KVR Audio

neon64bit · Post by **neon64bit** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 1:39 am

I just realised. Does Sylenth1 have Student Discounts? Because I know NI products do, and I think U-he as well.
If it doesn't that may be a dealbreaker, becuase I would much rather spend $100 not more.

neon64bit · Post by **neon64bit** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 1:41 am

xamido wrote:Sylenth is the right choice for now. Easy to program, plenty of good preset and it sounds great for trance.
...Since u're a student, buy from lennard with the student discount, does not become nfr.

does not become nfr?

sorry but I don't understand what you mean.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 1:55 am

neon64bit wrote:I just realised. Does Sylenth1 have Student Discounts? Because I know NI products do, and I think U-he as well.
If it doesn't that may be a dealbreaker, becuase I would much rather spend $100 not more.

FYI, you can get Dune discounted too: http://www.synapse-audio.com/educational.html

neon64bit · Post by **neon64bit** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 1:57 am

Thanks.

billcarroll · Post by **billcarroll** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:00 am

If you are making Uplifting/Emotional Trance you will need saws. A lot of saws. And plucks.

Sylenth is exactly what you want. Buy it, learn it inside out, profit.

neon64bit · Post by **neon64bit** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:04 am

billcarroll wrote:If you are making Uplifting/Emotional Trance you will need saws. A lot of saws. And plucks.

Sylenth is exactly what you want. Buy it, learn it inside out, profit.

Very good advice thanks. I'll take it in.

MaxSynths · Post by **MaxSynths** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:18 am

ElectraX
ElectraX

Saurus
Saurus

Gladiator
Gladiator

Meffy · Post by **Meffy** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:24 am

neon64bit wrote:does not become nfr?

sorry but I don't understand what you mean.

NFR means Not For Resale, meaning you can use it all you like but you can't legally resell it or give it to someone else. Different software makers have different terms. For instance, some software can be sold once, after which it becomes NFR -- the original buyer can resell it, but whoever buys it from the original owner must keep it. Check before buying so you won't get surprised. Sometimes academic versions are NFR, but full-price editions can be resold.

I practically never sell software I've bought, but some people do. If the ability to sell stuff you don't use any more is important to you, it's good to check a product's license terms before buying. For instance, most of my work uses one (or both) of two DAWs -- Cakewalk Sonar and Propellerhead Reason. Cakewalk don't allow reselling, while the guys at Propellerhead do. I wouldn't sell either, they're the foundations of my music studio. Just the same, I thought about it carefully before deciding to buy my first Cakewalk software back in the early 1980s.

rtkeeling · Post by **rtkeeling** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:29 am

You may want to have a look at SynthMaster. It's a powerful do-it-all synth that has an academic version ($59 US).

http://www.kv331audio.com/synthmaster.aspx

They just added some new factory sounds in the 2.6 version, and I noticed quite a bit of trance stuff there.

Roy

neon64bit · Post by **neon64bit** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:30 am

Meffy wrote:
neon64bit wrote:does not become nfr?

sorry but I don't understand what you mean.
NFR means Not For Resale, meaning you can use it all you like but you can't legally resell it or give it to someone else. Different software makers have different terms. For instance, some software can be sold once, after which it becomes NFR -- the original buyer can resell it, but whoever buys it from the original owner must keep it. Check before buying so you won't get surprised. Sometimes academic versions are NFR, but full-price editions can be resold.

I practically never sell software I've bought, but some people do. If the ability to sell stuff you don't use any more is important to you, it's good to check a product's license terms before buying. For instance, most of my work uses one (or both) of two DAWs -- Cakewalk Sonar and Propellerhead Reason. Cakewalk don't allow reselling, while the guys at Propellerhead do. I wouldn't sell either, they're the foundations of my music studio. Just the same, I thought about it carefully before deciding to buy my first Cakewalk software back in the early 1980s.

Thanks very much.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:34 am

And while we're at it with proposals, check z3ta 2 too.

Lots of saws and very nice arpeggios. A bit fiddly to program though. http://www.cakewalk.com/products/z3ta/

billcarroll · Post by **billcarroll** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:42 am

rtkeeling wrote:You may want to have a look at SynthMaster. It's a powerful do-it-all synth that has an academic version ($59 US).

http://www.kv331audio.com/synthmaster.aspx

They just added some new factory sounds in the 2.6 version, and I noticed quite a bit of trance stuff there.

Roy

SynthMaster is a great synth, although I think Sylenth has better effects and is easier to program.

Aiynzahev · Post by **Aiynzahev** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:46 am

billcarroll wrote:If you are making Uplifting/Emotional Trance you will need saws. A lot of saws. And plucks.

Sylenth is exactly what you want. Buy it, learn it inside out, profit.

+1

If you can only get one synth right now, get this one. Some of the best artists around have banks out for it to which you can use or just learn a lot from. I highly recommend you get some good banks from artists you like and dissect the presets.

I will say about synths, I spent a long time going through synths and yes there are many very good and a few exceptional ones. But what you need is a synth that works in your genre. I make some uplifting trance so I think I know what you are looking for.

You also need a synth that can cover most of the sounds you are going to want. Sylenth1 does this and by the way no other synth I've heard matches it for trance sounds. It's not just what it has, it's the certain sound it has. You will recognize it from so many records immediately. That will make you feel like you've reached your goal as far as the synth sounds are concerned.

Dcam Synth Squad though is also very good even for trance. But it's not fast and smooth like Sylenth. It's a looser sound typical of analog emulations.

One final thought, look at what the artists actually use, from what I've seen and people I know, everyone who does trance uses Sylenth and many use Massive.

The Thrillseekers does like DIVA but he's exceptional and he also has a powerful rig to run them on. He's been around for ages and is obviously an enthusiast. There is a difference between enthusiasts and people who just make trance music!

So my recommendation is

1. Sylenth1
2. Massive
3. Dcam SS because the filters are so nice

C-note · Post by **C-note** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:59 am

Get Sylenth, It works just fine on OS-X Cubase 7 64bit.
There are literally 100's of sound banks for Sylenth but here are a few of my favorites:

the venerable Vengeance -
http://soundcloud.com/refxaudio/vengean ... -sylenth-5
http://soundcloud.com/refxaudio/vengean ... -sylenth-6
http://refx.com/products/vengeance/soundsets/

Rob Lee Music - http://www.roblee-music.com/#/sounds/4574048560

Arksun - http://www.arksun-sound.com/products.html

Bluffmunkey - http://bluffmunkey.co.uk/?page_id=30

PlugHugger - http://www.plughugger.com/lennardigital ... horse.html

Xenos sound works - http://xenossoundworks.com/Sylenth.html

GostEffects - http://www.supplementalsounds.com/store ... y/sylenth/

VstSoundbanks - http://www.vstsoundbanks.com/

rockstar_not · Post by **rockstar_not** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 3:03 am

I think you start with the wrong question. How much the synth costs really isn't important compared to your list of questions - of which some will generate lots of debate with no resolution like the question about which synth is warmest.

If you were on a PC, you could try out plenty of freeware/payware VSTi and accomplish a great deal of what you are trying to learn without paying anything.

This is the more important list of questions: What I would like to know would be:

1. Which synth sounds the best/is the warmest/smoothest etc?
2. On which synth can you do the most (ie which is the most powerful)?
3. Which synth(s) to you use?
4. What synth would you recommend?
5. Which synth would last me the longest?
and also 5.Which synth has the most tutorials for trance music (on YouTube etc)?

Of these questions, 1 and 5 are impossible to answer - entirely subjective. There are no real objective ways to answer the questions.

If I were you, I would simply look at KVR's list of favorite freeware synths that are available for the Mac and start using them. Then that can inform you to ask more specific questions that are easier to answer. Question 4 is already answered in KVR's list. Give me a moment to track it down and I'll put the link here:

I helped you a little - I narrowed KVR's plugin database by AU only type plugins, freeware, Mac OS or OS 64 and sorted by user rating. Here is the link to get that list:
http://www.kvraudio.com/q.php?search=1& ... 100&bl[]=t

Download the first 10 or so and play around with them and you will have more experience to ask more specific questions that hopefully can be answered more objectively.

Looking to buy a ~$200 soft synth. Which one?