Best all rounder VST rompler compared to HW?

[GRUMP]

Yes, got once XPand for 1$ and Air Hybrid for 4$. Was a no-brainer. For their age and price they sound surprisingly good and they have good bread & butter soundset.

On the other side I am not sure, if it is a good idea to still use romplers today (or SW equivalent). This is a 90ies thing where memory was expensive and technical possibilities were more limited. Today the better option is to use a sampler and get an appropriate library for it, I would say.

Both have pro's and con's. Their own Structure. Possibilities. FX. Sound.

ROMplers are better integrated. Samplers are more flexible.

But none of the known even comes close to a Wavestation for Example. And Triton is Triton and sounds Triton and not Kontakt.

Btw those 60s analog Synths are loved again today. Everything comes again. And again. Especially If it has unique Characteristics.

[rafa1981]

Jazzguitar, E-Mu Proteus VX is free and comes with a lot of sounds. I don't have the link, but I think I got it from the Wayback machine.

[Etienne1973]

Jazzguitar, E-Mu Proteus VX is free and comes with a lot of sounds. I don't have the link, but I think I got it from the Wayback machine.

https://web.archive.org/web/20130317080 ... proteusvx/

[mrsugmad]

Jazzguitar, E-Mu Proteus VX is free and comes with a lot of sounds. I don't have the link, but I think I got it from the Wayback machine.

https://web.archive.org/web/20130317080 ... proteusvx/

The webpage doesn't say; it this 64bit?

[Etienne1973]

Jazzguitar, E-Mu Proteus VX is free and comes with a lot of sounds. I don't have the link, but I think I got it from the Wayback machine.

https://web.archive.org/web/20130317080 ... proteusvx/

The webpage doesn't say; it this 64bit?

32Bit. AFAIK never got 64Bit. Ancient software released 2006. But an original E-mu for free. Tip: 64Bit Windows OS and Proteus VX

[SamDi]

Yes, got once XPand for 1$ and Air Hybrid for 4$. Was a no-brainer. For their age and price they sound surprisingly good and they have good bread & butter soundset.

On the other side I am not sure, if it is a good idea to still use romplers today (or SW equivalent). This is a 90ies thing where memory was expensive and technical possibilities were more limited. Today the better option is to use a sampler and get an appropriate library for it, I would say.

Both have pro's and con's. Their own Structure. Possibilities. FX. Sound.

ROMplers are better integrated. Samplers are more flexible.

But none of the known even comes close to a Wavestation for Example. And Triton is Triton and sounds Triton and not Kontakt.

Btw those 60s analog Synths are loved again today. Everything comes again. And again. Especially If it has unique Characteristics.

Are Korg Wavestation and Triton actually romplers? It hought they were rather regarded as synth(Wavestation) or workstation(Triton)?

Prototype for typical Romplers I regard the Roland JV series. And I have to admit, that for me, they are a kind of negative connoted, because the typical use-case was (or is) for "chart-producers" who needed a quick and easy solution to get sounds und produce hits in series manner in their hit factory.

So we need to define, what "rompler" means, especially because today ROMs beside embedded are rarely used. A rompler for me is a music instrument, which offers "ready to produce" bread and butter sounds without the need to put many effort to make them yourself and where the opportunity to change the sounds is kind of limited (in opposite to full-blown synths) and where it's typical to extend the number of sounds just to buy them.

BTW, one of the "best" VST instrument, following this approach today, I would regard Nexus. Wondering, that it was not namend in this thread. I think they make it fairly good (what I see in YT videos, don't own for myself)

[kvotchin]

In my opinion, there’s no need to go beyond a freeware SFZ “synth” wrt rompler duties.

It’s what I use, in fact.

[Etienne1973]

In my opinion, there’s no need to go beyond a freeware SFZ “synth” wrt rompler duties. It’s what I use, in fact.

Where do you get good, free SFZ content from? What do you recommend? Some special links not obviously easy to find via google?

[e-crooner]

Hi, just right now there is some bunch of sales in plugin boutique. There is Xpand! 2 and AIEP3 in $ 14.99 and $ 74.99 respectively. Despite the very good offer I have to take care of my money since I am in a country under extreme dictatorship and the budget is barely enough to eat.

I wanted to ask advice if it would be worth waiting for the next big sale like black Friday. I saw Xpand!2 for around $ 6 last year. Maybe there could be better deals like that in BF sales? better even, I would have time to save some more pennies. Please advise me what to do. Thanks!

I still have a spare code for Xpand2, you can have it for free if you want.

[GRUMP]

Yes, got once XPand for 1$ and Air Hybrid for 4$. Was a no-brainer. For their age and price they sound surprisingly good and they have good bread & butter soundset.

On the other side I am not sure, if it is a good idea to still use romplers today (or SW equivalent). This is a 90ies thing where memory was expensive and technical possibilities were more limited. Today the better option is to use a sampler and get an appropriate library for it, I would say.

Both have pro's and con's. Their own Structure. Possibilities. FX. Sound.

ROMplers are better integrated. Samplers are more flexible.

But none of the known even comes close to a Wavestation for Example. And Triton is Triton and sounds Triton and not Kontakt.

Btw those 60s analog Synths are loved again today. Everything comes again. And again. Especially If it has unique Characteristics.

Are Korg Wavestation and Triton actually romplers? It hought they were rather regarded as synth(Wavestation) or workstation(Triton)?

Prototype for typical Romplers I regard the Roland JV series. And I have to admit, that for me, they are a kind of negative connoted, because the typical use-case was (or is) for "chart-producers" who needed a quick and easy solution to get sounds und produce hits in series manner in their hit factory.

So we need to define, what "rompler" means, especially because today ROMs beside embedded are rarely used. A rompler for me is a music instrument, which offers "ready to produce" bread and butter sounds without the need to put many effort to make them yourself and where the opportunity to change the sounds is kind of limited (in opposite to full-blown synths) and where it's typical to extend the number of sounds just to buy them.

BTW, one of the "best" VST instrument, following this approach today, I would regard Nexus. Wondering, that it was not namend in this thread. I think they make it fairly good (what I see in YT videos, don't own for myself)

You´re right - we´d have to define it. But the Term Rompler usually [...] refers to a Wave Memory ("Samples") instead of Oscillators.

And the Wavestation as well as Triton have thousands of Sounds implemented. They sold seperate Memory Cards back then.

Concerning your negative View on Romplers: I suppose you were too young in the 90s to remember what People did with those Machines. I want to make it short: I have mentioned the Difference towards what we usually call a Synth already - and that is the only one. It´s often no fun really, especially with small Displays and Buttons, but you can - and should - get creative with them. The results are worth the Effort - and the Sound plays in an other League. Romplers usually have 4+ Layers and Options that no other Synth can offer. The Companys did a lot back then to make them attractive. Me personally - I frequently ROFL when I hear what People call a "Pad" today. Or a "rich" Sound". LOL. But yes - they have many Presets ready for the Lazy.

[SamDi]

You´re right - we´d have to define it. But the Term Rompler usually [...] refers to a Wave Memory ("Samples") instead of Oscillators.

Yes in earlier times for these synths it was easy because it was more black and white. Today we have wavetable oscillators, granular synthesis, sampler/synth hybrids aka Falcon, all reading from a wave memory, but not usually called rompler. So the classification for today's instruments (I mean VSTs ) as rompler means rather a synth which you just use for "read only" patches instead of saving them.

Concerning your negative View on Romplers: I suppose you were too young in the 90s to remember what People did with those Machines

Yes, that's true. What did they with those machines?

The results are worth the Effort - and the Sound plays in an other League. Romplers usually have 4+ Layers and Options that no other Synth can offer.

Do you have some good music examples, where this kind of sounds are extensively used?

Are these old romplers used in some today's genres or is it rather found now for "oldschool" music?

[Etienne1973]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YFOzuxQxlE
Korg Wavestation from the 90s presented in video above. Sample wave rompler by definition. Nonetheless a very capable synth with a soul.

No replacement for bold thick sounding analogue synths. WS has a digital but still warm basic sound character in my ears.

Interesting evolving soundscapes, so easy to create, thanks to vector synthesis concept, the Wavestation is still king. Even today IMHO.

[yul]

Nice to see this thread going! I still haven't made up my mind on anything yet.

I DO have the Wavestation VST that I play around quite a lot. Loving the tones. I have a blank patch ROM that I can go crazy with.

Cheers

[Etienne1973]

I do have a Casio CT-X5000 and K4R which are quite nifty but maybe not at par with a Korg Krome or modern Roland or Yamaha.
...
My interests are bread and butter, orchestral, synths, drums/perx, fx suitable for electronic, pop, ambient and darker stuff.
...
looking for some good stock sounds that can save me time as well.

Another vote for Steinberg Halion Sonic 3. IMO best bet as we speak b/c you are looking for an up to date modern sounding software workstation.

Nice to see this thread going! I still haven't made up my mind on anything yet.

Did you already demo Halion? 30 days fully functional. I did. Remember how cohesive all sounds fit together w/o even had to mix big time. Level and pan adjustments only. Ideal for composing and not only sketches and layouts.

[kavin2134]

IMO the best one is omnisphere. Has like thousands of sounds ready to go. Most old romplers like the m1 and the wavestation, etc came with a synth engine built in as well, and omnisphere is the most close to that , except that it has a monster synth engine capable of almost everything youd need under it. Good luck.