Which synths have become your go-to instruments over the years?

[swilow11]

Yay a list thread.

My go to are Serum 1/2, Current, Massive X, Bitwig grid/stock (Phase 4, Polymer, Polygrid), Hive 2, Talmod, Reaktor (blocks and Razor/Prism/etc).

[Monsieur_FyP]

Vital, PolyMAX, Alchemy (Logic), Tyrell.

[funky lime]

I've gone from having way too many synths to just using Pigments for pretty much everything.

Similar story here. I do still keep a handful of synths installed (Surge XT, FM8, Chromaphone3, VCV Rack, and a few Full Bucket things) but ever since I got into Pigments when v6 dropped, it is really the only synth plugin that gets any real use these days. It's just so intuitive and fun to use, which (for me) outweighs any minor misgivings I might have about the sound (and the company in general).

[DCrown]

Avenger
Xpand2!
Dexed

[replicant X]

HIVE 2
MSound Factory

If BIGTONE were to open a synth patch shop, I want some presets of MSoundFactory.

MSoundFactory can do a variety of synthesis, but it's good at FM synthesis as well as subtractive, wavetable, and PCM, so I think it's a good fit for you.
Also, with this synth, many people use presets because they're overwhelmed by the endless amount of parameters.

Additionally, the free version of MSoundFactory Player is capable of loading third-party presets.
This will save you from some trouble with beginner buyers who sometimes assume that buying a preset pack comes with the actual synth.

[andreaok]

Avenger
Xpand2!
Dexed

Happy to see another Dexed person here!

Dexed
Oberheim SEM V
Lounge Lizard (as a neutral one to plot melodies in my head, then replace with another synth later)

[ThomasHelzle]

Since Synthmaster3 came into beta last year, it has become my Nr. 1 synth synth.
UA Battalion for drums and percussion and more - not sure if that is something you would be interested in creating presets for.
Plasmonic as my physical modelling workhorse.

Cheers,

Tom

[Korg Supporter]

I use Icarus, Hive, and Repro the most. I also like to throw in OPS7, especially for that '90s guitar sound I made.

I think Thorn, Polymax, the Fullbucket stuff, OP-X Pro II, Redux, Chromaphone 3, Razor, and Omnisphere need more usage.

As for drums, I am unsure of what to use or how to use them. In Bitwig, I use the awesome Drum Machine, which can load plugins! And I also like TAL-Drum and Microtonic.

[pdxindy]

Bazille

[Korg Supporter]

Bazille

What I love about Bazille is that the filter sounds extremely similar to OTA filters such as IR3109.

[dmbaer]

One of mine is Synthmaster 3. It's got plenty of capability, but it's also got a *deep* library of presets, many of which offer synth classic sounds which I gravitate toward. While I infrequently use presets as is, I find many great presets to use as starting points that often require little tweaking to suit my purposes.

I use DIVA a good deal for simpler classic sounds that merely need to sound great. DIVA doesn't have the extensive modulation capabilities that "modern" synths have, but if such is not needed, DIVA has a rich sound hard to find elsewhere.

Also lacking in modulation capabilities but otherwise having a rich sound is Dune 3. For unison sounds, it can really excel.

Another great sounding instrument is AAS Ultra Analog. There are a couple of sound sets that are go-to banks for me. Yet again, it doesn't have the modulation finesse of Synthmaster 3, but it can certainly sound good if that's not a requirement.

Lastly there's MeldaProduction MSoundFactory. When I need to build something from scratch, there's nothing else that come's close, although it's easy to get seriously sidetracked into sound-design land at the expense of the music you're trying to create.

I'd probably use Predator 3 a lot more if I could find applicable presets. It's got a huge number of factory presets, many of which are excellent. But they aren't tagged and are poorly organized, so finding something to use as a starting point is needle-in-a-haystack sort of exercise.