What would you buy now if you could never buy any new plugins or software or hardware ever again?

[PieBerger]

I find the mindset that determines that you need "2 x wavetable synths, 1 x FM synth", etc. very strange.

Same, you need all of the wavetable synths obviously

[BONES]

I don't need any wavetable synths - they don't do anything I can't do other ways and working with them is both fiddly and a bit hit and miss. They've been around forever and nobody cared then, all of a sudden, everybody was doing them. It's a fad, it will pass.

[FapFilter]

I find the mindset that determines that you need "2 x wavetable synths, 1 x FM synth", etc. very strange. I look to the tools that inspire me. How they work is irrelevant, beyond them being easy enough to work with, because they are all capable of making any kind of sound. e.g. Most of my vintage emulations can do FM so I'd never think that I need a separate FM synth for anything.

It's actually not the mindset that i need x amounts of synths or tools, it just happened that way that these compliment each other so well that i don't really need anything more than this configuration.
I could actually perfectly live with just one Wavetable synth instead of my two if it just was about WT synthesis, but the second one has an awesome step sequencer i use quite a lot and it's sound is also perfect for layering.
If i was more into FM, there could have been more than one FM synth included instead the one i use (which is actually a pretty simple one) if it had some awesome features.
Same with EQ, compressors, etc.
I could have included more, or less, it's just the combination that works perfectly for me that i don't need anything more without crippling myself in any way.
It was not intentionally that i desperately have to limit myself to the exact amount of x EQs, compressors, delays, etc.
There's still actually more than i need for “just in case“ scenarios.
I also don't really need the “SFX digital delay“ all that often as i mostly use either the simple “analog“ one, or one of the many inside my synths or MFX.

And the fact that i listed “just“ one saturator is misleading aswell, as i'm actually stuffed to the brim with very capable saturators that are included in many of my other FX or synths.
Same goes for other effects: Lot's of redundancy through my other tools

This actually doesn't have to mean anything to anyone but me.
Others can work perfectly with way less as my list is actually still far from being minimalistic, while others might want 2-10 times the amount of tools for not feeling too limited in flavors.

[BONES]

That flies in the face of what you said - that which synths they are doesn't matter, that they could be any of "hundreds". Then you go on to explain exactly the mindset I was commenting on. What is an "FM sound" or a "Wavetable sound"? It doesn't make sense to me. Any kind of sound I'd want to make with an FM synth or a Wavetable synth, I am sure I could also make with a V/A synth. And that's even before you start to ask questions about what kind of synth Hive or Pigments or DUNE are?

I'm not having a go at you, obviously you can think about things anyway you like. It's just seems that it could be a really limiting perspective to have.

[FapFilter]

Use what you want. That's the point.

a “simple old analog“ might do FM, but they usually have two, maybe 3 oscillators at best.
Not that you always need more, but it's not that you should never “need“ an FM synth, because your 2 OSC synths have an FM knob on it.
Most modern WT synths have extremely advanced envelopes and other modulators. These are either useful to you, or not.

i didn't choose anything because it said “analog/FM/WT“ on the tin.
I chose them because i like working with them and give the results i want.
In fact, both of my “WT synths“ are in the same ballpark as Pigments or Dune feature wise.
I'm just not so anal about such terms.
To me they are still “WT synths“
Same as i only listed my MB compressor just as that, and not also as an expander+noise gate+saturator+clipper+EQ, etc.
Oh, and it does single band too!

In general, i simply use the “6 instruments“ , i just broke these down a bit to make it a bit more clear what is use. Others might use 6 subtractive synths (but don't forget to mention if one also features such advanced features as an FM knob, which automatically puts it above all the others in a completely new category)
And others might use 6 samplers/ROMplers, or whatever fits them best

[PieBerger]

I don't need any wavetable synths - they don't do anything I can't do other ways and working with them is both fiddly and a bit hit and miss. They've been around forever and nobody cared then, all of a sudden, everybody was doing them. It's a fad, it will pass.

Wavetable synthesis is 40 odd years old, Massive was released 14 years old and it's spiritual successor and still one of the most popular synths around, Serum, was released 7 years ago. You don't have to like wavetable synthesis, but calling it a fad is nonsense as the evidence is to the contrary.

[BONES]

Orion had a wavetable synth from its earliest days, around 2000, and nobody gave it a second glance. PPG Wave was released in 1981 and nobody tried to copy it. Yes, Massive's success probably started it but in the greater scheme of things, most of them are recent arrivals.

[zerocrossing]

I’m basically in this situation, and I’m pretty happy. We just spent the money we’d been saving since 2005 on a house, and the idea that I’ll have any decent amount of cash on gear or software in the foreseeable future is pretty remote. That said, I stocked up. I just completed a kick-ass PC build. I’ve got 10 great hardware instruments and more software than I can remember. I’ve got a UAD Apollo and a lot of nice plugins for it. I updated my guitar amp modeler to an AxeFX 3 mk2, which is pretty much the best and most powerful modeler in the world.

Essentially, if I can’t make good sounding music with what I have, I’m doomed.

[Erisian]

No new plugins, software or hardware? I'd buy a good psychiatrist to help me through it.

[zerocrossing]

I don't need any wavetable synths - they don't do anything I can't do other ways and working with them is both fiddly and a bit hit and miss. They've been around forever and nobody cared then, all of a sudden, everybody was doing them. It's a fad, it will pass.

Wavetable synthesis is 40 odd years old, Massive was released 14 years old and it's spiritual successor and still one of the most popular synths around, Serum, was released 7 years ago. You don't have to like wavetable synthesis, but calling it a fad is nonsense as the evidence is to the contrary.

I dare anyone to point to a time since its inception when a wavetable synth wasn’t popular. (I’m including things like the Prophet VS, Wavestation and Virus in this definition.)

[zerocrossing]

Use what you want. That's the point.

a “simple old analog“ might do FM, but they usually have two, maybe 3 oscillators at best.
Not that you always need more, but it's not that you should never “need“ an FM synth, because your 2 OSC synths have an FM knob on it.
Most modern WT synths have extremely advanced envelopes and other modulators. These are either useful to you, or not.

i didn't choose anything because it said “analog/FM/WT“ on the tin.
I chose them because i like working with them and give the results i want.
In fact, both of my “WT synths“ are in the same ballpark as Pigments or Dune feature wise.
I'm just not so anal about such terms.
To me they are still “WT synths“
Same as i only listed my MB compressor just as that, and not also as an expander+noise gate+saturator+clipper+EQ, etc.
Oh, and it does single band too!

In general, i simply use the “6 instruments“ , i just broke these down a bit to make it a bit more clear what is use. Others might use 6 subtractive synths (but don't forget to mention if one also features such advanced features as an FM knob, which automatically puts it above all the others in a completely new category)
And others might use 6 samplers/ROMplers, or whatever fits them best

Great points. Are my Prophet 12 and Peak FM synths? Sure, I guess. I could use them exclusively in that manner, but it wouldn’t be super useful when speaking about them, and it would be silly to ignore other aspects of them.

[zerocrossing]

When are we going to stop taking the bait that trolls drop? Use that ignore function people! It’s your friend!

I see no trolling until this and BONES simply responded (I deleted that BONES, please understand, let's not let this derail the thread)....plain and simple I dont want new members thinking this is how KvR is...this thread will go *poof* very, very, very quick with any you statements or really any other nonsense derailments, not gonna just call someone a troll like that

[BONES]

a “simple old analog“ might do FM, but they usually have two, maybe 3 oscillators at best.
Not that you always need more, but it's not that you should never “need“ an FM synth, because your 2 OSC synths have an FM knob on it.

No, you are still missing the point. You are looking at the process, not the result. What I'm saying is that whatever sound you can make with a 4-op FM synth can probably also be done with a decent two osc V/A.

Most modern WT synths have extremely advanced envelopes and other modulators.

So do most modern V/As. Even my krappy SynthEdit synths from 10-12 years ago had loopable, multi-point envelopes and bespoke modulators, like the RARP I invented.

I'm just not so anal about such terms.
To me they are still “WT synths“

So why make any differentiation at all? Why not just call them all "synths"?

In general, i simply use the “6 instruments“ , i just broke these down a bit to make it a bit more clear what is use. Others might use 6 subtractive synths...

But you are still looking at them in a way I think is very limiting. To me they are all just synths and they are ALL interchangeable. I might listen to a piece of music and think "he probably used an FM synth for that bassline" but I'll bet that at least half the time I'm wrong. So I don't see how you could be working on your own music and think "what this part needs is an FM synth and nothing else will be able to do the job".

[neylago]

With the money I have right now, at most this

- DAW -
Studio One
- Synth VSTs -
U-he Repro
- Effect VSTs -
Decapitator, Echoboy, Blackbox, Vintageverb

- Sample libraries -
None

- Other third-party software
Bx_console N, Black Rooster, VLA-FET, Superior Drummer 3
- Audio interface
Scarlett 18i20

- Midi controller
Nektar Impact Lx49+

[Tj Shredder]

If money is no issue, you’d better buy all you can get hold of (to not miss anything - the ultimate GAS)
If money is an issue you’d buy nothing and use what you have...
Musical outcome will be most likely the same...