http://www.psychicmodulation.com/phonec.html - Pyshic Modulation Phonec
Not a direct emulation of any synth but one of the best analog sounding synths out there IMHO, even without any processing. Nice, friendly interface, low CPU usage and great analog tones thanks to its "Melt" function which emulates old VHS tapes. Its 32 bit Windows only though with plans for 64 bit and Mac versions coming soon according to their website.

 

In this topic, I've wrote somewhere: Roland = excellent hardware + crappy softwares, nothing else.

- Dexed = in my arsenal (see my signature) it's the real Yamaha DX-7, nothing else v2.0.
- TAL (Togu Audio Line) have excellent products, I like U-NO-LX-V2 synth in particular (Roland Juno-60 emulation), TAL-101-BassLine too, also have many excellent free stuff, like TAL-Vocoder II and TAL-Reverb.
- I like D16 Audio Group stuff, in particular their creative effects, and their drum machines, in particular Nepheton (TR-808) and Drumazon (TR-909).
- About parametric EQs, take a look about TDR (Tokyo Dawn Records) HERE their products are very good, all for free, or cheap (30-40 euros) for Gentlemen line (has more features)... My favorite EQ remains... FabFilter Pro-Q 2 (I'm loving FabFilter plugs) but can't buy it unfortunately (donations for poor guy are welcome PayPals accepted).

I've clear conscience too, globally, I download ton of stuff, honestly, but mainly for test purposes, I'm curious geek guy (despite my 52 years old and "limited-band" ears) sometimes making own custom installers (some are shared on sister website like... DMGAudio ;) but sleeping on HDDs - for long hibernation. I'm not pro, playing only at home, hobbyist, no published prods, I remain a begineer musician (keyboards) despite I've began during 90's (first hardwares was Casio CZ-5000 then Roland D-50 + TR-707 connected on... Amiga 1000, homemade C/Pascal tools for MIDI purposes like SysEx injections/saves... ;) but have a very long pause without CM/instrument (from 1996 to... 2014!) due to personal problems (divorce, etc).

Since 2014 I've bought a second-hand MIDI controller, the virus came back. Also I've bought some products, all are indicated in my signature, in particular for "intensive" usage. Playing mainly film themes... (the most easy to play with right hand only, IMO) Now my dream is "SQ8L" plugin full version x64 VSTi for Windows (Ensoniq SQ-1/SQ-80 emulations), but seems to be discontinued, too bad.

See ya soon later?

 

Last edited: Feb 8, 2016

Not necessarily. The new roland digital stuff has higher than midi resolution filters. And many vsti are incorporating zero delay filters. It's a good time for algorithm-based digital synthesis.

https://www.xils-lab.com/pages/Zero-Delay-Feedback-Filters.html

 

Just checked out the demos. I'm a sucker for all that modulation, flutter and drift in the sound!

 

Arturia Oberheim SEM V
Native Instruments Monark
Togu Audio Line TAL-U-NO-LX (+1 lukehh)
u-he Diva

Talking about Diva, check this vid guys. It's worth the look I think.

 

Last edited: Feb 8, 2016

One of the best Analog Synth emulation is definetely the Togu Audio Line TAL-U-NO-LX (emulation of Rolands Juno 60)
Homepage
https://tal-software.com/products/tal-u-no-lx

Review
http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/tech/togu-audio-line-tal-u-no-lx-568132

 

Last edited: Feb 8, 2016

@superliquidsunshine who is that dude... ?

 

@Herr Durr...Me.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Feb 8, 2016

Tried (Air) version this morning, I'm surprised and ENJOYED! this is a F***IN' synth, really!, btw be sure Arturia goes directly to trashcan.

Hope AudioUTOPiA will do something about this beast! I repeat, I don't want iLok/PACE (or Steinberg sh1t equivalent) on my computer, even I'll don't hesitate to buy it (when I've money) to be clean about license, but using AudioUTOPiA (or any unPACEd version)... same for many FX plugs such Soundtoys, Eventide, SoftTube or Slate Digital...

Strange fact, I don't know if it's normal or not: when I select, for example, "Richard Devine" from top-left droplist, synthesizer plays alone, continous play, without Note On? tested from both standalone exe and brigded x86 VSTi from REAPER v5.12. Perhaps have I missed something? (it's possible) - I precise: "KEY LATCH" (just below keyboard) is disabled (aka visble, white color text).

 

Last edited: Feb 8, 2016

The big bluff about some synth emulations, like U-NO-LX-V2, OP-X PRO-II, I can add SQ8L (Ensoniq SQ-80) but unfortunately discontinued (no more activities since 2008, x86, no full version available).

 

Air Music Tech : Vacuum Pro

 

I think we're both fans of the older type sounds in electronic music, I too love ME80 a lot more than CS80v.

But I have done amazing stuff with the CS80v though, not so much Vangelis but different stuff, I surprised even myself at what I was able to get out of it. (One thing I will say is that their presets in those early Arturia synths are some of the worst, they really do a disservice to what can be done with them.) CS80v is the only synth from their early days I've been the most satisfied with. Other people have said the same throughout the years. There was once a guy who used to provide Arturia with all kinds of advice on the CS80V., how to improve it, to sound closer to the real thing. Which is why it ended up being much better overall than the other early emulations of theirs.

I see that you mentioned SG Unique above, I mentioned it a page or two back as well. One of my favourites.

Lol @ trashcan. :P It really is a beautiful synth isn't it. Especially when you start experimenting with it and finding out JUST HOW MUCH you can push it and still get it to sound awesome and surprise you whilst doing so.

Yes that's normal, those are usually S/H presets that run by themselves. Sort of similar to how you can make an EMS VCS3/AKS emit sounds all by itself, or any modular synthesizer really, without pressing a key.

With my presets folder, I meddled with my folder structure a little bit, swapped some folders around, so I don't have those S/H patches first in any author's folder. I always start with Bass or Atmosphere sub folders for patches, which are played by hand. Editing this is a bit tricky, so be careful. Requires you to first familiarize yourself with how TimewARP2600 manages presets and folders.

Another thing I also did is readjust a lot of the volume settings on many factory bank presets, as some are louder than a nuke going off.

Other than that, I hope you enjoy the heck out of it.
Always use a high pass filter with it, because it really shakes the room - it likes creating subsonic frequencies that take power from your speakers, just like the real thing. Can can create enormous bases that might blow a hole in your wall or blow up your speakers. You never know.

Also use a brickwall limiter as this thing can sound real wild and loud, more so than any soft synth I've ever tried.

Many times I said to myself: Shit, is this really a piece of software?

 

Last edited: Feb 11, 2016

Yea, verily! Especially their Oberheim SEM-V and their Solina.

 

To me the TAL seems to have more bottom end.

 

Truly unparalleled bottom-end on that one!

 

kv331audio SynthMaster is the best one I've come across.

 

It shows that the two sound different, you could make the same kind of video using Xils synths and what not.
Close enough? depends on what are your expectations, because in all comparisons both exhibit different character and that's to most purists a night and day difference.
For me they're different, I would say which one I liked, but it's meaningless, because who knows for sure that I didn't check results prior guessing and chose the one which says "analogue", even though I didn't, but still, to late to call.

Nobody will tell in a mix? someone will tell if you do two mixes lol, but if you'll do one, no one will care what you used, but in general such a statement misses the point, because the point is not about a teenage girl listening to music on youtube or her iphone, it's about a person who plays, uses it to generate sounds and what he thinks about it.

Best emulations: Diva, Monark, Tal, Roland, Audiodamage, OP-X PRO II, Xils, that guy who did Cassio emulation, forgot his name (plugins boutique), also Rounds sounds f***ing cool.

 

Last edited: Feb 13, 2016

I thought about this too a few years ago, but the problem is not the technical mappings, it's rather the different architectures of soft synths.
Believe me, it's no fun to control a soft synth with a matrix of knobs (and switches, if you're lucky) that doesn't somehow reflect the synth's architecture. Some controllers like Mackie Control, Ableton Push, Maschine or Novation's LCD strips will at least have some descriptive text above the knobs, but still it's far away from intuitive control.
I'd rather go with a touchscreen (Lemur, TBMidiStuff or a large touch LCD) and a great, intuitive touch surface and live with the not-so-great haptics of the glass screen. More fun, faster results.
Last year I even had the chance to operate a DAW from a 32" touch LCD monitor, man, what an experience!

 

I love analog synths ( its what i grew up on . but giving with and arp omni/juno 60/juno -106/ d-50/ Arp Odyssey /pro one/ and a Jupiter 6 was a pain in the ass.
my goto these days are
1. Gmedia impOSCar version 1 & 2 ( they are different)
2. U-NO-LX-V2a a very good emulation of a JUNO -60
3. OP-X PRO II seems to be the consensus
4. Steinberg Retrologue 2 fun to program & Fat!!!!
5. Roland plug out stuff ( cause im a roland guy)

Arturia has some good stuff i admit but im not really down the its footprint on cpu. they are hogs!!!

im not concerned so much about being "just like the original sounding" I like familiarity that makes sound creation easier. if im going for exact of one of my Hardware synths that sit in storage right now . I just throw a bit of EQ in to change what needs to be changed. its all much lighter these days which is a good thing , But i do miss being surrounded by synths on stage. these days its my KX 8 plugged into dual Mac Mini's running MainStage ( dual only for redundancy in case main goes down, back up is there ;)