# Your favorite under-the-radar VST synths



## synthpunk

A few of mine

Uhe Bazille
KV331 Synthmaster
Future Workshop Circle
SPC Arcsyn
Sugar Bytes Obscurium


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## Saxer

Dexed by Digital Surburban (if you are nostalgic)
Strobe2 by FXpansion
Audjoo Helix


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## Chandler

Mpowersynth
Synthmaster
Harmor 
Chomaphone

I think these are all unique and powerful synths that aren't often mentioned that sound amazing. Although virtual analog is nice I appreciate when people try a new approach.


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## synthpunk

Saxer I like dexed better than fm8 and dexed is free

Sure hope we see Harmor 4 Mac one day


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## SBK

UVI Falcon! Beast!


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## Polarity

Aly James OB-Xtreme
Tone2 Saurus
Sonic Projects OP-X PRO II
Lennar Digital Sylenth 1 (new V3 is out now)
MemoryMoon ME80


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## Polarity

Chandler said:


> Mpowersynth
> Synthmaster
> Harmor
> Chomaphone
> 
> I think these are all unique and powerful synths that aren't often mentioned that sound amazing. Although virtual analog is nice I appreciate when people try a new approach.



Synthmaster is very famous indeed and used in the EDM world, as Spire now.
Perhaps a few have talked about it here on VI-C, but I wouldn't consider it an "under the radar" plugin synth, IMO.


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## Parsifal666

Largo, PPG Wave, Nave vst...all the Waldorf soft synths, basically. I also have a great time on the rare occasion I break out the PPG Wavegenerator/'mapper, Sytrus, Harmor.

Least used yet still amazing synths: Reaktor, FM8.


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## URL

Spire is great.


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## synthpunk

AB Synth seems quite forgotten these days perhaps due to its age but gets used here quite a lot still


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## Living Fossil

While 96% of the softsynths i use are from u-he (zebra, dark zebra, bazille, ace, hive, diva and now retro) and Omnisphere takes the rest i think that logic has two built in synths that are totally underrated: 
- es2 allows some really interesting wavetable sounds and has some real personality
- sculpture is simply amazing. I wonder there are not tons of soundsets for it...


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## dgburns

There's an absolute world of unknown synth's in the Ni Reaktor.


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## lux

Tone2 Gladiator is still one of my faves for producing not so usual sounds. Also Tone2 free Firebird is still fun to play with.


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## nordicguy

I just discovered this one.
It's called "Shepherd".
Addictive in regards of experimentations!
Known elements (basic wave forms, filters, LFO...) re twisted.
From the web site : "Sub-period mixing allows component waveforms to alternate across shorter than wavelength order time segments.".
https://www.blinddogdesigns.com


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## synthpunk

I also like logics retrosynth allot it can do lush pads very well



Living Fossil said:


> While 96% of the softsynths i use are from u-he (zebra, dark zebra, bazille, ace, hive, diva and now retro) and Omnisphere takes the rest i think that logic has two built in synths that are totally underrated:
> - es2 allows some really interesting wavetable sounds and has some real personality
> - sculpture is simply amazing. I wonder there are not tons of soundsets for it...


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## synthpunk

Looks very interesting!



nordicguy said:


> I just discovered this one.
> It's called "Shepherd".
> Addictive in regards of experimentations!
> Known elements (basic wave forms, filters, LFO...) re twisted.
> From the web site : "Sub-period mixing allows component waveforms to alternate across shorter than wavelength order time segments.".
> https://www.blinddogdesigns.com


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## kunst91

Particle Synth -- free granular synth from the reaktor user library (you obviously need reaktor to use). Favorite of Atticus Ross and co.


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## kitekrazy

If you are a person who relies on presets I found the synths in AIR Complete are pretty useful. This was a package I got for $80 not too long ago.


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## synthpunk

Do you have a link to this one I could not find it and they use your library TX



kunst91 said:


> Particle Synth -- free granular synth from the reaktor user library (you obviously need reaktor to use). Favorite of Atticus Ross and co.


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## Saxer

Living Fossil said:


> ...i think that logic has two built in synths that are totally underrated:
> - es2 allows some really interesting wavetable sounds and has some real personality
> - sculpture is simply amazing. I wonder there are not tons of soundsets for it...


- Not to forget Alchemy


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## Arbee

Loom from AIR, always pleasantly surprises me:

http://www.airmusictech.com/product/loom#overview


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## Living Fossil

Saxer said:


> - Not to forget Alchemy



Of course, but i didn't mention it since it's not really an under-the-radar plug in... 
Alchemy is capable of some serious craziness, specially with the spectral tools...


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## kunst91

synthpunk said:


> Do you have a link to this one I could not find it and they use your library TX



yeah sure:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/reaktor-community/reaktor-user-library/entry/show/6741/


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## Parsifal666

Living Fossil said:


> Of course, but i didn't mention it since it's not really an under-the-radar plug in...
> Alchemy is capable of some serious craziness, specially with the spectral tools...



I still have and use the classic Alchemy a lot, got it for a song and it has served me really well over the years.


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## synthpunk

Aalto still lots of fun


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## dpasdernick

Steinberg's Dark Planet... play the patch called Killer Prawns... Make sure you're wearing a jock strap...


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## JPQ

Rob Papen Blue 2
Linplug Albino (3)
Tone2 Saurus (i must upgrade it next year i think)
and i like Logic synths i have currently only Logic Pro 9.1.8.


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## Parsifal666

JPQ said:


> Rob Papen Blue 2
> Linplug Albino (3)
> Tone2 Saurus (i must upgrade it next year i think)
> and i like Logic synths i have currently only Logic Pro 9.1.8.



That's so cool you mentioned Blue 2 and Saurus, every time I open those synth I find something to like about them. Blue 2 is an amazing modulation monster, even more so than Serum imo. The downside is that, like Serum, Blue 2 has a little problem in the cojones department, nothing that a little Ohmicide or aggressive eq-ing can't fix, of course. Slap the R Bass on there and fuggeddaboudit.


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## pixel

Steinberg Retrologue - great for all subtractive tasks. Warm and rich sound
Reaktor Monark - rich and raw. Simple triangle osc + filters do the job to shake the ground


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## Parsifal666

pixel said:


> Reaktor Monark - rich and raw. Simple triangle osc + filters do the job to shake the ground



That's another synth that is terrific...and one of the countless jewels in Reaktor that I rarely use. I actually suffer guilt from not using Reaktor more...I just go to Zebra/HZ, Nave, and Diva as defaults. I learned the heck out of those synths and thus they are the most rewarding to me. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I'd started right out with Reaktor and its user manuals.

Nahh, the striped horse makes it for me


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## EvilDragon

Under the radar? Definitely schwa's OLGA!


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## Polarity

JPQ said:


> Rob Papen Blue 2
> Linplug Albino (3)
> Tone2 Saurus (i must upgrade it next year i think)
> and i like Logic synths i have currently only Logic Pro 9.1.8.



Me instead will not upgrade Saurus: it doesn't sound so different to me to justify the upgrade price. And they don't even add the MIDI CCs assignation directly on the GUI.
I asked them on the forum and the developer replied that they don't think it's necessary to add it...
well, no thanks then, I keep on with the Saurus 1 because I like its sound as it is.
Luckily I was able to make a full MIDI CCs assignements inside VEPRO and work with it for Saurus.
Money spent onto other synths


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## synthpunk

Note to self must play with this tonight, unlimited demo by the way



EvilDragon said:


> Under the radar? Definitely schwa's OLGA!


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## JPQ

Polarity said:


> Me instead will not upgrade Saurus: it doesn't sound so different to me to justify the upgrade price. And they don't even add the MIDI CCs assignation directly on the GUI.
> I asked them on the forum and the developer replied that they don't think it's necessary to add it...
> well, no thanks then, I keep on with the Saurus 1 because I like its sound as it is.
> Luckily I was able to make a full MIDI CCs assignements inside VEPRO and work with it for Saurus.
> Money spent onto other synths



true but addinational sine lfos sound useful. i can of course think getting something else. and somehow with my new interface U-he diva sounds clearly different than earlier makes me think it even is cpu heavy for my computer. And updating is related i want be safe works later even if macs change much again etc.


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## Living Fossil

I have to mention another one.
To be exactly, it's not really a softsynth, but it's the (open source) software ctrlr
http://ctrlr.org

After the dismissal of Emagic's sounddiver, i'm really grateful for ctrlr.
E.g. i have a roland jx8p (without controller) and it's so much fun to program it via computer.
(i really love the jx8p. This synthie has living electrons in it, seriously  )


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## Parsifal666

JPQ said:


> true but addinational sine lfos sound useful. i can of course think getting something else. and somehow with my new interface U-he diva sounds clearly different than earlier makes me think it even is cpu heavy for my computer.



So is Diva CPU heavy even after you've turned off the default "great" quality? Once you move that setting to "draft" that problem doesn't happen much, at least in my experience.


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## dgburns

If you're looking for a JX8P fix, this thing is free. And kinda fun. Is anyone emulating the MKS-70/JX8P/Super JX-10, can't seem to find any commercial one... 

http://bedroomproducersblog.com/2015/04/28/pg8x-vst-free-download/


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## stixman

JX-8v by .vst-control.de


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## EvilDragon

PG8X is great, yeah.


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## dgburns

stixman said:


> JX-8v by .vst-control.de



Wait What !!!!

...record scratch....

oh no, it's just for controlling sounds, it's not a synth.


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## Living Fossil

dgburns said:


> If you're looking for a JX8P fix, this thing is free. And kinda fun. Is anyone emulating the MKS-70/JX8P/Super JX-10, can't seem to find any commercial one...
> 
> http://bedroomproducersblog.com/2015/04/28/pg8x-vst-free-download/




I don't know if you're refering to my post, but i was talking about the real synth (hardware), controlled via ctrlr.


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## synthpunk

I use it to control my Matrix 1000 as well



Living Fossil said:


> I don't know if you're refering to my post, but i was talking about the real synth (hardware), controlled via ctrlr.


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## dgburns

Living Fossil said:


> I don't know if you're refering to my post, but i was talking about the real synth (hardware), controlled via ctrlr.



No was referring to @stixman .

FWIW there is also an iPad app that can be the PG-800. I think the iPad app might even be better then the PG-800 as the values get updated when you change patches. If you can get past using the iPad for faders that is.

Never got liftoff with crtlr myself, but was using it to get away from the Virus Ti plug. Ended up with Mystery Islands plugin to control the Virus.


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## synthpunk

There are also some Hardware controllers made I believe in Australia? But boy are they ugly as heck imho



dgburns said:


> No was referring to @stixman .
> 
> FWIW there is also an iPad app that can be the PG-800. I think the iPad app might even be better then the PG-800 as the values get updated when you change patches. If you can get past using the iPad for faders that is.
> 
> Never got liftoff with crtlr myself, but was using it to get away from the Virus Ti plug. Ended up with Mystery Islands plugin to control the Virus.


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## AllanH

Another two are:
AAS Ultra Analog 2: sounds good but with way too much tabbing and clicking to configure
Cakewalk Z3T+2: Excellent sounds with challenging user-interface.


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## JPQ

Parsifal666 said:


> So is Diva CPU heavy even after you've turned off the default "great" quality? Once you move that setting to "draft" that problem doesn't happen much, at least in my experience.


I dont know but no great settigs makes harder see how soudns work together i try look this thing.


Living Fossil said:


> I have to mention another one.
> To be exactly, it's not really a softsynth, but it's the (open source) software ctrlr
> http://ctrlr.org
> 
> After the dismissal of Emagic's sounddiver, i'm really grateful for ctrlr.
> E.g. i have a roland jx8p (without controller) and it's so much fun to program it via computer.
> (i really love the jx8p. This synthie has living electrons in it, seriously  )


I use this stuff with Akai Miniak. Old mod matrix or something like it need editing with synth.


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## S4410

dgburns said:


> There's an absolute world of unknown synth's in the Ni Reaktor.


Yes it's endless...


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## Parsifal666

S4410 said:


> Yes it's endless...



It's great...but for some moronic reason I never use Reaktor. I mostly just go to Zebra/HZ by default. It helps that I know that synth inside and out.


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## synthpunk

Reaktor can be a bit tricky and is quite deep so I always recommend taking a online course to get started and also for doing advanced work as well



Parsifal666 said:


> It's great...but for some moronic reason I never use Reaktor. I mostly just go to Zebra/HZ by default. It helps that I know that synth inside and out.


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## synthpunk

If only the mystery Islands had USB audio support I would be all over it still saying that for Access not to update their virus editor app 4 Sierra yet is Unforgivable



dgburns said:


> No was referring to @stixman .
> Never got liftoff with crtlr myself, but was using it to get away from the Virus Ti plug. Ended up with Mystery Islands plugin to control the Virus.


I


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## dgburns

synthpunk said:


> If only the mystery Islands had USB audio support I would be all over it still saying that for Access not to update their virus editor app 4 Sierra yet is Unforgivable
> 
> 
> I



The reason I went with the Mystery Islands plug was EXACTLY to get away from the usb audio. Granted, I get lower level coming into the system,but I THINK the sound is better for some reason. I heard somewhere that the usb audio is 16 bit, but I think that there may be other issues causing the sound complaints through the usb while using the Access plugin.
It took me awhile to get my head around the Mystery Islands plugin, and earlier versions were not feature rich as the access plug, but this has been changed in recent versions, and now I can happily say that it replaces the access plug in most ways. I'll keep poking my head at the access plug as they update things, but the last update did not get liftoff on my current setup. Logic and Cubase both crashed and bogged down, which went away as soon as I got off the access plug.
I have been told that you can still use the usb midi even if not using the access plugin, you just need to point the midi to the usb rather then the ported midi (on your midi interface)

In the depths of my depair with the access plugin, I even got a pcie usb card to put the virus on it's own card away from everything else USB, but this didn't do any good, other then get me more usb ports into the mac. I got the Sonnet 2.0 usb card, which is apparently the only pcie usb card that is proven to work given my mac and the Access Virus.
I've also used Midiquest pro 11, to varying degrees of success.


-edit-

As a matter of fact, I was on the Access site yesterday, it seems there is a new version that does indeed support Sierra FWIW I have not updated to this new version yet.@synthpunk


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## S4410

synthpunk said:


> Reaktor can be a bit tricky and is quite deep so I always recommend taking a online course to get started and also for doing advanced work as well



What a coincidence, i was considering taking one now : https://www.kadenze.com/courses/sound-synthesis-using-reaktor/info


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## synthpunk

TX DGburns for the heads up on the new version of the virus TI editor for Sierra I posted that and a couple strategic places on the boards. It was literally the last reason for me holding out on Sierra so I know I will be updating now over the Xmas holidays.

Personally I have always thought the Sonic difference issue to be a bit of urban legend My Virus Ti sounds great using usb audio & uad Apollo and I like the convenience of being able to use plugins on the 3 USB channels


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## lux

I'd add *Admiral Quality Poly-Ana* to this list. A really nice poly synth with a huge voice. GUI is, well, a bit hard to read (to say the least) but sound is quite good.

Another mention goes for *Xils Lab Poly KB II* (available also in player version), another poly with a very cool voice.

I'm also trying desperately to resist buying *Oddity 2* at Gforce. Have to say, though, that Korg is lowering their prices for a brand new hardware/analog Odissey, making the two choices not so far eachother, so I may opt for the hw root just for the fun of it.


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## geronimo

For the percussion sounds and synthesis, Drumspillage 2 by Audiospillage .


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## synthpunk

Have used and still use Sonic charge microtonic and would like to get Chronoshere one day would also like to experiment with making my own drums in Drumlab




geronimo said:


> For the percussion sounds and synthesis, Drumspillage 2 by Audiospillage .


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## synthpunk

Brent Kalmer has some great videos on YouTube for reaktor



S4410 said:


> What a coincidence, i was considering taking one now : https://www.kadenze.com/courses/sound-synthesis-using-reaktor/info


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## Reid Rosefelt

iZotope's Iris 2. Got it on an impulse buy when it went on sale for $50 recently.

Comes with a 11 GB sample library, loaded with first-rate samples from the history of classic synths, as well as categories like Abstract, environments, Instruments, Toys, etc. (I've pulled some of these excellent sounds out and put them into Kontakt)

Using spectral filtering is fun (like drawing on sound with photoshop), you can combine 4 samples at once and the tremendous modulation options remind me of Massive. 

It's very powerful, but the GUI is so well thought out and intuitive that I found I was programming it right away. 

I think it's a lot of fun and sounds great. It actually can sound like practically anything.


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## InLight-Tone

Anything in Reaktor after you own Zebra and Omnisphere. The rest is filler...


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## Werewoof

Despite all the shiny new stuff, FL Studio's _Morphine_ is my absolute love. 
There is something so stupidly special about its outdated simplicity and uncomplicated nature... and its wicked sound.

It is still my favorite synthesizer. But I do like a lot of Reaktor libraries, like Kontour, Weedbacker, and The Howler.


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## Parsifal666

InLight-Tone said:


> Anything in Reaktor after you own Zebra and Omnisphere. The rest is filler...



Reaktor has so much amazing stuff...which makes it completely bizarre that I practically never use it. I'm a Zebra/HZ junkie all the way, with side of Nave, Diva, and Bazille (a little Serum). I use the latter synths so often that I never seem to even open Reaktor. I know I'm pretty much missing out big time. \

Anyone ever check out the Hieroglyphicus Reaktor ensemble? It's pretty cool!


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## Living Fossil

Melda's Powersynth is for sure one the most underrated synth...
It offers some unique possibilities...
I guess it would need some 3rd party soundsets by some cracks as the Unfinished etc. to get more attention


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## EC2

Monique by Monoplugs:

http://monique.monoplugs.com/en

In a world of monophonic synthesizer abundance this one really shines. It is capable of soft, but also of hard and nasty - and even nastier. There isn´t much you can´t do with it, and it sounds gorgeous in so many musical contexts. Still haven´t understood why it didn´t take the synthesizer world by storm.


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## InLight-Tone

Parsifal666 said:


> Reaktor has so much amazing stuff...which makes it completely bizarre that I practically never use it. I'm a Zebra/HZ junkie all the way, with side of Nave, Diva, and Bazille (a little Serum). I use the latter synths so often that I never seem to even open Reaktor. I know I'm pretty much missing out big time. \
> 
> Anyone ever check out the Hieroglyphicus Reaktor ensemble? It's pretty cool!



Well I'm actually a hypocrite. I too turn to Zebra, Omnisphere and a few others before Reaktor. It seems like a complete mess to me, too many ensembles too little time. How do you organize it all? That being said, I do think the newer ensembles sound pretty good like Monark, Blocks but still I have a hard time wrapping my head around it all and there is just too much experimental crap to wade through to find the gold...


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## kitekrazy

Anything by Hideaway Studios. They are for Kontakt but I'm finding there are some nice synths out there for the Kontakt engine.


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## Saxer

I also use Reaktor from time to time only. Mostly to play some Efx sounds and close Reaktor after rendering to audio. One reason for this is the cryptic saving behaviour (at least cryptic to me). I never know what to save and end up with duplicated ensembles or lost patches...


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## Mikelo

Skanner, Razor, Harmless, Mono/Poly and M42 Nebula to name a few.


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## RussellSzabados

Under the radar VI synths...hmmm...

Diversion by Dmitry Sches, great mod matrix in that one. Helix by Audjoo. Poseidon and Tera by VirSyn. Of course, nowadays VirSyn have remade themselves as top notch iOS developers but their soft synths (and Matrix reverb) are amazing. And I really love LinPlug'S RMV drum sequencer but don't hear much about it. 

Anyway, my $.02!


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## bytechop

Oatmeal was great but the development has stopped

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/oatmeal_by_fuzzpilz


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## bytechop

Living Fossil said:


> Melda's Powersynth is for sure one the most underrated synth...
> It offers some unique possibilities...
> I guess it would need some 3rd party soundsets by some cracks as the Unfinished etc. to get more attention



Yeah, it's a cool synth but the UI is a bit hard to understand at first use. It have a lot of features, and a great FX matrix.


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## novaburst

Viral outbreak is a very deep synth only came in 32bit so must be bridged




the synth is based on all the voices from Access Viral




We all love synthmaster if you have been keeping tabs on it, the synth became even better with its latest update by introducing stand alone




Dune is a great synth then Duns 2 was introduced then all sorts of were possible.


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## HiEnergy

novaburst said:


> Viral outbreak is a very deep synth only came in 32bit so must be bridged



Looks like a Wusikstation in disguise to me. I prefer the real thing (Virus, that is). Haven't touched Wusik for years and don't miss it.


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## novaburst

HiEnergy said:


> Looks like a Wusikstation in disguise to me. I prefer the real thing (Virus, that is). Haven't touched Wusik for years and don't miss it.



IT is the wusikstation engine, the wusikstation is a different synth,


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## Flaneurette

Don't tell anyone  http://kbrownsynthplugins.weebly.com

Suggestion: The Modular Moog, and the OB-2.


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