If you could have only one synth, what would you choose?

[jamcat]

Whatever Arturia is announcing in a few days.

Just to be clear, I don't know what it is, but I just know it's going to be THE ONE!
(Until the next one.)

[ghettosynth]

Whatever Arturia is announcing in a few days.

Just to be clear, I don't know what it is, but I just know it's going to be THE ONE!
(Until the next one.)

Will it be parasynthetic?

[jamcat]

Perhaps, if it is a polyresynthesizer.

[GGaudio7]

Diva / Pigments / Equator 2

[Tj Shredder]

Which one of the three?

[liquidsound]

Diva / Pigments / Equator 2

you mean 3 desert islands?

[chili beans]

U-HE Repro

[SHall1000]

Diva / Pigments / Equator 2

you mean 3 desert islands?

Archipelago synths?

[liquidsound]

Diva / Pigments / Equator 2

you mean 3 desert islands?

Archipelago synths?

Bermuda Triangle Setup?

[BONES]

I have 47 VSTi (without DAW stock) and like ~250 Fx plugins. For synths the same as you, I try to focus on 5 on the max and go deep instead of broad.

I'm the other way around. If you don't count all the kHs effects plugins that are part of PhasePlant, I have around 40 effects plugins but I easily have more than 100 instruments.

Ok for soft-synths, I do want to add something here. I have done work for Arturia's Pigments, I sell a bank for it, so take my bias as you will, but all in all I am very very impressed with Pigments. When I spend time extracting the most out of it's flexibility and processing power, I get production ready sounds out of it, and it can do any genre I've put it to, and really well.

Again, my eperienc was the opposite. I was never able to get good sounds from Pigments. For me, it was always missing that last little bit of polish that's just there in synths like DUNE, Thorn or ANA 2. I ended up replacing it in every song I had been using it in, which is not something I do very often.

If Thorn would have a friendly copy protection, I would pick it.

What? You just install it (along with all yrou other PA plugins) and away you go. PA's license management is great, probably my favourite of any vendor I have bought from.

I think this is why Bones said he might take it as a might take it as an only synth - it's a solid all rounder with a wide range, but wouldn't take it at all if he could have 5 or 10, as it lack character that others have even though they have smaller ranges. I'd have to agree.

That's not why I said what I said. I think DUNE has character in spades, I just don't like the workflow. I hate that stupid llittle screen and the layering makes working with other people's presets much too hard. If we used DUNE in every part in every song, I have no doubt at all that everything we did would sound better than it does now, it would just require a lot more work.

Samplers generally have a pretty limited range of expression unless they are super large and that requires a lot of disk space. Not nearly as malleable as synths. I could see using a ROMpler like Nexus that does have some synth attributes.

That's a very imited way of looking at it. Samplers can sound like literally anything and something like Kontakt allows for plenty of expressivity/performance. For synth sounds, all they need is a single cycle waveform so they don't have to take up lots of storage. With somethign like Presence in Studio One, you get a huge range of timbres from 40GB's worth of sample content, which is nothing these days.

Anyway, Spire seems quite populr and I've always liked the way it looks. Maybe I should demo it and see what it's like? It's 30% off at the moment, too.

[ghettosynth]

Diva / Pigments / Equator 2

you mean 3 desert islands?

I'd be more down with 3 dessert islands.

[Boy Wonder]

This thread is making me want to challenge myself. I've already completed full ambient tracks using Pigments alone, but to create an entire downtempo/psychill/chillgressive album, that would be cool. And even stronger challenge would be to limit myself to the FX in Pigments, though that makes me nervous since I don't apply FX after all the tracks have been laid down. Plus, I don't know if I can get a shimmer reverb FX in Pigments.

[tony10000]

Samplers generally have a pretty limited range of expression unless they are super large and that requires a lot of disk space. Not nearly as malleable as synths. I could see using a ROMpler like Nexus that does have some synth attributes.

That's a very imited way of looking at it. Samplers can sound like literally anything and something like Kontakt allows for plenty of expressivity/performance. For synth sounds, all they need is a single cycle waveform so they don't have to take up lots of storage. With somethign like Presence in Studio One, you get a huge range of timbres from 40GB's worth of sample content, which is nothing these days.

Samples have limited editability compared to synth sounds, so you cannot radically change the character of the sound. You are pretty much "locked in". Also, modulation/automation options are similarly limited.

Anyway, Spire seems quite populr and I've always liked the way it looks. Maybe I should demo it and see what it's like? It's 30% off at the moment, too.

Spire is a monster synth. A lot of people compare it to the Virus with more versatility. Filters and effects are also really good.

[Fleer]

UVI Falcon. And Arturia Pigments. And kv331 SynthMaster. And Dawesome Novum. And …

[hesnotthemessiah]

TAL-Mod. Lovely sounding filters that really shine when used in conjunction with the modulation system. The oscillator/filter routing options, along with the modulation options, gives plenty of scope for experimentation. And, one of the most important things, a great user interface.
Sound designers' heaven. It's like it was designed for me . A joy to use .