What synth do you actually USE the most in your own music????

[theorize]

I can't put down HY-POLY, it's amazingly fun and I love the way most effect params are modulation destinations. I really like incorporating effects into sound design and nothing else that I know of does it like that. Well, except Bitwig, but the stock subtractive synth is kind of too limited and I don't always feel like busting out the grid. In Bitwig I most often use phase-4. But honestly, I've uninstalled most of my VSTi after spending like 10 hours with HY-POLY. The mod osc was just updated today using both waveshapes for FM which I'm loving. I don't actually use wavetables as much right now, I've been going back to subtractive sounds lately. I've also been making samples with PADsynth and throwing those into a sampler, that's pretty fun. Oh other than HY-POLY, I've been loading up PRISM sometimes, but it's kind of hard for me to use right now I need to spend more time with it and get a feel for all the params that are interdependent. It took me like two days to do a flute sound that I thought sounded good. You can get in the ball park really quick, but the tweaking can be endless.

[theorize]

Wow I see what the hype is about with ANA2, it looks pretty badass, it's hard not to make an impulse buy with that and seems like it would go alongside HY-POLY pretty well for when I need those kind of sounds. Kind of makes me want to sell my blofeld.

[slashcobain4]

Serum and Analog Lab for me

[Borellus]

Obsession has come to stay. Finds some work in every track. Other than that Psychic Modulation's Phonec has been the only other software synth that's in nearly every track. I've grown curious of The Legend and my old Arturia Mini V is shivering in the corner of the VST folder.

[MMaarrkk]

It depends on genre/project. But when I do something ambient or "orchestral", I tend to go for Spitfire Audio LABS. Just something about the simplistic design and pleasant (IMO) sound.

[damayor]

Which dune?

Any/all of them. I'm a Synapse beta tester so I get that stuff for free. I doubt I'd be willing to pay money for DUNE.

Ana is always the second one I load them pigments. I need to start diva more. I need to start using alot if my synths.

I bought ANA a few weeks ago and I can't get past the first preset - I've used it in about 6 songs already, after turning the effects down to acceptable levels, of course. We're working on an album of covers and I want to see if I can use that same patch on every song, just for shits and giggles.

Ana is amazing I could use just that and be content forever. Now, with dune 3 I get instant gratification when I go throught the patches. I'llalways find something. Only thing I hate is a the preset management. I have a lot of expansions and going through the clicking of menus to change expansions is annoying. Ana is more better in that regard. Pigments is awesome too but the GUI is overwhelming and too much clicking and clacking and I probably should watch some tutorials. I don't think I've ever read a manual on a synth I just click and clack on knobies and dodads until I say okay that knob is a betterizer lmao

[_leras]

Lately, mostly Rapid.

I have WAY too many synths. As an exercise, I'd like to do my own OSC, and do a track using only one synth (except for drums) with each of the major synths I own. If nothing else, it might precipitate a big sell-off (who am I kidding).

Here's my current list, not counting free synths. Almost everything was purchased on sale, over many years, but still...

Collections:
Arturia V 7
NI Komplete 12 Ultimate — Collector's Edition
Steinberg Absolute V3 (Halion, Padshop 2, etc.)
All TAL synths
All U-He synths
Melda MCompleteBundle (MSoundFactory and MPowerSynth)
Reason 11 Studio Edition

Individuals:
Aparillo
BioTek 2
Diversion
DS Thorn
Dune 3
Fabfilter One
Fabfilter Twin 2
Fathom
Kilohearts One
The Legend
ME80 v2
Xils miniSyn-X
OP-X Pro II
Phase Plant
Pigments
Poly-Ana
Rapid
Serum
Spire
Synthmaster 1
Synthmaster 2
Xils Sin-X 2
Xils PolyKB III
Ultra Analog VA-3
VacuumPro
Voltage Modular
VPS Avenger
Xils 3.2
Xils 4
Plus a couple of rack extensions for Reason:
Korg Mono/Poly
Blackpole Station

Except it's not even close. If you add up the full price of all those instruments, it might just be enough to buy a second-hand hardware workstation synth like a Triton, Fantom or Motif with a few bells and whistles. Music production used to be a money pit, now anyone can afford to get as deep into it as they want to.

?? You're kidding right. For the cost of all those you could easily get NI komplete and five of those vsts you'd easily have enough for a Moog 37 and pretty much another mono...

[WatchTheGuitar]

Kind of wierd to see that many soft synths and no u-he plugins. Repro and Diva are probably the last ones I'd sell if I had to.

[BBFG#]

Kind of wierd to see that many soft synths and no u-he plugins. Repro and Diva are probably the last ones I'd sell if I had to.

I still open Zebra HZ first. And about half the time, it's the one in the final. (I also still use Alchemy 1 about the same as well.)

Thing about Arturia for me is that when I try to use it specifically for synths, it doesn't work out for me. But when I use it for organs (including layering with the synths) it often finds its place.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Kind of wierd to see that many soft synths and no u-he plugins. Repro and Diva are probably the last ones I'd sell if I had to.

I still open Zebra HZ first. And about half the time, it's the one in the final. (I also still use Alchemy 1 about the same as well.)

Thing about Arturia for me is that when I try to use it specifically for synths, it doesn't work out for me. But when I use it for organs (including layering with the synths) it often finds its place.

I missed your mention of u-he in the 'collections' at the start of your list. D'oh!

[BONES]

Pigments is awesome too but the GUI is overwhelming and too much clicking and clacking and I probably should watch some tutorials.

Really? The GUi and workflow is the best thing about Pigments IMO. It's really well laid out and really well thought-out. I find it a joy to work with.

I don't think I've ever read a manual on a synth I just click and clack on knobies and dodads until I say okay that knob is a betterizer lmao

Never buy anything from Elektron. I took a week off work so I could study the manual on my Analog Keys and even then I only managed to get the basics down. I often go through the manual when I buy a new synth, as long as it's not too massive. Sometimes I find nifty features I doubt I'd just stumble upon by accident.

?? You're kidding right. For the cost of all those you could easily get NI komplete and five of those vsts you'd easily have enough for a Moog 37 and pretty much another mono...

Can't do much with two hardware monosynths. I was at least trying to find some hardware that would give you the same capability. Maybe Analog Four is a better fit but for the price of a Subsequent 37 you can have that plus a Model: Samples or Model: Cycles and an Analog Four will shit all over a Subsequent 37 (I have an Analog Keys and my band mate has a Subsequent 37). Expensive synths make the point a little better but I was trying to be reasonable because you don't have to spend Moog money to get amazing hardware.

Kind of wierd to see that many soft synths and no u-he plugins. Repro and Diva are probably the last ones I'd sell if I had to.

Mine would be Thorn (definitely) and maybe ArcSyn or Pigments. Pigments covers a lot of ground and maybe ArcSyn is a little too much like Thorn. It would be a tough call, thank Dog we'll never have to make it.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Mine would be Thorn (definitely)

This is the downside of buying too many damned plugins. I picked up Thorn as part of one of PA's big giveaway sales and paid about $15 for it. Spent about half an hour playing with presets and then it was on to the next thing. I really try not to have this mindset, but I swear if I'd forked out as much for it as I had for something by u-he or Xils I'd have shown it a lot more love.
Same with Lion, $25 or so and I've barely used it.

Right, that's on my list for this coming week - make a track with Thorn and maybe Lion.

[BONES]

The funny thing for me is that I don't really use Thorn all that much, for similar reasons - I am always buying new synths and trying them out - but I know that Thorn is still there, waiting patiently for me to realise that the latest and greatest can't touch it and that, in time, I'll be back to it.

I tell you what, though, I was playing with ANA 2 over the weekend and I got some absolutely huge basslines out of it and I can't wait to try a few of them out in songs. The thing with ANA 2 is that I bought it when I heard it was on sale, while I was at work, and literally forgot that I had for about a month, until I got a marketing email from Sonic Academy. At first I couldn't think how they got my email address but when I followed the link I remembered that I'd bought ANA. That's how bad my buying splurges get.

[discogsaddict]

Adam Szabo Viper is probably my most used go to for anything synth. Love the sound and the layout just works for me. I did used to own a virus c so it makes sense.
Also i notice many others tend to stick with sylenth, serum or spire. I like to be different.

For me, it's not about being different or similar, it's about sound.

I agree with you, but i understand discogsaddict's perspective.

I'm a bit like that with tracks when i was a DJ, but i'm not like that with my synth choices.

They all sound very good these days. I wasnt trying to offend or put down any users of those synths.
But yeah i guess it is similar to that dj mindset of finding more obscure tracks.
If within a genre you find most colleagues using the same tools or techniques, its nice not to follow the heard

[WatchTheGuitar]

The funny thing for me is that I don't really use Thorn all that much, for similar reasons - I am always buying new synths and trying them out - but I know that Thorn is still there, waiting patiently for me to realise that the latest and greatest can't touch it and that, in time, I'll be back to it.

Finally got around to starting a track using Thorn and wow it's lovely for pads, the MSEG sweeping filter reminds me of Hive and Zebra, but seems to give better results off the bat. Tinkering has begun...
https://soundcloud.com/user-470387013/thorn-mix-1-wip
...by which I mean generic dance service has resumed. I need to add several layers of otherness to it.

That's how bad my buying splurges get.

I have twice gone on Plugin Boutique, browsed the deals page and tried to buy the same sample pack I already bought from them. Twice!

I'm just thankful that if you've bought something from them and are logged in it warns you that you've already bought it from them and asks you "are you sure?"

I blame the people who gave the sample pack such a forgettable name.