VSTi for 90s synth sounds?

[Examigan]

hi, so i decided to move from drone dark ambient to kind of a still gloomy and disturbing but with pads
i dont wanna use granular samplers anymore, so i began reading here and there about 90s pads in modern music
3 synths are coming up very often, Korg M1, Wavestation and Roland D-50, all PCM synths
the thing is, they look kind of fiddly to program, on other hand they have huge amount of presets
i already have Microwave 1 that i really like
if i get the Korgs do i need the Roland still? i may just buy all of them (the korgs are very cheap, 49 $ each)

NI stuff is on sale at Plugin Boutique. If you don’t have it, maybe you can pick up FM8 for $19 to round out the other sounds from Korg that you mentioned.

[Deisss]

HELP!

I'm trying to avoid buying a Roland JD-08 synth to do 90s stuff like airy meditative tracks.

If I can cover those needs with a VSTi, I can spend te rest of my budget on pizza and beer!!!

Any recommendations, or am I doomed to support Roland?

Thanks in advance!

Digital synths/sample based all the way, they outperform any analog synth for airy stuff.

So, roland:
D-50
JD-800
JD-990
JV 1080, 2080, 3080 (any of them work well)

On yamaha:
CS6x
EX5

On Korg:
Triton
M1
Workstation
Prophecy

And samplers were also important, Akai, Ensoniq, some roland or yamaha too ...

Concentrate for sure much more on sample based synth, they are the ones. My personal favorite, which is hybrid AI and sample is the Hartmann Neuron too, love it.

I would go for simple of use by Korg collection first, Roland cloud second, buying hardware gear might not be that great...

I am not sure what you mean with Korg Workstation but i guess it is the Wavestation you are talking about.

I would go for Your Korg list as it covers anything you need for those sounds

Yep my bad, Wavestation of course!

[jlgrimes11]

Probably worthwhile to also try some free General midi soundfonts using a plugin like plogue sforzando.

Many of those soundfonts were sampled off of 90s Sampled based synths.

My first real sound module in 1996 was a Boss Dr. Synth. A fairly inexpensive General Midi module.

I then got a Roland xp10 which was also General Midi/Gs which had a few more sounds.

General Midi was pretty popular in the 90s especially on more budget synths. And it can be a good challenge to try writing a song to the General midi standard. My guess is it would come out with a 90s vibe.


It's weird that now I doubt most people even know what General Midi is.

[WackyZoundz]

Agree. General MIDI sounds get you that typical 90s sound really fast.

Recommendation: https://archive.org/details/500-soundfonts-full-gm-sets

[audiojunkie]

hi, so i decided to move from drone dark ambient to kind of a still gloomy and disturbing but with pads
i dont wanna use granular samplers anymore, so i began reading here and there about 90s pads in modern music
3 synths are coming up very often, Korg M1, Wavestation and Roland D-50, all PCM synths
the thing is, they look kind of fiddly to program, on other hand they have huge amount of presets
i already have Microwave 1 that i really like
if i get the Korgs do i need the Roland still? i may just buy all of them (the korgs are very cheap, 49 $ each)

It's funny you mention those three synths. I too had been putting a list together of synths that I admire of that "type" that I would like to add as plugins. I came up with the following as a list:

Roland D-50
Sequential Circuits Prophet VS
Korg Wave Station
Korg M1
Yamaha SY99
Ensoniq Fizmo
Ensoniq TS-10/TS-12
Yamaha EX5
Roland JV/XP and XV PCM synths

There are probably a few more of these special types of digital synths, but it occurs to me that some of the modern "SuperSynths" could cover most of what these special synths cover (or similar):

SynthMaster 3
Phase Plant
Avenger
Pigments
Zebra 3 (coming someday)
Omnisphere
Dune 3
Kontakt
Zenology Pro
Halion
Falcon
Korg WaveStation
Korg Opsix
Korg Modwave
etc
etc
etc

The key to all of it is to use "layers". You've probably already got enough synths to come up with most of the types of sounds you love from the 90s.

Here is a useful link for samples that will cover a lot too:

https://www.amazound.com/store/

[martiu]

i also have ppg wave 3, you are right about the layers, m1, wavestation and ppg3 are all about the layers to come up with interesting sounds
one thing to consider is that those pcm synths have some sort of a cold sound to them, you need to really be after that to enjoy them
i tried to program ppg wave 3 and it is a bit fiddly because of the UI, i love the blue color though
the korgs are stacked with banks and stuff, a lot of presets so no need to program from int
the D-50 sounds very similar to the korgs, they share the same pcm dna so it is understandable
overall i have fun with those somewhat old little synths