Trying to decide on a "analog" VST synth (beginner)
- KVRAF
- 1574 posts since 19 May, 2011 from North Carolina
Another "vote" for U-he Diva, just because you get emulations of those iconic 70s / 80s analog synths in a package that is relatively easy to use for a beginner (you can ignore a lot of the tweak-able stuff), and if you want to experiment a bit, you can mix/match components without getting into audio routing and modular complexities. Of course it sounds great, and if it's heavy on your CPU you can dial it back to track, but render in higher-quality (an often overlooked but tremendous feature).
There are of course other great poly synths, but if you're purchasing just one for now, IMHO this is the most bang for the buck. Tons of presets also, plus great templates as starting points for building out those ubiquitous synths.
There are of course other great poly synths, but if you're purchasing just one for now, IMHO this is the most bang for the buck. Tons of presets also, plus great templates as starting points for building out those ubiquitous synths.
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- KVRAF
- 2989 posts since 5 Nov, 2014
I know these kind of threads can turn into "name your favorite synth" too quickly, but there's plenty to consider and not everyone sleeps here to know about them all.
Having said that, maybe look into not so complex, but capable stuff, like U-He Hive, Sonic Academy ANA 2 or even Synapse Audio Dune 3, all three have favorable CPU-outcome ratio, capable of giving you quite wide palette of sounds, both modern and vintage.
Having said that, maybe look into not so complex, but capable stuff, like U-He Hive, Sonic Academy ANA 2 or even Synapse Audio Dune 3, all three have favorable CPU-outcome ratio, capable of giving you quite wide palette of sounds, both modern and vintage.
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Distorted Horizon Distorted Horizon https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=392076
- Banned
- 3882 posts since 17 Jan, 2017 from Planet of cats
Ok. If you really want to spend money, I'd suggest that you go to IL store (or wait for a discount price from jrrshop or similar) and buy some native synth. They work best with fls.Aevor wrote: ↑Fri Feb 21, 2020 4:09 pmI have the FL Studio Producer edition.
When some synth is called cpu-intensive, what does that mean exactly? Like, I have a pretty powerful office laptop with an i7 chip and 8GB's of RAM, am I good to go with those specs, or should I stay away from the likes of Prophet or Diva for example?
OR
all-around workhorse synth that has everything built in.. Arturia pigments does wavetable, va and granular, Synthmaster does va, wavetables, additive, fm, vector, and next version should have granular too.
Otherwise I recommend that you'd get a few quality freeware synths and stick with those couple of years before wasting your money on something that you can get for free.
Uhe tyrell
Synth1
TAL freebies
Fathom mono
Those could get you far, but rather get one synth in each synthesis type.. One subtractive, one wavetable, one granular, one fm, one additive and one modular.
- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 27 posts since 21 Feb, 2020
Thanks for all the answers! I spent the last night fiddling around with UheTyrell and reading it's manual; very educating! I also tried out the demo version of Diva, and it does sound great but is really quite heavy on the chip... of all the Uhe demos I've tried Ace still sounds the best to me, but maybe that's just because of the presets are of a certain kind?
- KVRAF
- 7624 posts since 21 Dec, 2002 from MD USA
honestly, there are so many truly good free synths out there now. Personally though as far as paid, if I could only have one synth it was be Omnisphere. It is super pricey but worth it in my opinion.
my music: http://www.alexcooperusa.com
"It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am." Muhammad Ali
"It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am." Muhammad Ali
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Distorted Horizon Distorted Horizon https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=392076
- Banned
- 3882 posts since 17 Jan, 2017 from Planet of cats
+1
If I were starting now with the knowledge I have, I wouldn't buy any virtual synths.
Omnisphere is a good idea, you could also buy a DAW that has great tools built in.. For example Reason has everything you can imagine you'd need for years.
- KVRAF
- 2117 posts since 24 Feb, 2004 from Germany
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- KVRist
- 162 posts since 6 Oct, 2018
+1 for Divaperpetual3 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 21, 2020 1:12 pm If you have a thing for the DX7 sounds, Dexed is free.
I think that UHE Diva might be worth some serious consideration. If you’re not familiar it has a semi modular topology where the signal flow is fixed, but you can mix and match oscillators, filters, and envelopes from many iconic analog synths.
If that’s too expensive, I highly recommend the TAL plugins as well. As far as synths go, I really enjoy TAL mod, also a fixed signal flow synth but with some more flexibility and modulation options. Some have said it has a Rolandish sound. TAL also make some emulations.
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- KVRian
- 913 posts since 9 Aug, 2018
Code: algorithms and the like.
Either their own coding quirks (for their own sake, as it were), or the (largely subjective) accuracy of their emulations.
As for the latter, people are generally of the opinion that “near enough is good enough”. To each his or her own.
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- KVRist
- 126 posts since 27 Nov, 2018
You can't go wrong with U-He's Zebra 2. It is great fun and powerful, and there are lots of tutorials out there on it. However, since you have FL Studio, you already have a couple synths to play with! Every edition comes with Wasp for example (unless you are on a mac I guess?) .
EDIT: I re-read your post, and I missed this : "maybe do all of my music with that single synth". In that case the Zebra 2 would be my choice, unless you wanted to go for something with a sampling engine like UVI Falcon / Halion / Omnisphere type thing.
EDIT: I re-read your post, and I missed this : "maybe do all of my music with that single synth". In that case the Zebra 2 would be my choice, unless you wanted to go for something with a sampling engine like UVI Falcon / Halion / Omnisphere type thing.
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Distorted Horizon Distorted Horizon https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=392076
- Banned
- 3882 posts since 17 Jan, 2017 from Planet of cats
Msoundfactory over zebra any day.. Just made some insane sounds with.. I'm melting..
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- KVRist
- 126 posts since 27 Nov, 2018
Oh yeah that is a great synth too. I mean let's face it, it is not really possible to avoid Gear Acquisition Syndrome, so don't worry, whatever you buy will not be your only VST synthDistorted Horizon wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2020 7:30 pm Msoundfactory over zebra any day.. Just made some insane sounds with.. I'm melting..
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Distorted Horizon Distorted Horizon https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=392076
- Banned
- 3882 posts since 17 Jan, 2017 from Planet of cats
Second to that
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- KVRist
- 261 posts since 24 Jul, 2002 from Tennessee
In FL Studio, you already have the 3xOSC. It doesn't have the warmest oscillators but the SVF LP filter on it is great. Also nice is the phase randomization and stereo detune-ability of each oscillator. If you put a soft-clipper or a blood overdrive on it, you can get some thick analogish sounds out of it. The envelope shapes can be tweaked for nice percussive envelopes also.
For commercial stuff, Waves Element is a pretty decent synth for learning on. It has a simple 2 page gui with two oscillators and a good tone. It is laid out pretty easily in that not a lot of stuff is hidden.
Even though it's easy for learning it still has some power. There's 4 LFOs, 3 envelopes and a step-sequencer for modulation sources. It has distortion, bit crushing, reverb, delay, chorus, and eq for FX built in. Like most Waves products, it can be picked up for $29 during various sales throughout the year.
(Note: on my machine the gui is larger than this image. It is not resizable)
For commercial stuff, Waves Element is a pretty decent synth for learning on. It has a simple 2 page gui with two oscillators and a good tone. It is laid out pretty easily in that not a lot of stuff is hidden.
Even though it's easy for learning it still has some power. There's 4 LFOs, 3 envelopes and a step-sequencer for modulation sources. It has distortion, bit crushing, reverb, delay, chorus, and eq for FX built in. Like most Waves products, it can be picked up for $29 during various sales throughout the year.
(Note: on my machine the gui is larger than this image. It is not resizable)