I don't ahve an all purpose VSTi, but something that always end up in my projects is the Roland JV-1080 or XV-5080 (i still don't know what's the difference other than the XV having a few different patches). Not so much as to build the "foundations" since for that i mostly use out-the-box stuff like guitars and shit, but i use those a lot for mockups since they have pretty much everything and are fairly light on resources.

 

For bread and butter synth: Massive (X), Surge or Zebra

For drums: Battery 2 or Maschine

For guitar/bass processing: Guitar Rig

They might not be the best best, but they're something I know inside out so they will not get in the way of creating music.

Yes, I've been a Komplete user for years, how can you tell...?

 

1. Addictive Drums 2 - easy to use, but extremely versatile when you need it to be.
2. EastWest Goliath - a lot of sounds/instruments, you can make music using just this VSTi alone. I use it to lay out basic arrangement, but I often find its sounds to be good enough to stay in the final version, especially if they're not soloing.
3. SynthMaster One and SynthMaster 2 - for electronic stuff.

 

Parawave's Rapid, get's the job done on nearly anything
need a bass growl for some dubstep? Rapid
need lush supersaws for a giant stack? it's got 8 layers with 3 osc's each for playing with and stacking, Rapid
Need real instruments that are multisampled? Rapid
need to emulate a true analog feel OR get a super modern clean sound? Rapid
it's got everything I need, FM, Pulse Modulation, custom wavetables, analog drift, granular synthesis, even a fx unit
totally great plugin!

 

Nexus... it loads fast for me and it has all the sounds you need to sketch up shit you're going to save and let take dust in the "projects" folder.

 

Here it's Vital & Pianoteq

 

UVI Falcon for sounds and UVI Shade for pretty much everything else

 

Surge, Synapse Legend, Xfer Nerve

 

BFD3, Ample Metal RAY5, Kontakt. That's it!
For guitar I usually record with a real guitar, but if you're using a VSTi for guitar, try Shreddage or Ample.

 

drums, just using old drumrack in Live, for synths Vital/diva/serum
kontakt/omnisphere for when a project wants that "special something"
and ffQ3 always get used

 

Vital is hard to avoid.

 

My first GoTo is Halion Sonic SE for drafts.
At my friend's studio for final version:
VB3
Modo Bass
Amplitube Guitars
Pianoteq Stage
Toontrack EZdrummer
Arturia Synths

 

Probably Falcon 2

 

definitely phase plant

 

About the 1080 vs 5080 VSTs (not hardware) specifically: NONE! None whatsoever. Same exact content in both, same exact parameters, etc. Just different presets. Literally the same VST but with different presets. I hope you didn't pay for either. The 1080 VST uses the "updated" (ruined) JV-1080 waveforms found in the XV-5080 hardware - and they sound NOTHING like an actual JV-1080. Meanwhile, the 5080 VST SHOULD sound just like the hardware (same for the SRX cards VSTs) but honestly? I don't hear it. They're too clean, too sterile, too dead. Even when compared to the hardware via digital output. Which is really something considering that I say the same exact things about the hardware 5080.

Anyway, my go-to now is EastWest OPUS but I AM paying 200$/year for all the libraries, so

If we don't count that then it's DUNE 3 for a general purpose synth, Korg Triton/M1/Wavestation/LegacyCell if I need some inspiration, HALION as a general purpose sampler, the Steinberg stuff is actually pretty good.

 

Fabfilter ProQ3, Klanghelm MJUC, Kelvin Tone Shaper

 

Ah just released this is a VST I as in instrument..

I used hardware mostly but when I rarely use a soft synth

NI Razor
built in Ableton synths
NI Analog Dreams
Softube Model 84

 

Last edited: Aug 31, 2022

Analog Lab & Omnisphere

 

Hive, Zebra, Omnisphere, Kontakt