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 RAVE-n's VST guide - part I |
Written on 26 January 2004 by RAVE-n |
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ABSYNTH
Developer: Native Instruments
Ambient producer's favorite.
This synth has the most interesting pads, FX and atmospherics sounds of em all!
Nice warm and rich, this baby is a monster for all of those breaks in the middle of the song.
The interface is quite something for me (I am greatly afraid of multi window VSTs ), but I think that programming can be quite easy if you put some effort in it. For the ones like me there is a bunch of great sounding presets to start of.
A great sounding synth, but can be confusing a bit with its interface, a must "give-it-a-try!"
Absynth on K-v-R
ALBINO:
Developer: http://www.robpapen.com/
Rob Papen Albino...
I consider this synth as the ultimate all-round synth.
There isn't a sound that this can't produce, whether it is lead, pad, bass, fx or even percussion and all of them sound good. It produces excellent pads and basses, both being warm and expressive, really easy to use in the mix, especially for trance/dance genres, but not limited to.
It comes with many (650 I think) presets, more you will ever need, and got the interface that can be learned instantly.
Highly recommended !
Albino on K-v-R
ANGELINA
Developer: Big Tick
This VSTi is in fact an ethereal choirs synthesizer and what it does, there is no other to surpass it. Shapes of voices that can be produced by this VST are not describable, and you'll do best just to try it. The MORPH feature is really unique and inspiring, as it morph the sound between 4 different sounds, and the result are outstanding, spacey ambient choirs that sound real and full. Perfect synth to produce wicked trance breakdowns and ethereal ambient.
Angelina on K-v-R
ATTACK
Developer: Waldorf
This is the one and only drum synth that I tried and produced some decent kick drums out of it.
Of course some EQ/Compression/etc were necessary, but Attack does its job quite well.
There are also some dozen of drumkits supplied with to ease the tweaking a little, but I found the synth so intuitive that building from scratch was possible.
And even more... it is by no means limited to percussion. In the presets you can hear basses, fx, everything, so go for it.
I will conclude that this is a great percussion synth that can sound very true to life with some effects, and a must for any originality fanatic.
Attack on K-v-R
BASS LINE
Developer: AudioRealism
An ultimate TB 303 Emulation VST... period!
Never heard anything better, and I doubt I ever will. This actually owns Rebirth, mainly because it is EASILY PROGRAMMABLE.
No step buttons, no glide buttons (just drag note over note) though for hardcore fans all of the old backward
programming is still there. (Switch mode from note to pattern.)
A must for acid, oldschool trance or just for nostalgic feeling.
Bass line on K-v-R
DISCOVERY
Developer: DiscoDSP
This is a magnificent synth! It is basicaly a Nord lead emulation ( can read nordlead patches ),
and it sounds really good. A unique feature is that you can add up to 4 layers to one sound(4 instances of synth in one which can all have different settings. Hard to explain, just switch letters in lower left corned and hear for yourself ) that can produce some really nice sounds completely
independable on genre, not mentioning that it has really nice warm sound for almost every sound imaginable. Comes with loads ( 1200 + 1200 in V2.1 ) patches. Great!
Discovery on K-v-R
EXCITION
Developer: Groovecube Technologies
This synth is yet to be discovered by me, but the presets sounds promising and I have lured a supersaw out of it, that was damn fine. From the presets I can tell that this VSTi sides with P53 easily, sometimes
even surpass it. It has a rich, warm analog sound that is a little bit more to my liking, warmer and smoother
if you wish. It can produce nice pads and some nice deep basses according to the presets, but you'll have to dig out your own favorite trance sound.
A synth with a character as I would conclude, and definitely worth a look as a P53 alternative.
Also monophonic in Unison mode.
Excition on K-v-R
FM7
Developer: Native instruments
A brother of Pro-53 as far as sound characteristics are considered. It sounds very similar to P53 if you wish, and is polyphonic whatever you press, and as such it is pretty much nice for synth strings, string basses and so on.
I really didn't dig deeper into engineering with this, but it seems to be quite unpleasant to control more definite aspects. However there are tons of presets you can tweak to your liking. Great sounding synth, yet somehow difficult to control.
FM7 on K-v-R
HELGA
Developer: Kiesel Software
A very recent VSTi, but I couldn't resist trying it after I saw it got "UNISON" feature; that means supersaw... and hell I got one.
This little developer's debut synth can produce trance sounds that can side with those classics of Pro-53 or even exceed it. The synths are rich, warm and beautiful, and I will surely use it in the future.
The synth is easy to program and to control (beside presets saving method).
Time and use will tell more about usability of the synth, but it will surely appeal to all trance fans that got sick
of Pro-53 supersaws. This synth is also monophonic in Unison mode.
Helga on K-v-R
HYDRA
Developer: Synapse
A "Junglist 2". Powerful and rich bass VSTi, that is so much more than that. With its many (40) waveforms you can actually produce very weird voices that nicely work as appregiators or auxiliary basses. Some nice weird
synths aren't excluded from this.
However, the presets that come with synth are close to unusable to my taste, and I needed to build from scratch to obtain useful sounds. I realize that can turn many away, but no, as it is a great snyth for background voices.
Hydra on K-v-R
impOSCAR
Developer: GMEDIA Music
Another virtualy unknown synth shadowed by more known p53 and such, which is a shame.
It suposed to be a emulation of OSCar hardware synth used by big names ( stated on developer HP )
This is somehow simmilar to Excition VST, both sound, control and GUI wise tho i must say
I like the look better. . Therea are some confusing features of how LFOs modulate certain
aspects, but I guess nothing that would be hard to get into or even fustrating.
I really like the sound of this. It is rich and full, pressentable. I squeezed some really nice
synths and basses out of it, but more evaluation needs to be done to say for certain. Full synth also comes packed with 500 presets created by big names ( assumably ), but you can always try the demo, which has really mild limitations ( silence every 30 sec. ) and still can be used to export with ease.
impOSCar on K-v-R
Korg Legacy Collection
Developer: Korg
A collection of virtual Korg analogs made by Korg itself + a rack to wire them together.
Togeter, synths pack quite a pounch, and are overally great sounding. Pack consists
from MS-20, a classics 70's analog styled synth, Polysix, 80's styled analog synth similar to
what Pro53 is, and finaly a Wavestation, a wavetable synth. All sound and look/feel pretty nice, tho the MS-20 got a bit confusin interface, but its a faithfull recreation. Rack, the Legacy cell, can
pack 2 instances of MS20 and/or polysix, which gives a sound quite a big liftup, and generaly
is cool to use. It also comes equiped with 19 effects of all brancehes that can be used as VST effects
outside the rack, which also boosts the usablity of this boundle. Wavestation is a synth on its own and
can't be used in the rack(tho the other two can also be used separately from the rack), but sure it sounds sweet and comes packed with quite a pack of presets to play with.
Last but not least, if you buy the thing for 500$ (not that much realyl for 3 synths and 19 effects)
you even get a hardware USB midi controler resembling MS-20...
Korg Legacy Collection on K-v-R
SONIC CHARGE MICROTONIC
Developer: Nuedge Developement
Another recent release, a drumsynth that can side Waldorf Attack. It can generate some nice
kick drums that sound a bit warmer that those of Attack, and feel closer to the x0x things.
It gives a little cheaper and weaker feel considering the features, but looks can be deceiving.
Synth comes packed with presets that sound amazing (for a dry drumsynth) and is well worth you attention.
Sonic Charge MicroTonic on K-v-R
MINIMOOG V
Developer: Arturia
Now this is something entirely different from Arturia. Their Moog Moodular and CS-80V were great sounding synths, but they were almost impossible to program (atleast for me, CS reamins a coplete mystery, where are the oscs??!? ) This one has an interface that is deady easy to do things on. As for the sound, my houmble oppinion is that there is no better sounding synth anywhere for some purposes. Bass generated with minimoog is light years ahead of any other VST, and its supersaw leads sound fantastic ( I dunno for pads, haven't tried yet ), both using this much appretiated "analog warmth emulation" that DOES show. Being in the same use/price range as Pro-53, Helga, Excition, impOSCar and other analog/subtractive synths this one exceeds them sound quality wise by very very far. Also comes packed with presets (500).
PS: Click on the upper wooden frame to gain access to FX, LFO and modulation matrix.
Minimoog V on K-v-R
PENTAGON I
Developer: rgc:audio
A widely popular synth, a "must have" to state a page I encountered on the web. However, it does not feel so appealing to me, mainly because its totally clumsy interface->wooden skin I got pentagon supplied which is totally unreadable to me.
However, the sounds I got out of it were quite nice, nothing supersawish alike though, but enough for some
nice weird appreggiators.
Try it out, might be quite usable with a new skin.
Pentagon on K-v-R
PRO-53
Developer: Native instruments
People's favorite it seems.
Classic VSTi from Native Instruments, from one of the leading sound design tool developers, and often the first VSTi you hear about and try it. This one is perfect for synths and a little less for basses. Everybody heard the famous emulated JP8000 supersaw from Pro-53: that got SO close, and indeed P53 supersaw is great, warm, needs almost
no equalization and sounds fat enough not to fit in the local mall.
Basses I got out of it sounded a bit thin, though it is true I didn't invest much of effort. I also found it a bit too harsh for nice pads, again this could change in the hands of skillful engineer. There is, however, one BIG GLITCH about P53 as with any of the "unison" synths described here. As soon as you turn the unison on, it becomes monophonic... one note at a time, and there goes goodbye for the big strings. Nevertheless, it is a great synth for its character and easy to program, but it doesn't satisfy everyone.
Pro-53 on K-v-R
RAVITY
Developer: LUXONIX
An adorable little rompler, better said a wavetable synth. Got some really nice
presets packet with, and generaly sounds good. Features many different waveforms
that can be combined in 4 layers each with 2 wavefroms plus, you can assign 3 effects to it.
Also, it comes in 2 different shapes, rhytm and synth. While synth shape is described above,
rhytm works pretty much like a drum sampler. You can load any of preset drum samples or
your own wave, assign FX on them and play them like Battery.
Another thing is that this VST eats very little CPU and weight almost nothing ( 32 MBs )
Worth taking a peek at.
SUPERWAVE PERFORMER
Developer: Superwave
A bigger, better, nicer, more powerful. A brother of Superwave P8, unfortunately, not free anymore. Demos sound impressive, presets are even more impressive... interface is cleaner than those of P8, sounds fatter and crispier...
BUT.... it is not free anymore...
Anyway, obtain it and try it out, it is hell of a good synth and will forge the future of bedroom trance
producers.
VANGUARD
Developer: reFX
Vanguard is a brand new soft synth from reFX and a successor of their acclaimed JunoX2
synth. Vanguard is made with trance producers almost exclusively in mind, and it is shown
in presets, sound and the overall feel to it. People tend to compare it to Virus, but I woudn't know
and woudn't judge by myself. I can only assure you that this synth sounds really nice for trance production, and it has a nice little feature called trance gate, which can be directly compared with
Props Matrix wired on volume control in reason (atleast by its function ). Being second in this years
obious race for trance producers ( first being Superwave Trance Pro ), but being better is a matter of taste and use really.
Comes with some really nice presets aimed mainly for trance/dance production.
Go and try it out, demo has really mild limitations so you can play arround extensively.
z3TA+
Developer: rgc:audio
I've reshaped my oppinion on this since I own AMD cpu (I got enourmus cpu problems before that forbid me to try this out extensively). Still, as said, this remains one of the best VSTi's around. Crisp, clean sound that can be both raw or gentle, many different wavs of shaping the waveform,
custom waveforms... etc. Simplified, it feature 6 oscilators each with standard controls and 30 different inbuilt waveforms + some user customizable. The sound.... yeah THE sound. This sounds awesome.... really. From basses to pads to leads to weird alien sounds.... fantastic. Awesome. Great! .... This synth trully shines in SQ. BUT BUT BUT. There are some cons that do tend to be rather anoying. Some presets eat a really great deal of CPU power.... Don't try weird evolving pads
with some big polyphony.... AND the GUI can be a bit awkvard at times, especialy if you preffer
turn knobs instead of vertical sliders. Said that, every part of GUI is completely same looking, so you need to read carefully what you slide, it might not be the thing you want really. Those things make the synth a bit complex to work on, but once you master it, the world is yours! Still, if not,
there are many many many presets at KVR or patcharena to assist you.
z3ta+ on K-v-R
ZERO VECTOR
Developer: White Noise
Beautiful synth, with rich sounds and more unision you can shake a stick at. Perfect for trance
and everything else of that matter. First things first. GUI is not either very good nor horrible.
Its not pretty but it works well. Everything is nicely laid down for the more conventional synthesis
on the first page, while more advanced features such as drawable LFOs and envelopes and modulation matrix are on the second along with a handfull of inbuilt effects (that aint really that bad as a matter of fact, certainly useable ). Sound is gorgeous, nicely full. Said that this synth uses wavetables for its basics waveforms (much like Z3ta) so credits for good sampling. There are plenty of those, only thing is they are laid down in some strange order, but thats only a aesthetics.
Each of 3 oscilatos can have any waveform, which can be detuned with a clone oscilator, making that 6 oscs. Combined with 6 voice unision you get pretty much all the fattnes you will ever need.
ZV also shines in filters, which are among rare that actualy respond the way one would like.
But there is more, you can select from few different algorhytms for it, making it unique and interesting with some weird resoults. Overall, the filters are great and are regarded as very good.
Synth also has a vector pad, but i didn't figure it out really.
Anyway, there is a demo with mild limitations available (noise burst ), so you can try it out.
Zero Vector on K-v-R
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