The Most Overrated and Underrated VST/AU (Effects And Instruments)

[j wazza]

Which softubes didn't you like? Their model series sound the same as the real versions to me. They'll probably get round to doing an oberheim as they're doing all the classic synths.

It wasn't a VA but a rompler named parallels. Not bad but lacking lots of features.
How is dune 3 compare to hive 2?

I don't like parallels either but the model series and modular are some of the best sounding synth vsts imo, so I wouldn't write off softube based on parallels. Dune is very powerful but hive is a simple synth with a really nice base sound, so very different.

I'd also say black rooster and fuse are underrated in that they deserve more attention.

[simmo75]

Over rated: U-he (apart from Zebra, that's a classic).
Under rated: Tone Projects, everything they make is top notch.

[HOTF]

it's not bad at all... just overrated imo. I feel people put Omnisphere on a pedestal. Don't get me wrong it's a very powerful synth. I feel like some newer synths with multiple engines like Pigements, phase plant are way more usable workflow wise. The price point and huge amount of SSD space required is also a bummer. I don't dislike omnisphere 2, it was the first third party soft synth I ever bought and iv'e used it a lot back when I was mostly using presets. Nowadays I almost exclusively program my patches from scratch and Omnisphere can feel like a chore to program sometimes. Just my opinion tho.

I think the workflow in omni is really good, but it might not suit everyone. Agree on price and disk space. For me it's the most realistic VA, on a par with softube's synths, but with lots more voices. Because of this analog sound I find its one of the easiest synths to get something I like as it naturally sounds good. Phase plant and pigments are great synths too and more powerful/flexible than omni but sound very different, more digital, so they take a bit more design and don't sound as nice right off the bat. The extra features can lead to more interesting sounds though, but I think if you compare a simple patch like filtered saw waves with unison playing a chord in those 3 synths, omni already sounds huge, its one big sweet spot and the best option for VA polysynths imo. But when you want to experiment and don't want a classic analog sound there are better options. Also just my opinion

Also, voltage modular is underrated, the modules by psp and weevil are really good.

Yeah I feel you. My music is generally sound design heavy so I rarely go for just a classic VA sound like low passed sawtooths so thats just my very biased opinion. When I do go for those classic VA sounds my reflex is to open diva because in my experience I can get to that sound quicker. I will say this in Omnisphere's defense I think the Orb is a great feature and sets it appart for other synths... I often forget it exists but I should totally give it more attention just for that.

[j wazza]

Yeah I feel you. My music is generally sound design heavy so I rarely go for just a classic VA sound like low passed sawtooths so thats just my very biased opinion. When I do go for those classic VA sounds my reflex is to open diva because in my experience I can get to that sound quicker. I will say this in Omnisphere's defense I think the Orb is a great feature and sets it appart for other synths... I often forget it exists but I should totally give it more attention just for that.

Omni can still do a fair amount of sound design with fm, rm, waveshaping, wavetable morphing and sync etc, but there are better options for complex sounds. Sometimes I import samples I made in other synths because I think it has the best sounding unison of any plugin. It can make anything sound lush, and is great for pads. Then you can get the best of both worlds, go mad with sound design in an additive or modular synth, sample a note, chord or even a sequence and put it into omni to fatten it up and add more analog sound quality. I don't really use the orb but probably should

[Jac459]

Yeah I feel you. My music is generally sound design heavy so I rarely go for just a classic VA sound like low passed sawtooths so thats just my very biased opinion. When I do go for those classic VA sounds my reflex is to open diva because in my experience I can get to that sound quicker. I will say this in Omnisphere's defense I think the Orb is a great feature and sets it appart for other synths... I often forget it exists but I should totally give it more attention just for that.

Omni can still do a fair amount of sound design with fm, rm, waveshaping, wavetable morphing and sync etc, but there are better options for complex sounds. Sometimes I import samples I made in other synths because I think it has the best sounding unison of any plugin. It can make anything sound lush, and is great for pads. Then you can get the best of both worlds, go mad with sound design in an additive or modular synth, sample a note, chord or even a sequence and put it into omni to fatten it up and add more analog sound quality. I don't really use the orb but probably should

For unisson, the voice stacking of Bitwig is something else.... you can pile up voices while controlling all parameters differently it is really sounding awesome... unfortunately it only works with bitwig devices and some CLAP plugins.

[j wazza]

For unisson, the voice stacking of Bitwig is something else.... you can pile up voices while controlling all parameters differently it is really sounding awesome... unfortunately it only works with bitwig devices and some CLAP plugins.

Yep I love bitwig for that, you can also do that in falcon and dune, and poly modulars like vcv rack, vm, reaktor, bazille

I meant that omnisphere sounds like real analog unison, which sounds fat straight away, but you can get similar sounds by controlling the voices yourself in those synths. Analog voices aren't just detuned, each voice has static and drifting differences in pitch, phase, volume, waveform and saturation. I think omni does some of this sort of thing to each voice

[Jac459]

...
I meant that omnisphere sounds like real analog unison, which sounds fat straight away, ....

Ah yes, understood.

[donkey tugger]

Said it before but I'll say it again - TB Ferox (and now free!)

Don't think of it as a tape emulator, but as a brilliantly simple and great sounding character compressor. Superb on drums if you push it into the red and wind up the 'compression knob), great on acoustic guitars and vocals at lower levels. Ultra low CPU usage. Use it all the time.

[martiu]

Ferox good for drones also

[modularg2]

It really did. It's like walking into a dive bar in downtown Seattle and announcing to everyone in there that you are a real alcoholic. You've had over three beers.

Also, I would add that I really didn't mean this to sound disparaging. I really did think it was an adorable thing to read. Speaking as a real alcoholic.

I see your point but your analogy is wrong. It was not about myself but UAD. So the analogy is more like: a guy comes to a bar and says: "I drink regularly, and I never ever considered drinking this cat-piss".
Said differently, I spent about 10kUSD over the last 2 years, I know it is half or a quarter of what some people here spend in one single vintage hardware synth purchase but yet, that shows that I have spent a bit of time looking at the different plugins offer... UAD was never considered...

I purchased recently UAD Moog Minimoog (I had already, Arturia Mini V,Legend,Monark,Cherry Audio Miniverse,and tested Softube Model72) well the UAD emulation has really impressed me for accuracy and realistic sound, I've worked on a real Minimoog a couple of years ago in a studio recording session, I've programmed and played a synth lead patch from myself who I played in a solo. Now I've made screenshots of setting the panel and I've replicated this through all the plugins I've mentioned, No one except the UAD MoogMiniMoog has replicate exactly the sound the original patch I've created on the Hardware

[Jac459]

I purchased recently UAD Moog Minimoog (I had already, Arturia Mini V,Legend,Monark,Cherry Audio Miniverse,and tested Softube Model72) well the UAD emulation has really impressed me for accuracy and realistic sound, I've worked on a real Minimoog a couple of years ago in a studio recording session, I've programmed and played a synth lead patch from myself who I played in a solo. Now I've made screenshots of setting the panel and I've replicated this through all the plugins I've mentioned, No one except the UAD MoogMiniMoog has replicate exactly the sound the original patch I've created on the Hardware

Whoa, better than legend ?
I am impressed... (and happy to be wrong then)...

[modularg2]

Yes for me it is. I have legend too. But how i wrote,UAD Moog minimoog is the most accurated in controls when you rebuild a patch (from the famous minimoog charts handmade you’ll find on web) and sounds so analog and realistic,I’m convinced and plenty satisfied every day more as I’m using it

[pekbro]

I've been liking everything from Audio Blast a lot lately, a certainly under-discussed developer.
Anyway, fun stuff imo, particularly the Breadslicer Pro and Instalooper. I got almost all of their
stuff on sale at APD for fairly cheap.

https://www.audioblast.me/

[Korg Supporter]

The UAD Minimoog unfortunately has a limited keyrange. However, polyphony is not an issue in Bitwig thanks to the Instrument selector (but takes up more CPU than the Legend).

[databroth]

most over rated synth is probably Izotope Iris, it really doesn't do anything special beyond the region painting
if they would have done more with that, like different intensities and brushes, allowing for shading, texture, masking, it would actually be killer, but they really only gave you lasso and solid brush. Most of the factory presets don't even utilize any of this and are simply layered samples that could be made in nearly any other sampler.

also one of the most over rated, Quanta, at the time of its release there wasn't much to compete with it, but now with pigments, rapid, phaseplant and just granular synthesis in general being far more common, Quanta doesn't keep up. Also it lowers the fidelity of your samples, which these other options do not do while giving a far deeper granular engine too. But I think because these other options are "swiss army" and Quanta is granular only, people assume the "swiss army" granular engines wont be as powerful, when in fact they are both higher quality and more powerful. Quanta does look absolutely beautiful, especially the older version.

most under rated is Massive X, people have jumped on the hate train for this one, the delayed release put people off understandably, and they really made a new synth more than adding features to Massive as the name would imply. I know people dislike the UI, but it's really not THAT bad, and some aspects of it are actually really nice for certain techniques. The thing is, it sounds incredible, people who say it sounds bad don't really know what they are talking about imo. You can say it's ugly, and I disagree, but we all have different tastes. But Saying massive X sounds bad nearly implies that no synths have ever sounded good. I don't think it's the best synth, it's not perfect, but it can do some incredible stuff and is completely under rated in my opinion.