Do you know some excellent lesser known paid soft synths?

[mcnelson]

Underrated, from very small company? Quiver!
http://straightarrow.dk/quiver/

The presets are nothing to write home about, and it has an unfinished feel... but that "Paderizer" PADsynth oscillator is truly awesome!

Here are a few patch experiments (I haven't had any time for Quiver since then, unfortunately): https://www.box.com/s/1ystyk520yf5uvh2fov2

The Paderizer osc is great for bells and rich strings (try "Far Strings").

+1 I loved this when I tried it but could never remember ....

it looks pretty interesting...no au though, and i'm not sure about the pricing...it looks to have a reaper-ish thing going where your license covers a couple of updates, but it gives no idea of the update price when that license has fallen behind

Yeah good point! I would sooner purchase something knowing I was entitled to continued updates, which seems the norm with most developer's these days.Still, $45 is a great price.

actually, i don't mind that pricing model in principal...most dev's will end up charging for a major 'point' release..but in this case, it all depends on the price of the new license...

reading again on the site, it turns out to be a little disingenuous....

"You are buying Quiver in its current state. As a bonus, the license is valid for one major version. The current Quiver version is 1.1, so the license will work for all Quiver versions until 2.1 (not including 2.1)."


so, you only get the upgrades up until the next major license release...well, that's the same for any other company isn't it ??...with reaper you get 2 major 'point' releases i believe

it is a great starter price, but i wonder what kind of updating happens regularly, and what constitutes a major upgrade (and how often)..this is important in determining whether you would want to have to pay for a whole new license every time

When the upgrade comes out, ask yourself if the cost is worth it? If it's worth your cash, purchase it. If not, carry on with the current version. I can't see the price shooting up drastically.

I'll be picking this up on payday

[Howard]

When the upgrade comes out, ask yourself if the cost is worth it? If it's worth your cash, purchase it. If not, carry on with the current version.

Agree!

1) Version numbers are mostly arbitrary!
2) Old software doesn't suddenly becomes useless just because an update is available - it only becomes useless when you can't run it anymore (for whatever reason).

[jethrobull]

When the upgrade comes out, ask yourself if the cost is worth it? If it's worth your cash, purchase it. If not, carry on with the current version.

Agree!

1) Version numbers are mostly arbitrary!
2) Old software doesn't suddenly becomes useless just because an update is available - it only becomes useless when you can't run it anymore (for whatever reason).

All very good points. It would seem there is only one solution then ...

[mellotronaut]

Morphox anyone..?

MorphoX is killer, and for some reason its fanbase is very limited.

Maybe because of the price of $129?

care to explain? you sure don't want to point out that it's too expensive, do you? cause it's rather the opposite...

always the same topic. 'expensive' is not an objective term. for a hobbyist, who needs the earned money to feed a family in the first place and than maybe ... , it is expensive. even in Germoney live people with a low income. for a professional well known studio owner, who buys the plugs in the name of his or her company and who doesn't have to pay tax for it (minus 21%), it is different, of course.

indeed. when do people learn. it's a _very_ capable synth and a _lot_ of work went into it. based on these facts it's priced absolutely reasonably. period. if you can't afford a porsche, you can't own one, that easy. you don't go to the dealer and tell him "i'd take it for half price", and even if you'd dare to (which imo is an affront par exellence), he'd tell you the same as i did. see, if you really want to get it, you could also save up until you actually _can_ afford it. or look for alternatives, there are enough. vote with your wallet. why is it that these days everyone wants everything dumping priced? there's developers that have to live from their work, don't think they earn a golden nose by overpricing stuff, for sure linplug isn't a company of those. you also want to be paid reasonaby for your work and you're for sure complaining, if this isn't the case. and germans, by the way, aren't even half as rich as you might think - i _am_ german, i really know. it's maybe just that most germans (more than some other countries) still kinda value hard work with reasonable money (not that the trend goes into the opposite direction, sadly admitted). maybe _that_ is why we're so "rich" in the end??

but i don't want to derail the thread, so back to topic.

there are several contradictions in your arguments, but right, this is not the topic of this thread. we'll discuss the topic in another thread. i'm sure, you'll come up with it again.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

When the upgrade comes out, ask yourself if the cost is worth it? If it's worth your cash, purchase it. If not, carry on with the current version.

Agree!

1) Version numbers are mostly arbitrary!
2) Old software doesn't suddenly becomes useless just because an update is available - it only becomes useless when you can't run it anymore (for whatever reason).

1) yes, but it seems common practice for bug swatting and tweaks to be done between major point releases and bigger things left to major upgrades...most normally charge for this, though not at the equivalent price of buying the whole plug again...of course the low starting price somewhat negates this...my main gripe is that it not be advertised as a "bonus" that you will get all minor updates between version 1 and 2 when this is has become almost standard practice

2) well for us mac users that uselessness can come much sooner but you are right, no need to feel forced to upgrade.....and the buy-in price is so good that even if you didn't end up using it as much as you thought, there is not much to lose...but if i liked it and enjoyed how the company operated i would want to upgrade also to support continued development...my gripe here, as far as i can tell how it goes with this license, is there is no concession given to loyalty...so, someone updating would not have to pay 100 % each time...maybe a sliding scale for each major update dependant on how many previous licenses you had bought...

[mellotronaut]

why is it that these days everyone wants everything dumping priced? there's developers that have to live from their work, don't think they earn a golden nose by overpricing stuff.

Okay, but then pay the double price for your coffee machine to value the work of the engineers and to enable better wages for the Chinese workers, spend 10.000 € for your vacation because the hotel bosses & airbus companies wants to survive, too, and buy your food for the triple price at the bio market to help the farmers to stop these dumping prices. If you really are THAT consequent - not only regarding software. Then you have to value EVERY product - from your bread to your house!

and that's exactly what i do, to the best of my knowledge and as much my wallet allows that. if i still can't afford it, i, just as i proposed, either save up until i can afford it, or look for alternatives. but certainly not complaining about the price all the time. especially not on software synths, which nearly halfed the price within the last 2 or 3 years anyway...

i can promise you one thing: if we have 2016, and softsynths do cost max 30€, people still complain. heck, they do with iphone apps for 99 cent (but get an iphone for 700€)... wake up, honestly...

soft synth prices are going down for several reasons, but not because of 'price complaining' of possible customers in the first place. even in Germany there is a law, which allows to get individual price discounts after 'complaints'. so this is not a bad thing at all. why shouldn't i complain, when there is the possibility to get something cheaper. much more sincere than to pirate it, btw.
when a software dev enters the business, he or she knows about piracy, about complaining customers, about the value of promotions, about the value of support and about the benefit of code etc. you can measure hardware prices at least a bit from the used components, but software? impossible.
in 2003 i bought Sampletank 2XL for almost 500€. now you get it for about 40€ or as gift, when you buy a certain hardware controller with double the content. and now think about the reasons! price complaining customers? pfffft. its value has changed for the devs foremost, as simple as that. it has paid off several times. they know, nobody would pay 500€ for an outdated software and outdated samples now, where you can get all these wonderful Kontakt libraries. ST2XL has some value to promote other stuff now etc. ect. etc. in 2003 it was the shit! how much work went into it etc. etc. etc.

[foosnark]

Audio Damage Phosphor, based on the old Alpha Syntauri. Very simple for an additive synth, yet capable of anything from gentle to absolutely nuts. It doesn't really sound like most other synths.

ReFX PlastiCZ, a phase distortion synth from several years back that I don't see people talking about anymore.

Plogue Chipsounds, versatile for things beyond chiptunes.

NUSofting Modelonia, tied with Chromaphone for my favorite physical modeling synth. Feedback between string modeling and horn modeling adds to the variety and lets it get pretty weird if you want it to.

Fabfilter Twin and Tone2 FilterBank3 -- they cover similar ground with two filters with an assortment of models, and flexible modulation. FilterBank3 generally has more variety, while Twin sticks more to a VA concept (it's like Volcano crammed into a synth), but both are worth a try.

[EDIT: Okay, Twin has two filters on the oscs, and two more in the delay feedback loop.]

[Crackbaby]

I think all the new cool hardware causes people to stop buying synth after synth which is used to fill that gap controlling a synth with a mouse leaves. Money shifts from going to software to hardware and it will force devs to lower prices in order to compete (and do all these introprices, preorders, deals and whatever else to lure people to get one more hit)

[Examigan]

Pentagon doesn't get mentioned much and I think it's a pretty good synth.
It's older, but who cares, and a nice price.. $49

https://www.cakewalk.com/products/pentagon/

[recursive one]

Audjoo Helix

that. i can't emphazise enougg, how underrated this synth still is...

I demoed it and found that it sounds extraordinarily good.

But the development seems to be stopped forever and there never will be a 64 bit version afaik. Given that, the asking price seems to be not justified

It is true development is very slow lately... but I have a working 64bit vst-version and some other improvements still being tested by some select users. And I do still help every user who have issues... Just so you know

With Jonas's permission, I can share, with great admiration for his work, that Jonas promptly and courteously fixed some minor Helix bugs I found since around the beginning of this year, as well as graciously modifying the way Helix imports single-cycle user-supplied waveforms to compensate for a bug in TeamDNR's Wave Designer. He provided me with both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions of the updated Helix. And I am in seventh heaven! No other VST synth I've tried approaches Helix's sound quality AND low CPU use on my ancient Athlon 64 Win XP machine.

I've never received better service from another developer. And I didn't even buy Helix directly from Audjoo, but rather purchased a license on the KVR marketplace from a previous owner! Hooray for Jonas and Helix!!

Greg Williams

I'm VERY happy to hear that Helix is still alive and there is 64 bit version under testing. As soon as the x64 version it will be available for all Win customers I'll happily give my money to Jonas. I seriously consider Helix to be one of the best sounding softsynths ever made. My "overpriced" point related only to the lack of x64 version, if it is finally available the price will be ok.

Btw, i think Helix needs some serious promotion, at least here at KVR and on Gearslutz. Everyone wants Virus in the box, i thing people will be bying, especially if the factory bank is supplemented with some trendy, EDM ready presets, just for showing the synth off. May be Jonas should contact somebody like Rob Lee for making presets?

[Howard]

Re the comments about update charges etc..: This is one thing that u-he got thoroughly right - all updates are free of charge, and after an introductory offer, the product price stays the same forever. This system works, it doesn't penalize loyalty.

[jethrobull]

Re the comments about update charges etc..: This is one thing that u-he got thoroughly right - all updates are free of charge, and after an introductory offer, the product price stays the same forever. This system works, it doesn't penalize loyalty.

This is the best imho. Loomer is the same,solid software,solid pricing,updates are free.Nice and simple.

[ariston]

It's been mentioned, but I'd like to say Phosphor as well. This is such a cool little synth, and it's deeper than it might seem at first glance. The sound is utterly unique; don't assume that you can get other additives to sound like it - it's all neon green, luminous, shimmering, northern lights, incandescent.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Re the comments about update charges etc..: This is one thing that u-he got thoroughly right - all updates are free of charge, and after an introductory offer, the product price stays the same forever. This system works, it doesn't penalize loyalty.

yes, some companies get things spot on...unfortunately though (for some other developers), fair policies (from u-he and others) become the yardstick by which others' get judged...i think that a good thing

[yessongs]

Anyway, I am thinking of getting TubeOhm's paid version of their Anti-Transpirant. It is SE, but its sound quality is excellent as it uses 8x oversampling. And the sounds as such are also quite unusual (and even dangerous to your speakers ) because of its unconventional architecture. I will use it mainly for rich leads and bass sounds, as chords simply consume too much CPU (Diva level). It only has 6 voices, anyway.

The developer is really into his work, not a businessman trying to make profits.

antitranspirant rocks and the free version is one of my top free synth faves for leads but leads generally are monophonic so I do have concerns the paid version might not be able to offer me much more in usability. I wouldn't use it enough to justify the expense because I have others that are so much better.

Synthmaster is about the same cost and does so much more than this synth its not even funny. If it were $20 I would probably snag it but for what they want there are way better options for me and my money as is true with a lot of the synths being mentioned in this thread but hey one of these days money will no longer be an issue and I will just get one of everything.

I say this not to beat the dev up but because it's the economic reality of the situation and it is really more profitable to sell at a price point were sales increase as a result of it being a total no brainer.

In the price range he is competing with other better synths are there to keep his sales from reaching a number he would like to see. I see more synth devs taking this approach especially with their older synths because of the better sales numbers it will create sales.

What is more money $20 x 50,000 sales or $80 X 1000 sales? Plus then you have a larger database to upsell to. This is the key factor these guys miss out on.

A list of 50,000 buyers is worth a lot of money and I can show guys how to market other things to that list and generate just as much money as if they sold the product at $80, maybe not on all 50,000 but a sizable enough % that by the time you add that back into the equation my strategy is making a whole lot more business sense.

People won't spend the kind of money in masses these guys are asking for when there are better synths to buy in or around the same price that are better advertised

That is the financial reality of the situation. Now it takes money to make money and you do have to advertise and if your spending money on ads you need to recoup that expense but if your smart you never even blow a large wad to advertise and you give your synth away free to famous musicians that agree to speak about your product in articles and do things like that.

You just need to be smarter at marketing and take advantage of certain situations to think outside the box. I could write about marketing strategies because I am in biz development and always come up with new ways to market things.

If I owned a software product and was looking to sell more (provided the product was as good as other similar products) the market would be mine because the synth developers are just so inept at marketing it is a gold mine I could really tap into quite easily. It's not that they are not smart enough they are just focused on their product way too much to do anything with it marketing wise.