Good virtual Synths

by **Bwoodwardmusic** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:14 am

Hey guys,

I've started getting involved in recording more electronic music, with a sort of Owl City type vibe.

I was wondering if anyone would be able to recommend any good plugins for this type of music? Virtual instrument synths etc

If anyone can point me in the right direction that would be much appreciated! I've been using Xpand in Protools but I think there are probably much better, more versatile plugins out there!

Cheers

by **Dave B** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 9:17 am

The Elf swears by FabFilter Twin 2 - and it's quite a powerful synth under the hood.

Almost anything by Rob Papen will suit any kind of music (Blue is still popular). Rob is a good sound designer so his synths have some great stuff in there for when you want to dig deeper.

by **The Elf** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 9:59 am

Dave B wrote:The Elf swears by FabFilter Twin 2 - and it's quite a powerful synth under the hood.

Bang on. It's still my favourite laptop synth by far. Everything from Jupiter pads to Moog leads. It's finding its way to the final mix very often these days.

I really wish it had a friendlier interface, but I've mostly got used to it.

Definitely worth trying out. There's a 30-day free trial.

by **Zukan** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 10:03 am

Rob's products and Massive.

If you feel manly then look no further than Falcon.

by **Bwoodwardmusic** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:23 pm

Sweet thanks guys! I'll check some of these out :)

Ben

by **Richie Royale** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:25 pm

https://tal-software.com/Products The free Tal Elek7ro is a great synth and I frequently use it on tracks.

by **fatbenelton** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:38 pm

Rob Papen Blue 2 is awesome.....in my opinion!

by **Alba** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:56 pm

I don't use synth sounds very often in our music, but i sometimes need to odd woosh or bleep or something and use Crystal

Just thought i'd pop that in.

by **AndyClarke** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 1:06 pm

Richie Royale wrote:https://tal-software.com/Products The free Tal Elek7ro is a great synth and I frequently use it on tracks.

I second this, I'm also a big fan of Stillwell's Schwa Olga you can download for free and you have nag screen each time you load it up but I would always say pay for it because it's a great product and Stillwell deserve your cash. My entire recording setup seems to be based around Stillwell plugins these days.

by **Martin Walker** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 2:14 pm

My vote would be for u-he's Diva, which sounds closer to a whole clutch of diverse hardware synths than almost anything else I've tried to date:

www.u-he.com/cms/diva

Martin

by **desmond** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 2:56 pm

Is this the thread where everyone just lists the synths they like..? ;)

by **Andy McBain** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 3:10 pm

Martin Walker wrote:My vote would be for u-he's Diva, which sounds closer to a whole clutch of diverse hardware synths than almost anything else I've tried to date:

www.u-he.com/cms/diva

Martin

+1 ... this will definitely give you the Owl City vibe you're looking for. Inspiring, and feels like a real instrument.

by **Dave B** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 4:49 pm

I've noticed that whilst many people praise u-He Diva (and it looks like a great product), there is usually a caveat about resources. Apparently it is quite cpu-hungry - which may be a factor when deciding. It's still on my list of things to check out, but not quite as high as it was...

by **desmond** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 6:12 pm

Dave B wrote:Apparently it is quite cpu-hungry - which may be a factor when deciding. It's still on my list of things to check out, but not quite as high as it was...

Intentionally - but you don't have to run it in the high quality modes, just use it in lower quality modes, and then you can always switch to "sexy" mode when you bounce or render...

I'm holding out for Zebra3...

by **DC-Choppah** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 3:26 am

Why not just ask Adam (Owl City) himself. He's a very nice guy.

http://equipboard.com/pros/owl-city/#so ... s-and-vsts

by **JSantos** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 2:10 pm

DC-Choppah wrote:Why not just ask Adam (Owl City) himself. He's a very nice guy.

http://equipboard.com/pros/owl-city/#software-plugins-and-vsts

+1

That Omnisphere though. It sure is the sweetest thing I've used for synth-based music!

by **Martin Walker** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 8:28 pm

desmond wrote:
Dave B wrote:Apparently it is quite cpu-hungry - which may be a factor when deciding. It's still on my list of things to check out, but not quite as high as it was...

Intentionally - but you don't have to run it in the high quality modes, just use it in lower quality modes, and then you can always switch to "sexy" mode when you bounce or render...

I'm holding out for Zebra3...

Spot on Desmond!

What I admire about Diva is the diversity of its components, and in particular its selection of:

Ladder (Minimoog)
Cascade (Jupiter 8 and Juno 60)
Multimode (Alpha Juno 2)
BITE (Korg MS-20 Mk1)
Uhbie (Oberheim 12dB state variable)

filter options.

Martin

by **Zukan** » Thu Mar 03, 2016 9:51 am

Yesterday, Chevvers and I were mixing and he introduced me to Diva. Lets just say, apart from Falcon for my more evolving and complex sounds Diva has taken over all my synth duties for all mix projects. Truly well designed and thought out and I don't care about the cpu hog: I believe they have updated the code threading for better offline processing.

It comes down to Rop's synths (which really are damn good) and Diva.

by **Stoney** » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:06 am

Zuke have you tried Bazille and Zebra yet? :)

by **Zukan** » Thu Mar 03, 2016 12:35 pm

No Stoney, but Chevvers 'introduced' me to them. They look very interesting.

SOUND ON SOUND

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Good virtual Synths