Dune 3 vs Sylenth 1 vs Seum for techno/trance

[chk071]

If you want to take a look what the pros are using, then you can take a look here: https://equipboard.com/c/synth-plugins?sort=most-used

[MegaPixel]

To be fair WAProduction do pump out a lot s***t and 90% of the free signup up stuff is complete rubbish. Maybe on blackfriday I will buy all 3 with KICK 2.

Yeah, WA, Vandalism, Cymatics and the likes are complete rubbish and I just avoid their existence all together.

Best sound designers in my opinion and taste are:
https://www.aiynzahev-sounds.com/
https://www.luftrum.com/
https://arksun-sound.com/
https://www.theunfinished.co.uk/
https://sound.artenuovo.com
https://www.standalone-music.com/

Kick2 is amazing, my personal favourite is KickR, just get good results fast, for example I like some kick and how it knocks, but I would like to change the tail and improve it further, just load it in KickR and tweak until it sounds good, there's enough tweaking option to get it to sound good, but not to get into rabbit hole, check it out.
http://gudaaudio.com/kickr

Thanks that post "Passing Bye", I've gone with KickR, Kick2 does look like the all singing all dancing Kick creator but, I think KickR will do me nicely also much cheaper. And thanks for the links

[Passing Bye]

Thanks that post "Passing Bye", I've gone with KickR, Kick2 does look like the all singing all dancing Kick creator but, I think KickR will do me nicely also much cheaper. And thanks for the links

Glad I helped, you are right, it does and it is really, especially on paper, but in practice KickR proved himself over it so many times, it's one of those plugins that just work without much hassle for my personal taste, it's like a huge sweet spot.

Kick2 is probably indispensable for psytrance folks and everyone that wants total control over every single bit of their kicks, for folks that really can appreciate fine tuning options and have more advanced taste.

About those sound designers and their work, sometimes the most suitable stuff is the one that is not labeled by exact genre, like Sylenth Essential Trance Vol 57, there's for example more interesting trance sounds in any of The Unfinished banks for Zebra, that are made having cinematic crowd in mind.

What really grabs me with all of those is amazing quality of the patches, it's a joy playing them and they fit right in the mix most of the times so effortlessly, being that background instrumental or in your face EDM number or anything in between.

Zebra is definitely my Omnisphere, but with patches that doesn't wow you that much in isolation, but work in the mix and in context, as much as I like Diva and as much as it can sound fat and amazing, tracks that have most of Zebra sounds are easiest to mix and come together as a whole so quickly, it's always a joy using Zebra for placeholder sounds, that in most cases just stay as final.

For Zebra EDM folks, definitely consider this, if you don't already have them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqOtViqB60k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXmA34Go6Hk

[MegaPixel]

Kick 2

I might get it if they discount it, and I mean by a LOT, it's just not worth that much or it's preset banks. I have been collecting samples and kits for years, filtering and ordering everything manually. Has taken a lot of my time over the years as I've done it for every sample type I get my hands on. But if I could find that vst that could replicate every kick, 808, 909 etc I have in my drums/one-shots/* folder, that would be awesome but I doubt anything would be able to do it fully. Every sample trimmed, duplicate files checked by file contents read by hex and crc matching and deleted.

Zebra 2

Ye, I do like Zebra 2, I'm still learning it but it is a very nice VST.

RE: Serum
Well I just finished sifting through the crap that gets installed in Serum, free stuff, waproduction mega deals from x, y and z etc etc, from about 10,000 presets I got it down to 913 lol. I Will write a script tomorrow to go hunting for those file names in the presets folder and move them to another folder, then delete everything in the presets folder and move the matches back. Then run a little tool called "dupeGuru" on it, which will check every preset by file contents for a match, and then I will delete them. I may buy some serum packs in the future but I an sick of hearing the same sounds from it over and over and over now... Why do so many people just use it for bass sounds... lol

[MegaPixel]

Scratch that looks like some file names caused an issue, more sifting to do.

[nIGhT-SoN]

The rental system could be an alternative.

By cons Unless I am mistaken, you must be connected to the internet and go through Splice to be able to use Serum for example.

I got Serum through Rent to Own. You have to be connected to the internet every 3 days. The license Xfer provides through Splice will last 3 days, that's why you need to connect to internet every 3 days to renew the license.
Through Splice you will be able to use it on maximum 2 devices, after you pay the whole software, you can use it on multiple devices, as many as you want and of course to be yours and you using them. (here better read the license agreement)

For me, I never noticed Splice, to be honest. It all went well for an year, after one year I paid the remaining at once (you can do that).

Serum never goes on sales so Rent to Own is a really great idea if you don't have/want to spend all that money at once. For other software that have sales, might not be as good since you could wait and buy it at a lower price.

[PieBerger]

Kick2 is probably indispensable for psytrance folks and everyone that wants total control over every single bit of their kicks, for folks that really can appreciate fine tuning options and have more advanced taste.

100%, Bazzism too and Serum/Vital is getting used more and more now for psytrance kicks because the oscillators can be phase rotated, to help with phase alignment since it's common in lots of styles to have the tail of kick overlap the first note of the bass.

[Bartone]

For me Serum first seem d totally NO no NO! I didn’t really know how to use any synth and so I just judged it by the factory presets. And they just didn’t really “fit” my needs… So I deleted the demo thinking I will NEVER want something this expensive that sounds this BAD. Yes, I really felt this way

But then I started to watch tutorials how to make sounds, and almost every tutorial used Serum. I was very amazed what variety of sounds people made with it. And I downloaded the serum demo again. And wow! I just fell in love with the easy workflow, the visuals… Just the easiness to use it.

I was about to buy it, but then came Vital. People called it New Serum or Serum Killer. So I ch checked Vital. It does remind of Serum, but it is totally own synth.

Dune3… Oh boy! It is advertising it has thousand factory sounds (only handful of sounds are available in the demo so no way to know the quality of the sounds). And the preset browser system is sooooo so clumsy especially if you think you will have this HUGE amount of sounds to go through. I thought we’ll maybe it’s just me, but seems people have been requesting for a long time for update to the preset browser - nope. Seems like the developer’s message is “You can use it in Kontakt”.

Dune3 might sound good, but for me the workflow of the synth is not easy. And then added the clumsy preset browser and the fact you can hear only small amount of the factory presets with the demo… Too many other synths out there

For me presets are important part. So a synth that is advertised to have huge collection of presets should offer a good and easy way to go through them.

Hive2 has huge collection of presets and easy way to find something. Also if I remember correctly, Hive2 demo comes with ALL the factory sounds so you can really judge what you are getting.

I think Rapid demo also comes only with some factory sounds not with the whole selection.

[AnX]

Seems like the developer’s message is “You can use it in Kontakt”.

not true (and not possible)

For me presets are important part. So a synth that is advertised to have huge collection of presets should offer a good and easy way to go through them.

if you want a bass sound, look in the bass folder, if you want a pad sound, look in the pads folder

which part of that are you finding difficult?

[LeVzi]

Having moved to having a dabble in making more techno/trance stuff, been interesting reading this.

I have a fair few synths so I am pretty covered, but you always check out new ones (just incase)

My take is that out of the three listed in the OP , they are all great synths, I owned Dune 1 when it first arrived, and it was a great synth back then, so I can only assume V3 is just as good. I own Sylenth and that's been a rock solid synth in all genres for me, will always get used. Serum is one I tend to use for more bizarre sounds and programming craziness, I love the way it works.

But I own the NI synths, Tone2 synths they get used more and more, because they were my goto's for other things, now I am discovering their uses and the presets are amazing for these genres.

But also I use the lesser known ones, like Union, Babylon, Synth1 (Not lesser known but never seems to get mentioned) and some freebies i've picked up, there are gems to be found everywhere.

I demo'd Hive and Spire yesterday, and both are good synths but nothing ground breaking. tbh I think Avenger or Nexus probably would be more suited for these genres.

[Bartone]

Seems like the developer’s message is “You can use it in Kontakt”.

not true (and not possible)

For me presets are important part. So a synth that is advertised to have huge collection of presets should offer a good and easy way to go through them.

if you want a bass sound, look in the bass folder, if you want a pad sound, look in the pads folder

which part of that are you finding difficult?

Maybe it was Komolete control, can’t remember. But something that’s not from Synapse.

You can try preset browsing in Hive2 or new Spire browser and compare them to Dune’s. I find these much easier and faster to use. Also if I am correct, inside Dune3 you can not mark something as favorite or give stars to the sounds etc. also Ana2 has pretty good browser. But good for you if you like the Dune’s system

[briefcasemanx]

They're all good.

[MegaPixel]

RE: Dune 3 preset browser
Look on their forums, people have been asking for a better preset browser for a very very long time, I do like it's sound but unless it goes on like super mega ultra black friday sale I'm not going to touch it... Also I'm starting to think... Do I really need it... And aren't these sounds starting to be replicated over and over and over in other VSTs.

[Trancer]

Thanks again to all of you for your answers. I intend to take Sylenth 1, Dune 3, I will wait for a promotion and concerning Serum, I still hesitate with Vital.

[MegaPixel]

I still hesitate with Vital.

Hesitate? Why? It's free...

There's no demo version, it's the full thing... But if you want the extras and more presets and access to the vocal synthesis thing, pay for the sub or the $80.

But like I said go on the forums to the monthly sound share threads and download them, more than enough.