Soft Synths

Not free but worth every penny - Gmedia's Minimonsta.

It is based upon a Minimoog but don't let that fool you. It sounds utterly amazing and has a couple of really cool tricks that you won't find anywhere else. Just the "Melohman" section is worth the asking price.


Probably the only synth you'll ever need.

does anyone use trilogy at all? im lovin its sounds for bass at the moment. its massive though...

yeah, v useful to have in the armoury but it doesnt blow me away either.

i find its mostly handy as a source of starting points for heavy resampling.

Yeah, I was playing with it the other day, it's amasing!

The Creamware synths are the best soft synths I've ever heard. They even sound better than some hardware synths. They piss over the Virus B, the SN2 and the MS2000.

If you want to do crazy modulations try Fab filter Twin.
My favorite synth ot mo. Its almost making evrery synth I own redundent:iwink:

all-time favourites: Albino 2, Korg Legacy, Cameleon 5000... PlastiCZ is pretty cool too.... I remember a reFX Juno emulation plugin from my PC/Drum and Bass days... don't think you can get it anymore but it was WICKED

Low pass filter only though I believe, so not sure it'd be the "only synth you'll ever need".

It is very good, but to be honest - it does lack somewhat when compared to the real thing (I have a Voyager to compare with - look I'm playing it in my avatar <--- ), If you dial up high resonance, self oscillating filters, that's when proper analogue starts to sound *very* different - you can hear the aliasing on digital emulations quite clearly. I use that kind of sound a lot when playing live.

Again your mum with such a pleasant tone. You're the man with the social graces, no doubt!

Creamware synths are good for sounds, but if you're more into working on the computer as opposed to with hardware as I am, writing and mixing in the creamware environment takes twice as long as just using the sequencer. You have 2 mixers - you have to alt tab to access the CW one which freezes up during playback under the slightest of processor loads. The CW summing is supposed to be amazing but i've tested it against cubases summing and i couldn't hear the difference. Running CW in the other mode (XTC) means some of the synths don't work (I had all of them with the Scope Professional - yukky interfaces btw) and have you tried to actually enter a parameter value using your keyboard in XTC??! - nope sorry u can't do it - has to be done via automation!

So yes CW synths sound great, but for me coming into music without having had the hardware background (I've done allright with softsynths) Creamware was a learning experience. I got good money for the card and have spent that on a dual core pc with a simplified soundcard on which i can easily run all my terrible sounding vstis.....

Andrew

Thanks
The reason I spoke like that is because I have had all those V.A.s in question (including the Nord Lead, but I did not include that in the list of V.A. the CW soft synths piss over) and spoke from my experience, which is thorough with all said V.A.s.
I know about Creamware's shortcomings as my old house mate has a SCOPE system, but those shortcomings are negligible to me (a person who uses analog modular synths with no memory and has to record twice to get stereo synth patches!).
I only commented on the sound as I realise most people don't share my anal criteria and enthousiasm about the way things actually sound, that will make them use tools that are not the most practical, especially in this day and age.
Anyway, I don't understand why my opinion about the sound of CW synths, got you into defensive mode and said your vst synths are terrible? I never said vstis are terrible, I think vstis sound decent and with time they will sound amazing. I have used Absynth and FM 7 in my tunes

The referrence to my 'terrible' vsti's was me attempting to be sarcastic. In the past I have seen you on here slagging off softsynths and bigging up all the hardware kit that you use. Fair enough that you think that you think that Creamware synths are better than those other ones, but I think you should cool it with the 'piss' talk.

although - if this is how you want to express yourself that's fine. this ain't a censored forum (afaik)

when it comes to soft synthes all i need is the Absynthe3 and my imposcar they between them can make all the sounds i ever need

When i was at the northern colledge of music in manchester the prof there taught us , "its better to make yourself totally at home on one instrument ,learn something new about it every day and experiment . than it is to have hundreds of instruments", my modern version says i need at least two types of synthesis but beyond that unless your just using presets what more do you need

Oberon is a good one for those nice, fat, round analogue sounds.

At the end of the day, synths are just instruments, and the sound is only as good as the talent behind them. My 'Dark Side of the Moon' still sounds bloody fantastic, despite the 1970's production and synth sounds.

Good music will always sound good, whatever technology is being used on it - which is where a lot of psy trance falls down, for me. All too often it amounts to not a right lot more than a clever percussion track, with little or no actual musicality to provide the warmth and richness I crave in music.

I love the psychedelic sound, but I am not an adherent of production-over-musical-content. I would far rather listen to any old soft synths, if they are used creatively and by someone with an obvious musical talent, than to some mega-produced glassy-sheen expensive-hardware sound which has about as much musical content as a road drill.

My two-penn'orth.

:ismile:

your dark side of the moon?

My copy of it, I mean! Bloody hell, Dave Gilmour I ain't!! I wish!!! :ilol:

hehehe hada ask thou on the off chance...

Hey sorry to revive an old thread but it's on the sticky for sofsynths so...

Found lately a few free gems, old news for some but thought worth sharing:
Analog warfare: http://www.amvst.com/index.php?name=Content&pid=8 3osc bass synth but you can do loads with it of course
Abakos: http://www.kvraudio.com/get/2327.html virtual analog synth
Wave X: http://www.dontcrack.com/freeware/downloads.php/id/5131/software/Wave-X/ additive synth

Quite like those myself though a tad heavy!
Also loving sylenth & blue.