If You can only keep Four VST Synths You have. Which Ones ?

[BONES]

I'm working on some more complete works I hope to share soon.

It wasn't the tune so much as the sounds.

[MattCable]

Yeah but the thing is it's an unimpressive demo of fairly ordinary sounds, not something likely to have everyone flocking to the site to download it. It sounds fine, it's not terrible at all, I suppose I was expecting something a bit more impressive is all.

I'm working on some more complete works I hope to share soon.

FWIW, I liked the sounds. I was on the fence with its usability but then had the thought “if it sounds good, it sounds good”. I was just confused why it was posted here? Maybe I missed it, but is it a synth and is in your top 4?

[stoopicus]

Phase Plant
Diva
SQ80-V
RePro

I get one freebie - MiniFreak V (needed for my MiniFreak Stellar, it is the hardware synth's software programming interface and configurator). Happy to take the restriction that I only use it with the hardware.

[OzoneJunkie]

exascoutics Ghost
Minimal Audio Current
Vital
Xfer Records Serum 2
+ bonus (because 5 is as arbitrary as 4): Reveal Sound Spire (don't like the editing but the presets are nice)

[Tobi MM]

as i always recommend to newbies: "one for digital, one for analog, one for everything, one for fun"

Serum 2
Diva
Omnisphere
Dawesome KULT


honorables: lounge lizard, repro & hive

[A_K_F]

Falcon
Zebra 3
Pigments
Equator 2

Honorables: Serum 2, Diva, Repro

[SMH]

Yeah but the thing is it's an unimpressive demo of fairly ordinary sounds, not something likely to have everyone flocking to the site to download it. It sounds fine, it's not terrible at all, I suppose I was expecting something a bit more impressive is all.

I'm working on some more complete works I hope to share soon.

FWIW, I liked the sounds. I was on the fence with its usability but then had the thought “if it sounds good, it sounds good”. I was just confused why it was posted here? Maybe I missed it, but is it a synth and is in your top 4?

Yea I already posted its Polyana- which is va synth and comes with a fx version too!! https://www.admiralquality.com/product/poly-ana/

[BONES]

Reveal Sound Spire (don't like the editing but the presets are nice)

Really? I don't mind patching Spire at all. It's well laid out, everything is easy enough to access and you can see plenty of what's going on from the front panel. It's not as good as DS-Thorn in that regard but it's better than synths like Dune or Hive, with those annoying "screen" panels in the middle.

[Tj Shredder]

Yea I already posted its Polyana- which is va synth and comes with a fx version too!! https://www.admiralquality.com/product/poly-ana/

Its a very old synth with the ugliest UI of the world and a price tag even on sale, which is way too high. I was always interested sort of, as it supported MPE pretty early, but that was too little to get me over this fence.
The last update was 2024 and needed 6 years to fix a bug, its badly maintained obviously. There seems to be a fanboy who tries to push sales. Tell your master, selling for half the current sales price might more than double the sales, but I am not sure about even that. In the end its just another VA…

My four would be
The Grid
Ultra
Kontrast
Equator 2

[Teksonik]

Yea I already posted its Polyana- which is va synth and comes with a fx version too!! https://www.admiralquality.com/product/poly-ana/

Its a very old synth with the ugliest UI of the world

In the interest of fairness PolyAna was released in 2007, the same year as Zebra 2.

It can also be skinned so not the "ugliest UI of the world" although beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

It's also on sale right now for $89.98 so I don't think that's "way too high" and no I'm not a fanboy of Admiral Quality just a fan of facts.

PolyAna.png

[Vocalpoint Studios]

Omnisphere 3
Pigments 7
Diva
Zebra 3

Which are really the only four I ever use anyway

VP

[whassup]

PolyAna.png

And that is a really good looking skin!

[Muziksculp]

Omnisphere 3
Pigments 7
Diva
Zebra 3

Which are really the only four I ever use anyway

VP

[rod_zero]

Wasn't the developer of polyana banned here because he got quite aggressive over criticism of the GUI, very stubborn guy.

[Teksonik]

Wasn't the developer of polyana banned here because he got quite aggressive over criticism of the GUI, very stubborn guy.

Well he stuck to his vision for PolyAna and if I remember correctly the GUI design came before the synth. Again if memory serves me correctly he was a graphics designer first. So you can call him stubborn if you wish but I had respect for him for sticking to his original vision for so long even though I vociferously disagreed with that vision.

He defended that backwards tilt GUI for a long time but so many people said they wouldn't buy PolyAna with that GUI that he finally relented and allowed skinning.

But after the update was released that allowed non-tilted GUI and custom skins he said almost no one bought PolyAna and that left him rather disillusioned. I felt sorry for him that his work bore so little fruit.

Don't get me wrong we had knock down bloody battles here and by email. He turned on me like a rabid dog just for trying to help him.

So yeah the guy had an attitude and going after Ben and the Mods got him perma-banned. The thing is those of us who purchased PolyAna early on were the ones who kind of suffered the most since we could no longer interact with him here for bug reports, etc. I'd love to see him get a second chance and be reinstated but I fear the outcome might be the same although I suppose he could have mellowed over the years.

At any rate spurred on by this thread I fired up PolyAna yesterday after quite some time and I'd forgotten how good it can sound if you're after that old school analog vibe. I'm very happy to have it in my collection.