My first Software Synthesizer

[Fckthwrld91]

Hello together!

Its Christmas Time and i really want to buy a new/my first Soft Synth this year!

I own the Ableton Live Suite, but i am missing something something easy and yet versetaile in my collection, as i dont REALLY like the ableton synths.

I thought a lot about buying NI Komplete, but 500$/€ is way to expensive for me, at the moment, and i think it would be better to have something easier, first. What are the Synths you would recommend? If you would save further and buy NI Komplete, tell me please I'd be interested why this would be your choice.

Im into Ambience, Drum n Bass, Trip Hop and stuff like that, if that matters (No Orchestral work for example).

Thanks in advance!

Greetings

Fckthwrld

[Fckthwrld91]

Okay, i can break down this on 2 Synths.

Its Synth Master vs Zebra2. While Zebra2 seems to have a few features more, its by far more expensive. Synth Master is 50$ at the Moment, while Zebra is 200$. Can somebody who uses both maybe help me here?!

[rod_zero]

Well if you are starting out I wouldnt pick neither of those.

If you are really starting out and you still have to learn synthesis my honest recommendation is to invest in education and get Syntorial (it includes a virtual synth too, a little basic but its fine for starting).

With syntorial you will be able to get a lot mroe out of Operator an Analog on suite (personally I like operator, analog not much).

probably after finishing syntorial you will have a more clear idea of what synth to get.

Also for a starter I would pick Diva, since the sound is IMHO inspiring and the interface is simple. it has some advanced tricks too but nothing overwhelming like zebra or synthmaster.

[Fckthwrld91]

Hey rod!

I already worked through Syntorial. I know the basics of synthesis.

I have no problem with learning alot about a Synth, i just want to keep my first "new" synth to be versetaile and then work from there.

Thanks!

[ghettosynth]

Just buy Komplete. The reason is simple, you don't know what you want and komplete covers so many bases, and, if you don't save and buy komplete first you will just get on the synth of the month club for eternity. With Komplete you get Massive and Lazerbass for bass sounds that you can't get with operator. You get FM8 and Absynth for trip hop textures from all points in space. You get Kontakt which covers a lot of bases where sampling is involved. You get battery with a boatload of kits. You get Monark which is at the forefront of synth technology at the moment. And lastly, you get Reaktor, which, even if you never build anything with it, it covers so much ground that, the reality is, you don't really "need" anything else. There are so many cool synths in Reaktor that come with Komplete, I wouldn't even know where to start. The value in Komplete is just incredible and, IMNSHO, nothing touches the diversity. Really, I can't emphasize this enough and I haven't even started talking about all of the effects.

Once you get it, get your bearings straight with Monark, Massive, and Absynth. Forget Kontakt at first. You want to learn how to do basic synthesis and those three synths cover a lot of interesting ground as far as education goes. Absynth is really a bit unique here in that it is really a rather simple synth, but is capable of really complex sounds. Massive is fairly straightforward as far as VAs go. Monark is pretty much just a minimoog in software, it is dead simple to use, not so simple to master.

[JonSolo]

Based on what you described, I would have to agree with Synthmaster. For the money it is really a great entry point. It is not the best starting point from a programming perspective, but it has great sounds and is really rich.

Someone said Diva, but it requires a great CPU, and might be a bit too analog for your styles.

I do a variety of styles and have both of them, as well as Zebra and Komplete. You can squeeze some great stuff from Synthmaster for the money.

And that is where I would actually start with limited budget, CPU, and know how.

Jon

[Gone soft]

Synthmaster 2 can be heavy on CPU and convoluted to program, I personally wouldn't recommend it as a synth to start out with though great once you have a bit more experience...

I'll throw in Vember Audio Surge as a suggestion, does most subtractive tricks I can think of and then some FM and wavetable scanning (PPG style as we say) + ringmodulation routing options. EDIT: 99 € (EU) / 99 $ (non-EU)

3 oscillators, 2 filters with plenty of filter types (though less then Zebra 2) and parallell or serial routings with feedback through a relatively simple waveshaper, 6 polyphonic LFOs and 6 "scene" LFOs. The latter are monophonic and can modulate parameters in the FX section, and all those LFOs has an AHDSR (Attack Hold Decay Sustain Release) envelope and can function as an envelope or a stepsequencer.

If you care about CPU use it's a great choice, and it allows you to explore most things mentioned in tips and tutorials on subtractive synthesis and then some. With Zebra 2 you may struggle more to do some "conventional" things, and what you learn may often be relevant mostly to Zebra 2 and not always so much to other synthesizers. I think Surge may help you explore more stuff that will be relevant towards learning other synths later. As always anyone may feel free to disagree.

Oh, it's 32-bit and 64-bit for Windows, no 64-bit for Mac yet though. The reason it hasn't been updated in years is it's become so stable there hasn't been any more bugs to fix. I'm not 100 % sure how easy it is to get in touch with the dev these days if there should be any issues, he's one of the main guys behind Bitwig now so I'd think it should be possible to get a hold of him somehow if needed.

Sorry if it seems like I'm rambling on with technical details here, it seems you have became relatively knowledgable so I'm hoping most of it makes sense.

[RunBeerRun]

Komplete is an incredible value, if you're really not sure of what sound/features you want, there are magazine dvd's(and downloads)with cut-down versions of popular software. I have U-He ZebraCM, while it is probably not comparable to the full version, it is good.

[V0RT3X]

Long-time Ableton standard user here.

I've demoed the suite version and found I only really liked the Operator synthesizer which is really good btw. I was going to upgrade to Ableton suite but I found i would just spend my money on 3rd party plugins to fill the gaps. There is definitely a lot of synthesis with what you own already and if you get creative enough you'll find there are lots of bases covered already. However if you really wish to branch out and give into G.A.S then I would suggest like a few other said and pick Komplete up.

Between Suite and Komplete you'll probably not need anything else..

It will take some time to learn each of the plugins in Komplete though, so don't just expect to jump into the world of Komplete without taking a LOT of time to spend getting to know how each plugin works.

There is definitely a lot of technical know how needed to get the best out of each plugin in the package. You could just rely on the preset, but the real power in komplete is not the presets but learning the tools!

Once you learn how to use each plugin for your needs you won't really need anything else.

However there is the U-he & Fxpansion stuff.. and then the X-fer Stuff and so forth.

[Katelyn]

Why buy one you might not be sure of when there are so many good, quality freeware ones out there?

I don't know about DnB styled stuff, but I'd recommend Synth1 if I had to recommend just one (it can do some nice bass stuff too with the right effects and settings), I've been able to get a lot of cool different things out of that and have yet to really get a full grasp on what all it can do.

Alpha T-Force Plus is also really good for a variety of things, but I can't stand how tinny it's reverb sounds so I usually only use a little or get a reverb effect from another plugin.

Both of those are free.

Anyways I would recommend getting some free ones first before buying one if you havn't messed with them really, to get an idea of what you want out of software synths that some might have but that others are lacking.

[arkmabat]

I actually have my eye on Vanguard right now. It's kinda old though.

[EnGee]

Komplete or Air Expansion Pack.

Individual synths: Sylenth1, Zebra, Massive, Z3ta+2 ... etc. There are so many choices really. I would choose Massive for $100 now or zebra for $125 (200 - 50 - 25) by doing ( Dinasour + survey). Start big! Everything will click with you by keep reading and learning.

[BDeep]

Ghettosynth echoed my feelings exactly a few posts earlier. Just get Komplete. Yes, it's an investment, but it's cheaper in the long haul. It really covers a lot of ground (drums, synths and sampled instruments) that would be impossible to replicate with a single other synth. If you're starting out, it is the way to go (if funds permit, of course).

[Chris-S]

Dune2, Serum, ....

Many options for a nice christmas synth.

[Mivo]

SynthMaster at its currently discounted price is an easy choice. It's powerful, there are complete video tutorial series on Youtube (Sadowick has one, I believe), and it can do a lot of different things. I also really like all the synths developed by u-he (you could get their free ones, which are still great). The entirely free Synth1 is excellent, as well, and won't cost you anything (there are very many presets available for free too).