It was some hard of thinking mouthache on kvr.
In his esteemed opinion "I think about everything which came out since 2009 sounds better than it".
Liking or prefering something else is fine, afterall we live in a relative world and all, but stupid statements are always going to be stupid statements.

At least I should thank him for being the inspiration to retry Massive... At least I would if I wasn't banned there

 

Oh, how embarrassing. I misunderstood the title. As I see now, it is just about Massive. For a second I thought it was an open thread about any synth plug

 

No, you're okay. You have it right. It's about any plug not just Massive. That was just my example.

Not that topics can be controled when they're released out in to the wild, but I was more interested reading the reasoning behind it's 'better second time around' than what members consider is the latest best or favourite synth.

 

Good old Boscomac Love the Koto!

 

Audjoo Helix, Majken Chimera, xoxos Steam, Oatmeal, BleepStreet Sunrizer, SQ8L, etc etc

 

Holy ! Awesome, thanks for sharing these little pearls!

EDIT: **** I thought they were VSTs

 

Last edited: Sep 13, 2016

Virtual CZ, it looks really boring and the presets don't sound all that great, but it can be pretty good for layering if you spend a little bit of time getting use to it

 

If you haven't as of yet, give Majken's Chimera a spin. There are some interesting flavors to be conjured up if you sit with it and play a while. Nice noise, cool toy.

 

WAY better then Arturia's offering for sure... Definintely a cpu chomped, but you can turn off different voices and whatnot and make it more reasonable... But I don't think anything beats Rolands own SH101 plug out/plugin IMHO... pretty spot on...

but to the point of this interesting thread, there are lots of pieces of gold we forget about in our quest for newer and greater etc... things like Synplant, Cthulhu, Spire (ok, NOT under radar), ..we live in a good time...!

 

3xOSC

 

Last edited: Sep 16, 2016

I have two. I know I'm always singing IL's praises but.. Sytrus. The thing has so many options. I couldn't even describe a majority of the ways it's different from usual synths without making a long ass post. But just consider this... It's got 6 oscillators - each can simultaneously be a modulator and carrier with its own output. Each FX send and filter has its own output and can be routed pretty much however you want since they are all on the FM/RM matrix as well. Just about every parameter is controllable by a free-draw envelope, including the distortion section, which is a sym/asym waveshaper attached to the filter module. There's a lot under that little, ugly interface. The only notable (but major) drawback is the VST version doesn't have glide. Pretty disappointing, but still....

The other is u-he's FilterscapeVA. Talmi put me onto this. It's just a kind of freebie with Filterscape but damn that thing is cool. I haven't really taken the time to get familiar with it just yet, but the idea is morphing between EQ snapshots to create crazy filter modulations. Just listen to some of the presets in that thing and you'll see it's ridiculously capable.

 

Last edited: Sep 15, 2016

For me, not so much a synth, but two developers- Novaflash and Xavier Kalensky. After learning a bit more about synthesis and how much work must have gone into their synths, much more respect for the quality and depth of their work...

 

Moog Sub37, brilliant one ... for trance too

although bit price

 

Agree completely "apart from the old 101 hardware itslef thers no better than that ol Thang and all the ol jp hardware series......"But back then damn,By back then i mean when i was runnin hardware from 98 to2004 and there wasnt the technology "or DAWs" like today
I ended up loosing my studio through stupidity....
However if idve been told back in 2004 that in 10 years id be able to do all i was able to do with the hardware i owned "very nearly but not quite tho" via a lappy or desktop.
Idve pissed myself laughing at the prospect of it....
Im going off topic i apologise!!!!

 

I first started producing with FL 7. Sytrus was my introduction to synthesis. One of my closest friends was always raving about it, too. I didn't know it at the time, but it taught me a lot. And, I missed out on so much. I'm really digging Serum at the moment. Digging, and learning. But, Massive was my go to for the past 3 years. If you want a sound, it has it. You can find a preset or make a patch. No need to hate on it, except for not being able to understand it at first. I know it took me a while.

 

I have never even looked at Sytrus, but will, as I absolutely respect your opinions CavEmp! (but you really dumped Kontakt? It's in the middle of it's golden era, not only for sampling, but for instruments! Don't overlook it my friend!)

 

Yes Reaktor is the Daddy... if I could only own one synth it would be Reaktor (which is actually hundreds if you check the free User synths). There are many I *still* havent explored from its library. Could spend years just on Reaktor... and then you can make your own its ridiculously powerful
Working on a track atm with several Oki Computer instances for the first time which is sounding wicked!

 

You can use the Reaktor.dll for the instruments and the ReaktorFX.dll for effects and then chain them like regular VSTs inside a DAW.

If you have the full version of Reaktor you can go into EDIT mode and load all the effects you want in a single panel and then create Ins/Outs and route your signal through multiple modules and save it as a single Ensemble, thereby only using one instance of Reaktor.
If you only have the Reaktor Player you will have to load separate instances of Reaktor for each instrument and effect.

 

@Xyenz Fyxion Amen - Sytrus looks so simple and it is so far from being that. The Image Line way of doing things is just so counter intuitive, but when you understand the framework it exists in, it seems it's built that way for obsessive tweakability. Actually that statement applies to both image-line and u-he, and it's a big part of the reason they are both in my top 3-5 plugin developers. Serum found a spooky balance between that crazy attention to detail and just effortless ease of use (and like zero need to go manual diving). That said, for some reason, I do most of my more involved sound design work in Harmor, and more recently in Bazille as well... and when I need something but don't want to spend much time on it I reach for Serum.

@sisyphus Thats nice of you to say. Unfortunately I haven't really given Sytrus the attention it deserves yet. I've been waiting for it to go on sale and it finally did some weeks ago, and I picked it up, but I was still kind of feeling out Bazille when I got it. I like the paradigm shift that is required to use Bazille. I think the unfamiliar environment bolsters my creativity a bit. And it also gives me an excuse to do more of the "duhhh... wonder what this thing does..." kind of sound design instead of trying to wrestle an idea into existence.

Regarding Kontakt - it's just a matter of not having installed warez on my new PC. I have Fabfilter Pro-MB on there (which I will buy... on sale or second hand or something. Or just later when I have more money. Right now $200 for a mixing plug is a bit steep on my budget), and anything else I warezed I've either since bought or uninstalled. Just trying to prevent clutter and there's no better way to do that than only installing what you can afford.

 

i am not sure reaktor is relevant to the thread, hit's not exactly one that gets neglected. i love it and i use it on nearly everything. and i will continue to do so, it's potential is almost limitless.
one i forgot to mention is Pro53, it still sounds amazing and i have started using it again. i am looking through my older apps to get 'bread and butter synths that take no cpu and is fine as a placeholder, i always start with melodic ideas before getting into the more exotic VSTs. i use vanguard still same reason, and surge is amazing. one that i rediscovered recently and i really had written this off is Synth1 - just amazing ( i read somewhere that the Noisia guys like it : )