DeltaJockey Posted September 23, 2022 Share Posted September 23, 2022 1 minute ago, bill5 said: ? Like? The Spitfire orchestral mention was one I missed, but some of this stuff I'm not familiar with, so curious. I also like ob-xD for a very nice (and free) Oberheim thing. I didn't list Spitfire, which I also have, as it's not a synth, but gosh it has some fine orchestral stuff! That goes too for the Project SAM free orchestra. My favourite though is the Sonuscore Orchestra Complete 2. Very clever use of arpeggiator engines I spend more time noodling and composing with that than anything else. It's a lot of fun. My most used Logic template has Sonuscore, and Ominsiphere loaded by default. Sorry! ............Now back to the synth topic Quote The companions I can't live without: Kawai Acoustic Grand, Yamaha MontageM8x, Studiologic Numa Piano X GT, Other important stuff: Novation Summit, NI Komplete Ultimate 14 CE, Omnisphere, EW Hollywood and Fantasy Orchestra, Spitfire Albion and Symphony, Pianoteq 8 Pro, Roland RD88. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnchop Posted September 23, 2022 Share Posted September 23, 2022 I admittedly own too many soft synths, so it’s easier for me to consider which two I wouldn’t give up: Dune 3 Falcon 2 -John Quote I make software noises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokely Posted September 23, 2022 Share Posted September 23, 2022 I didn't mention Kontakt, because I don't really think of it as a "synth" so much, but I get a ton of use out of it. It's probably the least replaceable plugin I have considering the libraries I have bought for it. Hate the interface but love the sounds! (Hoping 7 is an improvement). Just for kicks, when I was demoing Repro 5 I endeavored to match a patch using Logic's "Retro Synth". At first listen, pulling up some presets, you'd say "no way". I ended up getting in the ballpark but I had to add a fair amount of processing using plugins in the channel strip to match the stuff the Repro patch had on it (maximizer, chorus etc). There could have been quality differences in the filter too but both sounded pretty good to me all told. It was pretty interesting because I don't give the built-in Logic synths a chance, other than Alchemy (and sometimes Sculpture, which is pretty cool.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose EB5AGV Posted September 23, 2022 Share Posted September 23, 2022 17 hours ago, Fleer said: Arturia Collection & Pigments Spectrasonics Omnisphere Kilohearts PhasePlant EW Forbidden Planet AAS Chromaphone Dawesome Novum Dawesome Abyss Reason Friktion UVI Falcon I see a (reducing) trend here. Just curious 😅 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverend Rhythm Posted September 23, 2022 Share Posted September 23, 2022 I've been re-investigating Apple's Retro Synth as well. And I've been exploring Vital. One more synth I've been using a lot is Cherry Audio's DCO-106 (Juno 106 emulation). Quote David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Nathan Posted September 23, 2022 Share Posted September 23, 2022 If we're sticking to just synths, I use several regularly: Hybrid VacPro Pigments The Korgs Synthmaster Some of the Arturia analog simulations Cherry Audio's Mini Surge (occasionally) The rest of what I use most are: UVI EastWest Play & Spitfire Kontakt Trillian & Bass Fingers ToonTrack MusicLabs guitars IK's BX3 Quote Don't rush me. I'm playing as slowly as I can! http://www.stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/HOME.html https://apple.co/2EGpYXK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleer Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 5 hours ago, EB5AGV said: I see a (reducing) trend here. Just curious 😅 Yep, I forgot Melda MSoundFactory. Couldn’t get it in properly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yannis D Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 The Arturia stuff in general with the Mini moog in particular 1 Quote Be grateful for what you've got - a Nord, a laptop and two hands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tusker Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 On 9/23/2022 at 11:33 AM, Fleer said: Arturia Collection & Pigments Spectrasonics Omnisphere Kilohearts PhasePlant EW Forbidden Planet AAS Chromaphone Dawesome Novum Dawesome Abyss Reason Friktion UVI Falcon Would it be ok to have a conversation about what makes particular synths our favorites? Fleer, you have a very interesting and comprehensive set of synths. I presume you had Omni before most of the others? I get why you would add physical modeling to your arsenal. What particular itch are Novum and Abyss and Falcon and MSoundFactory scratching? Is it more about fresh sounds or are they bringing new kinds of synthesis tools to your toolkit as well? Or did you build toward Omni? Thanks! 🙏 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Emm Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 Tusker makes a good point. Some of what I listed was plug-ins, but not synths. I mostly think of the tasks at hand, so I don't worry about M-Tron's synth sounds, despite its GUI being outfitted with double envelopes, for instance. Arguing the minutiae wastes precious time I can use for tweezing. So to properly respond, it'd be Alchemy, Memorymode and the Cloud D-50. Alchemy looks a bit generic, but under the hood, you have several types of engine. You can drop your own WAVs into each of the four layers, which can be huge. I've had it for a long time, so its easy to shape. That includes several of the standout Camel Audio libraries. Logic's other synths are gathering cobwebs. The ES2 needs the same kind of upgrade they gave the EXS24. Memorymode feels a lot like my old Minimoog did, being immediate and sometimes a bit grainy. It surprises me by being able to offer sample-ish strings, better bells than you usually expect from analog and scads of pads. Its all the Moog I can imagine needing without going modular. I had thought I was getting a D-50, but its turned out to be that and much more. Good VA, good orchestral moments, excellent motion-pad oddness and piano-ettes that layer under real ones to great effect. The only issues are A) never applying Fantasia or the other infamous presets anywhere and B) addressing the occasional 8-bit screeches. M-Tron's presence is clear enough, but Chromaphone is a secret weapon on skates. PM has a unique ability to gargle or woof in ways nothing else touches. Quote "Well, the 60s were fun, but now I'm payin' for it." ~ Stan Lee, "Ant-Man and the Wasp" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldwin Funster Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 Organ, mellotron, Osc+filter, it's all synth to me. Just different eras. Quote FunMachine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill5 Posted September 25, 2022 Author Share Posted September 25, 2022 On 9/23/2022 at 2:05 PM, Stokely said: I didn't mention Kontakt, because I don't really think of it as a "synth" Good, because it's not. Anyway - Tusker thx for pointing out the idea of discussing what we like about the synths we listed; I assumed as much, as a simple listing of synths is of limited value/interest. I'm a preset jockey so a good set of presets helps...but many synths grossly overdo it with a ridiculous number of presets, IMO defeating the point. Omnisphere has what, 500 million? (OK just a tiny exaggeration) That plus a good UI/workflow matter the most. I realize for those more into sculpting their own sounds, other features matter more...I dabble with that a little, but mostly don't have the time or interest, esp when there are already so many great presets out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Nathan Posted September 25, 2022 Share Posted September 25, 2022 I can see I'm clearly in the minority here on one thing. I've never much cared for Omnisphere. 1 Quote Don't rush me. I'm playing as slowly as I can! http://www.stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/HOME.html https://apple.co/2EGpYXK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melving Posted September 25, 2022 Share Posted September 25, 2022 One vote for Obsession... Also Massive X and Pigments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleer Posted September 25, 2022 Share Posted September 25, 2022 5 hours ago, Tusker said: Would it be ok to have a conversation about what makes particular synths our favorites? Fleer, you have a very interesting and comprehensive set of synths. I presume you had Omni before most of the others? I get why you would add physical modeling to your arsenal. What particular itch are Novum and Abyss and Falcon and MSoundFactory scratching? Is it more about fresh sounds or are they bringing new kinds of synthesis tools to your toolkit as well? Or did you build toward Omni? Thanks! 🙏 Cheers, Tusker. Yeah, Omni came first with Keyscape added, great combo, especially given the 1000+ additional presets combining both. Then again, it’s always been about (a quest for) new sonic territory, admittedly with a serious GUI fetish. Hence my love for Abyss and Novum, as I find their aesthetic underlines (or underscores) the uniquely sonic experience. Falcon and MSoundFactory came in for a slightly different reason: each of them represents an entire sonic world with the promise of almost infinite possibilities, allowing me to “stumble upon” the unexpected and be flabbergasted, time and again 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill5 Posted September 25, 2022 Author Share Posted September 25, 2022 1 hour ago, Steve Nathan said: I can see I'm clearly in the minority here on one thing. I've never much cared for Omnisphere. Never used it, but it will be a cold day in hell when I pay that much for a synth. One thing I like about Absynth is the "morph" feature...take a preset and it randomly changes it, so you can have basically a new preset without having to do a lot of tinkering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tusker Posted September 25, 2022 Share Posted September 25, 2022 I’ve been trying stay away from Omnisphere, which is why ask. Eric Persing is brilliant but, every time I try it out, I feel that I would use the many (excellent) presets and not much else. Maybe one of these days, I’ll take the plunge anyway … 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyberGene Posted September 25, 2022 Share Posted September 25, 2022 I’ve found that Eric Persing is the best sound designer for creating mind blowing patches that sound terrific in solo patch demos, they are almost like an entire arrangement in a patch, however I have the feeling these patches are often too complex and multi-layered to glue well within a mix with other sounds. I might be completely wrong though, haven’t used Omnisphere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Grace Posted September 25, 2022 Share Posted September 25, 2022 Omnisphere is a lot like Altiverb. Both have been around a long time, are expensive (by software standards), but cover a vast amount of sonic territory. I use Altiverb in almost everything I do, and I use Omnisphere in almost everything that involves synths. I’ve gotten more than my money’s worth out of them over the years. In fact, if I were to divide the cost of software by the hours of use, then Altiverb and Omnisphere were cheaper for me to buy in cost per hour than anything from Cherry Audio (not that I’m bashing Cherry Audio; I enjoy their synths). Just as online retailer Amazon began as a bookseller, Omnisphere was an evolution from Atmosphere—a pad machine. Both grew into behemoths, one-stop solutions for almost anything. The biggest difference is that Omnisphere has a better search engine. One thing I love about being an Omnisphere user is that Eric is continually adding features at no cost. My initial investment in the product may have been relatively high, but so is the payoff of repeated improvement. While most older products lose value as time goes by, Omnisphere only gets better. It’s true that Omnisphere has a lot of the patches that are soaked with effects which must be dialed back to prevent them from taking up too much space in a mix; but then, that’s a problem with a lot of other synths as well. I get it: when auditioning lone patches, they often sound more appealing when dressed in effects; but it wastes time to have to edit them. At least Omnisphere’s effects are easy to access, which isn’t always the case for other virtual instruments; and it has a great many patches that aren’t drenched in effects. Omnisphere simply has a huge variety of sounds on offer. Best, Geoff 3 Quote My Blue Someday appears on Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgoo Posted September 25, 2022 Share Posted September 25, 2022 21 hours ago, Steve Nathan said: I can see I'm clearly in the minority here on one thing. I've never much cared for Omnisphere. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but based on the posts of yours I've seen over the years, I would guess that your interests and needs mostly revolve around accurate emulations of real instruments. That is not an area that Omnisphere attempts to cover, so your dislike of it is of no surprise. Quote 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...
Geoff Grace Posted September 26, 2022 Share Posted September 26, 2022 40 minutes ago, mcgoo said: accurate emulations of real instruments. That is not an area that Omnisphere attempts to cover It's certainly not the main focus of Omnisphere, but there are exceptions to the rule. For example, have a listen to this Omnisphere Sonic Extension: Best, Geoff 2 Quote My Blue Someday appears on Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Nathan Posted September 26, 2022 Share Posted September 26, 2022 45 minutes ago, mcgoo said: Forgive me if I'm wrong, but based on the posts of yours I've seen over the years, I would guess that your interests and needs mostly revolve around accurate emulations of real instruments. That is not an area that Omnisphere attempts to cover, so your dislike of it is of no surprise. Not at all. Most of my career, I had no need to emulate real instruments. I had real instruments available all the time. Actually, my session career took off in Muscle Shoals, when people learned that not only could I play piano, organ, etc, but I also brought synths to the sessions and could get sounds that no one else had figured out how to do. For years in Nashville, I carted 2 giant racks (a 52 space and a 22 space) of synth gear and multiple synth boards. They used to call my session gear Mount Nathan! 😆 3 1 Quote Don't rush me. I'm playing as slowly as I can! http://www.stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/HOME.html https://apple.co/2EGpYXK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgoo Posted September 26, 2022 Share Posted September 26, 2022 7 minutes ago, Steve Nathan said: Not at all. Most of my career, I had no need to emulate real instruments. I had real instruments available all the time. Actually, my session career took off in Muscle Shoals, when people learned that not only could I play piano, organ, etc, but I also brought synths to the sessions and could get sounds that no one else had figured out how to do. For years in Nashville, I carted 2 giant racks (a 52 space and a 22 space) of synth gear and multiple synth boards. They used to call my session gear Mount Nathan! 😆 LOL. I stand corrected. So what do you dislike about Omnisphere? Quote 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...
Steve Nathan Posted September 26, 2022 Share Posted September 26, 2022 4 hours ago, Geoff Grace said: Omnisphere is a lot like Altiverb. Both have been around a long time, are expensive (by software standards), but cover a vast amount of sonic territory. I use Altiverb in almost everything I do, and I use Omnisphere in almost everything that involves synths. I’ve gotten more than my money’s worth out of them over the years. In fact, if I were to divide the cost of software by the hours of use, then Altiverb and Omnisphere were cheaper for me to buy in cost per hour than anything from Cherry Audio (not that I’m bashing Cherry Audio; I enjoy their synths). Just as online retailer Amazon began as a bookseller, Omnisphere was an evolution from Atmosphere—a pad machine. Both grew into behemoths, one-stop solutions for almost anything. The biggest difference is that Omnisphere has a better search engine. One thing I love about being an Omnisphere user is that Eric is continually adding features at no cost. My initial investment in the product may have been relatively high, but so is the payoff of repeated improvement. While most older products lose value as time goes by, Omnisphere only gets better. It’s true that Omnisphere has a lot of the patches that are soaked with effects which must be dialed back to prevent them from taking up too much space in a mix; but then, that’s a problem with a lot of other synths as well. I get it: when auditioning lone patches, they often sound more appealing when dressed in effects; but it wastes time to have to edit them. At least Omnisphere’s effects are easy to access, which isn’t always the case for other virtual instruments; and it has a great many patches that aren’t drenched in effects. Omnisphere simply has a huge variety of sounds on offer. Best, Geoff Well you've certainly made great use of Omnisphere in your work, but for me, I kept buying it and it's updates, but it's always more trouble than it's worth to me. I typically have some idea of what sort of sound I want in my head, and every time I tried Omnisphere, it took me way to long to get rid of all that complexity in Eric's patches. I much prefer create my sounds from the ground up, pour the foundation, and add structure until I'm satisfied. Omnisphere feels like I'm trying to build a log cabin by dismantling the Taj Mahal. 1 minute ago, mcgoo said: LOL. I stand corrected. So what do you dislike about Omnisphere? See my response to Geoff. 😄 Quote Don't rush me. I'm playing as slowly as I can! http://www.stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/HOME.html https://apple.co/2EGpYXK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscapeRocks Posted September 26, 2022 Share Posted September 26, 2022 While I have and use Omnisphere, Native Instruments, and the entire Arturia Library: For quick and easy synth sounds, I usually pull up Arturia Jup-8V, or the Pro(phet)-V..the latest versions of each. Either of these quickly allow me to dial in what I want in a flash. I really don't use NI much anymore with the exception of The Grandeur piano Omnisphere is in it's own universe. I love it, and can spend hours designing sounds For quick, tho, those two Arturia are my go to. Quote David Gig Rig:Roland Fantom 08 | Roland Jupiter 80 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Azzarello Posted September 26, 2022 Share Posted September 26, 2022 Omnisphere Kontakt Garritan was my "orchestra" library for many years. Trying to figure out what I can use in its stead these days - most of the ones that I have tried are tooc oplicated for most of what I want to do.... or maybe I just have to realize that I need to setup some templates, etc. Quote Pat http://www.patazzarello.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Grace Posted September 26, 2022 Share Posted September 26, 2022 18 hours ago, Steve Nathan said: Well you've certainly made great use of Omnisphere in your work, but for me, I kept buying it and it's updates, but it's always more trouble than it's worth to me. I typically have some idea of what sort of sound I want in my head, and every time I tried Omnisphere, it took me way to long to get rid of all that complexity in Eric's patches. I much prefer create my sounds from the ground up, pour the foundation, and add structure until I'm satisfied. Omnisphere feels like I'm trying to build a log cabin by dismantling the Taj Mahal. That makes perfect sense, Steve. Your use case is very different from mine. If I were in your situation, I'd either use Omnisphere a lot less; or I'd use it mostly in Hardware Synth Integration mode. From my days working recording sessions, I remember that part of the gig was to be a programmer—to design original patches for recording artists which help them sound unique. I often created sounds from scratch back then. I have a very different gig as a composer now. For those who aren't familiar with Omnisphere's Hardware Synth Integration feature, Omnisphere emulates the sound of a variety of hardware synths and maps their knobs and faders to Omnisphere. The experience is like using your hardware synth while expanding the synth's features to add polyphony and effects that may not be present in the synth itself. Default patches are included for those who like to roll their own. The introduction video shows the features in use, starting around the 10:30 mark: Sorry if I'm behaving like an Omnisphere evangelist. I have no affiliation with Spectrasonics. I may be an enthusiastic user, but I really do like a lot of other synths as well. Best, Geoff 2 Quote My Blue Someday appears on Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleer Posted September 27, 2022 Share Posted September 27, 2022 23 hours ago, Geoff Grace said: That makes perfect sense, Steve. Your use case is very different from mine. If I were in your situation, I'd either use Omnisphere a lot less; or I'd use it mostly in Hardware Synth Integration mode. From my days working recording sessions, I remember that part of the gig was to be a programmer—to design original patches for recording artists which help them sound unique. I often created sounds from scratch back then. I have a very different gig as a composer now. For those who aren't familiar with Omnisphere's Hardware Synth Integration feature, Omnisphere emulates the sound of a variety of hardware synths and maps their knobs and faders to Omnisphere. The experience is like using your hardware synth while expanding the synth's features to add polyphony and effects that may not be present in the synth itself. Default patches are included for those who like to roll their own. The introduction video shows the features in use, starting around the 10:30 mark: Sorry if I'm behaving like an Omnisphere evangelist. I have no affiliation with Spectrasonics. I may be an enthusiastic user, but I really do like a lot of other synths as well. Best, Geoff Sure hope they’ll expand on that. Would like to use my Sequential Take 5. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill5 Posted September 27, 2022 Author Share Posted September 27, 2022 On 9/25/2022 at 10:16 PM, Pat Azzarello said: Kontakt Not a synth. Quote Garritan was my "orchestra" library for many years. Not a synth. I don't mean to get all thread police here but geez Please folks, synths only? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theo Verelst Posted September 27, 2022 Share Posted September 27, 2022 I don't like the sound of pretty much all the software products, with a few exceptions. That's because synthesis in the digital domain simply isn't done right, and the results do not appeal to me, pretty much at all. I listened to demos of some plugs I hadn't heard yet, and don't feel my opinion changed. I do use sw synths at times, like Dexed and Yoshimi on Linux/Jack (now pipewire), in fact I found there are production tricks possible with Yoshimi, by adding my 30 band dynamics processing (tuned to a certain studio use), which makes the DAC reconstruction more bearable: T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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