sweetdiss Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 I'm kind of new to keyboards/synths. Are 'soft synths' a good way to expand the sounds my keyboards can make? What are some good soft synths? I play pop/rock and would like very realistic piano/organ/etc sounds. I was reading about the Abbey Road Keyboards software and that seemed really interesting to me, as a huge Beatles fan. It even has the mellotron from Strawberry Fields! However... it appears I'd need to have Reason to make it work. Ugh. I only have Adobe Audition. Are there any soft synths that are "stand alone"? Am I even using the phrase 'soft synth' correctly? I'm new to all this... Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloodyMary Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_synthesizer There are a lot of vintage oriented soft synths, many of them are stand-alone. Google for "GSI KeyPerformer", for example. Stage: MOX6, V-machine, and Roland AX7 Rolls PM351 for IEMs. Home/recording: Roland FP4, a few guitars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgoo Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 There are plenty of advantages to soft synths in a recording environment, but speaking just from a sound standpoint, the biggest advantage I find is that there are very good specialty instruments that are very affordable. If for example you wanted a grand piano, an organ, an analog synth and some kind of sample playback instrument for orchestral sounds, you'd spend a fortune in hardware, or get by with a single ROMpler keyboard that would be "ok". With softsynths, you can get a very good piano instrument (example: Ivory), organ (ex: NI B4), analog synth (ex: Pro-53), orchestral sounds (ex: EW Platinum). Those are just a very few examples, most of which are just a few hundred bucks each. With a decent computer & controller, the world of high end sounds opens up quite a bit. Custom Music, Audio Post Production, Location Audio www.gmma.biz https://www.facebook.com/gmmamusic/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Kontact now seems to be the standard software sampler and a lot of good libraries are out for it. It can be used as a stand along instrument without running a sequencer/DAW. Is that deal on Komplete still on? If so, that would be the place to start. Zebra 2 is my favorite virtual analog in software. This post edited for speling. My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffLearman Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 You don't need any particular brand of software; what you need is a softsynth host program. Do you use a Mac, Windows, or Linux computer? If you have Windows, there are lots of good cheap and free ones (both hosts and plugin instruments), in addition to the commercial stuff. If you have a Mac, Logic is reputedly a very good one-stop-shop, and as a host it lets you plug in other softsynths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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