Best sythesizer with pro standard sounds in them?

[Roger Starr]

Hi,

In succesion of the thread "best synthesizer with weird sounds in them" I would like to know what you consider the best synthesizer with pro standard sounds in them? Yamaha Motif, Roland Fantom, Korg Triton or are there any plug ins (Band Stand?) or sampler library (the one of Halion or ESX24 etc.?) that deliver that?

Regards,

Roger

[mikesilence]

Hi!!

For me its the good ol' Roland JV1080/JV2080.

Greetz,

Mike

[RainbowStorm]

It should:
- Have digital output
- In most cases be a real synthesizer and not a keyboard/arranger
- Have stereo samples and not pseudo stereo sounds
- Have large ROM memory
- Have a "fat" sound

Something to consider is also what kind of music you are going to make on the synth. Synth sounds can be divided into two main categories:

- Accoustic instrument sounds
- Fantasy sounds

Depending on what category suites you the best you need to select the synth accordingly. I myself want most of all acoustic instrument sounds and these sounds are not very good in synths overall... I have not found any synth so far that really shines in this category and software beats them. But when it comes to fantasy sounds I think a lot of synths out there are very capable of delivering, for instance the Roland Fantom X and the V series both sound very professional. I myself only use the Yamaha Tyros even though I have a Korg Trinity, a Roland A90Ex and a Korg IX-300 available. The Tyros sounds the best without a doubt, the Trinity sounds of course better in the fantasy sounds category, with a much larger selection of sounds.
I always end up using the Tyros when I start laborating with any other synth. I would love to try out the whole Roland JV series sound bank collection, since I think it might contain many useful sounds for recording. I would also like to try out the whole Yamaha Motif sound bank collection... For a while ago I started missing my old Korg M1 that I had several sound cards for, it was something very special about owning that synth and I was never able to try it out in my studio (since I didn't have a studio back then). It was so fun to change between different cards and record on the sequencer. I always ended up with a smile on my face...
It was fat and simple, but it really could deliver much better than the newer very thin sounding digital counterparts like the Trinity/Triton.

To sum it up, if you go with a hardware synth, select one that is fun to own. The ones that are fun to own are those that have a lot of expandable sound card slots and a lot of cards to choose between. For example check out different Roland and Yamaha synths... In a way you can't really go wrong...

I'm sorry to say this, but if you're just like me and want good accoustic sounds like drums, bass, piano and so on, then focus on software synths.

[TEMAS]

Everyone has different priorities when it comes to searching for gear that suits one's own personal needs.

In this day and age, a man's gotta have choices; (sorry about the film quote). By this I mean that its crucial to have access to as many sounds as possible, buts its difficult to expect one instrument to be capable of providing a palate of that size. So if the budget is tight and you're just starting off, remember that for the price of one decent brand new hardware synth you could buy about five software synths.

I've owned a load of hardware keyboards in my time; but the only one I could never live without is the Nord Modular - partly because I have 9 years worth of patches that I've created and partly because I know that no matter how difficult the challenge in hand is - I know that I will find a way to shape and mould a sound with the tools available. But I also know people who hate it because they have no patience.

By the way, I'm more of a progammer than a player.

[octatonic]

Roland 1080/2080's and XP50/80 are great.
I really like the Triton sounds as well.

JV1080's are your best best- I see then for £200-£250.
Loose change.

[DrDeltaM]

A general set of high quality sampled sounds in a softsampler would be Quantum Leap Colossus: http://www.soundsonline.com/sophtml/...tml?sku=EW-164

In hardware, I'd look at Kurzweil PC2R (or PC2 if you want the keys): http://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com/...s.html?Id=1630

[octatonic]

Forgot to mention Kurzweil K2000 or K2500- just excellent although the K2000 I had was quite unreliable.

[lawrence_o]

I got a JV2080 and it is indeed the most versatile synth, though by far the best sounding.

My personnal experience is that the best sounding synth, with also very versatile sounds, must be te virus C or the Virus TI. The difference in fattness with a JV is really astonishing.

Of course, sometimes the JV fits in the mix, sometimes it does not. For brass sounds and that sort of stuff the JV is better. For all the rest i.e. basses, pads, leads, acid sounds, the virus really kills the JV and roland in its whole.

Love the phantom though. I think they are both another type of instrument. But the virus prevales for me.

PS: Love my trinity.

Regards
Lawrence

[RainbowStorm]

Originally Posted by TEMAS

Everyone has different priorities when it comes to searching for gear that suits one's own personal needs.

In this day and age, a man's gotta have choices; (sorry about the film quote). By this I mean that its crucial to have access to as many sounds as possible, buts its difficult to expect one instrument to be capable of providing a palate of that size. So if the budget is tight and you're just starting off, remember that for the price of one decent brand new hardware synth you could buy about five software synths.

I've owned a load of hardware keyboards in my time; but the only one I could never live without is the Nord Modular - partly because I have 9 years worth of patches that I've created and partly because I know that no matter how difficult the challenge in hand is - I know that I will find a way to shape and mould a sound with the tools available. But I also know people who hate it because they have no patience.

By the way, I'm more of a I'm progammer than a player.

I agree, one always thinks that a single one synth is capable of delivering it all, but in practise that's simply not the case. You really need to have a few good synths to choose between in order to be able to produce what you want...

BTW, check out the new Yamaha Tyros 2. It has a very interesting feature:

"Tyros 2 has two enormously powerful features that let you craft your own Voices: Voice Creator and Voice Set.

Voice Creator allows you to import your own audio samples and waveforms, and assign them to the keys as desired – letting you build completely new Voices with completely new sounds.

Voice Set provides tools for editing a Voice – changing its filter, envelope and vibrato settings, as well as making modulation assignments and adjusting the EQ and effects.

The end result is a Custom Voice that can be selected and played just like all the other Tyros2 Voices. For added convenience, you can auto-load an entire library of voices when you turn the keyboard on. Tyros2 ships with 4 MB of sample RAM which you can easily expand to 1 GB using standard computer RAM, giving you plenty of capacity for samples. You can even store the samples on the optional hard disk. With Voice Creator sample playback capability, you can load sample in WAV and AIFF format, offering an almost unlimited range of sounds that you can buy off the shelf."

[RainbowStorm]

I noticed that a lot of you guys think that the JV series Roland synths sound great. Everybody seem to like the way these sound, I myself have only tried all other Rolands and only heard the JV series live so I can't comment on it, but it must be pretty darn good sounding... Any good demo sound clips available maybe?!

[DrDeltaM]

Originally Posted by RainbowStorm

I noticed that a lot of you guys think that the JV series Roland synths sound great. Everybody seem to like the way these sound, I myself have only tried all other Rolands and only heard the JV series live so I can't comment on it, but it must be pretty darn good sounding... Any good demo sound clips available maybe?!

I don't like the sound of Rolands, except for some pads maybe.

[Roger Starr]

Originally Posted by RainbowStorm

I'm sorry to say this, but if you're just like me and want good accoustic sounds like drums, bass, piano and so on, then focus on software synths.

OK, any suggestions in that?

Regards,

Roger

[Roger Starr]

[QUOTE=DrDeltaM]A general set of high quality sampled sounds in a softsampler would be Quantum Leap Colossus: http://www.soundsonline.com/sophtml/...tml?sku=EW-164QUOTE]

Like the demo, but is this typical the type of sampler library that takes 'ages' to load in your sampler? I have for instance Scarbee Vintage Collection which sounds good, but takes ages to load. I'm very much open to digital stuff, but I need access to good sounds quick and with an intuitive way to find...

Regards,

Roger

[alexstringer]

I remember the K2000 had some really fantastic sound banks, they were called the Orchestral and Contemporary bank. I think you can hear it on most Hollywood movies soundtracks from the early 90's...Very realistics sounds...
you may find a K2000 sampler with those banks included on the used market for $500...

[DrDeltaM]

[QUOTE=Roger Starr]

Originally Posted by DrDeltaM

A general set of high quality sampled sounds in a softsampler would be Quantum Leap Colossus: http://www.soundsonline.com/sophtml/...tml?sku=EW-164QUOTE]

Like the demo, but is this typical the type of sampler library that takes 'ages' to load in your sampler? I have for instance Scarbee Vintage Collection which sounds good, but takes ages to load. I'm very much open to digital stuff, but I need access to good sounds quick and with an intuitive way to find...

Regards,

Roger

It's a big sample library, so yes, it will take time to load. If you want fast access, a ROMpler hardware unit is probably your best bet.

[RainbowStorm]

Originally Posted by Roger Starr

OK, any suggestions in that?

Regards,

Roger

Well, the software samplers have not yet taken ground, but will, now that 64-bit computing is becoming the standard. So far I have found two packages that in my ears sound better than any hardware synth counterparts:

Spectrasonics Trilogy - bass sounds *
NI Elektrik Piano - rhodes piano **

* If you are slective with the presets you can find really good bass sounds, very authentic slides etc.

** I got convinced when I heard the sound of this software instrument... This package is really sweet at 96KHz, but unfortunately they didn't remove any of the speaker noise you can hear in the background, so I don't use this for recording, but it's the best rhodes vibe I've ever heard coming from an artificial instrument and it's great for live use!

I recently heard NI Bandstand and even though I'm not that impressed I'm convinced. When Native Instruments adds support for true 64-bit sampling a platform like this will really shine.

[RainbowStorm]

It would be cool to have some kind of online sample community and be able to preview sounds stored online in the middle of the production process in the DAW software and then be able to download the selected instrument directly for recording and playback, instead of having to go to X different places, get X different formats, get different sound quality and end up with a collection of DVDs to install manually (that takes decades). The digital age is all about networking...

[alexstringer]

There was one that i remember but they went out of business...It was in London/UK and it was called The tape gallery, they were offering their clients online memberships with access to a huge sound library of more than 6 millions samples divided in categories...I think their market was post prod studios who needed quick access to a sound fx library for editing ... Too bad it didn't work out for them! I think it was a great idea though...

[Dr.Wu]

[QUOTE=Roger Starr]

Originally Posted by DrDeltaM

A general set of high quality sampled sounds in a softsampler would be Quantum Leap Colossus: http://www.soundsonline.com/sophtml/...tml?sku=EW-164QUOTE]

Like the demo, but is this typical the type of sampler library that takes 'ages' to load in your sampler? I have for instance Scarbee Vintage Collection which sounds good, but takes ages to load. I'm very much open to digital stuff, but I need access to good sounds quick and with an intuitive way to find...

Regards,

Roger

The long loading time is the fault of the Halion Player. I exchanged the Scarbee VKC with the EXS version of the Rhodes and the Wurlitzer and they load in a fraction of the time it takes with the Halion Player.

[FalconerHK]

Originally Posted by mikesilence

Hi!!

For me its the good ol' Roland JV1080/JV2080.

Greetz,

Mike

I like the JV stuff too, but it has a definite "sound" - I can always pick JV sounds out of a mix. Not sure if that's good or bad.

I agree with the other posters that the way to go is softsynths for the meat and potatoes sounds - Colossus is solid, as is Gigasampler.

thumbsup thumbsup thumbsup

[lawrence_o]

Originally Posted by FalconerHK

I agree with the other posters that the way to go is softsynths for the meat and potatoes sounds - Colossus is solid, as is Gigasampler.

thumbsup thumbsup thumbsup

Funny. I used to think the same thing. That soft synts are crappy compared to the real thing. Unfortunately, I tested the Indigo on TDM versus the real virus C. Must say, got the best ADDA converters and that does something. But I couldn't hear a significant difference between two of the same sounds.... Guess soft synts can really sound bloody big.

After all, today's synths are also nothing more than a bunch of samples and DSP and DA converters, right?

[tonecontroller]

I actually don't agree with the consensus here. I had 2 JV 2080s and a 5080 and they were OK for some things but I think you can do a lot better these days. The 5080 is best as you can load series 700 samples into it and expand it with some nice cards which I did but they don't have much ROM by todays standards. If I was starting out now, I would begin with a decent sample library with sounds related to the area where you are working first, then go for some plug in synths (Indigo if you're on TDM, NI Komplete, Autoria, the Logic and Motu built in ones are pretty good). But as has been said, everyone likes different stuff