best pieces of software available today

[moonlite]

...
examples of the stuff I'd like to learn:
- I heard that the sonalksis eq:s are widely considered as best sounding for some applications, but what are the ups'n'downs? how do they compare to voxengo/waves?

- what about other plug-ins? the classic series from kjaerhus was suggested. but I guess there is better sounding FX, too? but you still would choose the classic series? why? (remember, unlimited cpu;))
....

i dont find sonalksis that outstanding and think these are overprized compared to the competitors (same for waves).

kjaerhus is very very good all the way, free and comercial. i would compare voxengo to kjaerhus price wise, bang for the bucks.

yeah, I guess you're right, but as the topic states, I'm talkin' about pr0 stuff (and in this context it means the price should be ignored) .. so what would it be then?

[dystonia_ek]

crusherX-Live!
Audio Mulch
Reaktor
Absynth
Audition

[bugs]

Interesting...

No particular order.

Steinberg Wavelab 5
Sibelius 3 Gold
Spectrasonics Atmosphere
NI Reaktor 4
FL Studio 5
iZotope Ozone 3
Voxengo Pristine Space
EWQLSO Gold
NI Absynth 3
NI Kontakt

also

Cubase SX3, Sonar 4, Max/MSP, Reason, Chainer, EnergyXT, BBE Sonic Maximizer, T-RackS, Waves Platinum Bundle, Sony Oxford Inflator for PT Lite or PowerCore, Soundforge 7, Stormdrum, Altered States, Spectrasonics Stylus RMX, Spectrasonics Trilogy, any Voxengo Plug, PSP Vintage Warmer, GRM Tools Classic, Ohmforce Experience FX, Albino 2, Acid Pro 5, GS3 and the iZotope Ozone Plugin for Windows Media Player.

Sound Libraries: Spectrasonics Symphony of Voices, Spectrasonics Metamorphosis, Bardstown Bosendorfer Imperial Grand and Notre Dame de Budapest Organs, VSL Opus 1 (Horizon Series), Diva.

FreeWare/ShareWare/DonationWare: TLs Maximizer, Kjaerhus Classics, Nyquist EQs, KTGRanulator, Blueline Effects, Augur and Synth1.

Coming attractions: EWQLSChoirs, Kontakt 2

I guess that's more than 10. We're very, very lucky.

[moonlite]

sibelius?-o would it be your primary vst host or what kind of music did you have in mind for the record?

interesting indeed ...

Interesting...

No particular order.

Steinberg Wavelab 5
Sibelius 3 Gold
Spectrasonics Atmosphere
NI Reaktor 4
FL Studio 5
iZotope Ozone 3
Voxengo Pristine Space
EWQLSO Gold
NI Absynth 3
NI Kontakt

also

Cubase SX3, Sonar 4, Max/MSP, Reason, Chainer, EnergyXT, BBE Sonic Maximizer, T-RackS, Waves Platinum Bundle, Sony Oxford Inflator for PT Lite or PowerCore, Soundforge 7, Stormdrum, Altered States, Spectrasonics Stylus RMX, Spectrasonics Trilogy, any Voxengo Plug, PSP Vintage Warmer, GRM Tools Classic, Ohmforce Experience FX, Albino 2, Acid Pro 5, GS3 and the iZotope Ozone Plugin for Windows Media Player.

Sound Libraries: Spectrasonics Symphony of Voices, Spectrasonics Metamorphosis, Bardstown Bosendorfer Imperial Grand and Notre Dame de Budapest Organs, VSL Opus 1 (Horizon Series), Diva.

FreeWare/ShareWare/DonationWare: TLs Maximizer, Kjaerhus Classics, Nyquist EQs, KTGRanulator, Blueline Effects, Augur and Synth1.

Coming attractions: EWQLSChoirs, Kontakt 2

I guess that's more than 10. We're very, very lucky.

[bugs]

Cubase is my primary host. I use Sibelius as notation based MIDI generator. I use FL Studio primarily as a pattern generator--excellent drum machine in particularly. I compose in numerous genres--currently, I am working on a large electronic tone poem, Symphonie Romantique. Check out my website. Watersong, another large tone poem, is available there as a free download.

http://www.timothyluby.com

[jens]

...

[Kraku]

I already have most of what I really really want. So if I was making a record, the 10 software I couldn't do without would be the following (in the same order):


Ableton Live 4: Great, quick and intuitive sequencer. Easy and fun and quick to use automations and try different song structures.

impOSCar: Great variety of very nice and characterful sounds. Great on bass and nasty leads! Needless to say... It screams like a bastard

Battery 2: Nowadays I only seem to use sampled material as source sounds for my drums. Atm I mostly use DR-008 for drums, so it's synthesis capabilities are left unused Battery 2 has very nice sound mangling capabilities and I might buy it sometime in the future, but first I'll try to get the best out of what I already have.

Dance Megadrums: Great source material for the drums sounds! Nice, loud and clear. Me likes!

GCO-1: Very versatile compressor. Does nice job on drums (individual hits and submixes) as well as the bass. It can be quite transparent and reminds me of my Focusrite Penta...

GPP-1: Great limiter for drum submixes! I've only recently started using it for that particular purpose and it really bites!

GEQ-7: Well. If there's gonna be any kind of serious mixing, then I'll need a serious EQ. GEQ-7 does the job very nicely indeed It keeps the bass kicking and doesn't blur/muffle up the sound when in use.

Some good delay: I have yet to find one which I'll like It's very frustrating not to have this basic effect in your repertoire (at least one that suits you).

Some quality orchestral rompler: This is what I've been missing VERY much for a long time. I'm going to buy one when I find one which suits my needs and taste.

Nitro: Delivers all kinds of nice filtering effects & distortion if needed. Very smooth sounding and can really liven up the mix!



As you can see, the list was "which I couldn't do without", and I can't at the moment I'm always missing the orchestral sounds and the delay... My situation just sucks! Especially the orchestral sounds would bring very different touch to a track when all you previously had there was stuff only from subtractive synths.

[ew]

These threads are such shit, who gives a f**k? Why dont you just all get your peckers out, have a look and get it fuckin over with

Because you all know I'd win


ew

[BONES]

Following your argument to its illogical conclusion, you fail by your inclusion of Orion, which contains a multitude of (host-locked) software instruments.

Precisely! And as the guy who started the thread asked us not to do that, I was at least polite enough to apologise. Reaktor qualifies only due to it's limitations when compared to SynthEdit. And as the guy was trying to get info, naming your most used ensembles might actually help him out.

[BONES]

ok, there's been enough debate about which host is "best", because that's sooo subjective, but I think there's at least some vst you have to agree on if nothing else?

It will all be totally subjective because we approach things from so many different angles. You can buy everythign that is used on our new album for less than US$300 and I no longer use a lot of that stuff. I could easily afford to buy anything else that I felt I needed and my PC is well up to the task of running it all but I don't feel that I need to spend anything as I can do it all, up to a very high standard, with just my host and a few things I have made in SynthEdit.

I would much prefer to spend my time learning to get the most out of the equipment I have, rather than endlessly demo'ing stuff just in case it is better. [Usually that will only indicate that something has better presets as you won't have time to get good at using it yourself, as a rule.] Sometimes that may mean that I sell our music short in some small way [e.g. The reverb on our first album was not really up to scratch but finding a better one would have taken time away from other things so who knows whether it would have made a difference to the product in the end?]

If I hear a problem with something in a song, I invariably feel that its something that I did or didn't do well enough, never that I don't have the right gear to get the job done. There is no substitute for hard work.

[jtxx000]

Tracktion
Ozone 3
Wusikstation
Classic Delay
Classic Chorus
Vangaurd
Classic Compressor
Old skool verb