Trying to pick top 3's to reduce GAS ;)

[audiojunkie]

My Linux Synthesizers and Samplers List

To have the largest palette of sounds, it is important to have a handful of synths that provide unique characteristics and sound timbres. I am using models of synth hardware classics, as well as modern synths not based on hardware .

Sample-based, Subtractive, Wavetable, FM, and Granular synthesis types can together recreate ANY sound--including those of the sound types that Physical modeling, Additive or Spectral can create--and they can do it easier.

And sorry, I don’t limit mine to three with certain areas…

Sample-based - TX16Wx, TAL-Sampler, Bliss Sampler, Shortcircuit-XT, Sforzando, Decent Sampler, Fluida, Sfizz-UI, Linux Sampler,

Subtractive/Analog modeled - Repro, Diva, TAL-J8, TAL-JX8, JULY, Res-09, Tyrell N6, Tal-Noisemaker, Nils’ K1v, OB-Xf, JC303

Wavetable - Hive 2, Vaporizer 2

FM - Pivot, Chipsynth OPS7, Six Sines, Dexed

Granular - Quanta 2, gRainbow, Ewan Bristow - Halica,

Hybrids (Multiple synthesis types, layers, etc) - Zebra 3, Surge-XT, Odin2

Modular - Cardinal, U-he ACE

Drum/Percussion (Sampling/Synthesis) - Apisonic Audio Speedrum 2, TAL-Drum, Geonkick, MT Power Drumkit 2, Drumlabooh, SmackBox V2

Utilities - Ildaeil (Mini Plugin host / format adapter), Element (Plugin Chainer), HY-Slicer 2, Intersect (Slicer)

Any Others (Physical Modeling/additive/spectral synthesis, Vector, Formant, or anything else I want to add…etc, etc: hal0zero0/openwurli, Tiagolr - Ripplerx

[Echoes in the Attic]

Apologies if this comes across as another "What's your favorite" type thread

But that's exactly what it is. I thought you were above such posts.....

Anyway I'll make an analogy, say you've got a toolbox full of screwdrivers. You may not use some of them very often or at all but what harm does it do having them in your toolbox? You could say "they take up space" but in the digital world of terabyte drives space really isn't a concern.

I have a lot of synths and effects that I rarely use but I enjoy having all of them in my collection. I simply use my DAWs' plugin managers to keep the ones I use the most within easy reach and the rest can be accessed with a few more mouse clicks if desired.

I've never understood why anyone would care what my top 3, top 5, top 10 whatever plugins are and why I should care what other people's top whatever are. We all make different music so those lists will vary wildly from person to person and rarely if ever fit everyone's needs the same.

But I suppose such threads are good for idle conversation so do carry on.......

It’s less about what those top picks are and more about the thought process of trying to reduce plugins. I could have left the list off. For me, probably like many others, I never owned vintage gear but it’s fun to learn about them in a sort of virtual synth museum so I don’t mind having a bunch of vintage emulations. But do I need 5 different OB-X’s and minimoogs? No that’s getting stupid. So this was like a spring cleaning exercise. A way to say come on there’s no purpose to more than a couple variations of something if you like one much more. Use the thing you like the most. I’ve played guitar since I was twelve and never wanted more than two electric guitars at a time. Because I know what I like and just use them. I’m like pdxindy for guitars and wish I was more like that for synths!

I should have called the thread "I want to be pdxindy but I can't be so this is the first step in my 10 step process to get over my synth obsession."

I will counter myself a bit with one point though. The limited simple synths that emulate classic mono synths in particular can be a lot of fun and it doesn't bother me to have a few more. A 303, 101, a Pro-One, a Minimoog and ARP Oddysey are different and I generally know what I want to use them for beforehand. I like the limitations. No analysis paralysis. Part of it is also admitting that the more complex synths have learning curves that I just don't have time for, so if it's not an amazing sounding preset player, and I have other preferred complex sound design tools, then I should not be kidding myself that I should keep it around (sorry Serum and Current, you're on the chopping blocks).

But that's exactly what it is. I thought you were above such posts.....

I thought so too!

[whassup]

GAS is a thing. Sure I am not the only one who has tendencies to avoid it.
So I want to share some thoughts that I have about it.
To collect things is a totally different thing from using things.
FOMO is a thing. Even if I USE things like synths I might lust for something better.
The gras is always greener on the other side.
KvR OSC showed this to me over and over again:
The music I heard there over the years prove easily that the synths rarely make a difference.
My lattest attempt against GAS is a "essential folder" with fewer synths in there while quite a few others are still installed.
Paid and unpaid.
For the whole "I want a new shiny awesome thing" I have a question, that I have a sad answer to:
How many PRESETS in your synths did you NEVER even try?
My answer is: Probably thousands of them.

[iowastate89]

pro-GAS counterpoint

There are some interesting small or one person dev plugins that aren't your daily bread and butter synths/processing, but are unique and/or weird enough to be worth it (just to name a few: Aqueel Adam Sound, Audiothing/Hainbach plugins, Cong Burn sequencers, Infinite DIgits "oooo", Melatonin Sine Machine, etc).

[zerocrossing]

The music I heard there over the years prove easily that the synths rarely make a difference.

Due to space and money constraints, most of my music was done with very limited gear. GAS? Sure. Constantly, but life blocked the A in GAS…

But not totally. I still managed to find the funds for guitar pedals, and other small, cheaper stuff. Someone gave me a Korg Poly-800 in exchange for getting them a case of DAT tapes for my employee discount.

I learned something early on. It was fine to have a bunch of stuff in the studio, but it was a disaster to try and mirror that in a live performance. That points to what you are saying. If I could make the music I wanted to with a small subset of my gear, what is the point of having all of it? The point is, the act of gear acquisition is only tangentially related to making music, but it can still be a fun activity. Sometimes I want to produce a track. I could easily do it with Kontakt, a handful of other plugins, and my guitars. Sometimes I just want to explore and experiment with a new toy.

The problem is, I’m not really seeing anything significantly different in new plugins. I keep seeing minor variations and fewer improvements as time goes on. It’s getting pretty easy to say no to new offerings and harder to feel excited about them. I have limited my hardware to the best 10 synthesizers for my needs and tastes. It’s been pretty stable for a while. I’ve purchased few plugins for the same reason, but I don’t really feel like I’m burdened by them and I do like dusting off something that I’ve not used for a while and rediscovering it.

[whassup]

pro-GAS counterpoint

There are some interesting small or one person dev plugins that aren't your daily bread and butter synths/processing, but are unique and/or weird enough to be worth it (just to name a few: Aqueel Adam Sound, Audiothing/Hainbach plugins, Cong Burn sequencers, Infinite DIgits "oooo", Melatonin Sine Machine, etc).

This! These days I am looking for the special things that I don't have. That produces sounds that I can't with what I have. Not the 40th compressor.

[whassup]

The music I heard there over the years prove easily that the synths rarely make a difference.

Due to space and money constraints, most of my music was done with very limited gear. GAS? Sure. Constantly, but life blocked the A in GAS…

Yes man, exactly where I came from.
Situations changed and over the years I aquired most of what I ever wanted.
Synths and FX that is.
And no, I am mostly not interested in hardware for practical reasons.

Over all those years there is still a weird want in me that was never fully satisfied:
Delay.
I tried to put my fingers on it what I am really "missing" or wanting and I gave up quite a few times.
So I mostly restricted myself to a few delays (Valhalla, Inflator and Deelay are my go tos) that do some of the things I like and keep lurking for new delays if they might satisfy another yet unfulfilled itch that I can't describe.

[Echoes in the Attic]

pro-GAS counterpoint

There are some interesting small or one person dev plugins that aren't your daily bread and butter synths/processing, but are unique and/or weird enough to be worth it (just to name a few: Aqueel Adam Sound, Audiothing/Hainbach plugins, Cong Burn sequencers, Infinite DIgits "oooo", Melatonin Sine Machine, etc).

Good point. Those don't 'count.

[zerocrossing]

The music I heard there over the years prove easily that the synths rarely make a difference.

Due to space and money constraints, most of my music was done with very limited gear. GAS? Sure. Constantly, but life blocked the A in GAS…

Yes man, exactly where I came from.
Situations changed and over the years I aquired most of what I ever wanted.
Synths and FX that is.
And no, I am mostly not interested in hardware for practical reasons.

Over all those years there is still a weird want in me that was never fully satisfied:
Delay.
I tried to put my fingers on it what I am really "missing" or wanting and I gave up quite a few times.
So I mostly restricted myself to a few delays (Valhalla, Inflator and Deelay are my go tos) that do some of the things I like and keep lurking for new delays if they might satisfy another yet unfulfilled itch that I can't describe.

I almost always go to Valhalla, despite having a lot of delay plugins. Sometimes I'll go to other options and end up later swapping them out for Valhalla. It's just such a solid delay plugin.

I had a similar "missing" bit, but with vintage wavetable emulation. It didn't really get filled until Waldorf did their Microwave 1 plugin, but a few months later I couldn't help myself and I ended up buying a Polyvera. It doesn't necessarily do the vintage wavetable thing better, but it does a lot more, and it really leans into different ways of getting per-voice dirt on a sound, which is really something I have a hard time saying no to.

[audiojunkie]

The music I heard there over the years prove easily that the synths rarely make a difference.

Due to space and money constraints, most of my music was done with very limited gear. GAS? Sure. Constantly, but life blocked the A in GAS…

Yes man, exactly where I came from.
Situations changed and over the years I aquired most of what I ever wanted.
Synths and FX that is.
And no, I am mostly not interested in hardware for practical reasons.

Over all those years there is still a weird want in me that was never fully satisfied:
Delay.
I tried to put my fingers on it what I am really "missing" or wanting and I gave up quite a few times.
So I mostly restricted myself to a few delays (Valhalla, Inflator and Deelay are my go tos) that do some of the things I like and keep lurking for new delays if they might satisfy another yet unfulfilled itch that I can't describe.

Most guitarists will never stop looking for new and interesting pedals. I think the same can be said for users of synthesizers as well.

[zerocrossing]

Instead of emptying out your plugin folder, try this one neat trick the pros don't want you to know about. The next time you think, "I'd like a synth part here," just ask your favorite chatbot to randomly pick a letter in the alphabet and then commit to using a plugin that begins with that letter, or if you don't own a plugin that begins with that letter, pick the previous or next one, and make yourself use it. If you have multiple plugins with that letter, just use a randomizer to pick for you.

You can obviously abandon it, if you keep struggling to get what you want from it, but you might just find something that is amazing that you hadn't really thought of. It's similar to the Brian Eno Oblique Strategies technique to push you out of your comfort zone and force you to think about something different.

[djanthonyw]

I spent months doing a deep clean of my setup because I was tired of GAS. Safe to say I'm finally cured. I now keep no more than 4 options in any category and will only replace current options with new options that I think are better, if not, then I don't add anything.

If I'm going by your category options, mine would be:

Top 3 Vintage analog mono

- Arturia MIni V4
- SH-101
- TB-303

Top 3 Vintage analog poly

- Juno-106
- Jupiter-8

Top 3 Vintage Digital

- JP-8000
- Nord 2X

Top 3 Modern Hybrids

- Virus TI

Top 3 Granular/Sample manglers

- Omnisphere


Top 3 Modular or semi-modular

- Arp 2600


Top 3 Physical Modeling

- I never really cared for physical modeling, but I guess whatever's in Logic counts.

Top Preset Players

- XV-5080
- Trinity
- Triton
- Nexus

[TechHaus]

Instead of emptying out your plugin folder, try this one neat trick the pros don't want you to know about. The next time you think, "I'd like a synth part here," just ask your favorite chatbot to randomly pick a letter in the alphabet and then commit to using a plugin that begins with that letter, or if you don't own a plugin that begins with that letter, pick the previous or next one, and make yourself use it. If you have multiple plugins with that letter, just use a randomizer to pick for you.

You can obviously abandon it, if you keep struggling to get what you want from it, but you might just find something that is amazing that you hadn't really thought of. It's similar to the Brian Eno Oblique Strategies technique to push you out of your comfort zone and force you to think about something different.

Your chatbot won't pick a random letter in the alphabet. It will pick what someone would be statistically likely to say if you asked them to pick a random letter.

Like if you ask it to pick a random number between 1-10, it will pick 7 most of the time, because that is what most people pick statistically.

Moreover, when people ask it for random passwords, they aren't random. There is actually a subset of results they go to. In fact, there are certain characters that NEVER show up in those results.

Just wanted to clear that up, for folks who don't get how "chatbots" work.

Last, we have WORKING RANDOMIZERS that don't require data centers, chatbots, or ai.

Old school irc can do dice rolls for you, but not "artificial intelligence".

[ksandvik]

I have a shell script that does something similar, but I'm using it less and less, mostly as I tell myself to use just max three synths for each project and pick the ones I've forgotten to use.

[IvyBirds]

Instead of emptying out your plugin folder, try this one neat trick the pros don't want you to know about. The next time you think, "I'd like a synth part here," just ask your favorite chatbot to randomly pick a letter in the alphabet and then commit to using a plugin that begins with that letter, or if you don't own a plugin that begins with that letter, pick the previous or next one, and make yourself use it. If you have multiple plugins with that letter, just use a randomizer to pick for you.

You can obviously abandon it, if you keep struggling to get what you want from it, but you might just find something that is amazing that you hadn't really thought of. It's similar to the Brian Eno Oblique Strategies technique to push you out of your comfort zone and force you to think about something different.

Your chatbot won't pick a random letter in the alphabet. It will pick what someone would be statistically likely to say if you asked them to pick a random letter.

Like if you ask it to pick a random number between 1-10, it will pick 7 most of the time, because that is what most people pick statistically.

Moreover, when people ask it for random passwords, they aren't random. There is actually a subset of results they go to. In fact, there are certain characters that NEVER show up in those results.

Just wanted to clear that up, for folks who don't get how "chatbots" work.

Last, we have WORKING RANDOMIZERS that don't require data centers, chatbots, or ai.

Old school irc can do dice rolls for you, but not "artificial intelligence".

If you are going to lecture others you really should get your facts correct. We don't have "Working Randomizers" that don't require data centers, chat bots or AI

What you are referring to is Pseudorandom Number Generators (PRNGs) which use mathematical formulas to simulate randomness. Basically they take a seed number and run it through a mathematical formula to generate a new number. They then use that new number and run it through the formula to get another new number which seeds the process again. This happens every time you run a new number. It's anything but random and if you know the formula and the seed number from the the last time it ran you can accurately predict it every single time so it's hardly random

There are some highly advanced tools called "True Random Number Generators" that capture data from chaotic sources such as atmospheric noise, radioactivity, or precise electronic noise. These usually requires large computerized systems to gather the data and are slow, but even then they are just algorithmically collecting data for the seed number and then running it through a formula. Even these however are not true random numbers but are designed to be unpredictable enough for cryptography usage in the military and various clandestine agencies usually with 3 letters

So using AI to generate random numbers or letters is every bit as random as anything else anyone not in some Uber expensive government lab can generate

The closest mere mortals can get is "Entropy" tools built into several OS especially Linux and Windows. These gather data points from various things on your computer hardware like fan and hard drive speeds and the noise they create. This makes the seed number unpredictable but not actually random but again it's unpredictable enough for most encryption routines. The move to Solid State Drives however has made these less effective than they were before as there is no longer a spinning drive to measure

Hope this helps