Which virtual analog polysynth (at least 6-voice) is in your opinion the best?
My sound preference is Prophet-5, Oberheim and such, and of course MiniMoog for monophonic stuff. I don't really produce a lot of "electronic" music per se, more funky/souly/smooth late-70s-early-80s-sounding music (like Stevie Wonder, Gino Vannelli, Earth Wind & Fire, Quincy Jones etc.), so the synths are usually providing bass, pads, "brass" and leads, but always together with "live" Rhodes, pianos, clavs, guitars and drums.
I would prefer 3 oscillators, mainly to create Moog-like basses, but 2-osc synths are also of interest. And when I say "reasonably priced" I'm talking around the same price range as Nord Lead 2x, maybe up to Prophet 08.
If you want 3 oscillators you might want to look into the Virus or ION. I personally did not like the ION oscillators too much, but you will be able to adjust the filters to Moog or Roland and the filter do sound good. The Virus is a full sounding synth that covers bass and pads with a dual filter design.
A NL2 has a sound of its own, 2 oscillators only. But do not forget that most of the MMoog sounds were 2 oscillators and the third one acting as a LFO. However, the filter is more in direction Roland.
Another content-end for 3 oscillators is the Novation KS/X/K_station synth.
To round it up, I would go with a Virus, it is smooth and warm sounding, can do the 3 oscillator trick and has some decent onboard effects. A used Virus B will run you around $500 or maybe even less. There are plenty of sounds around too.
Raffor: I've been insterested in the Virus synths. Might be able to get my hands on a used Virus Indigo (first version, good condition) for around 900 USD... Is that a good price? It has 3 oscillators, doesn't it?
Some more votes for the Ion (own and love), Virus B or higher (played and love), or Waldorf Q (only other VA I'm at all interested in, haven't played but would love to) - there was a thread with high praise for the Q just a short while back..
Raffor: I've been insterested in the Virus synths. Might be able to get my hands on a used Virus Indigo (first version, good condition) for around 900 USD... Is that a good price? It has 3 oscillators, doesn't it?
I see them on Ebay for under $800 these days. I would not pay more in good condition. You might want to look at a Virus Classic (the desktop version) that adds more sound programs and some of the Virus C feature set (even it is 90% a VirusB). They fetch around $500 or less.
Just one advice when you buy a VirusB keyboard/Indigo. They somehow had a problem with a pic processor that was not taken full advantage of the dynamic range. They changed that. Make sure that the board is working with the latest OS for the VirusB. I think it is 4.9 or so. Look up on the access webpage. If it is a lower OS (e.g. 4.2 or so) you might have the wrong pic processor and need to upgrade (speak cost and work!!!).
A used Virus Ti desktop - around 1400$ I'd say - plenty of power and variety. They are nice machines. I've owned an original A desktop, Indigo 2, Ti kybd and currently have a Ti Polar. It's definitely a workhorse piece.
I think the BLOFELD is one great 3 osc choice - especially at it's price point! Wavetables - VA - new 16 part multi - and soon to be released Sample ROM. I Love the Waldorfs I have had - and of course Largo is just around the corner!
Be careful - synths are addicting!!! Maybe just measure out your available space now - so you know how many you might end up with
Last edited by metatron13; 14th March 2009 at 11:29 AM..
Reason: spelling
Looks like I have some testing to do My local store has an Ion and all the Clavias, so I guess I'll start there.
Make sure to give the Roland SH-201 a run. I love mine for the raw sounds and shimmering pads. You can get it at Novamusik as open box for $450, so do not pay the $600 they are asking for (in case it grabs you).
And take my advice just as a starting point. Everybody is looking for something different and sometimes it is the looks or the presets that catch you. Good luck again.
An interesting choice! How many notes poly can you get out of a NM? They had a DSP expansion add-on I seem to remember.
A Nord Mod with DSP expansion guarantees a minimum of 8-voice poly for any given patch. In general, patches achieve 8-32 note poly on an expanded Nord Mod, typically 8-16.
If you do not have the expansion, cut the above numbers in half.
The reason I chose to mention the Clavia Nord Mod is because it has the power to do the usual polysynth stuff, but also excels at FM, drum synthesis, vocoding, external processing, etc., and because the voice structure can be built with complex modulation such that the resultant timbre has some of the organic quality of analog. The morph groups are great too.
cheers,
Ian
__________________ @>~,~~'~ Sluttiness is a state of being, a philosophy, a way - not the gear you own.
Nord will get you there in terms of those sounds. Look at either a new or used NL, any version. Might as well get a rack if you don't need the keyboard. A Prophet 08 should also be tried, for comparison. Then run them thru a couple of good F/X boxes for the desired sound. I think you're a little confused on the oscillators, 2 would be fine plus on polys you can stack them in unison.
Nord will get you there in terms of those sounds. Look at either a new or used NL, any version. Might as well get a rack if you don't need the keyboard. A Prophet 08 should also be tried, for comparison. Then run them thru a couple of good F/X boxes for the desired sound. I think you're a little confused on the oscillators, 2 would be fine plus on polys you can stack them in unison.
Yeah, I thought about the unison thing also. You're right.
But what about those 3-osc Moog sounds where you have, let's say, 2 slightly detuned sawtooths and one square an octave down. That's a typical bass sound isn't it? Maybe a 2-osc synth with sub-osc (usually a square anyway right) will do the trick?
Of course, the poly-sounds are usually only 2 osc anyway.
Nord will get you there in terms of those sounds. Look at either a new or used NL, any version. Might as well get a rack if you don't need the keyboard. A Prophet 08 should also be tried, for comparison. Then run them thru a couple of good F/X boxes for the desired sound. I think you're a little confused on the oscillators, 2 would be fine plus on polys you can stack them in unison.
Yeah, I thought about the unison thing also. You're right.
But what about those 3-osc Moog sounds where you have, let's say, 2 slightly detuned sawtooths and one square an octave down. That's a typical bass sound isn't it? Maybe a 2-osc synth with sub-osc (usually a square anyway right) will do the trick?
Of course, the poly-sounds are usually only 2 osc anyway.
A used Virus Ti desktop - around 1400$ I'd say - plenty of power and variety. They are nice machines. I've owned an original A desktop, Indigo 2, Ti kybd and currently have a Ti Polar. It's definitely a workhorse piece.
A Nord Mod with DSP expansion guarantees a minimum of 8-voice poly for any given patch. In general, patches achieve 8-32 note poly on an expanded Nord Mod, typically 8-16.
If you do not have the expansion, cut the above numbers in half.
The reason I chose to mention the Clavia Nord Mod is because it has the power to do the usual polysynth stuff, but also excels at FM, drum synthesis, vocoding, external processing, etc., and because the voice structure can be built with complex modulation such that the resultant timbre has some of the organic quality of analog. The morph groups are great too.
Thanks Ian, I could be tempted with a NM if I come across a good deal. I remember years ago "demoing" a Micro in a shop by listening to the presets and twiddling the knobs, all through headphones. It sounded too digital to me but I've always thought it would get a lot more analogue sounding with the right tweaking, as you say the right modulation at subtle levels should do it.
Yeah, I thought about the unison thing also. You're right.
But what about those 3-osc Moog sounds where you have, let's say, 2 slightly detuned sawtooths and one square an octave down. That's a typical bass sound isn't it? Maybe a 2-osc synth with sub-osc (usually a square anyway right) will do the trick?
Of course, the poly-sounds are usually only 2 osc anyway.
You don't need 3 osc for great bass, nor do you need the sub. Those things are nice but not essential; most good bass sounds are just properly tweaked and EQd 2 osc sounds.
What i was saying about polys is that they don't need to be 3 osc, because you can either use just 2 osc in poly mode, or if you want to fatten them up just use the unison mode most have.
the best analog emulators of the oberheim and mini and prophet 5 all in one box are the novation nova/supernova I or II series. the II is a better synth with more features that extends the possibilities to the likes of the elka synthex and oddball stuff with fm possibilities. the novation stuff has the best filtering that acts like a real analog filter does as far as cutoff and resonance interaction and the oscs are very smooth or rough with the ability to modulate the waveforms phase to get odd waveshapes like the square of the tb-303's little notch.
they have 3 oscs with a smooting function that means you can get sine wave oscs out of the square and saw to triangle waves. the sync is the closest to get that harsh prophet 5 sync sound and the best part is there is a ghost sync osc so you could get sync on all 3 oscs at once for monster sync sounds. lots of effects per voice and in multi mode the effects stay how they are in the presets so no having to assign another effects setting when in multi mode. your patches stay as they are in preset mode... or you can completely alter the preset in multi mode and it will only be that way in the multi leaving your preset alone, and i'm not talking about the effects only, you can completely change the patch any way you want and it will be different in the multi only. no other synth does this.
if you want more modular type freedom then the nord modular is a great choice as well. stay away from the lead if you want to emulate older analogs. they sound great but don't sound like anything but a nord lead. the prophet 5 patches sound like a nord lead doing a prophet 5 patch, not a prophet 5. they do sound good though and can be had cheap. and depending on your budget you could get a novation nova desktop and a nord lead or micro-mod/ modular together.
avoid the ion it has all that processing power and still sounds like ass compared to even a yamaha an-1x. smooth it isn't, analog sounding it aint, and buggy it has in spades. to be fair it isn't a s bad as an oberheim ob-12 but it has it's issues. if you want it's sound but cheaper get the micron, it adds drums and effects at the expense of the programming interface but it sounds a bit better. i had the ion and the micron and nord micro-mod and supernova 1 and have played the supernova II, virus and jp-8000 and v-synth as my bandmate has those, as well as a prophet 5 rev 2, rev 3.3, minimoog, ob-xa, ob-x, oddysey white face and orange face, grey faced 2600 with moog filter, jupiter 6 and 8 and mks 80 rev 3, etc...
have either owned or used extensively the old stuff you want your v.a. to sound like. the worst emulation is the virus, it can sound like an elka synthex or korg minipops fairly convincingly but other than that i have not heard anything from it that sounds like anything other than a tracnce insta hit super detuned saw wave that was convincing. if you want to do trance then the virus and jp-8000 are must haves. if you want convincing analog sounds in a recording situation with a little tweaking of the mixer's gain and some extra saturation effect the best is the novation supernova II or supernova/nova I. next best is the nord modular stuff.
if you want endless possibilities the nord modular is a better bet. if you want trance stuff the jp-8000/virus is the way to go.
depends entirely on what you really want the v.a. to do. I miss my supernova more than i miss my poly-six and oberheim matrix 6r and juno 6 combined. nd for sure it was a hellavu lot cheaper than all those
the worst emulation is the virus, it can sound like an elka synthex or korg minipops fairly convincingly but other than that i have not heard anything from it that sounds like anything other than a tracnce insta hit super detuned saw wave that was convincing.
All this stuff is very subjective. Everyone has different ears and different opinions and I have to strongly (but respectfully) disagree here. It can sound convincingly "analogish" if you want it to. I don't know where everyone gets the idea that the Virus is NOTHING BUT a trance machine. Sure, there's tons of "dance" oriented presets but there's also hundreds upon hundreds of useful presets in the TI that you couldn't fit into a trance song if your life depended on it. There's quite a bit of Tangerine Dream, Cluster, and The Cars hidden in there!
Also the new OS 3.0 has a new feature that's very interesting if you're looking on the VA front:
"Character allows you to adjust the overall tone of a preset reminiscent of several vintage and well-known synthesizers. In addition you can emphasis certain aspects of the patch to allow it to cut better through the mix, or fade it into the background with an extra-wide stereo field"
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My local store has an Ion and all the Clavias, so I guess I'll start there.
