Why do I seem to like free synths better ?

[dellboy]

What is the JUN 21? I am not familiar with a plugin of that name?

Sorry, i misspelt it, it should be "JUNE21" vst. Its an emulation of the Roland Alpha Juno 1 and 2. I have a hardware Alpha Juno 2, and I have done a side by side comparison and its pretty good. Not totally spot on with my machine, but pretty good. Its open source as well.

Of course the Alpha Juno is a pretty simple one OSC synth with PWM and Sub, but it is still capable of a wide variety of timbres. I like it. Its well worth the download in my opinion.

https://mikerodd.github.io/june-21/

[jancivil]

Limitations stimulate creativity.

or the thing may just not do the job one wants

Its not a myth, its a technique!
I'd think 'a technique' is specific. it's a concept, a rather unspecified concept and here it was stated with no qualification, as through itself having less is stimulating. It can be, but when one has a focused thing in mind, not stuck for an idea but _has an idea_, which may be an idea with some experience behind it, the tool may not be the tool for the job and this activity trying to make it work a waste of time.

[fmr]

i can relate. i have Vital, Serum, Falcon, Surge and i mostly use Vital and Surge.

And why do you use Vital more than Serum? They are so much alike that I wonder what may someone privilege one over the other.

I understand that you may find Falcon hard. It is hard, but it pays when we are willing to travel the extra miles.

[rj0]

Somehow I don't see paid versus free the consideration as much as complex versus simple. It's much quicker and easier to master a simpler synth, and know how to quickly dial it in for a particular sound.

[BBFG#]

Why?
Simply put, "subjective personal preference."
I have most of those free or cheap plugins as well and they are mostly good. However, none of them have the "grab factor" that inspires me.
So I continually go back to and use Zebra 2/HZ the most for an individual synth.
In fact, all the "free and almost free" synths generally sit in a folder after the initial playing regularly from installing - until I send them to a back-up drive to clear unnecessary clutter for me.

But again, that's just my "subjective personal preference."
So when suggesting plugins to a neophyte before GAS, I always start by listing the free...
Cost is at most, secondary in comparison to what it does for each of us. As for me though, it's been more true that "you get what you pay for".

[glokraw]

To the extent that 'time is money' in a given situation, If I needed to produce something
on the quick, with synth, samples, drums and guitar, the combo of Yoshimi synth,
DecentSampler, Hydrogen drums, and rakarrack for multi multi-effects would be my first choice. Free, but that's generally a linux only combo, and only an experienced or lucky shopper could compete finding windows-plugins with such sound quality and capabilities for under $100

So in windows, I'd choose Sonik Synth 2, DecentSampler, StiX for drums, and Guitar Rig for multi-effects, which is mostly the same workflow, 16-layer multi-timbral synths, simple load and play sampler, grid-and-pattern based drums, with guitar rig using a vertical rack vs rakarracks 8-effects per panel gui. One could use StiX-CM, and Guitar Rig Player to cut costs, and if lucky, find an old IK account with Sonik Synth included for sale.
I really prefer compact multi-timbral synth gui's over many multiple synth instances
of glorious gui's to achieve sounds in the same ballpark. But luckily there are hundreds of ballparks for the diversity of needs and preferences. and I admit it it just feels good to use glorious synth gui's, and their mostly great sounds
(when time is not quite money )
Cheers

[chk071]

Somehow I don't see paid versus free the consideration as much as complex versus simple. It's much quicker and easier to master a simpler synth, and know how to quickly dial it in for a particular sound.

Sure, but, it can be quite a pain to always hit limitations.

On the other hand, I'm rather a horses for courses type anyway. There are different synths which work well for different tasks, so, I just reach for the one which is most fit for the task at hand.

[Teksonik]

the tools do not create

Of course not so limiting your tools has no effect on creativity. Thank you for reinforcing my point....

I've just never bought in to the theory that less is more or limitations make you more creative. If someone needs limitations to be creative......

[Teksonik]

The more colors an artist has on his palette the more creative he can be when painting a masterpiece.

You obviously don't paint. Artists commonly recommend a limited palette.

Sure, limit an artist to the color blue and ask them to paint a fiery sunset.

Limitations are just that.....limitations. They bring no advantage.

If someone suffers from paralysis of choice that's another matter altogether....

I want all the colors of the spectrum when I paint with sound. Mainly because I strive to paint a different picture every time.

[glokraw]

In synths, limitations might inspire someone so inclined to learn sound design/synthesis, and to maximize the capabilities available, but then the gaseous side effect would be to expand the number of limited synths in the arsenal, so there would be more to explore and learn. Assimilation can be a happy downfall...

[rj0]

Somehow I don't see paid versus free the consideration as much as complex versus simple. It's much quicker and easier to master a simpler synth, and know how to quickly dial it in for a particular sound.

Sure, but, it can be quite a pain to always hit limitations.

On the other hand, I'm rather a horses for courses type anyway. There are different synths which work well for different tasks, so, I just reach for the one which is most fit for the task at hand.

Agreed. Limitations can motivate one to learn more complex synths. Then again, specialty synths are often less complex than more ambitious synths, so expanding one's source types doesn't always mean moving to more complex.

[zerocrossing]

Question:
I just seem to feel more at home with free and very cheap stuff. Strange - eh ?

Because you are stingy and do no like to support developers?
Asking for a friend...

Bernie Bro.

[zerocrossing]

The more colors an artist has on his palette the more creative he can be when painting a masterpiece.

You obviously don't paint. Artists commonly recommend a limited palette.

Sure, limit an artist to the color blue and ask them to paint a fiery sunset.

Limitations are just that.....limitations. They bring no advantage.

If someone suffers from paralysis of choice that's another matter altogether....

I want all the colors of the spectrum when I paint with sound. Mainly because I strive to paint a different picture every time.

I’m the same, but I get the allure of having a simple but good sounding instrument and focusing one’s creativity on more traditional compositional elements. I look at my brother. He’s had the same Motif based Yamaha keyboard forever. I’m sure he never programs a single preset on it. He’s got one guitar that goes into his only amp. He’s got one bass that he goes direct into his Presonus interface that he’s also had forever. He never seems to be remotely interested in new sounds at all, yet he writes music all the time. Must be nice, but I wouldn’t be happy that way.

[3lu5iv3]

i can relate. i have Vital, Serum, Falcon, Surge and i mostly use Vital and Surge.

And why do you use Vital more than Serum? They are so much alike that I wonder what may someone privilege one over the other.

I understand that you may find Falcon hard. It is hard, but it pays when we are willing to travel the extra miles.

i use Vital more cuz it has a standalone version. i can easily run it and make a preset with it but
Serum needs the DAW. Falcon is great no doubt but it has a sophisticated workflow. i use it sometimes but not as much as i would like.

[dellboy]

I'm going to offer a viewpoint that may not be agreeable, and I will concede that it's subjective and relative, but:

If you have 'enough' money/income, there's no real monetary difference between free and retail, and so in this scenario, the contrast disappears.

If I were very rich would I buy every commercial synth that exists ? No

I once had a conversation with a rich businessman about his wealth, and basically he was careful with his money. His explanation was that people who come into money often lose it all again. Its not so much about getting money, but hanging onto it, that's the trick. That's why they are rich.

Over the years I have bought lots of commercial stuff that is not even installed. Its just money wasted. The great advantage of free stuff is that you can usually find it on the internet somewhere and use it or not, no big deal.