Need to limit myself to max 5 VST synths. Please suggest.

[toka]

Hello!

Im producing mainly house music and other styles of electronic dance music. I need to limit myself to 5 VST synths. Less is more IMO. I need your tips and suggestions of 5 good VST synths with lots of presets, easy GUI, easy to tweak and which can produce all current and up to date modern house and electronic dance music sounds.


Please suggest!

[bizness80]

No one but yourself can tell you what you like and what fits your work flow.

With that in mind, these ones seem to be very popular on here: Omnisphere, Alchemy, Ace, Zebra, Sylenth, PolyKB, OPX, DCAM SynthSquad

You mentioned you like good presets then you might like Nexus its aimed at the preset tweaking crowd.

Trial versions are your friend. Download them and figure out what works for you.

[Stiff]

Aaaahh... The Kalashnikov principle!

Only synthesizers or other VI's too?

My suggestions would be:

- Omnisphere, because it simply is the best.
- DCAM, one of the few VI's that I actually think are fun to sit and tweak sometimes.

There's four right there (depending on how you see it). If other VI's as well I would pick Kontakt and Stylus RMX and call it a day.

[John_Seward]

5 vst synths? Less is more? :D

U-He Ace is great. And another vote for Omnisphere.

(but what you really should do is go analog)

[msl]

I like Imposcar2, Sylenth, Alchemy, Ace, FM8.


.

[WhiteSheets]

Not sure if 5 is really limiting anything. Maybe 1 or 2? I'd go for
Xils PolyKb
Reaktor

[Nev]

Reaktor (so many options built into one)
Omnisphere
FM8
Massive
Ace

[lilita]

Korg Legacy Collection is exactly 5:

Polysix
Mono/Poly
MS-20
M1
Wavestation

Polysix is my favorite of the bunch though. My personal favorite setup would be:

Kontakt
Polysix
Massive
SQ-8L (freeware SQ-80 clone, use this a lot)
A 303 clone (I use REFX TB, there are prob better)

[junglist001]

Good Move! I use......

Z3TA
Massive
Largo
Absynth

(and occasionally the cubase synths get called up for a preset or two)


That covers all my needs. To be honest Z3TA is the one i call up the most i could prob be ok with just that and absynth.

[offki]

People can only say what they like in response really, but if I had to pick 5 (of my 10)

Zebra,
Ace,
Omnisphere,
Aspect,
DCAM

in that order. Omnisphere synth is actually very nice, very powerful if used properly.

[Torpedo]

In my opinion

Omnisphere
Rapture
Waldorf Largo
Absynth
Korg Legacy Collection

[AJ Reynolds]

you want a limited amount of synths with lots of presets? if you want lots of presets the more synths the better. if you want to learn some synths inside out and never use presets again, it's best to limit the number of synths.

anyway here are my 5

waldorf largo
waldorf ppg 3
karmafx
dcam synth squard
reaktor

[offki]

Originally Posted by WhiteSheets

Not sure if 5 is really limiting anything. Maybe 1 or 2? I'd go for
Xils PolyKb
Reaktor

Hah bit ironic you say to choose just 2 then list reaktor

[WhiteSheets]

Originally Posted by offki

Hah bit ironic you say to choose just 2 then list reaktor

Yeah, I walked into that one.

[Whalez]

Hey I only have aylenth and massive love them both specialy sylenth so I'd def recommend those but I want omnisphere real bad but damn too expensive geez why does music software cost SO MUCH I need to get a freaking job

[offki]

Reaktor is good, I've had it for years, but always thought it was 'inferior' mainly due to all the oddball synths that come free, but then I heard Razor and Spark and totally changed my mind, still, after years of ownership, looking through the content.

I built a 'reese' in it, an entire synth dedicated to that one sound, it was pretty impressive even with my cowboy patching, one day I will get off my ass and build a kick synth that can layer samples, resample, eq and compress all in one package, then sell it back to NI and live off the profits..

Yeah, Omnisphere is worth the price, just about. Some of the sounds that come with are unique and the updates are actually good, not just bug fixes. As long as you're not making music for TV/Film you will get massive mileage from the content. Shame vir2 don't release stuff for omnishpere, business getting in the way of progress again..

[Spip]

Not exactly what you ask for but really efficient :

for ready-made synth sounds : only one DCAM synth squad (with all add-ons)

for "not-so-ready" sounds : (or for the love of tweaking…)

1. DCAM (again…)
2. Reaktor
3. Max/MSP

4. Kontakt and, above all…
5.Redmatica bundle : Autosampler, Keymap Pro, Sample Manager.

I didn't yet tried Omnisphere but I'm very surprised that it's in, almost, everybody's post.

Is it so good ?

[CoolColJ]

A lot of these list have a lot of redunant synths

You could probably narrow it doen to 2-3 that appeal to you and be done

[bugs]

Kontakt 4
Reaktor 5.6
Omnisphere

--I think you could probably get by with these three.

[James Meeker]

Not knowing your style or preferences make this difficult. Based on what I think are the best sounding or most versatile collection:

Kontakt
ImpOSCar
Prophet V (includes the VS)
Wavestation
Reaktor (nothing is more versatile or powerful on the market)

That being said all my plugins come from three companies:

Native Instruments
GForce - my all-time favorite
Arturia

The Korg Legacy series is also excellent and recommended.

[cryophonik]

House/electronica covers a pretty wide range of styles and sounds and it really makes no sense to just arbitrarily buy 5 of the most recommended VAs. So, rather than just choosing the most popular from other peoples' top 5 lists, I'd think about categorizing your needs (e.g., drums, bass, "real" sounds, VAs, FM, "other" synthesis, etc.). For example:

Do you need a drum plugin? - consider Maschine, Nerve, Stylus RMX, Geist, Battery 3, etc. This is obviously one category that you want to have sufficiently covered for house/electronica.

Do you need "real" sounds? - consider a sampler like Kontakt, and/or a rompler/synth like Trilian (great for funky house slap basses, also does synth basses very well)

Do you need "classic" house sounds (pianos, basses)? consider Korg M1 LE

Then, there's the countless VAs, of which the most popular ones have been mentioned. Personally, I'd recommend Zebra or DCAM Synth Squad.

Don't forget the specialty synths - e.g., Omnisphere (powerhouse synth with both standard waveform and sample-based synthesis), Alchemy (additive, granular, spectral, and VA - also uses standard waveform-type and sample-based synthesis), FM8 (FM synthesis), etc.

Etc, etc. etc. Then, look at your options and ask for recommendations in each of these categories.

Optionally, just get NI Komplete and stick to using Battery 3, Kontakt 4, Massive, FM8, and Absynth. (OK, maybe add one additional non-NI synth for fun/flavor). As for Reaktor, I personally find that I waste more time toying with it than actually making music, but YMMV.

[offki]

Originally Posted by cryophonik

As for Reaktor, I personally find that I waste more time toying with it than actually making music,

This, .

[James Meeker]

Cryophonic makes a good point.

[PRODIJ]

Omnisphere
Dcam synth squad
Fxpansion geist

Perfect combo

[complex]

DCAM
Sylenth
MS20
Zebra 3
Mono/Poly


....**** Massive

[toka]

This is what i currently have:

Massive
Nexus 2
Minimonsta
Sylenth1
Korg Legacy Collection
Battery 3
Dune
Gladiator
Arturia Minimoog
Arturia Prophet V
Arturia Jupiter 8
Imposcar
Circle
Kontakt 4
Alchemy
Omnisphere
Xils PolyKB
Xils Xils 3
Albino 3
Dcam Synth Squad
Reaktor 5
Predator

So i need to limit this to 5 ONLY!

[cryophonik]

Well, you need drums, so keep Battery 3.

Do you need some realistic sounds (e.g., pianos, strings, basses, guitars, etc.)? If so, definitely keep Kontakt.

As for the other 3 or 4 synths...

Originally Posted by toka

Hello!

...5 good VST synths with lots of presets, easy GUI, easy to tweak and which can produce all current and up to date modern house and electronic dance music sounds.

You've got a lot of good ones to choose from, most of which are can produce modern sounds. Easy GUI/easy to tweak is really a matter of how much experience you have with synths in general and with each individual synth. If it was my decision, I'd go with:

Alchemy, Omnisphere, and DCAM (+ DUNE if I didn't go for Kontakt,...which I would).

[offki]

Originally Posted by toka

So i need to limit this to 5 ONLY!

Use as many as you want, you just won't learn any of them as well in an amount of time. Much better to learn a few properly than loads a tiny bit. Just choose ones with a lot of possibilities like omnisphere, zebra, massive, DCAM, Albino. I can get crazy sub bass out of massive without even using an oscillator

[Yoozer]

Originally Posted by toka

This is what i currently have:
(list)
So i need to limit this to 5 ONLY!

Why? It's not like you're going to get a lot back for it if you decide to sell them.

You already have everything named in this thread. Well, pretty much. All the principles that work on the Minimoog emulations work on all the other synths too, except for the more exotic features in Alchemy.

Less isn't more if you don't learn synthesis properly, which seems to be the issue - otherwise you wouldn't have bought all of this. Feel free to correct me, though.

[andrewsc]

Looks like you probably don't have to buy too many more to get to your 5..