Favorite Soft Synth

[gotpop]

I've been having a lot of fun with Reason, which is not technically a plug-in (you run it alongside Pro Tools in something called Rewire mode), but it's got an incredible sound library to start with, plus there are TONS of free refills you can get from the Propellerheads website.

Propellerhead Software

[lapieuvre]

Then Logic could be the choice, for 500$ it comes with a nice library.

Good general VST'S:

EW Colossus: Nice piano and a lots of variety.

Kontakt 3 comes with 40 gigs of samples. Piano is okay, good drums, good Db, nice orchestral sounds

Sonivox Muse

For Lower budget, Plugsound pro. Good Db, drums are fine, good analog stuff, good percs.

[redroom]

My favorite softsynth by a long mile is the Virus for the Powercore

[Dr.Wu]

My fav is Omnisphere from Spectrasonics.
Its so versatile! You get tons of playable patches like pads, leads, basses, all sorts of organs, some otherwordly pianos and rhodes, strings, bells, great choirs and nice guitars.
It also comes with a lot of ambience stuff that you might consider to be weird and too electronic but thats just a part of the big package and definetly comes in handy for intros, breakdowns and transitions
More than 2000 sounds already and more free ones are in the works-so you should be able to find something you can use.
If you want to hear what it sounds like check my vimeo link in my signature.
I made a whole bunch of videoclips that use Omnisphere for the soundtracks.
Maybe it floats your boat!

[SWAN808]

I think the UVI Plugsound Pro Library might be a good place for you to start:

UltimateSoundBank - Select your region

[mdjice]

Sylenth
Genesis
Tone Gladiator 2

[SFTPH]

I'd check out the included synths w/ PT8 before I bought 3rd party stuff. They spec pretty cool for basic tools.
Dimension Pro with the Proteus 2000 sound bank is cheap and has a lot of familiar rock/pop sounds.
I had a hardware P2K and the soundbank sounded so close I sold the thing.
Proteus Sound Modules

note that the DimensionLE 1.2 plug that comes with it isn't OS 10.5 compatible But Dimension Pro 1.3 is.

[Beatstreet]

Sounds like Kontakt 3 would be a good choice for you. Huge library and endless possibilities.

[Dysanfel]

Zebra 2 is a nice synth. Nexus is good, but technically a ROMpler.

[Alien Tech]

My fav softsynth would be NI Absynth. You can do all kinds of crazy stuff with it. Its also great for sample mangling. Just don't expect it to sound analog. Its very digital sounding (in a good way).

[Jay-]

I got Kore 2 complete with hardware..

gave up and got a Kurzweil, cheaper one. to me sounds wider, fatter, more dynamic and or organic like I'm in touch with the machine.

Plus When I get really stoned the soft synths and digital mixers are w0w, go off line but the Kurz press it and all settings are remembered.



Sample moog is GOOD. (I think the best)
Omnisphere has a digital sound to it but good..
cheaper... FM8, Absynth..

[BillPayer]

I love all the Gmedia stuff!

[Goliath|Audio]

Sampletank! Great sounds for rock, great sounds in general.

If you want pads you can get SonikSynth to go with it for free.

[miro]

Audio Realism ABL PRO. I have to use it in whatever I'm doing. Big bad bass and more than enough complexity to always be enjoyable making your own sounds over and over again!

[mildav]

reason reaktor and absynth my favourite

[musicjon]

Sylenth for the virtual analog thing, Ivory for pianos, Omnisphere for everything else.

[msl]

Another vote for Sylenth, truly one of the best out there. Also FM8 for great pads and the new Camel Alchemy.


.

[ToneCre8]

Originally Posted by mdjice

Sylenth
Genesis
Tone Gladiator 2

2nd'ed

[JPeters86]

Omnisphere +1

[by-tor]

Vacuum is my current favorite. Wish they would make it hardware.

[wakestyle]

EMU proteus VS is IMO the best software rompler out there. FREE and EMU.com. This thing has some seriously nice sounds in it mostly in the strings/keys/pianos/bass basic stuff. Well everything a proteus has...

try it, u won't regret it.