*Urgent Plea For Help* - What Are The Top Synths Today?

[Shabdahbriah]

Sure. Program one, program all.
But it's the personal connection to an instrument that makes the programs excel. Otherwise, it's just another hack to the same old thing.

I have a personal connection to every synth I own, which is why there are some synths I don't own because I don't resonate with them at all. Like Sylenth1. To this day I have yet to buy it and I never will. The synth leaves me stone cold.

Before I buy a synth, I listen to the demos. If the demos make me go wow, I buy the synth because I know what that synth is capable of and I know, given I've been programming synths for 50 years, that I can do a good job.

Hope this clears things up.

Same/same... Sorry to hear about your accident, but glad you are not dead or paralyzed.

I am slowly working towards a return to preset making also, after a decades+ break. But I tend to work with fairly unconventional instruments (H.G. Fortune/Tim Conrardy/Boris Kovalev, creations). Currently, I'm leaning towards the Dawsome stuff, and a couple of Cherry Audio things... but mainly Voltage Modular. That said:

1) I agree with everything said about Zebra 3. I don't think you could lose with that choice.
2) The Dawsome stuff.
3) Current (mentioned several times) has certainly looked interesting to me in the past, but I recently picked-up Ultra instead.
4) Unify (by pluginguru) was mentioned, and aside from the new built in GURUSampler 2.0's potential for presets, having your current top sellers integrated in Unify wouldn't hurt. {2c}

Thank you for your help. Hope you get back up to speed real soon. By the way, isn't HG Fortune stuff great? Too bad I can't use it anymore on this system.

Thank YOU ... Yes, Guenter was brilliant. I was a beta tester for him from (umm, pretty much) day two. and a moderator on his forum, here:

viewforum.php?f=149

Where one can find all links to his creations, and should anyone choose to load a 32/64bit plugin host (for free) they can still enjoy them without issue. I've used this one for ages:

https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/compare

Carry on.

[surreal]

Sorry to hear aboute your misfortune Steve, have nothing to add to the topic but I will keep you in my Prayers for a full recovery healthwize and financially.

God bless

[brok landers]

Hi Wagtunes,
sorry to hear that - hope you'll be up and running in no time and fully recovered.
Have you thought about Nexus? Since the last major version afaik it is openly programmable (just as in previous versions only the sound-designer version was) and it is very versatile, so everyone can make his own libraries/sounds now, i believe. I mention it because there's a lot of users.

In fact, I just got Nexus, but not a lot of mentions here. But I will consider it when I look at the final numbers, which may be coming soon because I have a feeling this thread is going to be reported and either locked or moved.

If either should happen, I will PM each person who suggested a synth I ultimately programmed and ask them if they want a free copy. I don't think they'll mind.

I really wasn't expecting all this fuss, given the circumstances, but I'm really not surprised. I'll leave it at that.

Why in the world should someone report you and the thread beim closed?? You're askimg a leigtimate question...

[wagtunes]

Sorry to hear aboute your misfortune Steve, have nothing to add to the topic but I will keep you in my Prayers for a full recovery healthwize and financially.

God bless

Thank you. I appreciate the prayers and kind words.

[wagtunes]

Hi Wagtunes,
sorry to hear that - hope you'll be up and running in no time and fully recovered.
Have you thought about Nexus? Since the last major version afaik it is openly programmable (just as in previous versions only the sound-designer version was) and it is very versatile, so everyone can make his own libraries/sounds now, i believe. I mention it because there's a lot of users.

In fact, I just got Nexus, but not a lot of mentions here. But I will consider it when I look at the final numbers, which may be coming soon because I have a feeling this thread is going to be reported and either locked or moved.

If either should happen, I will PM each person who suggested a synth I ultimately programmed and ask them if they want a free copy. I don't think they'll mind.

I really wasn't expecting all this fuss, given the circumstances, but I'm really not surprised. I'll leave it at that.

Why in the world should someone report you and the thread beim closed?? You're askimg a leigtimate question...

Forget it. I just want to move on and start programming.

[BBFG#]

Chances are if it gets locked, it will be by the OP.
The mods may move it. And if it gets moved, who cares?
Not really a problem either way since it seems the OP has received enough info to make his next move.

[rACatkvr]

My 2c worth: Zebra 3 (although I bet there will be competition - in fact I think I saw someone selling presets for the current beta); and,
Omnisphere 3.
Both these or their predecessors feature highly (in fact if you added Omnisphere + Omnisphere 2 how does it compare on the list?) in your list of best sales and although as the prospectus’s say ‘past performance is guarantee of future performance’, I suspect that it will be.
Falcon and Halion would be next down on my list, I have one of those but haven’t delved into its ecosphere. And I don’t really see a heap of discussions about 3rd party presets for either (but that may be just because I don’t look).
So there are four, in order to not spread yourself to thinly I wouldn’t scatter your efforts too widely.
BTW good luck with your recovery.

[wagtunes]

My 2c worth: Zebra 3 (although I bet there will be competition - in fact I think I saw someone selling presets for the current beta); and,
Omnisphere 3.
Both these or their predecessors feature highly (in fact if you added Omnisphere + Omnisphere 2 how does it compare on the list?) in your list of best sales and although as the prospectus’s say ‘past performance is guarantee of future performance’, I suspect that it will be.
Falcon and Halion would be next down on my list, I have one of those but haven’t delved into its ecosphere. And I don’t really see a heap of discussions about 3rd party presets for either (but that may be just because I don’t look).
So there are four, in order to not spread yourself to thinly I wouldn’t scatter your efforts too widely.
BTW good luck with your recovery.

Thank you. This helps a lot,

[twal]

Could use more preset banks for Halion for sure.

[BBFG#]

Could use more preset banks for Halion for sure.

Have you checked out Patchpool, Triple Spiral, Sample Fuel, Sonic Atoms and the Steinberg Expansions?

Correction: Touch the Universe, not Triple Spiral.

[twal]

Could use more preset banks for Halion for sure.

Have you checked out Patchpool, Triple Spiral, Sample Fuel, Sonic Atoms and the Steinberg Expansions?

I have but not Triple Spiral thanks

[wagtunes]

I see the mods moved this. Oh well, at least I have enough data to move forward but this is where this thread goes to die because nobody comes here.

Thanks for making a fuss guys. I really appreciate it.

[ThoughtExperiment]

Could use more preset banks for Halion for sure.

Have you checked out Patchpool, Triple Spiral, Sample Fuel, Sonic Atoms and the Steinberg Expansions?

I have but not Triple Spiral thanks

You're not really missing anything re Triple Spiral, I was foolish enough to buy a collection for Dune and it's pretty crap tbh. Levels all over the place, inconsistent fx assignments, weird controller settings. Obviously I can't speak for everything they do, but this one sure put me off. So my advice fwiw approach with caution.

Sorry to hear about your bad news, hoping for a full recovery:)

[wagtunes]

Could use more preset banks for Halion for sure.

Have you checked out Patchpool, Triple Spiral, Sample Fuel, Sonic Atoms and the Steinberg Expansions?

I have but not Triple Spiral thanks

You're not really missing anything re Triple Spiral, I was foolish enough to buy a collection for Dune and it's pretty crap tbh. Levels all over the place, inconsistent fx assignments, weird controller settings. Obviously I can't speak for everything they do, but this one sure put me off. So my advice fwiw approach with caution.

Sorry to hear about your bad news, hoping for a full recovery:)

Thanks. Appreciate the kind words.

[SamDi]

It seem that it is business as usual and everybody is naming his favorite synths.

Since I had some similar questions to ask myself, if it might be a good idea to start making presets semi-professionally so here my thoughs on that:

In terms of sales, I very strongly assume, that Serum is by far the most sold synth today, if not of all times. But does it make this synth a good base for creating presets and beeing visible for your target group? Many preset creators are heavily involved to build a brand around showing track creations and tutorials one YT, having gigs as DJs and offer sample packs and presets via their distribution channels. Furthermore they ar often somehow commited to a certain genre or related family of genres, often kinda known in the scene. I can't imagine, that it's very easy to be successfull on that playground.

So your question should be actually not "what's top synths", but rather which synths offer a good ratio between market presence and space to place your preset in that preset market.

Furthermore I'd say, it depends heavily on what is your target group and genre?
EDM generally? Specific genre (e.g. Synthwave)? Cinematic?
Beginners who are not able to make presets themself? Professionals in a studio, who need to save time and costs and need the right sounds fast?

Furthermore I'd say, it depends heavily on how you like to make sounds and where you are good at.
Classic OSCs? Wavetables? FM? Sample-based? Do you need good and creamy filters? Do you rely on superb Fx? Layering? MB-compression? Do you need severall Fx send chains or is one insert stream sufficient?

What you should also take in consideration, is the distribution channel on which you can sell the presets. Can you get a manufacturer to distribute your presets on his channels? So Arturia, Kiloheartz, (maybe) UVI have a wide offer on presets and maybe you get a chance to offer yours too. U-He, Xfer seem to have rather a narrow circle of buddies to offer presets. Companies like Spectrasonics or reFx are themself preset providers and are even more a closed system.

Alternatively you can try to get a place on Splice for your prestes, which is very common today that many have it, but of course, it's crowded there also.

If I would seriously consider to sell presets, my first approach would be to get in contact whith synth manufacturers and to snatch a chance to place presets there. You'd have to share the profit, but you get wide reach in opposite and sometimes additional protection against pirate copies.

Anyway you need to get some initial preset packs for different synths at least as a base to advertise yourself to manufacturers, platforms or other channels.

Shortly my thougts I had, on my possible contenders - might be wrong.

Serum:
Fun to work with, big huge market - mostly EDM, difficult to get visibility

Pigments:
Fun to work with, middle-big market - very mixed, worth to check out, to sell Presets via Arturia

Phase Plant:
Fun to work with, middle market - mostly Bass Music, Dubstep, Drum'n Base, worth to check out, to sell Presets via Kiloheartz

Hive:
Fun to work with, middle market - very mixed genres, worth to check out, to sell Presets via U-He, but probably you need to find your own channel.

Falcon:
Complex workflow, middle big market, I assume rather in Cinematic, maybe going Kontakt is the better alternative.

Zebra 3:
Very complex nerdy synth. Probably huge spread because of cheap upgrade from Zebra 2, anyway I expect preset market rather small-middle. I see higher chances in Cinematic/Sound-Design realms than music-related (because there are easier and more straight-forward synths for it).

Massive X:
Crappy workflow (for me), huge spread because of Komplete, preset market rather middle, I assume most presets are going over NI Access. Genre probably everything


It's just some assumptions based on my own impressions and thoughts. But maybe it helps you to structure your own decision matrix.

Get well very soon und good luck & success for you!