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:36 pm

I'd second your Diva inkling - One of my best VST purchases and definitely one of the most used (Not sure what you mean by 'I'm not THAT impressed with its 'sound', it has a 'lo-fi' quality' though). If you're into wavetable though Serum is probably your best bet...

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:41 pm

Nevermind, think I got the question wrong.

Ghost Snake · Post by **Ghost Snake** » Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:57 pm

mcbpete wrote: ↑Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:36 pm I'd second your Diva inkling - One of my best VST purchases and definitely one of the most used (Not sure what you mean by 'I'm not THAT impressed with its 'sound', it has a 'lo-fi' quality' though). If you're into wavetable though Serum is probably your best bet...

Sometimes it sounds like there is a blanket on the highs. I hope I don't start a flame, it's just my impression. But I'd still buy it.
Maybe I prefer really bright / lush sounds

I love Serum, too bad it's a bit expensive

mcbpete · Post by **mcbpete** » Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:16 pm

RE 'Blanket on the highs' - Could be the presets you've heard all have one of the analogue modelled high pass filters on them, turning the filter to 'No HPF just feedback' you can definitely get nice blanket-free buzzes from it

(from around 0:45 of the video here)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhY3mbtQ13o

Echoes in the Attic · Post by **Echoes in the Attic** » Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:36 pm

Diva is a bit dull on the highs, but I just add an eq to boost some highs and it usually adds what I feel is missing when the filter is open. I think Repro nails it's analog counterparts even better. Repro and The Legend are mind blowingly realistic.

The other ones that are top of the crop for my are ME80, and Tal Uno and Bassline-101, Poly-Ana, OPX-Pro and ANA2 actually (even though it's not emulating anything specific).

By the way some of my favorite freebies for a surprisingly hardware like sound are Charlatan, Crust and PG-8X. If you like those early roland synths like the Jupiter, Charlatan does that very well. In fact it's very much like a jupiter but with ring mod inside of osc cross-mod. I much prefer it over the Arturia Jupiter. PG-8X is pretty authentic but the JX-8P was a thinner, less in your face synth anyways so might not blow you away. But worth having. Crust is mental, not like any hardware analog, but if you like Serum and more modern digital/hybrid synths you might like Crust, which just sounds huge. I'd watch some youtube videos on that one.

An don't forget to get some nice fee effects. Especially a good juno type chorus: OSL Chorus and TAL Chorus for sure. Then there's the Blue Cat free effects, the Soundhack effects, airwindows and lots more.

roman.i · Post by **roman.i** » Thu Feb 13, 2020 4:38 pm

You can make it not flat with a dynamic processor. If you think the sound of a specific vsti is interesting enough, then just process it, add some warmth, dynamics, eq. But in most cases it just doesn't sound natural and attracting. All these tricks are already included in professional presets, does it make them sound better? Yes, but does this make them sound wow? I don't think so. It's a very naive approach to think that some slight modulation will create a real analog sound. If you're getting "shocked" by Serum, you'll probably die from hearing an analog synth directly plugged in to your speakers/headphones.

Ghost Snake · Post by **Ghost Snake** » Thu Feb 13, 2020 5:54 pm

All good stuff, yeah I had already downloaded Charlatan and JX-8p and they are indeed punchy and lively, really nice sounding vsts.

ME-80,Repro, Crust, Poly Ana ,OPX-Pro, I've never tried, I will keep an eye on them . Of course one must not expect a plugin to sound like an Analog ( I have to say that Analogs have their disavantages as well, a plugin is very practical compared to a 'real' synth ).

I never though about adding Dynamic Processors to Synths, and it might be a really good approach ( I always tend to add Delay, Chorus and Reverb, but that's it ) to make things more lively.

legendCNCD · Post by **legendCNCD** » Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:08 pm

Diva, Omnisphere 2.5+ and Tyrell are really nice for that sound. Some of the mentioned synths dont cut it like they do, I guess its something to do with OSCs themselves..

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:15 pm

TBH, i never really got along with Tyrell N6, because I think its filter saturates too much with higher resonance. Hard to get some clean smooth tones out of it. Diva is better in that regard. IMO.

SLiC · Post by **SLiC** » Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:22 pm

Legend is also very good for real analogue sounds. I also still use my Behringer Model D, it sounds different, not necessarily better, it depends what sound you are looking for, raw, or more polished and processed. I still use my P8 hardware more than any other software or hardware synth for analog as to my ears that has a sound I like and easts no processor....My DM12 is also great, with the FX on it sounds a lot more like a very high quality VST (like DIVA) but again, with 12 note poly and no CPU use (reliable playing witout ever having to look at the CPU...thats worth something to me.

'Analog' sound from VSTs