Good Synths with Low Cpu Usage

[chk071]

Easy on which CPU?

Does it matter? Synths which are easy on CPU are easy on any CPU.

Much like I said before, it does matter and I was hoping the OP would be specific about their CPU before starting another "list every favorite" plugin that works on their system.
On my Xeons, very little reachs over 50% on its own track or separate host. Most average between 2%-13%.

Well, anything which is easy on your Xeon will also be easy or easier than heavy stuff on anything else. So, no, it doesn't really matter what CPU you have. The easiest plugin could be very heavy on a sucky CPU. That's no benchmark.

[polac]

bx-oberhausen

Not at all, it's real a cpu hog. The simple default saw preset has 25% cpu here with one note playing.

[chk071]

Yes. bx_oberhausen is definitely not easy on CPU. Sounds great though.

[Echoes in the Attic]

I'd add Phonec and GForce synths.

When I tried OB-E it was no more CPU efficient than bx_oberhausen, which is definitely not very CPU-friendly.

Fair enough. I'm not familiar with the OB-E. I should have specifically said impOscar 2 and Oddity 2 (Minimonsta too unless using Unison it can get heavier).

Also, the synapse synths (at like Obsession and Legend) are miraculously low. OP-X Pro II as well. For analog emulations.
Tone 2 synths are typically very low cpu for what they do.
Surge XT, Tal Noizemaker and Dexed for freebies.

[felis]

The ASIO Guard for Oberhausen is turned on when I use Cubase . Maybe that makes a difference?
I also never use more than two voices.

[BONES]

The bx_oberhausen requires a ridiculous amount of CPU power. Sure, my 2015 MacBook Pro doesn't have the latest and greatest mobile processor (though it is a quad core 2.9 GHz i7). But I can't even play a single note (in mono mode so no overlaps) on the bx_oberhausen without Cubase 11 and Studio One v5.5 freezing up and crackling and popping. By comparison, the Arturia SEM V (which admittedly doesn't sound anywhere near as good as the oberhausen, IMO) uses only bout 10% of my CPU.

SEM v2 doesn't have unison, bx_oberhausen has up to 32 voices of it and a lot of the presets use them all. I find I can usually turn the unison down to four voices and it still sounds great.

[Akooth]

of course it’s impossible to have a good synth with very low cpu usage.
But I’m sure there are great synths with moderately low cpu usage.

The only one I thought I know that sounds great and is very low on cpu is Spectrasonics Atmosphere, but it’s more of a sample based and no longer supported, so it doesn’t fit this category anyways.

I currently have stock Cubase and Logic X synths, Omnisphere, Serum but Omnisphere and Serum are very heavy on cpu

Maybe not what you're looking for since it's DAW-specific but Wavetable is sleek on my pc

[yobare]

Most of My deluxe synths use Kinda ok CPU. And you can make Kinda fat supersaws by using fat mode.

But its nothing compare to sylenth CPU usage. I think sylenth wins it all.

Lennar is a Great coder!
Specially to THE amount of voices for so Little CPU.

[BBFG#]

Easy on which CPU?

Does it matter? Synths which are easy on CPU are easy on any CPU.

Much like I said before, it does matter and I was hoping the OP would be specific about their CPU before starting another "list every favorite" plugin that works on their system.
On my Xeons, very little reachs over 50% on its own track or separate host. Most average between 2%-13%.

However, I have a tablet that I carried around while traveling with hopes of a most portable system I could have at the time and it is an i3. Granted, RAM is part of the equation and it is only 8GB. Which was a lot when first purchased, but quickly bare minimum and often now, not nearly enough.

Well, anything which is easy on your Xeon will also be easy or easier than heavy stuff on anything else. So, no, it doesn't really matter what CPU you have. The easiest plugin could be very heavy on a sucky CPU. That's no benchmark.

You seemed to have omitted the specific point I was making to keep yours alive there. So I added it back for you and I guess I wasn't specific enough. Point being, that most of the plugins I run on my Xeons choke my i3 instantly. And while my RAM on those Xeons are generally using about 7GB, it sometimes can reach up to 12GB for a couple of them, but all in single instances.
So in my experience, which CPU used has much to do with what can and can't be run.

[pdxindy]

Tone2 Icarus is pretty easy on the CPU and it is a pretty diverse synth.

[sQeetz]

TAL stuff also comes to mind. NoiseMaker, J8 or U-NO-LX are pretty lightweight and sound nice.

[OllieBoi]

Most of My deluxe synths use Kinda ok CPU. And you can make Kinda fat supersaws by using fat mode.

But its nothing compare to sylenth CPU usage. I think sylenth wins it all.

Lennar is a Great coder!
Specially to THE amount of voices for so Little CPU.

You are absolutely right. Sylenth rules given how good it sounds and the minuscule amount of CPU required to play back even layered patches.

[OllieBoi]

I'll shamelessly plug Hive 2.1 here, which after our recent performance orientated update had very pleasant benchmarks CPU-wise.

Yes, Hive's CPU requirements are impressively low considering it is a wavetable synth with great sounding filters and extensive modulation options. Phaseplant, Vital, and even Serum require significantly more CPU resources and don't even sound as good as Hive.

It's funny, when Hive came out I dismissed it as just another Supersaw EDM synth. But it is capable of so much more than that.

[yobare]

Most of My deluxe synths use Kinda ok CPU. And you can make Kinda fat supersaws by using fat mode.

But its nothing compare to sylenth CPU usage. I think sylenth wins it all.

Lennar is a Great coder!
Specially to THE amount of voices for so Little CPU.

You are absolutely right. Sylenth rules given how good it sounds and the minuscule amount of CPU required to play back even layered patches.

Ye i think is hard beaten. wonder if he used juice?

or pure c++.

Im not very good at c++.

The problem with synths made in flowstone and synthedit is that they use alot of cpu when using many voices.

But i figured out a way to optimize some. And some synths i use just mybe 3 voices as a spread. And a Fat Mode. The fat mode sounds pretty much as a real unison.

I have tested some synths made with flowstone and synthedit. Jesus what a cpu hog. One synth used like 60% cpu with no chords.

Also like genesis pro. Duno it use pretty much cpu on some presets. And take like 25-30 seconds to load into the daw.

Sylenth is a master piece anyway. Duno if there is synths out there with same amount of cpu?
If you use that many voices unison.

[Lbdunequest]

Adam Szabo Viper