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

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There are some freebies that I think are underrated like uhe tyrell and tal noisemaker. Or even bazille cm.

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Echoes in the Attic wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 11:35 pm There are some freebies that I think are underrated like uhe tyrell and tal noisemaker. Or even bazille cm.
I'd throw Thorn CM in there as well. I liked it far more than I thought I would.
I started on Logic 5 with a PowerBook G4 550Mhz. I now have a MacBook Air M1 and it's ~165x faster! So, why is my music not proportionally better? :(

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syntonica wrote: Wed Jul 05, 2023 1:35 am
Echoes in the Attic wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 11:35 pm There are some freebies that I think are underrated like uhe tyrell and tal noisemaker. Or even bazille cm.
I'd throw Thorn CM in there as well. I liked it far more than I thought I would.
100%, it feels like a commercial synth
aliasing plugin owner
:?

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most underrated: Microsoft Word
most overrated: Steinberg Model E

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databroth wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 7:46 pm 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.
+1

Yup

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Apulsoft are very high quality and underrated, i have their eq and distortion and they are amazin :?
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Most Overrated / Underrated: VITAL / SURGE XT
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I like the ALM Busy Circuits stuff, I’ve not seen anyone say much about them. Motto Akemie is really fun and interesting, the mum m8 filter is awesome as well. I haven’t tried them all, but imo, the stuff I have used is very underrated.

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pekbro wrote: Wed Sep 24, 2025 6:09 pm I like the ALM Busy Circuits stuff, I’ve not seen anyone say much about them. Motto Akemie is really fun and interesting, the mum m8 filter is awesome as well. I haven’t tried them all, but imo, the stuff I have used is very underrated.
All the ALM Busy Circuits are great sounding plugins.
The MUM M8 is very good indeed. I use it mostly to overdrive and saturate tracks.
Definitely underrated.

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overrated: fabfilter proq's
Soft Knees - Live 12, Diva, Omnisphere, Slate Digital VSX, TDR, Kush Audio, U-He, PA, Valhalla, Fuse, Pulsar AUDIO, NI, OekSound etc. on Win11Pro R7950X & RME AiO Pro
https://www.youtube.com/@softknees/videos Music & Demoscene

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databroth wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 7:46 pm 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.

It's sound fantastic, a lot of fun with a toon of possibilities for sound design. Nothing more to say.

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Overrated: Diva, Omnisphere and Serum
Underrated: Obsession, Vital, GX-80 and PS-20

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Overrated: Horses
Underrated: for Courses

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UNDERrated: WAVES VSTi
OVERrated: Icarus (worst purchase ever), U-he (boring, uninspiring), Pigments (Wt. is that poor sound good for?), Soothe (overhyped), Softube (no fun, mediocre)

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DCrown wrote: Sat Sep 27, 2025 4:51 am UNDERrated: WAVES VSTi
OVERrated: Icarus (worst purchase ever), U-he (boring, uninspiring), Pigments (Wt. is that poor sound good for?), Soothe (overhyped), Softube (no fun, mediocre)
Agree with Pigments/Softube. I have a few Softube synths and they never stick, to the point I no longer audition them.

Soothe I have no exp. with, and strong disagree on first two.

Bazille, aside from Plasmonic is among my best happy accident machines. I have little to no idea every time I use it, unless we're talking fx section, and yet some gem of (usually an arp) a sound emerges from near random , spontaneous knob scrolling and patch cord dragging.

Icarus sounds great, and the random button is above average returns, just sitting there clicking until something workable pops up.

For me, underrated: FF Twin 3
overrated: FF Pro-Q

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