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I'm on a roll, why stop now.
I might as well tap everybody for their soft-synth experience.
And why stop there - same question for hardware synthesizers.
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Joe your question is too open ended. Need to narrow it down some. There are thousands of pay for VSTi.
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Joe, your question didn't mention General Midi so I'm assuming you're just asking about the overall sound quality. You also didn't mention budget so I'm listing what most people with good home studios have or wish they had or are planning to get.
I don't have any expensive software libraries but I do have a bunch of them for SampleTank 2. They sound pretty decent but ST 3 is supposed to be a big improvement.
Otherwise I keep hearing about Kontakt for lots of bread and butter sounds but when it gets to the biggie, acoustic piano I keep hearing about the new Pianoteq and a few others like Alicia Keys and Ivory as plugins.
Hardware is where I'm really at, I have a Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Roland 760, Korg Pa1XPro.
Already the PC3 which was considered one of the best just a few years ago is surpassed by the new Kurz Artis. Also most keys players still say a Kronos is the absolute best as far as all the bread and butter sounds are concerned. None of the big name workstation keyboards have a B3 emulation that is close to the Hammond SK1, the Mojo or the Nord CD2.
Then there is the brand new Yamaha Montage that is getting a lot of press after NAMM. That or the Kronos keyboards will cost you $3-4,000 the others maybe a grand less.
I still read about how the best software libraries sound better than the best hardware for maybe half that cost but then you don't have the whole physical keyboard itself with all it's controls to use, you're stuck with a third party controller and your computer.
The best third party controllers like the Kawai K1 or Physis are about $1,800 by themselves. To me if you're going to spend that for a controller might as well get the Kronos. It's a great controller too and you have it's awesome sound engine. Non keys guys may not know but the Korg Kronos has SSD's on board for internal real time sample streaming and nine separate and discrete sound engines. It's a killer system for studio and stage use.
You asked about what's good. Good ain't cheap but it depends on how picky you are.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Rockstar - I'm a tinkerer that likes the best products to tinker with at usually a price under $500 - up to a grand for the higher priced stuff.
My personal musical preferences are rock and pop from the 70s through 90s - but I'd like to be able to play some more modern pop and rock (e.g. < 10 years old. Locked in my era, I especially love the fat analog sounds as well as the Pink Floyd psychedelic sounds - and I LOVE good horn sections.
Ideally - I'd like to be able to find a song I like - any era, and try recording it as close as possible to the mix I hear on a record, CD, or MP3 : )
I like downloading Karaoke CD3 files or MIDI files of old bands and playing along with them through BB - and would of course like to change the VST's to sound more like the records I like.
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If I need to get a certain job done and I need tools to accomplish that, I borrow, rent, or buy the tools.
Sometimes I have to swallow the bitter pill, sometimes life treats me good. If I ever need that certain bass, I'd buy Trillian, currently every bass I already have suffices to not buy Trillian.
Desktop; i7-2600k, 8 GB mem., Win 10 Pro, BIAB 2017; RB 2017 - latest build
Laptop: i5-2410M, 4 GB mem, Win 10 Pro, BIAB 2017; RB 2017 - latest build
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Joe, it's hard to tell someone how picky they are but it sounds like you know what you like and are trying to recreate it. The big question is are you willing to manually assign the instruments to the tracks? I say that because most here prefer to use GM because it's brain dead simple. If you prefer software tell is what you have now and what you think of it. Tell us what instruments sound good and which ones sound weak. Otherwise check this out: http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/bundles/I hear lots of people raving about the Komplete 10 bundle. At $599 it's very affordable. The next one is the new ST 3 here: http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/totalstudiomax/This total studio package is the same price. $499. Gee you think they check each other's websites out? You haven't told us what system you have. These latest and greatest software packages all require a pretty robust system. Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Joe, it's hard to tell someone how picky they are but it sounds like you know what you like and are trying to recreate it. The big question is are you willing to manually assign the instruments to the tracks? I say that because most here prefer to use GM because it's brain dead simple. If you prefer software tell is what you have now and what you think of it. Tell us what instruments sound good and which ones sound weak. Otherwise check this out: http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/bundles/I hear lots of people raving about the Komplete 10 bundle. At $499 it's very affordable. Of course where they get you is with the other libraries that everybody wants like Session Horns for another $300 or so. The next one is the new ST 3 here: http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/totalstudiomax/This total studio package is the same price. $499. Gee you think they check each other's websites out? Same as above there are more separate libraries you can buy that ups the cost. You haven't told us what system you have. These latest and greatest software packages all require a pretty robust system. Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Thanks very much gentlemen, and I'm looking forward to Rocstar's opinions - I know there are thousands of VST's out there, but when people that frequent this website share their favorites - regardless of application, I know I'm learning about products that deliver : )
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I suppose I should have added - and what are your favorite freeware synths, along with your favorite sounds on those synths ?
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For 70s era stuff then GSi are hard to beat for old school electromechanical keys. They have both freeware and pay ware as well as some hardware like the Burn Leslie simulator. I used the VB3 simulator on this one take per track quickie recording last month. https://soundcloud.com/rockstar_not/straight-back-to-the-seventiesA proper B3 player could do much more with the VB3. The synth is the freeware mimimogue va
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Kontakt and the Komplete Suite
Garritan Personal Orchestra (GPO)
East West
Miroslav
Jamstix : intelligent drum synth
These are the ones I have spent money on
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 03/26/16 02:20 PM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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I have Kontakt 5, but not Komplete. I had been using Kontakt for nearly everything, but over the years I've moved more toward hardware again instead of software. I can get better sounds from my yamaha and hammond on most things than I can from Kontakt or any other softsynth.
the exceptions continue to be brass. I have yet to find really good brass from a keyboard. strings...yeah, I'll still use softsynths sometimes. but for any kind of keyboard sounds (rhodes, clavs, wurl, etc) I'll use my yamaha moxf and for organ sounds, nothing beats my hammond xk-3c.
so really what I'm saying is...I started buying into the softsynth deal when I first started using recording software, but then I decided hardware was really the better way to go.
to each his own. Your Mileage may vary.
Last edited by Beagle; 03/28/16 05:04 AM.
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Beagle, so what have you settled on for brass?
My Kurzweil digital piano has some decent brass (trumpet and trombone, but the French horn isn't exactly right), but it's a pain to record from, since it's the "piano" in the living room.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA BB2025/UMC404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/MixBus/Notion/Finale/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com
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Hey John, Currently I use Kontakt for brass. Out of the keyboards I have (mostly yamaha and Casio) I don't have a Kurzweil, so I haven't had a chance to try it. yeah, being in the living room would be a pain to record without a portable setup (or a LONG set of audio cables!  )
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General rule of thumb is that where there is expression which changes the physics of the pitch source or timbre source, synthesis does not measure up to the task very well. This is why there are great syntheses of piano and electric piano and vibes and xylophone and harp and other pitched resonant instruments but not so much for brass and strings and voice where modulation of pitch and timbre is part of the regular sond of the instrument.
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Joe, for the 70's -90's music I have and suggest the following, however these VSTis can be used in any era and genre: Kontakt - for the basics There are a lot of patches you can buy for Kontakt, including Vintage organs , Vintage horns for funk and a ton of others http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/samplers/kontakt-5/Korg M1 and Korg Wavestation - obviously for the Korg stuff These contain all of the cards for both instruments http://www.korg.com/us/products/software/korg_legacy_collection/Fm8 - for the Yamaha stuff. FM8 will read most all of the Yamaha synth patches, i.e DX7, TX 81z etc http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/fm8/Samplemodeling - for brass and woodwinds - best if used with wind controller or keyboard with either breath controller or expression pedal http://www.samplemodeling.com/en/products.php
When you are at the checkout line and they ask if you found everything say "Why, are you hiding stuff?"
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Joe, this thread can go on forever but since you started it it would be nice to fit our responses to your needs, not just general info about all the gazillions of synths out there.
Please tell us exactly what you're looking for, what you're using now and most importantly why you're not happy with it. It would be good to give us some song names too.
Oh, and your system specs.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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If you are interested primarily in playing realistic sounding instruments (wind, brass, and strings) using a keyboard, or a wind controller you should check out: Look here for specific virtual instruments, pricing and most important of all, the audio demos for each instrument: http://samplemodeling.com/en/products.phpAlso look for other demo's in the forum here: http://samplemodeling.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3Finally, you can check out my stuff too, with the link shown below.
Last edited by Dan Tong; 03/28/16 03:09 PM. Reason: added stuff
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