# What are you favourite Synths for Pop music?



## jononotbono (Oct 7, 2020)

Howdy all,

I'm curious. What are your favourite Soft synths for Pop music? Do you all use Omnisphere despite how massive it sounds? Any U-He stuff used on mainstream records? 

Take this modern Indie Pop track from band Silent Crowd as an example. Any idea what soft synths could be used to sound like this...



Would love to hear what you all like using for this kind of thing. 

Jono


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## SupremeFist (Oct 7, 2020)

Lots of synths could do those basic sounds but Diva would be the obvious go-to...


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## PuerAzaelis (Oct 7, 2020)

Serum fan here ... am having lots of fun with it ...


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## jononotbono (Oct 7, 2020)

SupremeFist said:


> Lots of synths could do those basic sounds but Diva would be the obvious go-to...



That's good that I'm on point then because Diva is exactly what I loaded up trying to emulate those sounds! Just for a bit of practise etc


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## SupremeFist (Oct 7, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> That's good that I'm on point then because Diva is exactly what I loaded up trying to emulate those sounds! Just for a bit of practise etc


I only got it a few weeks ago so am still finding my way around but it is ridiculously good!


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## Vin (Oct 7, 2020)

Nexus, Sylenth1, Serum.


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## jononotbono (Oct 7, 2020)

SupremeFist said:


> I only got it a few weeks ago so am still finding my way around but it is ridiculously good!



Diva is amazing. I also have Zebra 2, ZebraHZ, Repro 1 and 5. Each of them are incredible.The U-He plugins are also brilliant!


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## easyrider (Oct 7, 2020)

Arturia Pigments...


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## R. Soul (Oct 7, 2020)

My go to for Pop is Serum. Its great for leads, plucks and basses. 

The one thing i have found useful for Omnisphere is soundsets by Reverbmachine. In particular 'Indie pop' and 'modern pop'.


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## jononotbono (Oct 7, 2020)

R. Soul said:


> My go to for Pop is Serum. Its great for leads, plucks and basses.
> 
> The one thing i have found useful for Omnisphere is soundsets by Reverbmachine. In particular 'Indie pop' and 'modern pop'.



Interesting. Will have to check the sound sets out!

A lot of the time I use my Guitar and plugins to twist stuff into electronic sounding stuff but it isn’t real synth sounding if you know what I mean so I’m eager to learn how to create some new sounds! Or buy them and learn how they were made!


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## SupremeFist (Oct 7, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> Or buy them and learn how they were made!


Absolutely no shame in that in my view! If you're interested in what are basically 80s pop synth sounds (like the ones in the song you posted), I can highly recommend the Night-Time Diva pack from Swan Audio.


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## ManicMiner (Oct 7, 2020)

There's some synth work in there, but vast majority acoustic. Diva has a nice soft analog sound, so if its padding and complimentary sounds you're looking for it might do the trick. Omnisphere would be my top recommendation though. 
Avenger / Serum is more EDM. Spire is good with trance and softer EDM. But, yeah, Diva would probably do it.


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## peladio (Oct 7, 2020)

Nexus and Omnisphere..


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## AdamKmusic (Oct 7, 2020)

I dont write pop but for sure people are definitely using things from native instruments (analog dreams etc) & anything on Output Arcade. Along with prophet 5 or Junos (real or VST)


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## paularthur (Oct 7, 2020)

+1. Sylenth for more electronic layers, Serum for blended layers. Also, the classics = ES2, Massive. Korg-Collection is real good as well..


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## vitocorleone123 (Oct 7, 2020)

Hive2 (or similar by other companies) can probably suffice since it can be digital or analog sounding, add some Diva or Repro (or The Legend) for additional analog-style grunt or flavor.


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## jononotbono (Oct 7, 2020)

SupremeFist said:


> Absolutely no shame in that in my view! If you're interested in what are basically 80s pop synth sounds (like the ones in the song you posted), I can highly recommend the Night-Time Diva pack from Swan Audio.



Interesting! Maybe I might participate in a sly purchase. It’s been at least a week since my last sin 😂


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## DimensionsTomorrow (Oct 7, 2020)

I love Diva as well. It’s probably my favorite synth VST, although on a synth forum I’m on a number of people seem to prefer U-he’s Repro-5.

This is a cool 80s-inspired soundset for Diva:



And this is another one you might be interested in:



FYI, I also really like Arturia’s Buchla Easel V, although I don’t hear that mentioned by many other people.


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## Geoff Grace (Oct 7, 2020)

SupremeFist said:


> Absolutely no shame in that in my view! If you're interested in what are basically 80s pop synth sounds (like the ones in the song you posted), I can highly recommend the Night-Time Diva pack from Swan Audio.


+1 for Swan Audio.

Best,

Geoff


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## Thudinthenight (Oct 7, 2020)

DimensionsTomorrow said:


> I love Diva as well. It’s probably my favorite synth VST, although on a synth forum I’m on a number of people seem to prefer U-he’s Repro-5.
> 
> This is a cool 80s-inspired soundset for Diva:
> 
> ...




The re-release of the Prophet 5 has probably generated a spike in interest about Prophet 5 emulations (where U-he is the top, IMO). I know I’ve been playing with the demo a lot, crackles and all! But I do own Diva and it fulfills all my vintage synth needs.


still might get a Prophet 5 though....


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## Living Fossil (Oct 7, 2020)

If the style in question is one you are emotionally familiar with, my answer would be: just follow your
instinct. If i sound suits you, use it.
And this can happen with almost every synth in existence.

However, if you have to work in a style where you don't have an inner connection (or where you don't follow the actual trends), it's much more difficult. There is that fascinating phenomenon called "street credibility" that describes the fact that all trends have their microcosms that harbour countless possibilities (like sounds from different synths) but also exclude even much more (those are the typical "no-gos"; like a Gated Snare in some styles). 

To conclude, i would say all the mentioned synths in this thread will work fine. 
(and many other, like Avenger etc.)
If you're unsure, i also would suggest to look for sound sets instead of synths.
They usually are made for specific trends, while soft synths may have kept their sounds since their release.

Finally, reflecting my impression (from the few occasions i listen to pop music) it's quite often rather about the processing of the sound.
I think that mangling tools can be very helpful; tools like complex gater or things like Stutter Edit or Tantra.
Also the use of an EQ can transform synths quite massively - i guess i haven't used Thorn yet without drastically cutting the top end...


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## jononotbono (Oct 7, 2020)

Ok, so I bought Swan Audio Night Time Diva. Sounds excellent! Fitting in a track I'm writing like a glove! 
Man, buying Sound Packs could turn into a bit of an addiction. Just to get you in a ball park, it's great! Thank goodness for highly skilled people that do this!


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## jononotbono (Oct 7, 2020)

Living Fossil said:


> If the style in question is one you are emotionally familiar with, my answer would be: just follow your
> instinct. If i sound suits you, use it.
> And this can happen with almost every synth in existence.
> 
> ...



Yeah I've just bought a Sound Pack for Diva and it's excellent. Perfect to get me in a ball park.


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## Daniel (Oct 8, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> Howdy all,
> 
> I'm curious. What are your favourite Soft synths for Pop music? Do you all use Omnisphere despite how massive it sounds? Any U-He stuff used on mainstream records?
> 
> ...




Serum.


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## jononotbono (Oct 8, 2020)

Daniel said:


> Serum.



Yeah great synth. Especially for modern Pop. Aggressive!


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## jononotbono (Oct 8, 2020)

Ok, so what about Fizzy atmospheric sounding Pads? "Fizzy" is the only way I can describe what I'm hearing in my head. I know, helpful!


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## vitocorleone123 (Oct 8, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> Ok, so what about Fizzy atmospheric sounding Pads? "Fizzy" is the only way I can describe what I'm hearing in my head. I know, helpful!



I usually see “fizzy” referring to the sound of some analog synths. Check out Obsession, as one example.


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## SupremeFist (Oct 8, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> Ok, so what about Fizzy atmospheric sounding Pads? "Fizzy" is the only way I can describe what I'm hearing in my head. I know, helpful!


Still Diva.  (But also Repro-5 or bx_oberheim, or pretty much anything if by "fizzy" we mean saw waves with an open filter.)


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## vitocorleone123 (Oct 8, 2020)

SupremeFist said:


> Still Diva.  (But also Repro-5 or bx_oberheim, or pretty much anything if by "fizzy" we mean saw waves with an open filter.)


Totally do-able in Diva. But he said fizzy pads, so using an actual Oberheim emulation can get there faster and easier. Even more fizzy would be a SEM emulation like oberhausen, but that has a darker tone than Obsession that may not be appropriate for modern pop.


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