Remembering back to the following thread a number of months ago…

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/famous-synth-sounds

Well I'm after a synth or 2 at the moment… Sadly gotta be software though, can't fit (or afford) any hardware in my room!

I'm not trying to recreate any old 70's/80's sci-fi soundtracks, more make contemporary House/Breaks/Electro music, so what I'm looking for is some reccomendations on soft synths that you'd recommend for that purpose… Synths have always passed me by I think, give me a drum pattern to work on and refine, or a compressor to mess with and I know what I'm doing. Synths have always been a bit of a mystery! Anyway…

Just looking on Youtube I found these 2 clips…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsaoV9GOrBI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP4Ovs7v9AQ&feature=related

I'm not saying this is exactly what I want to recreate, but viewing those 2 youtube clips you will kind of get an idea for the kind of synth sounds I'm after… Though I'm also open to being educated!

So any recommendations??? Needs to be able to be used as a plugin in Logic Audio on my Mac, and preferably doesn't want to be too expensive. Money is a bit tight, but suppose I could stretch a bit if the synth was that good.

When I was into production, V-Station (in that video) was pretty good, Ohmboyz (now overused), z3ta+, and the ones that came with FLStudio.

The ones free with Computer Music magazine used to be half decent too.

I would say that most of the synths are damn easy to recognise, so running a synth through something else, like Ohmicide would make it a bit more interesting.

My memory is a little hazy from those daze!

If you have'nt already, get browsing through KVR Audio website, where they have a database of VSTi plugins, free and paid.

With house n things most people use ducking to get the bass sound they want, look this up, if you don't know how to do it already, you said you mess with compressors lol

Serious Soundz has quite a lot of info on there, they might even have some of my old tutorials! Although I expect they are well out of date now.

Go nuts

http://www.vstplanet.com/

http://www.audiomastermind.com/browse-free_vst_plugins-5886988-1.html

Cheers for the input guys

Managed to get hold of V-Station (now discontinued no less!) and have already had a quick play with it… Top stuff!

Cheers for the links guys, not had much of a chance to have al ook yet, but have had a quick look and so far so good… Should be a real help to me!

I've come from a different background to you (guess where the forum name comes from:-)), I use soft versions of classic synths I owned and knew well.

You need to learn the basics to get the best from them but have a look at these guys ranges:

http://www.native-instruments.com

http://www.arturia.com

Cheers Andy

The offerings from NI and Arturia were about the first I came across, because of how popular their original offerings were, and the names that go with them. Problem is that both companies are very expensive by comparison to others!

I am trialling a demo version of Massive by NI though as one of the few I'm trying… I firmly believe my FREE (naughty me!) copy of Novation's V-Station is gonna be a firm favourite though… Have also found what might possibly be some of the best bass sounds I've ever heard, on Rob Papen's SubBoomBass synth. £80 though, so might have to splash out!

Is Ableton now where it's at now? Or is that supposed to be used for something else?

<i>very expensive</i>

Not in comparison to my (now v.old, tempremental but lovely and warm sounding) hardware 🙂

Novation is great, good friend is a developer / programmer for them, the Hartnoll's rave about them too.

Not heard SubBoomBass – will look it out.
Have fun 😈

Not heard SubBoomBass – will look it out.

You NEED to listen to the demo on BIG speakers, capable of going seriously low… It sounds awesome!

I will try and have some fun though, yeah cheers! 😉

I know how expensive all the old analogue stuff is, it's crazy… My mate had some not quite vintage, but still collectable enough (Korg Triton, MS2000, Novation Supernova) rack mount units that he had for a few years, ended up selling all of them for more than he paid for them… He's still got some Yamaha NS-10's that are just going up and up in price!!!

LinnPlug Albino is pretty good. The Korg Legacy collection recreating real old Korgs is pretty nice too.

It's nice to program on a real synth with nobs though – I've got an Alesis Ion which is a pretty cool Virtual Analogue synth.

More djing for me but read about "Ableton Partner Instruments – Puremagnetik Retro Synths" the other day. sample pack. maybe not your thing but…