SimSynth Live

I bought SimSynth Live shortly after buying FruityLoops. Getting the FL, VSTi and DXi in one purchase is a nice deal. More importantly, it has a nice sound. If you dig in and do some careful programming you can get some pads that seem very alive. I use it mostly for things that need to sit in the back without drawing attention. This does not translate to dull, low quality sounds. A bad synth can draw attention just by ruining your mix. SimSynth Live adds filler with simple sounds that still sound good. It does not take up too much bandwidth and the included effects are a bonus. The Warm setting and ring modulation are just enough to give this synth extra character without becoming too complex. I think it is a great first synth for someone to learn about subtractive programming and ring modulation. Out of all the synths I bought in this price range, SimSynth Life is the one I use most. I tend to forget about it, but a year after my initial purchase I am still glad I bought it.

Robert

I've been using Fruityloops for years now, and had pretty much ignored this plugin, thinking it would do nothing in addition to what I already had. It wasn't until the VSTi version came along that I decided to properly demo it, and boy was I shocked!

This has to be one of the warmest sounding synths I have ever heard, software or otherwise. It can produce everything from big room-filling pads to rich, rounded basses to cutting lead sounds. All this and a breeze to program to boot (this synth, along with Linplug's Alpha, would be excellent for the novice sound designer).

An effective filter and those solid Image-line effects add to a package well worth the $35. Only let down is that the documentation is a little lacking, although it is perfectly adequate.

Absolutely no regrets.

This is a great synth.

Shortly after purchasing FruityLoops FULL, I bought Fruity SimSynth Live! and found myself using it constantly. The sounds are just wonderful. If your looking for some great sounds that fatten up very nicely look no further. The 3 oscillators combined with a brilliant chorus effect and some added warmth from the "Warm" buttons on each oscillator are great for making powerfull lead's, basses, and pads.

The SVF and AMP sections are very easy to program, showing you a map of your sound and the LFO keeps things moving. If your looking for warmth, SimSynth is your new best friend ;)

The added FX Panel that Image-Line is becoming famous for attaching to the VSTi and DXi versions of their generators is wonderful. You get a Parametric EQ that doubles as a filter, a delay, a reverb, and a phaser all attached to the synth. Did I mention that they're all automatible? Very nice.

In my opinion it's perfect. I use it constantly and absolutley love the new interface. For $35 it's a steal, especially when you get the DXi, the VSTi, and the Fruity version all along with the package.

Perfect 10's in all categories except the manual which I gave a 8. It comes with a page of pretty good documentation of the basics, which I personally think is enough, but it is very breif.

bought this purely because ive had the standalone simsynth2 for ages and love its sound but since i really got fully into vst [i used to be purely audio] its more and more of a hassle to sub-sequence in simsynth and import to my main sequencer ... the chance to own a vsti built around the same synth engine was too good to pass up ...

good stuff ...

.3 [or 6 if you double ['warm'] them up real quality oscillators ... leading to a ...

.big big sound [oberheim / moog hybrid if you like]

.excellent filter [oberheim-style state variable filter]

.no-nonsense gui ... everything is clearly laid out [and the little graphical envelopes are useful too ... if a tad on the small side]

.built-in effects packs [all switch-offable if you so desire] ... the delay / phaser / and reverb are so-so imho but the parametric eq is pretty cool as an extra

.pretty light on the old cpu cycles

.handy little lfo for livening stuff up

overall ...

a nice simple to program yet very characterful synth capable of everything from throbbing bass to screeching leads ... firmly in the va camp [but thats no bad thing really] ... will probably see most use from me as a bass synth [might finally dump the venerable tau from my virtual rack] as its capable of some truly fat [pHAT ? ] noises ...

... the first vst ive bought cos of instrument nostalgia [though not hardware yearning in my case :-) ]