What are the best of these synths?

[BBFG#]

The real question is whose opinion is the best. Might need another poll after you gathered all the replies in this thread.

It always comes down to personal opinion and each individuals musical style and taste.

Developing your own opinion is one of the keys to developing your own production style.

Likewise, personal success is a relative term for each of us and while setting achievable goals is good, some may want to set another from that. If some set their bar low and decide they've arrived at their final destination, then okay. And some definitely have set their bar low.

[ReviveLin]

Dune or Electra.

[BONES]

By "Electra", do you mean "Carbon Electra"? I got that for free from Plugin Boutique but it never did anything for me so I haven't had it installed for ages. It's seemed thoroughly anodyne to me.

[ReleaseCandidate]

By "Electra", do you mean "Carbon Electra"?

Electra 2
https://www.tone2.com/electra2.html

[zzz00m]

Dune or Electra.

Those are both powerful and expensive synths. But apparently you didn't read the original post.

The topic is not "what are the best synths?", but rather "What are the best of THESE synths?".

The OP stated that they weren't spending any more money, and please don't recommend expensive synths. They presented a list of owned synths and requested recommendations for which of them was best for the planned projects.

[Trensharo]

AIR has practically no documentation for their Synths. They really didn't set themselves up for success, there.

Hybrid 3: 74 pages; XPand2!: 19 pages; Vacuum Pro: 22 pages; Loom 2: 25 pages. Is this what you mean?

Those are half-pages with like 16pt font used for the text. Not an objective measure, but this belies the page count

I'm speaking more to the quality of the content, not simply the page count (or its existence). Practically != Literally.

[Trensharo]

I would also suggest a sampler to round things out for some real instrument sounds, but since you stated that you already have some orchestral and piano sounds from Sonivox Film Companion, that should be plenty to start with. Getting into advanced sample libraries can get very expensive quickly!

The trick is to peep this out early and just go straight to something like UVI Falcon 2 or HALion 6 (or Absolute 4) - or just buy Native Instruments Komplete 13.

People balk at the price of these products, but it often ends up costing more buying discrete synths and piecemealing together a comparable set of instruments/samples.

[BONES]

No it doesn't. You can get similar functionality for much less if you use your brain and take advantage of sales. The free Kontakt Player and The Free Orchestra, for example, gives you a lot for absolutely nothing. In fact, I reckon the free version of Komplete is the best for most people, especially when you're getting started.

[Trensharo]

I disagree. Komplete Start doesn't really give you much in the way of synths, though it does ship with an appreciable amount of presets (and I think presets are good for beginners/upstarts).

The sampled instruments in the Kontakt Factory Selection are VERY dated.

The easiest way to get some good Synths - IMO - is to get Reason Intro and Rack them into your DAW.

However, I think many DAWs ship with usable stock synths, so this really depends on what your needs are and what DAW you use. For DAWs like Cakewalk and REAPER, you have no choice but to get 3rd party synths as they don't ship with any themselves.

I'd pay $79 for Reason Intro any day over using stuff like Sitala in a DAW like Reaper, for example. Reason's solution for this is just... far superior. And I think Synths like Europa are easier to use and better documented than a lot of free or cheap legacy software that is just hanging around on the market to milk the proverbial cow.

I think beginners are better off using what their DAW ships with, to start. Bloating your computer up with competing overlapping choices tends to provide more distraction than benefits for those people.

With experience, they will develop their own list of informed requirements. This will allow them to make good choices moving forwards.

Lots of people just go around downloading all of the internet's freebies... then they spend the next year wondering what to use, instead of just using what they have and getting better at making music.

[BONES]

How many synths do you need? It comes with Reaktor Player and Kontakt Player, which gives you instant access to dozens of free ensembles and sample libraries. You get 7 free synths plus 9 free Kontakt instruments, covering a wide range of sounds, including drum loops. You also get Komplete Kontrol and Guitar Rig Player. All in all, it's a helluva lot of good quality stuff for free.

There is nothing dated about TRK-01, it's a synth I would have every day of the week over a lot of $100+ VSTi or anything you get in the base version of any host application. Maybe some of the others are getting a bit long in the tooth but you get the latest versions of all the Players and sample libraries that are very usable.

[BONES]

Ok first I disagree on the Statement that he needs something that can play samples for string sounds.
With a bit of sound design knowledge every synth can make some pretty awesome string sounds.

Are you kidding? Those examples are terrible, JP6K does way better than that for $29. Synths can do great string pads but that's only going to get you so far. Try doing this kind of work without a good string library -
https://soundcloud.com/heavyocitymedia/ ... essentials

Second sektor. It's a strange beast . Tried it, lots of crashes. (circa .1 year ago )

Really? I'm pretty sure it's never crashed on me. Are you on PC?

EDIT: How strange, the post I responded to is from Dec 15th, but I was responding to a notification at the top of my queue today. Weird.

[Andrew189]

Ok guys
These months I have studied these synths a lot and have come to conclusions.
I would like to finish the topic with my beginner opinion on these synths after much testing and comparison.

Hybrid 3
Unfortunately I discarded this Synth.
I like the presets, it sounds nice, but it's not all in one window and I get lost in the submenus.
I don't like the workflow.

Vacuum Pro
It is my first choice for future projects.
When I hear this synth playing I feel in a ruined scenario, in the remains of an alien spaceship.
It has a dirty sound I think perfect for the Leads I have in mind.

Waves Element 2
I was having trouble with the GUI.
I moved the window taskbar to the right of the monitor and solved it.
I like the workflow of this synth, I can easily set it up.

Orb Synth
It's not a bad synth, but I find some sections of the GUI uncomfortable.
Some settings are not accurate (eg ADSR), but I liked the Matrix table.
Good but I will not use it.

Loom 2
As I said it has a fantastic sound and I will definitely use it for landscapes and sound effects.
The only bad thing is that I will only use the presets .... too hard to use!

Kilohearts One
It's a really great little Synth, with clean and intuitive graphics.
It is, however, perhaps a bit limited compared to the other Synths, although it has all the basic functions and its matrix mode.
I don't think I will use it for my project but I will keep it for educational and fun purposes.

Wa Imperfect
Imperfect is easy to use and has many features that could be useful, such as being able to load samples.
However, compared to the other synths here, I find the presets very bad (I think you could do better with this synth).
The characteristic functions “Wacky”, “Cracky” and “Shaky” mix the sound in an interesting way, however it is never clear what sound you will get.
Funny but I won't use it.

Wa Babylon
Even the presets of this Synth are many but very bad and similar to each other.
I think it's a more serious synth than Imperfect, with more classic functions and easier to use.
There are many waveforms to choose from, and the workflow is smooth.
I think it could be a good starting point for imitating instrumental sounds.

Iris 2
The sounds of this Synth are wonderful.
I particularly like the Pads very much and I think I'll use it for this.
It is not difficult to use but the problem is finding the right creativity to combine the various sounds.
I will definitely use it, starting with the presets.
It is not difficult to use but the problem is finding the right creativity to combine the various sounds.
I will definitely use it, starting with the presets.

------------ Synth you recommended to me

Zampler
Surely such a plugin is useful for projects like mine.
There are few sounds included at the beginning, but as mentioned they are often found free online or attached to Beat Magazine.
I'll keep it as a spare library, in cases where I don't have the fantasy of creating sounds from scratch.

Zebralette
A really nice Synth, simple and with a nice sound.
I thought it was limited with only one oscillator, it allowed me to keep the focus on a single element while getting interesting sounds.
I think for fast bass creation it can be perfect.

Vital
I was surprised by this Synth, it has many settings and I still have to study it well.
It is heavy on my CPU, but I think it is very complete, perhaps more than all the other synths mentioned.

Wusikstation
I tried wukistation but I had more than one problem.
It often lags when I use it, the settings shift late, and I often encounter bugs.
Maybe it's a problem with my pc, but I didn't like it very much

Aalto CM
I tried Aalto with a Computer Music tutorial.
I liked the use of cables that make the modulations in the graphical interface "visual".
I think it's a great Synth, I still have to compare it with the full version to check that there are no important settings missing.

Tyrell Nexus 6
Among the free Synths I think it's the best, I like the workflow and the "analog" graphic interface (I prefer this gui to Vital's).
I found the sound and "visual" modulation excellent.
It stays installed on my computer

Surge
Surge's graphics put me in trouble, I didn't like it.
There are many onscreen settings that confuse me, I think it is very complete but you need to know at least the basics to use it correctly.

In conclusion, at the end of this long topic I have selected the following plugins for my use:

VacuumPro, Loom 2, Iris 2, Tyrell Nexus 6 and Babylon.

Thank you for your help

[E_Anderson]

Kilohearts subscription while you use Surge/Vital and research physically modelled strings/other instruments or go the sample libraries route for non-synthed strings (modelled/sampled strings will get you way better results than synth strings, but do what your budget allows)

I see you like Vacuum Pro, yeah, that’s an interesting one. Kilohearts Phase Plant will blow up this entire thread, but you’d have to subscribe to use it basically ($10/mo for everything of theirs and you get a $100 voucher for every 12 months you’ve subscribed [including nonconsecutive months]) as it’s probably a little too spendy for you to pick up at once. But great, great UI and so deep, and importantly, so beginner-friendly. It’s easy to go super far in phase plant. It’s in Zebra2/Falcon territory... not MSoundFactory deep but nothing is as deep as MSF besides maybe programming or Reaktor

There are skins for surge btw. And maybe for Vital? Not sure. Make sure you wait for sales for Loom/Iris as they both get discounted by 90%+ regularly