Diva

Diva's virtual analog synthesizer is the best in the business.

I absolutely love the 5 different oscillator models, the 5 filter models, and the 3 ADS(S)R envelope models. They all help this monster to create amazingly beautiful sounds applicable across all genres. And if you're not feeling like designing your own sounds, their 1200+ factory presets will get your creative juices flowing.

I have Diva preloaded on tracks for everything from bass, pads, leads, keys and fx on my templates, and I can't imagine my life without it.

Diva is an analogue modelling synth that really captures the vibe of old analogue gear with some extra additions. It offers a flexible take when it comes to mixing and matching oscillators, envelopes and filters from a variety of classic machines. I personally found mixing FM into a Moog bass gives me some amazing EBM bass tones I can't get with anything else. It's sharp, snappy and full sounding. The sound quality is nigh on perfect...I'm not sure how you could really improve on this. We've reached the point where analog modelling is good enough to make it virtually indistinguishable from the real instruments. The UI is fabulous, it has a great preset system, it's possibly one of a very few synths that I think is in almost all senses, perfect. My only criticism would be that it's quite heavy on the CPU, so on an older system it struggled a bit running multiple instances but I've just upgraded to a Ryzen 3950X and it runs like a dream. I think it's just how things are going, you can have 'ok' and low CPU or you can have fantastic and higher CPU usage. This definitely goes down the later path, though you can enable eco CPU options (though you probably won't want to once you hear how it sounds). Sure, it's slightly pricey but you get a lot of swappable modules in terms of oscillators and filters so it carries a lot of flexibility with Moog, Juno and MS20 style options so sound wise you get a pretty broad palette. You can also dig under the hood on a per voice level and tweak the individual osc tuning which again, gives you a lot of scope to tune this to how perfect/wonky you want it to be. I like my synths a little wonky and characterful and it can absolutely do that.

All in, one of the best vst's you can buy, if not the best. It's been my go to bass synth since I got it. Absolutely great for anything needing a stand out bass sound, so great for techno or dance music or anything with classic analog character. The pads and leads are also great. Big selection of quality presets but being of the classic era, it's super easy to program your own from scratch, not to mention, actually a lot of fun. I think this will be right up there for most people as a 'go to' synth.

Really love this thing.

Fantastic analog emulations. Mixing and matching oscillators, filters and envelopes from several classic analog synths opens a tremendous sound design palette. Sounds fantastic in the mix. Can use a lot of CPU but if you work in draft mode and then freeze or final record in the high quality mode it's very workable. Great synth.

With my ear particularly attuned to analog guitar tone, and never quite satisfied with the boxy sound of the 90's era hardware synths and DAW plugins I'd used, I have leaned towards using high resolution samplers with no expectation of satisfaction with modeling devices. D.I.V.A. captivated my attention with a realism and presence that reminded me of being in a room with live acoustic instruments. Since working with it, I've been thoroughly impressed by the obvious heart that goes into keeping U-He instruments playable and cutting edge. And while I hope readers will pardon the superlatives here, I've found it life changing. Thank you.

Diva is the best sounding soft synth I've ever used. It has an incredibly musical sound.

It is good for analogue emulation to such a degree that I literally sold my analogue synth after buying it, as I couldn't see the point any more of hanging on to analogue gear. If you're looking for lush Seventies sounds, it's spot on. If you are looking for 80s stuff you can get there too, just about. Once you start trying to make modern dubstep basses and so on - no. Nor 303 sounds. But for anyone looking for Wendy Carlos, Vangelis or even Gong synths... you will be in heaven.