favorite soft-synths
- Thread starter Fromem_Ory
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happy juice
its cool but hideously un-tweakable
soliptic said:there are synths u can get for free. the synth1 mentioned above is one example. the sound is kinda thin and scratchy compared to imposcar, legacy, oddity, etc but its entirely usable and versatile
check www.kvr-vst.com for that and more
Thanks mate. I've check this out but unfortunately it does not work on Mac OS...
Is there any tips??
Just one more question; is that very bad using VB-1 for bassline (cubase)????? I never tried it on a good monitors...
Cheers
icodon said:Thanks mate. I've check this out but unfortunately it does not work on Mac OS...
Is there any tips?
Which mac os?
Crystal is a cool AU synth.
Check for free mac audio software here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~arvidtp/Guide.html
O
Ott^
Guest
icodon said:
If it gets you the sound you're after then its perfect. However, considering it is supposed to be a dedicated bass instrument, it has absolutely fuck all bottom end...
O
Ott^
Guest
I know its not my squabble but...
I own or have owned;
Oberheim OBXa
Oberheim OBMX
Korg MS-20
Korg MS-10
Korg Monopoly
Mini Korg 700
Roland SH-101
Doepfer A-100 modular system
Roland TB-303
Roland Juno 60
Roland MKS-70 [Ok - its a hybrid if you're going to be purist about it...]
Marlin Synthetone [Woolworths' own brand synth - based on a Jen SX1000]
Sequential Pro-One
The ones i still own are stacked in a cupboard in my back bedroom gathering dust [I'll get round to sticking them up on E-Bay one day]
whilst I make all my sounds on a load of Windows .dll files.
I've listened and listened and listened and the conclusion I have come to is this. Neither approach sounds "better" because its all entirely subjective and on one day my Korg Monopoly will spew forth endless magnificent sounds on demand and on other days it [I mean "I"] can manage no more than a feeble whining sound. And the same thing happens with Pro-53. The difference with Pro-53 is that it fits inside my 4 kilo laptop with all my other synths and samplers and fx, and doesn't take 1/2 an hour to warm up and stay in tune.
Moreover, any meaningful sonic comparison requires the choice of soundcard to be taken into consideration. Nothing sounds good through a 16-bit Soundblaster, whilst the Korg Legacy Polysix sounds fucking magnificent through an M-Audio Firewire Audiophile, and kicks the arse off any of my voltage controlled stuff by a long way. What soundcards have you used <your mum> ?
The great phallacy is that, in auditory terms, "analogue signals" and "digital signals" are in any way different to each other. How can they be? You've never heard a digital signal because you don't have digital ears.
In order for us to hear digits, they have to be passed through a DAC [digital-analogue converter] and turned into an analogue waveform that amplifiers and speakers can attempt to reproduce. They then pass through a load of analogue electronics in your amp and get turned into sound by a pair of cardboard cones in your speakers. By the time it reaches your ears, that softsynth riff you just programmed is very definitely analogue. It has been filtered and anti-aliased and subjected to the lazy slew-rates on analogue components, and any test with an oscilloscope would show a smoothly fluctuating waveform, akin to anything you would expect from a Prophet 5.
As with many things in life, [like the CD vs. Vinyl argument...] it is the people with most invested in the old way that are most reluctant to adapt to the new. Even the most committed Luddites catch up eventually.
Ooh! Ooh! Look everyone - <your mum> has got magic ears!
... off.
your mum said:
I own or have owned;
Oberheim OBXa
Oberheim OBMX
Korg MS-20
Korg MS-10
Korg Monopoly
Mini Korg 700
Roland SH-101
Doepfer A-100 modular system
Roland TB-303
Roland Juno 60
Roland MKS-70 [Ok - its a hybrid if you're going to be purist about it...]
Marlin Synthetone [Woolworths' own brand synth - based on a Jen SX1000]
Sequential Pro-One
The ones i still own are stacked in a cupboard in my back bedroom gathering dust [I'll get round to sticking them up on E-Bay one day]
whilst I make all my sounds on a load of Windows .dll files.
I've listened and listened and listened and the conclusion I have come to is this. Neither approach sounds "better" because its all entirely subjective and on one day my Korg Monopoly will spew forth endless magnificent sounds on demand and on other days it [I mean "I"] can manage no more than a feeble whining sound. And the same thing happens with Pro-53. The difference with Pro-53 is that it fits inside my 4 kilo laptop with all my other synths and samplers and fx, and doesn't take 1/2 an hour to warm up and stay in tune.
Moreover, any meaningful sonic comparison requires the choice of soundcard to be taken into consideration. Nothing sounds good through a 16-bit Soundblaster, whilst the Korg Legacy Polysix sounds fucking magnificent through an M-Audio Firewire Audiophile, and kicks the arse off any of my voltage controlled stuff by a long way. What soundcards have you used <your mum> ?
The great phallacy is that, in auditory terms, "analogue signals" and "digital signals" are in any way different to each other. How can they be? You've never heard a digital signal because you don't have digital ears.
In order for us to hear digits, they have to be passed through a DAC [digital-analogue converter] and turned into an analogue waveform that amplifiers and speakers can attempt to reproduce. They then pass through a load of analogue electronics in your amp and get turned into sound by a pair of cardboard cones in your speakers. By the time it reaches your ears, that softsynth riff you just programmed is very definitely analogue. It has been filtered and anti-aliased and subjected to the lazy slew-rates on analogue components, and any test with an oscilloscope would show a smoothly fluctuating waveform, akin to anything you would expect from a Prophet 5.
As with many things in life, [like the CD vs. Vinyl argument...] it is the people with most invested in the old way that are most reluctant to adapt to the new. Even the most committed Luddites catch up eventually.
Maybe you can justify spending some money on sorting your ears out?
If you can't tell the difference :!: ... fair enough.
Ooh! Ooh! Look everyone - <your mum> has got magic ears!
... off.
your mum
Member
Yes, thank you for pointing out that I have magic ears Ott, maybe you did as well, 230 years ago, when you were in your late twenties??
I have a Delta 1010 and had a MOTU 828 in my studio. These are the ones I have used besides my houmates' new EMU and Creamware Scope cards.
Soliptic, how can you program a digital filter to sound like a descrete one? An SSM/CEM...etc one? You can set digital oscillators to drift, but how can you program a digital oscillator to spit out imperfect waveforms like a VCO? I am not a software developer, I just program synth patches and make tunes using them.
If you like the sound soft synths produce, then that is fair enough. I do not and simply express my opinion on the subject.
But saying that they sound the same? I strongly disagree.
Peace out...(Including you grumpy :wub: )
I have a Delta 1010 and had a MOTU 828 in my studio. These are the ones I have used besides my houmates' new EMU and Creamware Scope cards.
Soliptic, how can you program a digital filter to sound like a descrete one? An SSM/CEM...etc one? You can set digital oscillators to drift, but how can you program a digital oscillator to spit out imperfect waveforms like a VCO? I am not a software developer, I just program synth patches and make tunes using them.
If you like the sound soft synths produce, then that is fair enough. I do not and simply express my opinion on the subject.
But saying that they sound the same? I strongly disagree.
Peace out...(Including you grumpy :wub: )
O
Ott^
Guest
your mum said:
And you can't get a good synth sound out of those? I think maybe you're in the wrong job...
Woop! Woop! Woop! My detector just went off...
By modelling them you numpty.
Sorry. You weren't addressing me.
Ahem.
Which is fine - and then you insult my friend Joe by suggesting his ears and judgement are suspect because he holds a contrary opinion. Sort it out...
But who is saying that? No two bloody Minimoogs sound alike, so any other such comparison is meaningless.
Tchoh!
*Wanders off muttering to himself*
JPsychodelicacy
Studio Elf
Uhh... biscuit anyone? :unsure: 
J.
J.
Continuum
Throb Farmer
JPsychodelicacy said:Uhh... biscuit anyone? :unsure:
J.
analogue or digital?
your mum
Member
Ok, first of all apologies for rushing to kick the analogue/digital dead horse when I read J's comment on not justifying the cash for analogue in psy-trance, even if you did come to reason and admitted that you would spend the cash for analog if you had it.
Second, Ott: I program synth patches, I do not write the code for modelling real analog synth components, that is what I menat you numpty.
About "insulting" your friend and his ears...notice the laughing face? It implies someone is joking. He noticed it... you jumped!
You think I am on the wrong job?...I hate saying this, but plays on major radio stations like BBC Radio 1, Kiss FM, Capital...etc, making 10000 jump at once must mean that I am doing something right, no? :rolleyes:
Peace out.
Second, Ott: I program synth patches, I do not write the code for modelling real analog synth components, that is what I menat you numpty.
About "insulting" your friend and his ears...notice the laughing face? It implies someone is joking. He noticed it... you jumped!
You think I am on the wrong job?...I hate saying this, but plays on major radio stations like BBC Radio 1, Kiss FM, Capital...etc, making 10000 jump at once must mean that I am doing something right, no? :rolleyes:
Peace out.
I find that it's alot more to do with your;
Openess to sound and willingness to explore it's facets (software, hardware, live instrument recordings, self-recorded samples and sample cd's)
:ph34r:
Ability to take time to develop your spacial awareness within a track(i.e make the track exist somewhere/come from somewhere spacially)
Patience and enjoyment of the actual composition of the track's elements. :wizard1:
NOT using VB1's - EVER. :rocker:
Exploring Bass - it comes from everywhere! (not just flicking through your bass patches - use any and everything you can that get's that low-end comming through your monitors)
Using varied and (often) expensive sample CD's for drums, vocal-skits, stabs, strings everything really - there are some inspiring cd's out there like distorted reality seriese etc etc - this can qualify your track as live sounding when programmed well I find.. )
:smilemus:
NEVER suffocate your options in sound and sampling with stupid opinions about what's what - learn for yourself.
:silly:
Experiment with BPM's there's no rules, just ignorance.
:dancey:
Experiment with styles, same feeling. You can learn from all genres of music, at least I have.. That might mean going to different gigs too if your really interezted..
:grandad:
Make music for music's sake, not your ego's.
:rocker:
And my final word for today..
COLLABORATION.
S'where it's at.
:hihug:
Openess to sound and willingness to explore it's facets (software, hardware, live instrument recordings, self-recorded samples and sample cd's)
:ph34r:
Ability to take time to develop your spacial awareness within a track(i.e make the track exist somewhere/come from somewhere spacially)
Patience and enjoyment of the actual composition of the track's elements. :wizard1:
NOT using VB1's - EVER. :rocker:
Exploring Bass - it comes from everywhere! (not just flicking through your bass patches - use any and everything you can that get's that low-end comming through your monitors)
Using varied and (often) expensive sample CD's for drums, vocal-skits, stabs, strings everything really - there are some inspiring cd's out there like distorted reality seriese etc etc - this can qualify your track as live sounding when programmed well I find.. )
:smilemus:
NEVER suffocate your options in sound and sampling with stupid opinions about what's what - learn for yourself.
:silly:
Experiment with BPM's there's no rules, just ignorance.
:dancey:
Experiment with styles, same feeling. You can learn from all genres of music, at least I have.. That might mean going to different gigs too if your really interezted..
:grandad:
Make music for music's sake, not your ego's.
:rocker:
And my final word for today..
COLLABORATION.
S'where it's at.
:hihug:
O
Ott^
Guest
"We had joy, we had fun, we had <your mum> on the run...!!"
:bananada:
:bananada:
JPsychodelicacy
Studio Elf
Zaven said:
I dunno - Rinkadink seems to do OK out of it (though he does apparently use inserts to fatten it up)...
Mum, Ott - play nicely! (Though I'm touched at the defence of my abilities :wub:
)your mum said:
Uhh - I didn't. I said I'd probably feel differently if I had the cash to spend on analogue gear - I'd still subject the stuff to rigorous A-B'ing to find out if it was worth it (from what I've heard thus far, I'd probably still think it wasn't worth the outlay). I also didn't say they sound the same, I just said they don't sound any *worse*, to my ears.
Modelling analogue oscillator imperfections is relatively easy these days (Seriously, try the GMedia/OhmForce Oddity against a real Odyssey and tell me it doesn't sound as good), simply because of the sheer amount of processing horsepower you can put behind plugins these days.
At the end of the day though, it's horses for courses - some people get an incredible kick out of using old-fashioned tone generators and insist that nothing else sounds as good. Personally I like the fact that I can get a nice, solid, predictable sound out of modelling synths. While I'm very much a geek, I'm not such a gear-head that I can't see that less can easily be more when it comes to audio production these days.
Synths were originally built to generate sounds that were in some way 'futuristic'. These days, sounds produced by analogue circuitry tend to be described as 'retro', because the modelled synths tend to be way more versatile in terms of the sounds they create, to say nothing of far better value for money in terms of initial purchase and maintenance costs. If I want a 'retro' sound, I'll just play my guitar through my old Boss pedals and Fender amp, thanks!
J.
VB1 hell..
Come on, like HE's the only one to use it?! :blink: everyone uses it - ever since Astrix discovered Deedrah's Reload... a generation was born. "..Apparently uses inserts" - Hello?!
And I mean everyone - All the big names you care to recite. That's why I've been forced to move on. It's music for kids now. I remember etc etc
Harsh but that's how I feel..
Compared to (any) other scenes, the bass is soooo poor in this scene at the mo.. Someone (Fromen Fry wotever) even wrote that you can't put a kick on a bass at the same time?! Get to Feck, what is the world comming too?
It can be tricky... if you are completely shit and have 2 arseholes for ears...
:ph34r:
Just try different bass. That's all.
JPsychodelicacy said:
Come on, like HE's the only one to use it?! :blink: everyone uses it - ever since Astrix discovered Deedrah's Reload... a generation was born. "..Apparently uses inserts" - Hello?!
And I mean everyone - All the big names you care to recite. That's why I've been forced to move on. It's music for kids now. I remember etc etc
Harsh but that's how I feel..
Compared to (any) other scenes, the bass is soooo poor in this scene at the mo.. Someone (Fromen Fry wotever) even wrote that you can't put a kick on a bass at the same time?! Get to Feck, what is the world comming too?
It can be tricky... if you are completely shit and have 2 arseholes for ears...
:ph34r:
Just try different bass. That's all.
your mum
Member
See J, analogue synths do not mean retro sound...there's loads more you can do than just basic subtractive stuff. Spend some time with newer analogue synths (modulars in particular) and you'll get much more than just retro patches with VCOs that go out of tune. And since we are talking about retro sounds, there's much more to them than your guitar through boss pedals and a fender amp
I haven't heard a real Odyssey so I can't comment on how good of an emulation Gmedia did, but if that is how the real Odyssey sounds, I am not keen on getting one either.
As I said Absynth is my favourite soft synth because it spits out great sounds and is not a marketing scam from "x" software developer saying it is a 1:1 emulation of "x" analog synth. It just sounds unique and very good at the same time.
Its not simply about modelling VCO imperfections, its the whole circuitry that makes a synth sound the way it does. For example modelling the VCS3's VCOs and filter, will not mean much as the VCA plays a major role on the final sound.
Ott... Please act your age!
Peace.
I haven't heard a real Odyssey so I can't comment on how good of an emulation Gmedia did, but if that is how the real Odyssey sounds, I am not keen on getting one either.
As I said Absynth is my favourite soft synth because it spits out great sounds and is not a marketing scam from "x" software developer saying it is a 1:1 emulation of "x" analog synth. It just sounds unique and very good at the same time.
Its not simply about modelling VCO imperfections, its the whole circuitry that makes a synth sound the way it does. For example modelling the VCS3's VCOs and filter, will not mean much as the VCA plays a major role on the final sound.
Ott... Please act your age!
Peace.
JPsychodelicacy
Studio Elf
VB1 hell..
Uhhh - Dado uses Digital Performer, which doesn't support VST Instruments... Those using Logic have ES-M which dumps on VB-1 from a great height without even trying.
Almost no-one I know or know of uses VB-1 for bass... I have a couple of times (a while ago), but have tended to stick a Frohmage or QuadraFuzz in the insert channel, plus a shatload of EQ twiddling.
Why bother with all that when one can get a nice sound from the source using V-Station, Junglist or Tau Pro?
Listen to the new Texas Faggott album, or any Exogenic stuff... it will restore your faith, I promise you!
Uhh, well if you're going for the bog-standard 16th note bassline then yes, dropping the bass note on the down beat does help you get a feel for what constitutes 80% of full-on psy-trance, but it's a guideline - not a rule!
Oh, I do! :P
J.
Zaven said:
Uhhh - Dado uses Digital Performer, which doesn't support VST Instruments... Those using Logic have ES-M which dumps on VB-1 from a great height without even trying.
Almost no-one I know or know of uses VB-1 for bass... I have a couple of times (a while ago), but have tended to stick a Frohmage or QuadraFuzz in the insert channel, plus a shatload of EQ twiddling.
Why bother with all that when one can get a nice sound from the source using V-Station, Junglist or Tau Pro?
Listen to the new Texas Faggott album, or any Exogenic stuff... it will restore your faith, I promise you!
Uhh, well if you're going for the bog-standard 16th note bassline then yes, dropping the bass note on the down beat does help you get a feel for what constitutes 80% of full-on psy-trance, but it's a guideline - not a rule!
Oh, I do! :P
J.
O
Ott^
Guest
Come on <your mum> - face it - you were forced to blag on about your bits of Kiss FM radio play in order to prop up your argument.
That means I won.
:cool:
*Punches the air and retires victorious to bed with a spliff and a copy of Bill Drummond's memoir - "45".*
Nite all.
That means I won.
:cool:
*Punches the air and retires victorious to bed with a spliff and a copy of Bill Drummond's memoir - "45".*
Nite all.
your mum
Member
At least you have a sense of humour!Nighty nite.
I think you might find Dado uses Logic now... I meant that Astrix was mimicking the sound with a VB1. Why do you have to contradict anything that means something.. You know what I'm saying. You just love to f**k me off with your careless banter.
And why do you have to talk to people like such a smart-ass?
I can't wait to meet you J. Come and introduce yourself sometime.
:silly:
And why do you have to talk to people like such a smart-ass?
I can't wait to meet you J. Come and introduce yourself sometime.
:silly: