ANA2 vs DUNE 3 vs similiar

[TS-12]

Please don't kill me for my next sentence.
But, I'm a "find a preset and tweak it to my taste" type of musician / songwriter, so presets are very important to me.

Looks like Dune 3 and ANA 2 are very similar. Im mostly looking for plucks, "big saw" synths, pads, for pop music.

I also have:
Omnisphere ( too soft, but nice pads and choirs etc) ,
Arturia CS-80 ( ok for niche vintage sounds ) Roland XV-5080 ( good for 90s rompler sounds ) and Serum ( more on a punchy and aggressive side but often lacks fullness and body )
Nexus 5 ( meh.. I think I overused it 20 years ago or so, so it no longer inspires me )


But need something like ANA 2 or Dune or similar, I like the demos they have, a lot of sounds that instantly inspire to start writing new songs.

[ChanceB]

Both good choices. Check out Spire too,it’s great especially for that type of sound and there are 10s of thousands of presets available for it,far more than Dune or ANA.

After thinking about it for a minute maybe Serum is the best choice overall

[TS-12]

I really like that first preset in Dune 3 "Adrenaline KS" ( but without the arp of course )

That kind of pluck / synth type sound is what I want more of.
Pretty much a synth that will cover Pop / EDM / 2000s Trance category

[TS-12]

Oh and I noticed Slate's ANA 2 has waaay more presets than Sonic Academy ANA 2. But there's no way to buy slate ANA2 without subscription / perpetual license ?

Is it possible to buy those extra Slate presets for Sonic Academy ANA 2 ?

[cryophonik]

But, I'm a "find a preset and tweak it to my taste" type of musician / songwriter, so presets are very important to me.

Im mostly looking for plucks, "big saw" synths, pads, for pop music.

ANA2 and Dune 3 are both great, but I’d highly recommend taking a look at Spire for these types of sounds. Also take a look/listen to the patch banks for sale on their website and you’ll find a ton of options for those types of sounds.

[TS-12]

I checked out spire before, nothing about it caught my ear, seems like a decent synth with decent presets. Ro my ears it's also missing the wideness and depth that ANA 2 / Dune 3 have, maybe it's because of the reverb and other effects that those 2 synths have.
And I didn't find any presets for pop music that I specifically would use and no type of pluck synths sounds like Dune 3's "Adrenaline KS".

[swilow11]

Hive2 is an option. It's still a wavetable synth but mainly just a simple subtractive synth that sounds awesome with 3 different synth engines available, plenty of modulation options, very nice FX, arp/sequencer, so on. I mainly use Serum and Phase Plant, but if I just want to throw a basic 1 shot shot or atmosphere, Hive is my go to. Very very light on CPU resources. Love the shape sequencer, can get crazy stuff with this.

Don't use too many presets but there are some nice packs out there. Protoculture has made a few nice banks. Plus the included wavetables are probably the best factory wts I've heard and they all have a little clue about how one should/could use them.

Some don't like the GUI. It can seek cluttered but works well imo.

[HTT]

Please don't kill me for my next sentence.
But, I'm a "find a preset and tweak it to my taste" type of musician / songwriter, so presets are very important to me.

Looks like Dune 3 and ANA 2 are very similar. Im mostly looking for plucks, "big saw" synths, pads, for pop music.

I also have:
Omnisphere ( too soft, but nice pads and choirs etc) ,
Arturia CS-80 ( ok for niche vintage sounds ) Roland XV-5080 ( good for 90s rompler sounds ) and Serum ( more on a punchy and aggressive side but often lacks fullness and body )
Nexus 5 ( meh.. I think I overused it 20 years ago or so, so it no longer inspires me )


But need something like ANA 2 or Dune or similar, I like the demos they have, a lot of sounds that instantly inspire to start writing new songs.

I am a preset tweaker as well. I have both ANA 2 and Dune. (And Hive, also. Ugh. The only u-he soft-synth I do not like. Too lo-fi and grainy for me).

I would say to go with ANA2. To my ear, ANA2 has a more "authoritative" old-school Roland vibe that Dune does not have. You mention that you like "fullness". ANA2 is better with that sonic aspect than Dune. YMMV

edited out Korg softsynths mentions as they do not have the plucks that the OP stated as a need.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

OG Massive is still good for this stuff, and can probably be had for peanuts, 2nd-hand.

[Gam456]

But need something like ANA 2 or Dune or similar, I like the demos they have, a lot of sounds that instantly inspire to start writing new songs.

Not similar at all. Dune have up to 8 layer, 2 arp, 2 chain of EFX, OSC FM

You should check the new Korg Multy Poly

[Examigan]

Hive2 is an option.

Yes.
Synthmaster 3 can also do some crazy stuff.
You can also try Icarus 3.

[Scrubbing Monkeys]

Spire has the best plucks.....period.....but Ana 2 Is by far my favorite synth to interact with. It does the rich saw wave syuff really well. Dune 3 can sread out like no other but really that just introduces phase issues all over the pace. If I could keep only one it would be Spire.....only cause the plucks are just sooooo jucy.

[swilow11]

(And Hive, also. Ugh. The only u-he soft-synth I do not like. Too lo-fi and grainy for me).

First time I've heard anyone say that about Hive2. If anything, it could just a bit too character-less.

[ROTMetro]

It looks like you have ANA2 listed for sale here (went looking to see if you had posts of your music/style to help recommend) so I'd say Dune 3 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .

[Tj Shredder]

Dune 3 supports MPE, Ana 2 doesn‘t…