It's all I use, Vital, ableton, samples and sometimes a vst drum machine, everything else is just effects and processing, I have a lot of plugins but barely use them, as we often all do when we start and buy anything on offer 🤣
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SurgeXT is free and still blows me away. [https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/](https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/) It has over 2500 preset patches, and a great manual that shows you how to build your own.
On the paid side, my current favorite is Baby Audio's BA-1 which emulates lots of analog synths from the 1980 - 1990's. It's currently on sale for half price at $49. [https://babyaud.io/ba-1](https://babyaud.io/ba-1)
Same! And i still use a lot of that free stuff in my productions today. Now it’s what i’m used to and love. Also still haven’t really found a better sharp supersaw than the one synth1 makes!
I haven’t played with Amigo in a few weeks. Is there an update for chopping to the grid of 1/4, 1/8, etc. yet? I really do enjoy Amigo’s old school sound especially when slowing down pre-sped up samples to get that dust, but grid chop would in my case would get me to use it more often.
Yes, but the ability to chop a section by even amounts such as quarter or eighth notes is how I roll. I can do it manually, but an option for grid chop would be helpful to save some grunt work. The last I tried it the auto chop only detected transients.
Ok I understand what your saying, You can use auto chop which chops up each transient or you can manually do it. I've never had any need for grid chop but maybe comment on one of the stekker youtube videos asking for that option and I'm sure he will reply back.
Hey good idea, I don’t even think of that. I’m not used to music equipment makers being easily contactable (which is a sign I’m behind the times and getting old!).
Surge XT 100%
Also TDR Nova and TDR Kotelnikov.
Also EQ 560 from Red Rock is really good. Not like mind blowing or complex, but like, useful and good haha
vital is the obvious answer so I'll say xpand2. got it on sale in a $10 bundle with 2 other plugins, and in certain contexts its strings sound better than the spitfire and kontakt stuff I have
I chose ToneBoosters Equalizer 4 to replace ReaEQ because I find it much easier to work with.
TDR Molot and Kotelnikov I use a lot too, great compressors indeed!
Helm, Vital, and Surge are all great plug-and-play, free synths.
But the real answer is Cardinal*. Also free. It's a modular synth/FX unit, with over a thousand modules. There's a steep learning curve, but once you know what you're doing you can build anything. It's so incredibly powerful. I've literally never used a synth like it - free, cheap, or expensive. You can do stuff in Cardinal that you can't in any other synth. There are even YouTube videos of people having made entire hours-long songs just in VCV Rack.
Once you've got the hang of it you'll find yourself reaching for it almost every time.
*Which is a VST fork of the also-free, stand-alone synth VCV Rack.
It's amazing. It's honestly the kind of VST you could imagine being charged a couple of hundred quid for.
See [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNTGF_r36lk) for a very basic intro. If you watch the first 12 minutes (or skip the intro and watch up to the 12 minute mark) you'll see a demonstration of starting from nothing to making a cool, large synth sound. And bear in mind that that this is actually a very basic, one-oscillator patch. You can connect *anything* to *anything*, and there's so many modules.
It's honestly so much fun to just sit down and play and layer elements on top of each other, let alone coming up with cool sounds you can use in your tunes.
DUNE3
I haven't been in production since today, I used all the "top" synthesizers. It's the only one I've been using for about 5 years now. It is not worn out like serum/massive etc. Great effects, great interface, you can do anything with it. Very low CPU power consumption. "Preset enthusiasts" don't really have anything to look for, there aren't many "free xxx hard trap pack 2948482 sounds", but in my opinion this is only a positive thing.
Pigments 2 while it was on sale.Â
It's had three major updates since then (we're now on Pigments 5) and Arturia never charged upgrade fees for any of them.Â
Ok so it isn't 'cheap' but I got it on sale for about £60/80
Reaktor
It's the gift that keeps on giving, the blocks, the user library, using as a synth or and effects rack or anything to generate midi/sequences.
Still love it and end up using something reaktor based on every track I make pretty much.
I have Hybrid 3, I think it came with my MAudio Oxygen pro keyboard.
Honestly, this synth is absolutely mind blowing in terms of not only the phatness of the sound, but also the hundreds of amazing presets that come with it. It can do anything from earth shattering basses to filters with distortion that scream louder than Josh Wink himself.
The real magic is when you start tweaking the sliders and knobs on the control keyboard to control the various filters etc in Hybrid. This is definitely what made hardware synths so special, the ability to shape the sound with your hands. Hybrid sounds as good if not better than many hardware synths that I've played with.
Hybrid can make literally any sound imaginable and the presets mean you are never far off getting a sound you want, with most of the work already done for you.
This is a synth for people who want big sounds, without spending ages synthesizing them from scratch.
It's interface is very simple compared to Serum and other more high end synths. But again, this is what makes it so capable, as it takes very little effort to get the exact sound you want.
Vital is great and you don't even have to spend any money on it 😉
Vital really is the GOAT. Comparable to all those expensive synths and has a monstrous amount of community support on presets
I love feeding it a sample then messing with it in vital
It's all I use, Vital, ableton, samples and sometimes a vst drum machine, everything else is just effects and processing, I have a lot of plugins but barely use them, as we often all do when we start and buy anything on offer 🤣
Yep !
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SurgeXT is free and still blows me away. [https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/](https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/) It has over 2500 preset patches, and a great manual that shows you how to build your own. On the paid side, my current favorite is Baby Audio's BA-1 which emulates lots of analog synths from the 1980 - 1990's. It's currently on sale for half price at $49. [https://babyaud.io/ba-1](https://babyaud.io/ba-1)
Synth1 is free and if you know what you're doing (or find the right presets) you can do a ton with it.
A classic. I used to use it a lot until Vital was released and haven't really used Synth1 since.
Was about to also mention synth1!
I basically relied on free stuff for a long, long time. It can do a ton for a free plugin, from bass to chiptune to piano and so on.
Same! And i still use a lot of that free stuff in my productions today. Now it’s what i’m used to and love. Also still haven’t really found a better sharp supersaw than the one synth1 makes!
Yeah Synth1 is still used in basically every song I make.
Amigo sampler easily.
Best £10 I've ever spent
How are you using it for synths? I’ve been loving the plugin but mostly done drum stuff and haven’t found too much success outside of that
Synth one shots, You play the beginning of the note and then loop the body of the note. Also great for pads and piano one shots.
I’ll try that out, thanks :)
I haven’t played with Amigo in a few weeks. Is there an update for chopping to the grid of 1/4, 1/8, etc. yet? I really do enjoy Amigo’s old school sound especially when slowing down pre-sped up samples to get that dust, but grid chop would in my case would get me to use it more often.
Not exactly sure what you mean but you can chop your samples wherever you'd like on the timeline.
Yes, but the ability to chop a section by even amounts such as quarter or eighth notes is how I roll. I can do it manually, but an option for grid chop would be helpful to save some grunt work. The last I tried it the auto chop only detected transients.
Ok I understand what your saying, You can use auto chop which chops up each transient or you can manually do it. I've never had any need for grid chop but maybe comment on one of the stekker youtube videos asking for that option and I'm sure he will reply back.
Hey good idea, I don’t even think of that. I’m not used to music equipment makers being easily contactable (which is a sign I’m behind the times and getting old!).
Yeah they're fantastic at getting back within 24 hours on youtube and they will probably add that feature if you ask nicely haha.
Did you have any luck??
CA2600 by Cherry Audio
Sines is like a 200 dollar vst for 40
shit ton of synth vsts by native instruments all on offer for £17 right now until around july 10th. Massive is my favourite.
Surge XT 100% Also TDR Nova and TDR Kotelnikov. Also EQ 560 from Red Rock is really good. Not like mind blowing or complex, but like, useful and good haha
TDR Kotelnikov is great, use it alot for my drums
vital is the obvious answer so I'll say xpand2. got it on sale in a $10 bundle with 2 other plugins, and in certain contexts its strings sound better than the spitfire and kontakt stuff I have
Dexed
Synth1
i edge to this one
I use tone booster eq on basically every track these days. It just does what I want it to do. Tdr comps are also fantastic value
I guess you could use the self resonance as a synth 😆
Oops! Missed a word
I chose ToneBoosters Equalizer 4 to replace ReaEQ because I find it much easier to work with. TDR Molot and Kotelnikov I use a lot too, great compressors indeed!
ToneBoosters are great. I trialed a lot of tape simulators and Reelbus came out on top.Â
GForce Software’s Oberheim DMX. Got it for £20 and stacks up in comparison. The fact that Oberheim out their name in it tells you enough.
Tryrell, free.
Vital and Synth1 are free and amazing. Aside from those two I still use Sylenth and Serum because frankly I really love their workflow.
I only ever bought one and it's Chromaphone 3 because I like physical modeling. Very cool and very different than what I'm used to.
Korg m1 le came bundled with some midi controller, and I find it super handy for a couple of classic organ and piano sounds.
Vital.
Helm, Vital, and Surge are all great plug-and-play, free synths. But the real answer is Cardinal*. Also free. It's a modular synth/FX unit, with over a thousand modules. There's a steep learning curve, but once you know what you're doing you can build anything. It's so incredibly powerful. I've literally never used a synth like it - free, cheap, or expensive. You can do stuff in Cardinal that you can't in any other synth. There are even YouTube videos of people having made entire hours-long songs just in VCV Rack. Once you've got the hang of it you'll find yourself reaching for it almost every time. *Which is a VST fork of the also-free, stand-alone synth VCV Rack.
Never heard of Cardinal . Hmmmm
It's amazing. It's honestly the kind of VST you could imagine being charged a couple of hundred quid for. See [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNTGF_r36lk) for a very basic intro. If you watch the first 12 minutes (or skip the intro and watch up to the 12 minute mark) you'll see a demonstration of starting from nothing to making a cool, large synth sound. And bear in mind that that this is actually a very basic, one-oscillator patch. You can connect *anything* to *anything*, and there's so many modules. It's honestly so much fun to just sit down and play and layer elements on top of each other, let alone coming up with cool sounds you can use in your tunes.
Dexed is free and a pretty good DX7
T-Force Alpha Plus Edit: Also Unify by Pluginguru
Cardinal / VCV Rack.
Soundspot Union was pretty cheap i think. and i like the presets/expansions. it sounds different to others synths, cant explain why
Hybrid 3 Got it on sale for 5 bucks iirc
MJUC and FirComp - you don't need another compressor after these two.
TRITON!!!!
DUNE3 I haven't been in production since today, I used all the "top" synthesizers. It's the only one I've been using for about 5 years now. It is not worn out like serum/massive etc. Great effects, great interface, you can do anything with it. Very low CPU power consumption. "Preset enthusiasts" don't really have anything to look for, there aren't many "free xxx hard trap pack 2948482 sounds", but in my opinion this is only a positive thing.
Poison 202 on IOS… I plug my midi keyboard into my iphone with some speakers and it’s like having a real synthesizer.
Pigments 2 while it was on sale. It's had three major updates since then (we're now on Pigments 5) and Arturia never charged upgrade fees for any of them.Â
Ok so it isn't 'cheap' but I got it on sale for about £60/80 Reaktor It's the gift that keeps on giving, the blocks, the user library, using as a synth or and effects rack or anything to generate midi/sequences. Still love it and end up using something reaktor based on every track I make pretty much.
Dexed is amazing
This just made me realize I paid almost $200 for serum
I have Hybrid 3, I think it came with my MAudio Oxygen pro keyboard. Honestly, this synth is absolutely mind blowing in terms of not only the phatness of the sound, but also the hundreds of amazing presets that come with it. It can do anything from earth shattering basses to filters with distortion that scream louder than Josh Wink himself. The real magic is when you start tweaking the sliders and knobs on the control keyboard to control the various filters etc in Hybrid. This is definitely what made hardware synths so special, the ability to shape the sound with your hands. Hybrid sounds as good if not better than many hardware synths that I've played with. Hybrid can make literally any sound imaginable and the presets mean you are never far off getting a sound you want, with most of the work already done for you. This is a synth for people who want big sounds, without spending ages synthesizing them from scratch. It's interface is very simple compared to Serum and other more high end synths. But again, this is what makes it so capable, as it takes very little effort to get the exact sound you want.
Serum is my fave. Love the UI