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Re: Favorite soft synths...
At 10:37 PM +0200 7/17/06, Per Boysen wrote:
>
>I do not like Kontakt 2 (because of NI's paranoid licensing strategies).
I'll agree. This, combined with their legendarily crappy support,
keeps me from actually giving any cash to NI. However, that said,
Pro-5x is actually pretty nice *if* you scoot over to G-Media to get
their Richard Barbieri patchbanks @
http://www.gmediamusic.com/signature/richardbarbieri.html (okay, now
i'm nicked -- I used to be a big fan of Japan in a past life). Also,
I've got a freeware version of Metaphysical from which I'll record
odd ambiences occasionally.
Likewise, I enjoy all the stuff from LinPlug (Peter Linsener rocks!).
In addition to Albino, CronoX3 (
http://www.linplug.com/Products/CronoX3/cronox3.htm ) is wonderful
for ambient soundscapes and space music. And their CM-505 Drum Synth
(comes free with every issue of Computer Music magazine) is a great
little analog drum sound module, and you sure can't beat the price.
Speaking of beatboxes, Sonic Charge's MicroTonic (
http://www.soniccharge.com/products/ ) just outright bashes the heck
out of most anything out there. I sometimes have to lay off using
the thing because it's so full of character that it will take over a
track if you're not careful. For "four on the floor" though, nothing
else out there can compete.
Also, for unique sounds, I love both Steinberg's now-disonctinued
D'Cota (the full version; not that crappy "Lite" thing they bundle
with a lot of stuff. D'Cota Lite removes all the interesting
elements), and VirSyn's MiniTera (
http://www.virsyn.de/en/E_Products/E_miniTERA/e_minitera.html ). I
had been using MicroTera a lot until I realized I was getting my most
creative results by simply using the randomize function. While
MiniTera eliminates more discrete editing, it does incorporate
randomize together with more realtime controls. MiniTera also lets
you use Microtonal scale tables -- standard Scala format -- as will
CronoX, which I mentioned above.
Finally, my standard "bread & butter" synth that I keep falling back
to is, of all things, Spectrasonics Atmosphere (
http://www.spectrasonics.net/instruments/atmosphere.html) . The damn
thing just sounds soooo good, and there always seems to be a preset
that, with only minor tweeking, will fit whatever application I need
it for. Never thought I'd say that about a rompler, but I love it.
--m.
--
_______
"You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike..."