Typical use of your synths aka what kind of music do you make with a synth?

[kPere]

As black friday sales are slowly comming to light some may be tempted to get a new synth, like myself for example.
I don't have many, never got any serious one - and by my surprise I'm struggling to find information on what are given synths good at.

I mean I'd be happy to see from you guys, who are more experienced in synthesis and have worked on some synths - what are your thoughts on the ones you own or used to own?

To be more exact, I heard that Zebra being a workhorse and capable of making pretty much anything you want, but is good for cinematic sounds, pads etc.
Is someone working on more pop souding music have any reasons to invest in Zebra and it's workflow? Or maybe there is some other synth that'd be more pleasure to work with in that direction.
Subjective matters aside, but I'm sure you guys could share some insight on some synths you've got.

[Zipede]

Zebra2 is good for all genre of music, it's very flexible. Hans Zimmer has used it for films scores and even had his own version made (Dark Zebra), which was made available as an upgrade. And you don't need to wait for Black Friday, if you buy Zebra2 on Nov 15th, you'll get Dark Zebra for free and a discounted price on Zebra3 when it finally releases.

[whassup]

To say that a synth is genre specific is not true. There is always hype around stuff that is used tons in certain genres. But apart from the legendary HardPunk synth OneSuperSawOnly no synth is genre specific. All others are allowed to be used in Jazz, Metalcore, Fusion and Country.
What's the typical use of a piano? Jazz
what's the typical usage of an acid bassline? Jazz
And don't tell me otherwise.
Or the Tarnce police will get you!

[foosnark]

Most synths tend to be versatile enough to work in any genre. (Except those that forbid synths in the first place of course... good luck working Absynth into a bluegrass band.)

A few synths do have a very specific sound that doesn't lend itself to everything. If you try to use a 303 in ambient you're going to have an interesting time. Then again, maybe you'll create something new and fresh that way -- it could be worth experimenting with, unless you specifically want to emulate the genre without pushing the boundaries. Which is no fun IMHO

[SHall1000]

Or the Tarnce police will get you!

……and the Tarnce police are the worst!

[SHall1000]

If you try to use a 303 in ambient you're going to have an interesting time.

Just slap a big reverb on it.

[kPere]

To say that a synth is genre specific is not true. There is always hype around stuff that is used tons in certain genres. But apart from the legendary HardPunk synth OneSuperSawOnly no synth is genre specific. All others are allowed to be used in Jazz, Metalcore, Fusion and Country.
What's the typical use of a piano? Jazz
what's the typical usage of an acid bassline? Jazz
And don't tell me otherwise.
Or the Tarnce police will get you!

I had in mind if any synth is better meaning that it'd be easier or faster to get certain material.. eg. some hip-hop/pop sounds, what would be your thoughts on this?

[whassup]

I had in mind if any synth is better meaning that it'd be easier or faster to get certain material.. eg. some hip-hop/pop sounds, what would be your thoughts on this?

You seem to be looking for great presets. I recommend that you check out the big synths with lots of good factory presets AND TONS of 3rd party presets available for them.
Having said that, for Pop and HipHop I recommend Diva and Hive and Zebra for that. Surge XT. Dexed. These give you access to 30k+ presets with thousands of them being top notch.
Howard Scarr is one of the best sound designers, did thousands of U-He presets. Awesome stuff.

[chk071]

If you try to use a 303 in ambient you're going to have an interesting time.

Carbon Based Lifeforms do it. Sucks though.

[martiu]

drone, weird glitchy stuff

[whassup]

weird glitchy stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ds_j2pmCus

Dang! Cool stuff! Me likey. Thanx for posting!

[vurt]

If you try to use a 303 in ambient you're going to have an interesting time.

Just slap a big reverb on it.

i wish people would stop giving away my secrets

[vata44]

good luck working Absynth into a bluegrass band.)

LOL, now I gotta try.

[Choikdoi]

Just demo anything you've heard good things about. If you like the presets, think it fits your genre requirements, suits your workflow... get it! If it doesn't, there's a few hundred more to demo.

[Boy Wonder]

The album I'm working on is downtempo/psychill/psybient stuff. I lean heavily on synths with arpeggiators - Diva, Diversion, Thorn, etc.