Warm bread and butter VA synth.

[zvukofor]

What can be more basic than 3 osc/2 filter subtractive with 2 envs until 2012? )
Seriously, as an ex-owner of Virus, i think it IS the all-way-around synth, you can do everything on it. It is "bread and butter", as you can say, i do not know any reason to search for anything else, besides just completely different sounding synth or patchable mono for freaky FXs.

[relis]

If you want another VA, Nord Lead 2/2X will get you to more basic tones. Great "players" synth, very musical. You could run it through Virus to add it's effects, which are G-reat!

Alesis Ion would be very good for this too.

O analog mono like new SEM or Mono Lancet: Those would bring you what you need essentially.

What's your budget anyway?

[verve92]

Just played a JP8000 the other day and also made great pads. Very sonically diverse as was the Alesis Micron.

[greenlights]

Would the Wave be a better option than the Lead? To the first guy who responded, yes I'm also looking for a different sound. Love the Virus, just don't want to over use it. I want something that sounds good with it.

[zvukofor]

But for what types of sounds do you want to use that another synth?

[networkacid]

Nord Lead 2

[marino]

Nord Lead 2 sounds different from Virus - probably warmer. But you'll need external effects for it. Other options: Waldorf Q or Micro Q, Yamaha An1x (great).
On the other hand, you could get something like a Korg DW8000. Analog/digital hybrid, very warm-sounding.

[greenlights]

Originally Posted by zvukofor

But for what types of sounds do you want to use that another synth?

I don't understand what you're trying to say.

[verve92]

Forgot about the Alpha Junos pads. Sub oscillator warms it up quite nice. Especially if the keyboard is transposed down an octave.
These synths, also, need quite a bit of treatment.

[cub005@yahoo.co.]

It sounds to me like you might benefit from layering an analog with your virus.

ROLAND JUNO-60 Analog Synth 1982 | DEMO - YouTube

[bug2342]

Obvious answer first: Nord Lead (+nice multi FX box)
personally I´m not in love with the sound of the Nord, but it is pretty much the definition of bread and butter VA.

Envelopes and LFOs are nice and snappy,knobs for pretty much everything, 96kHz samplingrate means lower aliasing than (at least the standard waveforms of) the Virus.

Originally Posted by greenlights

Would the Wave be a better option than the Lead?

For basic VA: no. Of course some of the stuff this box does is fun (extremely intuitive FM, morphing Waveforms, etc.), but if you want straight forward bread and butter and basic: Nordlead.

Another nice basic VA seems to be the Ultranova. Especially if you want Sync sounds or supersaw (basically superAnywave) it´s probably the way to go. Doesn´t do any FM, but for bread and butter VA thats not that important.

The Alesis Ion has a rather classic sound. Some love it, some hate it.

An1x is a classic (and reasonaby cheap). User interface is not that great.

The ASB Boxes from Soniccore/Creamware: Hard to find, but the most classic sounding VA. Probably closer to standard Analog than standard VA sound. If you don´t mind enditing your sounds on the computer the Plugiator (Useaudio) is cheaper and easier to find.

You can also drop the V of the VA and get one of the Dsi Analogs. Not everybody loves them, but they do good bread and butter.

Just in case the different sound is more important than the basic part (and you have a bit of money to spend):

Get one of the new fancy VAs: Accelerator or Solaris.
Both sound quite different from the Virus and should do very good bread and Butter.

Both have a bit of a learning curve, but once that is passed you should be able to do all the basic stuff rather fast. Also they are probably the ebst sounding VAs at the moment. Both don´t try hard to sound analog, so they have a very different basic sound from Diva for example or a real analog. But they do sound great.

(Disclaimer: I never heard a Solaris in person, I just go by the Demos and by knowing, that the DSP coder is the same that did a lot of the awesome Soniccore/Creamware stuff. Also I´m a Radikal Technologies Fanboy...)

Accelerator Demos:
RADIKAL TECHNOLOGIES - ACCELERATOR SOUND EXAMPLES
not necessarily bread and butter stuff

Acc+Speci Demo by bug2342 on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free
My personal demo. Accelerator and Speci.

[JimmiG]

It doesn't get much more "bread and butter" than the Virus TI. It can cover pretty much any analog/virtual analog sound, and its architecture is simple and straight forward without being too limited. The more advanced oscillator models and effects can be used to cover even more ground and venture far into the digital domain.

A better option would be to get something a bit more specialized that stands out alongside the Virus.

[greenlights]

I know a lot of you are saying the Virus can handle all this stuff, but like I said earlier, I'm just trying not to overuse it. I pretty much know what it is capable of. I just want something else to throw in the mix. I have a Motif XF as well, only looking for another VA that can match it.

[muziksculp]

Nord Rack 2X

[greenlights]

The Nord Lead must really be the best one. I hear it so often. I just wonder why wouldn't the Wave be better with its sampling feature? Is it the oscillators on the Lead that sound so good?

[Polarelch]

The Nord Lead is overhyped. Well, if you like it, go for it.
But don't make the mistake I made, I trusted the hype in the end and have this thing now.
I never got warm with it.

Just my 2 eurocents.
Missing my Virus TI, btw.

[greenlights]

I'm keeping my Virus, I'm thinking V-Synth GT??

[bug2342]

Originally Posted by greenlights

I'm keeping my Virus, I'm thinking V-Synth GT??

=Warm bread and butter VA synth?????

Don´t get me wrong, the V-Synth is cool and might work wonderful with your Virus, but I would definitely not call it a warm bread and butter VA synth.

I was looking into it quite a bit, but in the end I never bought one (not a fan of sampling), so my knowledge is mostly from theory and demos.

The VA part doesn´t sound bad, but it is probably not the most warm, classic, pseudo analog VA.

There are two points, where the V-Synth obviously shines:

The granular synthesis part basically allows you to use sampling with a lot less samples and lets you turn any sample into a wavetable. One word of warning: Granular synthesis (and any other synthesis that uses window functions) is not really great for reproducing transients (sudden changes in sound, including non harmonic parts). If I remember correctly the V-synth works around that problem by using standard sample replay for the initial couple of microseconds and only than switches to granular mode (or something similar).

So don´t expect to record a snappy closing filter or a snappy FM sound and than reproduce that perfectly. Slowly modulating sounds work a lot better.

The whole formant shifting part should work pretty similar to the grain/formant table stuff in your Virus. If you did not extensively use that stuff yet play around with it and see if doing something similar for custom samples would be interesting for you.

Another thing that really impresses me about the V-Synth is that Roland dropped an Envelope on pretty much every parameter. I think you have pitch, amplitude and two more parameters, that depend on the wave of the oscillator, for each of the two oscs and up to two envelopes for each of the two Cosm blocks. Overall I think there are 13 envelopes + some mini ones for fading the LFOs in or out.

This allows some interesting stuff, like putting a sine through a waveshaper or distortion and putting and Envelope on the amount and tone of the distortion or waveshaping. The only other Synths that I can think of that allow that kind of thing are the Kurzweil VAST Synths (k2000 up to PC3k) and the MOD7 engine in the Oasys/Kronos.

Overall a very nice synth, but if you don´t sample yourself, it´s a bit of a waste.

[subby33]

Virus is the bread and butter VA.

Layer it with a Nord Lead 2 or a real analog like a Juno 60. I tend to think the Nord Lead 2 would sound better, as I feel its brighter, more present, and crispier than the Virus. Which is more thicker, lower midrange sound. So they would compliment each other well. The Juno 60 may kind of be too much thickness.

Others here have said the Nord Lead is dry and they dont like it. It is kind of dry . . . which is why I'm suggesting it :-). It shines w/ good effects on it. Chorus, reverb, delay. Which are not built in the synth.

Dont get the Nord Lead 3, it sucks.

[Spectral Climax]

Originally Posted by subby33

Dont get the Nord Lead 3, it sucks.

It might suck when you compare it to the sound of a modern soft synth / VA etc...but it certainly has the most intuitive interface that has ever been designed and that feature alone will satisfy many users by leading them fast and easier to the "right sounds".

[greenlights]

I might have to look into that... I don't want anybody to get the wrong idea, I love the Virus, just don't want to overuse it like I stated before.

[miscend]

Virus is the bread butter synth for electronic music. I'm pretty sure the Virus (also JP8000) is responsible for all the trance leads we heard in the early noughties. The raw oscs are very dark so it's very good for phat leads and basses.

I personally wouldn't use it for pads and drones; for that I'd get something like a K5000 or a Wavestation, or software like Omnisphere and Alchemy. You can make very complex, very unusual sound and textures with those.

Most of the other hardware VAs will cover a lot the same ground as the Virus. But there are a few exceptions like the Korg Z1/Prophecy which are completely unique synths.

[mkastrup]

When thinking of warm bread & butter synth i have two in mind:

Yamaha AN1x and Clavia Nord Wave.

Nord Wave is the one i'm currently working on. Made some presets which i'm trying out at the moment to see how well they fit within an arrangement.

Its all coming from Nord Wave, the drums are a kit i made for Nord Wave. They a dubbed by a Simmons like drum preset. Nothing special done other than add limiter and some EQ on Master output.

The arrangement is kinda old school funk:

http://www.qnull.net/downloads/MK_NordWave_Funk.mp3

/Michael

[ozy]

Originally Posted by greenlights

Love the Virus, just don't want to over use it. I want something that sounds good with it.

different perspective:

since you got a very good VA, famous for its specific character and for its routing and synthesis capabilities,

which is a synth in its own, with a sound of its own, not just a "fake analogue",

and since you are looking for a simple, generic (bread-and-butter) complement,

why don't you go for the simplest form of real analogue?

You don't need serious programming or modular-like routing (yoiu have the Virus for that part of your programming),

but you may need some punch, bottom, warmth, whatever you want to call "the analogue thing".

Layering (or alternating) the Virus and a real analogue could give you something "different", just as you asked.

Go for something really simple and basic, leave complexity to the Virus, buy cheap a matrix1000, or a tetr4.

I don't recommend you a vintage roland because everybody and his dog will tell you that on this forum, so you don't need another "buy a 106" post. But of course that's an idea as well.

Just my two cents.

[BM0]

I have a Virus C and Nord Lead2. Very different sound but mix well together.

[subhertz]

Warning : If the bread's too warm : it's toast !

(sorry..couldn't........res...i..s.....t....!)



Edit / P.S. Blofeld.

[Lifer]

Waldorf!

[Beany]

Novation A Station - cutting leads, heavy-weight subs and bass, nice round 12/24db filter plus a useable 'lead-synth' reverb and vocoder. Very cheap on ebay at the moment so you could re-sell without a loss, but I'm keeping mine.

[greenlights]

Originally Posted by miscend

Virus is the bread butter synth for electronic music. I'm pretty sure the Virus (also JP8000) is responsible for all the trance leads we heard in the early noughties. The raw oscs are very dark so it's very good for phat leads and basses.

I personally wouldn't use it for pads and drones; for that I'd get something like a K5000 or a Wavestation, or software like Omnisphere and Alchemy. You can make very complex, very unusual sound and textures with those.

Most of the other hardware VAs will cover a lot the same ground as the Virus. But there are a few exceptions like the Korg Z1/Prophecy which are completely unique synths.

Wow! You wouldn't use the Virus for pads?? Why not, I thought it excelled at doing pads? You do have to be careful when programming them on there, but it's usually a good outcome(for me).