# Which is Your goto VI for analog synth sounds?



## Jonas Hallstrom

Analog sytle, organic, warm (insert adjective)
It doesn't have to be an emulation of a real hardware synth.

A motivation of why this is your favorite would be great!


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## jneebz

1. *Zebra* - just sounds fantastic. Programming layout is logical.

2. *Omnisphere 2.5* - rompler of course, but the latest update adds some beautiful sounding analog patches.


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## Michelob

Zebra-zebra-zebra


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## j_kranz

Diva is great for analog too


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## markd

I also use Vacuum Pro, especially for monster-big basses. It's a very fat-sounding synth. And it's currently only $1 

https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/4-Synth/1558-Vacuum-Pro-
https://www.pluginboutique.com/prod...on-Packs/1594-Fresh-Air-Pack-Vol-1-Vacuum-Pro


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## givemenoughrope

Can Serum do warm-ish sounds? It seems to be used for harsher stuff...


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## Satorious

markd said:


> I also use Vacuum Pro, especially for monster-big basses. It's a very fat-sounding synth. And it's currently only $1



It's great value, I also love Hybrid 3 (same site/price/development company)... Can't go wrong for that price!


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## markd

Satorious said:


> It's great value, I also love Hybrid 3 (same site/price/development company)... Can't go wrong for that price!


I use and love Hybrid 3 as well. I find Hybrid 3 has a more digital and modern sound, whereas Vacuum Pro definitely has that 70's vibe.


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## Cinebient

P900 by a country mile. No one gots that nice (polyphonic)saturation on high resonance so well.
Also great is Repro, Model D app and Zeeon app but P900 is my first choice and very versatile as it is a modular (with 8 voices polyphony).


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## sostenuto

Omni 2.5  
Years of use since original Omni purchase … _and still coming across classic analog synth patches not used before_.


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## R. Soul

j_kranz said:


> Diva is great for analog too


What do you mean 'too'? 
It's the best


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## wst3

First call remains Wayoutware TimewARP2600, this thing just sounds amazing. Next up would be Zebra and Repro. I just picked up Diva, and I expect that to work its way towards the top of the list. Also not to be ignored, and of the GForce synts, and especially Oddity. Disclosure, I learned to program synthesizers on the Arp Oddesey and 2600, so I'm sure I am biased.


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## jmauz

Arturia V collection.


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## Spip

If you are looking for analog sound, Diva and RePro by u-he. Diva is more "polymorph" but Repro bites...

For something with a (really more) wider field, but still with a lot of "analog" sounds, Omnisphere...


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## Jonas Hallstrom

Thanks all for many good suggestions!


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## ThomasL

impOSCar2. Period.


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## gsilbers

U-HE Repro (1&5) wink


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## Robo Rivard

U-HE Diva and Repro 5. I've never been an analog guy, but since I've heard Diva, I'm completely hooked! Great third party libraries available as well. A no brainer as far as I'm concerned.


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## tmm

I would have said Diva for years before, but now I have Repro, and can't stop using Repro. It's awesome.


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## Kuusniemi

U-he Repro lately.


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## DivingInSpace

One i don't see mentioned here (or few other places) is Psychic Modulation's Phonec. I recently bought an issue of Computer Music where the CM version is included, and even the downscaled CM version has blown me away! I will most likely upgrade to the full version at some point, because even the downscaled version is so capable!


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## Andreas Moisa

No mention of The Legend here? https://www.synapse-audio.com/thelegend.html


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## jcrosby

givemenoughrope said:


> Can Serum do warm-ish sounds? It seems to be used for harsher stuff...


Serum can be whatever you want it to be as you can import wavetables from synths, make your own wavetables, and resample its output to a new wavetable... Has nice filters as well with lots of classic and unique shapes... It can be warm and vintagey in addition to being modern, it's a lot more than just an _EDM_ synth...


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## Jonas Hallstrom

Thanks for many great suggestions! Did anyone here try the PolyKB II?


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## Jaap

Another vouch for Diva and the Repro's, the last ones being my favorite atm


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## Vin

TAL-U-No-LX & Diva.


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## givemenoughrope

jcrosby said:


> Serum can be whatever you want it to be as you can import wavetables from synths, make your own wavetables, and resample its output to a new wavetable... Has nice filters as well with lots of classic and unique shapes... It can be warm and vintagey in addition to being modern, it's a lot more than just an _EDM_ synth...



Ok...I guess I knew that. I should have asked if anyone knew of any examples of Serum, organic-y, etc...


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## cmillar

Let's not forget:

https://www.korg.com/us/products/software/korg_collection/lineup.php

...includes ARP Odyssey, PolySix, MS-20 

(they all sound pretty great in their iOS versions as well!)


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## bonebones

Carbon Electra on sale now for $49. Really powerful but easy to use and the new features are great:
https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/4-Synth/1671-Carbon-Electra


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## labornvain

For warm and fat analog sound there is nothing better than Superwave Performer. 16 oscillators does the job.

Of course for precision modeled synthesizers, I think Arturia wins.


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## jcrosby

givemenoughrope said:


> Ok...I guess I knew that. I should have asked if anyone knew of any examples of Serum, organic-y, etc...


Serum has some really nice vintagey filters, it also has has all of the other tools you'd need to give it a little bit of _analog _instability... After that, it's basically about using the nicest vintage wavetables you can find, or export from some of your favorite VIs...

This should give be you a nice jumping off point in terms of adding a little bit of instability...
https://www.adsrsounds.com/serum-tutorials/how-to-make-serum-sound-more-vintage/


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## S.M Hassani

Fine suggestions all around. I think VPS Avenger should be mentioned here. It has some interestingly warm "Analog" filters, lots of vintage wavetables and a most powerful sound creation engine. 

I would also steal D16's Lush-101 at $39 right now from JRR:

https://www.jrrshop.com/d16-lush-101

Download the demo and try it.


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## lsabina

AAS Ultra Analog VA-2. Some good sound packs available.


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## jcrosby

givemenoughrope said:


> Ok...I guess I knew that. I should have asked if anyone knew of any examples of Serum, organic-y, etc...



The video below should give you the overall idea...



A few more thing you can try take it further are...

Export or record some oscillator cycles from a few vintage emulations or sample libraries (Uno-X, Omnisphere's vintage wavetables, UVI/Syntronik/etc sampled vintage instruments etc...) There are also some vintage wavetables for Serum floating around out there as well, (not sure if any of them are properly licensed though...)

Use a noise LFO instead of a Sine, set with the slightest depth, ultra slow, on a few random parameters for more instability...

Roll off top end above 12k-ish with any of Serums filters or high shelving EQ.

Use key tracking to trigger the slight amounts of randomness as you change keys.

Sample, export, or track down some lofi noise. (Tape machines, cassettes, shitty converters, etc), and use them as Serum's noise oscillator... If you wanr to get more _authentic _you can modulate its level, pitch, keytracking, and/or start point so it behaves with tiny amounts of variable lofi noise...

And, if you want add another layer of crust... TAL has a snazzy little lofi sampler converter emulation plugin... TAL-DAC. (Free if you have TAL Sampler). XLN's RC-20 is great too. (One of my favorite choices for giving something a little stale crust around the edges...)


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## Cinebient

Maybe old thread but i´m still amazed how much i like the P900 software above all other synths for the analog/organic feeling. I just felt in love again and got lost just making presets and playing around. There is something i miss about "feeling alive" in most other synths (even hardware). For me it is even above synths like Repro and The Legend and much more versatile at the same time (since it is a modular)
3 layered presets (with a bit help from Replika XT, Precedence and Breeze 2 to set it into space).

Works also well with a beat behind it:


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## vitocorleone123

Repro, Diva and The Legend.


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## Parsifal666

Diva...but Monark is no joke either imo.

Put it this way, if you're looking for that sound and don't own Diva, I strongly recommend grabbing it.


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## sostenuto

Parsifal666 said:


> Diva...but Monark is no joke either imo.
> Put it this way, if you're looking for that sound and don't own Diva, I strongly recommend grabbing it.



Agree! Was pleasantly surprised when PlugInGuru released new lib recently for Monark.


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## Parsifal666

sostenuto said:


> Agree! Was pleasantly surprised when PlugInGuru released new lib recently for Monark.



Monark is killer, just a bit of a learning curve when programming (which consists mainly of getting used to the rawther idiosyncratic gui). 

Wait, I forgot to mention...the presets can be both a lot of fun and very inspiring.

Were I to choose between the two, though, I'd have to concede to Diva.


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## nordicguy

Jonas Hallstrom said:


> Thanks for many great suggestions! Did anyone here try the PolyKB II?


In the top of my list, with no doubt!
V'got a pretty unique character.
Sounds huge.
Not exactly a simple one to tame though.
On the opposite side, this one is pretty simple to program and'v got quite a vibes.
https://www.psychicmodulation.com/phonec.html
Another one I'm always coming back to is ArcSynth.
One page UI and amazingly versatile.
A pleasure to program (for me at least).
https://www.spcplugins.com


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## Mornats

If you buy Computer Music magazine there's a slightly cut-down version of Phonic on there (Phonic CM). It looks like any recent issue will have it (June 2019 certainly does).


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## Geoff Grace

Diva.

(If I have to just pick one.)

Of the other ones mentioned so far, Repro and Omnisphere are my favorites. The latest Omnisphere update (2.6) adds even more hardware emulations.

Of the ones I didn't see mentioned above, OP-X PRO-II, Synth Anthology 2, and Syntronik deserve serious consideration. The newly released bx_oberhausen may as well, but I haven't picked it up yet.

Best,

Geoff


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## Saxer

Cinebient said:


> Maybe old thread but i´m still amazed how much i like the P900 software above all other synths for the analog/organic feeling. I just felt in love again and got lost just making presets and playing around. There is something i miss about "feeling alive" in most other synths (even hardware). For me it is even above synths like Repro and The Legend and much more versatile at the same time (since it is a modular)
> 3 layered presets (with a bit help from Replika XT, Precedence and Breeze 2 to set it into space).
> 
> Works also well with a beat behind it:



Never heard of this before. Sounds great!


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## sostenuto

Saxer said:


> Never heard of this before. Sounds great!



Agree !! but only OSX from what I see. Surprising no VSti offerings so far.
Waves Element is $49. now. Is it P900 ??


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## Cinebient

Yes, it is P900 software (from PulsarModular). At the end it is a matter of taste but i like organic/analog sounds and especially if you go into audio rate modulations and how all reacts while live tweaking and playing and just turning knobs, add randomization etc.
I own almost all the todays famous emulations but for me P900 is way better than all the others. What i find so much better is the saturation (which is per voice as well, up to 8 voices) and the timbres you can get out of it even at very high resonance. Monark (i find the drive/feedback really terrible here), The Legend, Repro (but this is also very good indeed) does not have such a musical and organic sound for me when you go extreme and it is more versatile as well as you have 48 slots for modules (but a fixed number for certain modules, so not an open thing like Reaktor).
This thing is just a giant sweetspot and also has for me the best plate reverb included i heard yet in a synth. Beside that you have several filters (almost all the famous analog filters from the past) and at the end i never heard such nice harmonic coming out of a software synth. It is very creamy i would say 
Short said for me from Diva to Repro was a big step up in terms of analog emulations and this is for me like another step up. But i like these gnarly, breathing up to really flatulent growling sound which P900 is the very best from all my synths and it also shines for really shimmering high frequencies which i often find almost as organic as real strings. Otherwise i also get my favorite analog pads, synth strings and bass out of this. Even wonderful percussions and kicks. It is the ONE synth which exact meets something in my brain and inspire me always and i loose time to just playing around with it for hours. The bad thing is almost everything now sounds a bit flat and lifeless to me and this synth is abandoned (as it seems). It still works on the latest macOS and Logic here but it is indeed mac only and also AU only. I think a modular like this is anyway a niche tool for most people maybe but it would be the only synth i would say which sounds better than any hardware i heard and played yet.
Of course some synths are better in other areas but there is just something very special for me with this synth.


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## chimuelo

Funny, I love Scope Modular on the Pulsar DSP Cards...

But as of ZebraHZ I use it now for MIDI Devices built from the SDK, and its unequaled Pitch Shift algos.
I’ve got excellent sounding Eventide and Strymon Hardware but Scope DSP has some gems that just are stellar.

ZebraHZ is my fav for subtractive synthesis in software though.
It even has performance tricks like separate oscillator glide, duo Poly, and the Diva Filters make it an excellent Polyphonic emulation.

But still can’t stop using real analog 3 Oscillator hardware.
Theres nothing in the realm of ones and zeros that can emulate that voltage driven sound quality. 

Wish there was, but it doesn’t exist.


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## Erick - BVA

The Legend and Repro for me


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## FGBR

The Legend, Repro and Diva.


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## Markus Kohlprath

Cinebient said:


> Yes, it is P900 software (from PulsarModular). At the end it is a matter of taste but i like organic/analog sounds and especially if you go into audio rate modulations and how all reacts while live tweaking and playing and just turning knobs, add randomization etc.
> I own almost all the todays famous emulations but for me P900 is way better than all the others. What i find so much better is the saturation (which is per voice as well, up to 8 voices) and the timbres you can get out of it even at very high resonance. Monark (i find the drive/feedback really terrible here), The Legend, Repro (but this is also very good indeed) does not have such a musical and organic sound for me when you go extreme and it is more versatile as well as you have 48 slots for modules (but a fixed number for certain modules, so not an open thing like Reaktor).
> This thing is just a giant sweetspot and also has for me the best plate reverb included i heard yet in a synth. Beside that you have several filters (almost all the famous analog filters from the past) and at the end i never heard such nice harmonic coming out of a software synth. It is very creamy i would say
> Short said for me from Diva to Repro was a big step up in terms of analog emulations and this is for me like another step up. But i like these gnarly, breathing up to really flatulent growling sound which P900 is the very best from all my synths and it also shines for really shimmering high frequencies which i often find almost as organic as real strings. Otherwise i also get my favorite analog pads, synth strings and bass out of this. Even wonderful percussions and kicks. It is the ONE synth which exact meets something in my brain and inspire me always and i loose time to just playing around with it for hours. The bad thing is almost everything now sounds a bit flat and lifeless to me and this synth is abandoned (as it seems). It still works on the latest macOS and Logic here but it is indeed mac only and also AU only. I think a modular like this is anyway a niche tool for most people maybe but it would be the only synth i would say which sounds better than any hardware i heard and played yet.
> Of course some synths are better in other areas but there is just something very special for me with this synth.


Checking the demos of the P900 this really seems like a revelation to me. I agree with everything you write as far as I can tell from a short listening. My question: will it be useable on a macpro 5.1 quadcore in terms of cpu consumption? I think I can host it in vepro6 since it has AU and connect to cubase which is my daw. If this works I think I will get it. DIVA is my go to for this type of sounds until now.


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## chocobitz825

I can’t fault any of the great choices here but one thing I’m glad I picked up was the everything for 100 years bundle at puremagnetik. Great synths available in various formats and every new synth and fx plugin free for life basically.


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## whinecellar

Among the other recommendations here, I’ve been really digging Roland’s stuff; the Juno 106, System 100, etc. are pretty incredible for that family of sounds. I’m still not a subscription fan, but good grief, the Roland Cloud is a screaming deal considering you get almost the entire catalogue of Roland gear in software from the last 40+ years. And the System 8, while not a vintage emulation, is a pretty incredible engine itself...


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## Cinebient

Markus Kohlprath said:


> Checking the demos of the P900 this really seems like a revelation to me. I agree with everything you write as far as I can tell from a short listening. My question: will it be useable on a macpro 5.1 quadcore in terms of cpu consumption? I think I can host it in vepro6 since it has AU and connect to cubase which is my daw. If this works I think I will get it. DIVA is my go to for this type of sounds until now.



I use it mainly on my macbook pro from late 2013 (i7 2.0 Quadcore) within Logic.
If i would want to use 8X oversampling i could just use a mono voice but mostly i use 2X oversampling and can run about 8 complex 8 voice presets at the same time (but i use 512 buffer).
Of course as a modular you can easy take down every cpu or use presets which you can run dozens of.
Another example with oversampling off (1X at 44.1Khz and no extern FX) how nice timbres you can get with resonance and the saturation (remember which is polyphonic here) with just still simple presets (and sorry, some bleeps and bloops included). Even with slightly introduced aliasing it has a more musical feel.
Of course if you did not already i would try the 14 days demo (i guess it is still available).

And some variants i made from a Jupiter 8 PWM preset from the defaults. (settings might be not accurate enough).

And a while back when i played with the plate reverb module (as far as i remember a Lexicon white paper algo with some own ideas on top).

Some weird FM between OSCs.....

Some overdriven stuff...

Some ghostly synth voices...
https://soundcloud.com/user-790535032/p900-singing-osc
Sorry...enough spam


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## Jonas Hallstrom

Too bad there's no windows version of the P900.


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## Markus Kohlprath

Thank you Cinebent, something is about this P900 that strikes a string within me. Can’t explain but it seems really very good. I never had this experience by just listening to demos of a synth. Will try the demo and I hope it works.


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## Mark Schmieder

TimewARP 2600. Too bad it requires a bit of occasional nursing to keep in working shape. I am hoping that G-Force or somebody will buy the rights so that it can be fully pulled into modern computer architectures and maintained more regularly.


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## JPQ

Jonas Hallstrom said:


> Too bad there's no windows version of the P900.


Indeed i hard know how repalce it i simply cannot stay mac side for single synth when sitable mac is way too pricey to me. i must check many mentioned synths i allready have U-heDiva but i want something what cn fill few gaps what i hear i mean i want something smoother. but not too smooth like Arturia stuff.


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## lsabina

nordicguy said:


> In the top of my list, with no doubt!
> V'got a pretty unique character.
> Sounds huge.
> Not exactly a simple one to tame though.
> On the opposite side, this one is pretty simple to program and'v got quite a vibes.
> https://www.psychicmodulation.com/phonec.html
> Another one I'm always coming back to is ArcSynth.
> One page UI and amazingly versatile.
> A pleasure to program (for me at least).
> https://www.spcplugins.com



A big thumbs up for Phonec! The Unfinished has some preset libraries available for it too.


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## TheUnfinished

Diva, RePro, Uno LX and Phonec 2 are (imho) the best synths out there for crafting truly analogue softsynth sounds. And I'd put RePro at the top of that tree - it just has "something" that makes it sound richer than the rest.

Also worth throwing those stalwarts Zebra and Omnisphere into the ring - they can do very decent analogue amongst the myriad of other lovely noises they specialise in.


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## KallumS

Diva or Analog Lab, that's all I need!


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## Shad0wLandsUK

Omnisphere, Diva and Repro :D


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## Bansaw

VPS Avenger is a great synth, made for the more modern EDM sounds.
But it can do analog sounds well too.
I just made an expansion pack (Modern Analog) for it and released it today.
I posted a demo video over in the Deals section:

https://vi-control.net/community/th...s-avenger-low-intro-price-this-weekend.82194/


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## Cinebient

Sorry for the bump but i don´t know what it is but i never felt such a nice analog vibrant sound like with P900. It could be just that it meets my brain frequencies or whatever but i cannot find such nice filters and meaty, saturated sounds in other software synths. 
I think it will be my all time favorite for the next decade at least since no one comes close for me for this special kind of sound. So organic and meaty without any extern FX. It might be also the intern FX which i find better than in most of my other synths as well (when it comes to analog/vintage style sounds and wonderful meaty saturated harmonics).
Just 2 presets with a sloppy Logic beat behind it.


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## Mark Schmieder

What is P900 and who makes it?


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## Cinebient

It is a software modular synth from PulsarModular...but mac and AU only!
And sadly seems abandonded as well (but still runs on the latest OS and Logic here).
However, you have to take it from of my cold death hands...


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## sostenuto

_Must run on Win10 Pro ......_

Omni 2.6
Repro 1-5
NI _ Monark


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## Mark Schmieder

Hah! I'll look into it; had never heard of it. I'm on macOS so may be in luck. My initial guess was some sort of virtual Prophet, but I'll look it up after lunch.


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## Cinebient

Here a little demo track i made with only some custom made presets...no extern FX used!


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## iliatilev

u-he DIVA and Zebra.. Best synths out there for me.. 😎


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## TomislavEP

Personally, I use Kontakt libraries for such sounds more often rather than actual VI synth replicas, but I have some of those in my collection as well. Speaking of Kontakt libraries, as a NI Komplete user, my favorite sources of analog synth sounds are probably Retro Machines MK2 and the new Analog Dreams libraries. I particulary like the "synth" sounds featured in Spitfire Audio's eDNA Earth and Albion series, although those are based on warped orchestral recordings rather than on actual synth sources. I'm very pleased with the synth sounds from some smaller developers such as CL-Projects and Karanyi too.

I can't say I'm much of a synth sounds programmer when working with virtual instruments and sample libraries, though I have experience in programming hardware devices for live performances. Speaking of VI synths, Monark comes to mind first, though I also have Vacuum Pro and Hybrid synths from AIR Music Technology. I think that their VI's are perhaps a bit underappreciated in comparison to many "bigger" names. Speaking of which, I'm really looking forward to toying with the new Massive X. Currently I cannot use it as my present CPU isn't compliant, but I will hopefully finally build a new system next month which will also allow me to explore that particular synth. From what I've heard in the demos, it is capable and contains a lot of sounds suitable for styles outside the EDM and similar genres, which is probably the main reason I find it interesting.


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## Pier

That P900 sounds really nice! It's a shame to hear it might be abandoned... at least it's 64 bits so it works in Catalina.

Anyone tried Bazille? It's another modular type of synth from U-he (makers of Diva, Repro, Zebra, etc).









Bazille: Monster modular


Bazille: Monster modular



u-he.com


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## chimuelo

ZebraHZ.
I had several analogs I lugged around because of the sound quality.
I eventually replaced them.
The trick is to drive the Diva Filters with XMP Filters, pre Diva.

Ive got it doing all of my OBX, Solaris (most) and FS1r sounds.
Its monophonic quality is surprisingly strong too, but I still require the SE-02 as no software can out power a 3 Oscillator discrete audio synth. 
uHe gets damn close though.

When I first got Omnisphere I was disappointed with its excessive FX and rather thin sound. Keyscape came along and I gave up on synth aspects.
But with 2.6 I can build each patch from 8 various sound sources.
I can do pretty much everything I need with the exception of monophonic analog stuff.

ZebraHZ is super capable at this because they listened to people that complained about portamento sounding wimpy.
So they use separate amounts of glide, not per oscillator like a Moog or Oberheim but 2 amounts which is very effective.

Mostly ZebraHZ rocks because Im using it alongside of mic’d/triggered acoustic kits, Ampeg and Vox/Marshall stacks.
Most synths sound good until you play alongside powerful players.
They just fizz out like somebody hung a couple shirts over your speaker.

Not with ZebraHZ.
That dog will hunt...


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## Cinebient

I also find some combinations especially sounding great like P900 with some Replika-XT on top.

Or a 3 layer preset with Replika-XT, Precedence and Breeze 2.


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## rlw

I have been fascinated by the sound of HEXERACT BY AUDDICT which has a 50% off sale. I would like other's options, particularly those who have used ZebraHZ. While the interface is cool, all the sequences I have listened to seem to evolve sonically in ways I have not noticed with other synths. Without having the synths side by side I am not able to compare. I have Avenger but it does not seem to have the sonic depth of the demos I have heard with ZebraHZ. Here's the link for the sale incase anyone is interest. https://www.hexeractsynth.com/?utm_...3bdarveHx-RUz-0HQvlaoWZvsSl3cLZs6WdE0g#videos


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## ed buller

Zebra HZ....wins every time.

best

ed


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## rlw

Thanks for the reply @ed buller


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## jcrosby

Omnisphere for me by a mile...


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## chimuelo

For folks using both hands when they play Zebra, it has this great feature on its oscillators where you can attenuate volume anywhere on the keyboard.
Then use the Amp EG for shaping so you get great choppy bass synth parts with the comp separated.
Omnisphere’s EG is pretty good for this too but lacks the Oscillator “parametrics” that dial this in with perfection.


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## Brian2112

To my surprise, I’ve been reaching for Dune 3 more and more for straight up analog subtractive sounds. That and Diva.


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## synthetic

Zebra HZ and Diva are the only plugs that make me contemplate selling my Super Jupiter. (But not the Minimoog or MOTM)


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## Pier

Brian2112 said:


> To my surprise, I’ve been reaching for Dune 3 more and more for straight up analog subtractive sounds. That and Diva.



All the Dune 3 demos I've heard are annoying EDM supersaw stuff... but I read somewhere that Synapse had included the tech from their analog modeled filters used in The Legend.


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## synkrotron

Hi, I'm still a green about the gills here but I thought I'd like to chip in here, seeing as subtractive analog stuff has been my bread and butter over the years, both hardware and software.

I have the Arturia V stuff, so a reasonable amount of choice right there.

I have A|A|S VA2.

But if I am not sure what I am looking for and just want something simple and easy to use then I whack in an instance of u-he's Hive.

I invested in Hive as soon as it was released and have kept up to date ever since.

So, yeah, Hive for me


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## Wes Antczak

I just upgraded to VA3 the other day and am very impressed by what I'm hearing.


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## Greg

Diva! Being able to detune each voice is incredible for getting a vintage analog sound.


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## Mark Schmieder

I still think nothing beats TimewARP 2600 for authenticity.


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## Andoran

Diva, Zebra, and ZebraHZ are my go to's, also just picked up MemoryMoons ME 80 (CS 80 plug in) and have been loving it.


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## kgdrum

Like many others I have several but my favorites by far are Diva,Repro & the Zebra's.
I don't use Bazille as much but it's really interesting.
Honorable mentions that are equally amazing have to go to Omni,Phonic,Absynth,Largo,Poly KB and Legend,just to name a few..........


----------



## Jimmy Hellfire

Retrologue 2, Monark.


----------



## Pier

synkrotron said:


> But if I am not sure what I am looking for and just want something simple and easy to use then I whack in an instance of u-he's Hive.
> 
> I invested in Hive as soon as it was released and have kept up to date ever since.
> 
> So, yeah, Hive for me



I love Hive!

I just wish it had a couple more LFOs and filter types.


----------



## 2chris

While a lot of people collect sample libraries, I’ve had a weakness for synths I’ve finally overcome (hardware and software haha). I think “go to” depends on the situation or style of music, so I’ll breakdown my favorite softsynths by how I like to use them.

For out of the box presets I think that Omnisphere is the king, with honorable mention to Arturia Analog Lab, synthmaster, Spire, Avenger, Dune 2, and Hive 2 depending on your favorite types of sounds.
For third party support you can make a case for Massive, Serum, Omnisphere, Sylenth1, Spire, Zebra, and Reaktor. All of them excellent.
What synth is the most versatile? It has to be Reaktor because it can do so many things, and let’s you make so many things. Reaktor is a platform more than a synth.
Best filters? Depends on what you’re after but dune 3 might have the best quick options and variety, but Uhe is amazing for the most slick analog sounding filters. If you like Moog style filter it’s hard to beat Monark (Reaktor) or Dune 3. If you like Profit style, uhe is the best. If you like A VA style filter, DiscoDSP sounds just like a nord lead. For smooth Waldorf style filters spire and sylenth1 are great. 
Best routing? Hmm Uhe Zebra and Reaktor probably have the most options, but Serum and Pigments are the easiest to use.
Weird features? Massive X can do some weird stuff, but synthplant is the wierdest. Honorable mention to the glitchness of Thorn.
Do EDM? Serum and massive are great for glitchy and rude. Spire does amazing trance sounds. Avenger has great filters and presets but I personally don’t like the interface.
Best vintage sound goes to Uhe Diva/Repro and Arturia V Collection. Uhe sounds amazing, but V Collection has more presets, instruments, and the UI is excellent for mimicking the original hardware while still sounding great.
If I could have just one? Reaktor. If that’s cheating because that’s multiple products basically, It would depend on the day to whether I’d answer Omnisphere, Diva, Hive 2, Massive, Serum, Dune 3, or Spire. Most of the difference would come from wanting to play and hear the synth to be inspired, or do I want to make sounds. Serum, hive, and spire are probably the easiest to make great sounds for. Omnisphere and Massive just have so many free patches to play with and get lost in.


----------



## Mark Schmieder

Yep, tastes certainly differ, as the list above doesn't come close to reaching my own top tier.

I too am sizing down and trying to avoid buying new libraries, synths, and hardware. I still give top honours to my one remaining keyboard synth, which is the Moog Voyager. It covers a lot of ground, and is so easy to dial up a fresh new sound.

Software-wise, I might use Korg's Mono/Poly more than almost any other, as it is so versatile and sounds great in almost every category. TimewARP 2600 remains my favourite, but I don't use it in quite as many categories overall.

The Arturia stuff takes a bit longer to dial up but covers a lot of ground. I actually have some custom (personal) Mini presets that I depend on, which I can't recreate on my hardware!


----------



## vitocorleone123

2chris said:


> While a lot of people collect sample libraries, I’ve had a weakness for synths I’ve finally overcome (hardware and software haha). I think “go to” depends on the situation or style of music, so I’ll breakdown my favorite softsynths by how I like to use them.
> 
> For out of the box presets I think that Omnisphere is the king, with honorable mention to Arturia Analog Lab, synthmaster, Spire, Avenger, Dune 2, and Hive 2 depending on your favorite types of sounds.
> For third party support you can make a case for Massive, Serum, Omnisphere, Sylenth1, Spire, Zebra, and Reaktor. All of them excellent.
> What synth is the most versatile? It has to be Reaktor because it can do so many things, and let’s you make so many things. Reaktor is a platform more than a synth.
> Best filters? Depends on what you’re after but dune 3 might have the best quick options and variety, but Uhe is amazing for the most slick analog sounding filters. If you like Moog style filter it’s hard to beat Monark (Reaktor) or Dune 3. If you like Profit style, uhe is the best. If you like A VA style filter, DiscoDSP sounds just like a nord lead. For smooth Waldorf style filters spire and sylenth1 are great.
> Best routing? Hmm Uhe Zebra and Reaktor probably have the most options, but Serum and Pigments are the easiest to use.
> Weird features? Massive X can do some weird stuff, but synthplant is the wierdest. Honorable mention to the glitchness of Thorn.
> Do EDM? Serum and massive are great for glitchy and rude. Spire does amazing trance sounds. Avenger has great filters and presets but I personally don’t like the interface.
> Best vintage sound goes to Uhe Diva/Repro and Arturia V Collection. Uhe sounds amazing, but V Collection has more presets, instruments, and the UI is excellent for mimicking the original hardware while still sounding great.
> If I could have just one? Reaktor. If that’s cheating because that’s multiple products basically, It would depend on the day to whether I’d answer Omnisphere, Diva, Hive 2, Massive, Serum, Dune 3, or Spire. Most of the difference would come from wanting to play and hear the synth to be inspired, or do I want to make sounds. Serum, hive, and spire are probably the easiest to make great sounds for. Omnisphere and Massive just have so many free patches to play with and get lost in.



Great info. I 90% agree, to the best of my knowledge (I don't have/haven't used all those). However...

I believe that The Legend beats Monark for Moog, and a lot more now, with 8 voice polyphony (I have both, though I prefer my SE-02 for monophonic sounds, so Monark never gets used anymore)
To me, Spire for trance is better than Dune 3, though the difference can be very small, and Dune 3 more flexible overall (when will there be a Spire 2?) - both are great synths and continue to be tempt me to purchase
Hive 2 filters are underrated, hell, the whole synth kind of is - it's a beast that has a ton of flexibility, including easy drag and drop routing, and I'm glad I chose it over Dune 2/3 (if the v2 hadn't come out for Hive when it did, I'd have purchased Dune 3). But I admit I'm a big U-He synth fan, though I only own 3 so far.


----------



## 2chris

Mark Schmieder said:


> Yep, tastes certainly differ, as the list above doesn't come close to reaching my own top tier.
> 
> I too am sizing down and trying to avoid buying new libraries, synths, and hardware. I still give top honours to my one remaining keyboard synth, which is the Moog Voyager. It covers a lot of ground, and is so easy to dial up a fresh new sound.
> 
> Software-wise, I might use Korg's Mono/Poly more than almost any other, as it is so versatile and sounds great in almost every category. TimewARP 2600 remains my favourite, but I don't use it in quite as many categories overall.
> 
> The Arturia stuff takes a bit longer to dial up but covers a lot of ground. I actually have some custom (personal) Mini presets that I depend on, which I can't recreate on my hardware!



If we are talking hardware, that is a whole different world. I sold off most of my stuff for a few analog synths, Komplete Kontrol, and the Yamaha MODx8. Other then that I'm in the box. I’m looking forward to more cheap Behringer clones coming out (Pro1, SH101, Model D), analog for the masses. Props to you on the voyager!

Mono/Poly didn’t do it for me but it does sound nice. I mostly use Cubase and Live, but Propellerheads advertised the crap out of it - so I tried the RE in Reason.

Hans Zimmer is a guy set in his ways it appears, and in his masterclass and interviews has mentioned that he likes Zebra (despite an insane collection) because he knows it so well and makes sounds from his head and avoids presets which make him forget what he’s wanting. Calvin Harris is 35, has about the same net worth ($) as Zimmer doing totally different stuff, and he’s a heavy preset tweaker working to get stuff down right away kind of the opposite way.

Sometimes for the working musician the best synth is the one your clients/customers seem to prefer the sounds you get out of it, or you work quickest with. For the hobbyist it’s usually the “character” of the synth in standing out to them, or if it’s fun to use or inspires. The ones I named could certainly be trimmed down, but I've tried a ton of things to the point I don't look around drooling anymore on synths except if there's a cheap hardware recreation that sounds nice and doesn't take up too much room.


----------



## 2chris

vitocorleone123 said:


> Great info. I 90% agree, to the best of my knowledge (I don't have/haven't used all those). However...
> 
> I believe that The Legend beats Monark for Moog, and a lot more now, with 8 voice polyphony (I have both, though I prefer my SE-02 for monophonic sounds, so Monark never gets used anymore)
> To me, Spire for trance is better than Dune 3, though the difference can be very small, and Dune 3 more flexible overall (when will there be a Spire 2?) - both are great synths and continue to be tempt me to purchase
> Hive 2 filters are underrated, hell, the whole synth kind of is - it's a beast that has a ton of flexibility, including easy drag and drop routing, and I'm glad I chose it over Dune 2/3 (if the v2 hadn't come out for Hive when it did, I'd have purchased Dune 3). But I admit I'm a big U-He synth fan, though I only own 3 so far.



It looks like we do have a similar opinion. To your points:


The Legend is awesome. No way around that, and you are right that it might be better than Monark. It might be the best Model D emulation to date. I had Monark first and went with Dune 3, and seem to gravitate to it because it has the same 12/24dB Moog ladder built into the Legend. That kind of pushed me toward it and away from Legend by no fault of the synth itself since I had Monark. If you own NI stuff, value comes into play.
I agree on Spire. Nice to meet a fellow user on here! This synth sounds so amazing I gave up on needing an Access Virus/Nord Lead. I think it's excellent for electronic music and can do so many things well. You add a great compressor and some saturation, and it shines. When certain sounds seem thin, it layers really well and isn't bad on CPU. I may prefer it to Dune 3, but Dune has this "sound" of clean modern EDM (Fx, routing, filter combinations?) that makes it stand out in mixes to the point sometimes it's hard to pick which one to use.
Hive 2 surprised me. I wasn't a huge fan when I demoed the original and didn't get on with it. Had I tried this version 2 BEFORE Dune 3, I might not have purchased Dune 3. If more developers would have a preset organization system as good as this, and make the UI where it's so efficient like this - it wouldn't be as exceptional. But it has those things, and the engineering of Uhe behind it. Winner!
You conspicuously say nothing about Reaktor. If you don't use it, do yourself a favor and try it :D haha.


----------



## Pier

2chris said:


> You conspicuously say nothing about Reaktor. If you don't use it, do yourself a favor and try it :D haha.



I tried using Reaktor a number of times (before Blocks existed) but desisted. I obviously recognize the potential but hated the workflow and UI.

Whenever I want more freedom I go back to Zebra. It doesn't do everything like Reaktor but it covers a lot of territory. I've been using it for years and the limit is still my creativity and synthesis knowledge.


----------



## Mark Schmieder

It's a shame that Alchemy is now Mac-only and bound to Logic, as they fixed all of its qualitative and quantitative problems, bringing back the warmth that Cameleon 5000 had. It's the only reason I bought Logic Pro; I've never even used EXS24 or whatever it's called (their sampler engine).

I would say that Alchemy is one of the more versatile synths out there, and fairly easy to program and to tweak even if using mostly presets. But I don't use it for bread and butter stuff; it's simply my go-to for effects and atmospherics and the like. I find that I use Absynth and Ultra Analog for that a lot too, but that Cameleon doesn't have as much of a set sonic signature that permeates all patches.


----------



## 2chris

Pier Bover said:


> I tried using Reaktor a number of times (before Blocks existed) but desisted. I obviously recognize the potential but hated the workflow and UI.
> 
> Whenever I want more freedom I go back to Zebra. It doesn't do everything like Reaktor but it covers a lot of territory. I've been using it for years and the limit is still my creativity and synthesis knowledge.


I can see that, Reaktor isn’t the most intuitive. It takes time to grow on you. Blocks changed things to be simpler to use, but the user library and the NI Instruments are quite good. The user library has all kinds of free synths and fx to try. NI’s own stuff like form, Monark, rounds, razor, flesh, and super 8 are great.

I can’t argue on Zebra. It’s great. I think if you like and get around Zebra well - you could be very well set. That’s why I’ve stopped demoing more stuff. I buy into NI’s Komplete which I’ll update every couple years, and I’m otherwise set and could give away most of my soft synths. It’s better to have a couple synths, know them well, and not worry about every new product coming out. A lot of times buying the new synth is to get inspiration from presets, or does something new. Sometimes it’s worth it, and sometimes it’s just a toy or a collection rather than an instrument/tool.


----------



## vitocorleone123

XILS MiniSyn'x is growing on me. I might end up upgrading to the full Syn'X (Synthex emulation). Very smooth sounding. It's a different layout and sound.






miniSyn'X - XILS-lab


Minisyn'x "my 2 favourite analog synths are probably the vcs3 and the synthex. .... i just got the minisyn'x and i am so excited as well because the synthex is a fantastic rarity. thank you to xils lab to give every one the possibility to play with them..!" jean-michel jarre - avril 2015- the...



www.xils-lab.com


----------



## Mark Schmieder

Interestingly, this product is the reason I didn't bother spending $200 for the V7 upgrade to Arturia V Collection (I'll wait for a Black Friday sale), as the Synthax clone from Xils-Lab is so good that I can't imagine the one from Arturia being better! One of my five favourite soft synths for sound and design.


----------



## Michael Antrum

I’m not big on synths, even though I have a fair few. But when I want ‘that’ sound, I nearly always end up using Sylenth.


----------



## Steve Wheeler

U-he's great. 
Sylenth is great. 
Omni is great. 
TAL-U-No-LX is great.
Absynth is great (I feel like this one gets kinda slept on a bit).


----------



## Ostinato

1) Omni 2.6 -> Sounds amazing, the new ARP in fantastic

2) Dune 3 -> AlsoFantastic sounds, Dual ARP

3) GForce M-Tron Pro with all additional Tapes -> In my opinion the best VI Mellotron


----------



## motomotomoto

Monark is my go to


----------



## shapeshifter00

I really dig Native Instruments Form (in Reaktor 6). Super fun and love the sounds.


----------



## NekujaK

The Legend
Viking VK-2 (Reason rack extension)
Omnisphere (cuz there's pretty much nothing it can't, you know, do )


----------



## chimuelo

Dual 4 Oscillator instances of ZebraHZ.

I own a few vintage beasts and instead of dragging them around for gigs I use ZebraHZ.

You need to drive the filters and I prefer hardware FX.
But my dogs will hunt.

As for Omnisphere it does digital synths really well.
The D50 presets in the Hardware upgrade made me laugh they were so good.
But its filters and EGs dont compare to ZebraHZ for snappy fat bastards.

If u-He made a hardware 6 Oscillator version of Zebra they could finally retire and free our brotha’ Howard from the Castle Dungeon.


----------



## kgdrum

chimuelo said:


> Dual 4 Oscillator instances of ZebraHZ.
> 
> I own a few vintage beasts and instead of dragging them around for gigs I use ZebraHZ.
> 
> You need to drive the filters and I prefer hardware FX.
> But my dogs will hunt.
> 
> As for Omnisphere it does digital synths really well.
> The D50 presets in the Hardware upgrade made me laugh they were so good.
> But its filters and EGs dont compare to ZebraHZ for snappy fat bastards.
> 
> If u-He made a hardware 6 Oscillator version of Zebra they could finally retire and free our brotha’ Howard from the Castle Dungeon.




I am by no means more than a preset and tweak presets of various synths user but I played w/ some very serious synth players back in the day
(they worked with Herbie,Bowie,Laswell, Michael Jackson etc.......) there’s something about what U-he puts out that routinely captures the hardware that most soft-synths imo don’t quite capture.
For me U-he is simply amazing from the products to the way they operate, 
their transparency w/ customers is as good as it gets.
And yes the Genius aka Howard is a total freak of nature,for me he’s a bigger part of the U-he magic than most people understand.I’d venture to guess he’s part of the design team well beyond the presets.
Like Prince he’s so uniquely talented he only needs to go by his 1st name.
I’d also guess HZ would agree,lol

I confess I’m a U-he fanboy and if I could ever meet Howard I’d shake his hand ,give him a hug and buy him a drink! 😍


----------



## chimuelo

I can get good sounds in the box with most softies but the big difference for me is how do they sound on powered cabinets, without native fx.

ZebraHZ holds it’s electricity and doesn‘t dissipate like so many other ones and zeros do.
I’ll post a snippet of a live vid in December as the group is getting a production company to record and sync it with a Midas Console.

Theres many scenes where Im using a discrete audio SE-02, Omnisphere and ZebraHZ in a multi zone configuration.
As I‘ve said Omnisphere does the D50 better than the D50.
Its doing a tweaked version of the Heaven preset in the upper zone, lower Zone is the SE-02 doing a Tom Sawyer sound with a layer of ZebraHZ using a timed Filter Sweep that climaxes at the end of the 8 bar section.

ZebraHZ sounds exactly like an old ARP2600S with it’s sizzling balls on accurate Envelopes.
When mixed with a real Analog synth you can’t even tell it’s a soft synth.
People actually comment on the sound thinking it’s another racked analog.

Diva actually can do that too but doesn’t have the extra drive the XMF Filters combine with KeyTracking. If it did I would have got Diva, but that 4th Oscillator on Zebra makes the difference.


----------



## karelpsota

givemenoughrope said:


> Can Serum do warm-ish sounds? It seems to be used for harsher stuff...



Initially, Serum is very cold and sterile. That's its purpose. The purest and highest definition - no analog emulation (as opposed to U-he).

But what is "analog emulation", if not EQ, harmonic distortion, wavetable modulation, and non-linearities of pitch and volume?

If you spend some time EQing, using harmonics exciters, warping wavetables, adding random pitch movement with the chaos knob and what not... You can make Serum sound like anything.

Here's an example of pretty "organic" sound I made 100% in Serum.


----------



## vitocorleone123

U-He Hive 2 can be pure wavetable, without analog emulation. Or you can use an oscillator and a wave. Or two oscillators. Very flexible.

After comparing Serum, Spire, Dune 3, and Hive 2, I chose Hive 2. All of those are great synths, that's for sure. Hive 2 and Dune 3 were the most flexible, and I had a hard time choosing between them. If all I did was in some specific genres, I'd have chosen between Serum and Spire, instead.


----------



## Monkberry

I have the usual suspects: Zebra 2, Omnisphere 2.6, Monark but 2 other synths are right up there, Steinberg Retrologue and KV331 Synthmaster.


----------



## JPQ

chimuelo said:


> I can get good sounds in the box with most softies but the big difference for me is how do they sound on powered cabinets, without native fx.
> 
> ZebraHZ holds it’s electricity and doesn‘t dissipate like so many other ones and zeros do.
> I’ll post a snippet of a live vid in December as the group is getting a production company to record and sync it with a Midas Console.
> 
> Theres many scenes where Im using a discrete audio SE-02, Omnisphere and ZebraHZ in a multi zone configuration.
> As I‘ve said Omnisphere does the D50 better than the D50.
> Its doing a tweaked version of the Heaven preset in the upper zone, lower Zone is the SE-02 doing a Tom Sawyer sound with a layer of ZebraHZ using a timed Filter Sweep that climaxes at the end of the 8 bar section.
> 
> ZebraHZ sounds exactly like an old ARP2600S with it’s sizzling balls on accurate Envelopes.
> When mixed with a real Analog synth you can’t even tell it’s a soft synth.
> People actually comment on the sound thinking it’s another racked analog.
> 
> Diva actually can do that too but doesn’t have the extra drive the XMF Filters combine with KeyTracking. If it did I would have got Diva, but that 4th Oscillator on Zebra makes the difference.



what filter model you use replace Arp2600S? more than likely Zebra is my next softsynth anyway. after this softube modular. and after these with current synths i mainly need then samples i think and learning synth progrmaming even more.


----------



## JohnG

u-he's Diva is by far the best I have. Miles better even than their excellent ZebraHZ; Diva crushes it. I never would have believed you could get rich synth sound like that from a computer.


----------



## chimuelo

JPQ said:


> what filter model you use replace Arp2600S? more than likely Zebra is my next softsynth anyway. after this softube modular. and after these with current synths i mainly need then samples i think and learning synth progrmaming even more.



Its a combination of XMF and ZebraHZ Filters.
Zebra2 and ZebraHZ have really precise digital oscillators.
To get them to really get bigger like Diva’s Oscillators you saturate the sound using XMF Filter Drive. I tried used Distortion FX and it’s nasty digital crap IMHO. 
So get the big analog type sound inside the 4 OSC + XMF Heirarchy, then run that fat shit through the Diva Filters.

John Graham is correct that Diva as is is the best analog u-He offers.
However, ZebraHZ is equal is terms of powerful analog quality, and IMHO better because of the 4 Oscillators.

You have to spend time getting the right sound so yes it means sitting down and rolling up your sleeves. 
Diva gets you there on the first preset.
Actually the 2600S sound I referred to was inspired by the Diva preset called “beauty” IIRC.
I was just about to buy Diva and instead went with HZ.
To get the sound I use with ZebraHZ it would require a dual instance of Diva that would double the Oscillator count.


----------



## Pier

JohnG said:


> u-he's Diva is by far the best I have. Miles better even than their excellent ZebraHZ; Diva crushes it. I never would have believed you could get rich synth sound like that from a computer.



Hey John have you tried Repro by U-He?

Urs has stated in forums a couple of times that the modeling is even better than the one in Diva.

Here's a video comparing it to the real thing:


----------



## vitocorleone123

I wouldn’t start with Diva or Zebra necessarily if trying to learn synth programming. You can, but that’s diving in the deep end.

My first recommendation would be: buy a physical analog synth with as many 1:1 controls as possible. Behringer Model D or the Roland SE-02, etc. etc. if you don't already have one.

When making music (I don't really do orchestral but aspire to), when I think "I want a synth sound", the first one I turn to is Hive 2, unless I have a specific type of synth sound in mind (e.g., Moog, Prophet, Juno, etc). I probably use Repro more than Diva, but I don't own Zebra. I'm not deep into programming, but starting with more straightforward synths and hardware has made it easier for me to understand a given preset and more easily modify it to achieve what I want.

For soft synths, my second recommendation would be to start with either U-He Repro or Synapse Audio the Legend. Or both. Though starting with Hive 2 wouldn't be bad either, because it scales pretty well and is so easy to add LFOs etc. with drag and drop.

But maybe you're already beyond starting with more straightforward synths, in which case Diva (Hive 2? 😁 ) would be another step toward Zebra.


----------



## JohnG

Pier Bover said:


> Hey John have you tried Repro by U-He?
> 
> Urs has stated in forums a couple of times that the modeling is even better than the one in Diva.
> 
> Here's a video comparing it to the real thing:




I have Repro too, but I've been mostly on a large-scale project for this year that has been acoustic / orchestral, so have hardly touched the synths for a little while.

I'll spend more time exploring Repro -- thanks for the tip.


----------



## 2chris

Pier Bover said:


> Hey John have you tried Repro by U-He?
> 
> Urs has stated in forums a couple of times that the modeling is even better than the one in Diva.
> 
> Here's a video comparing it to the real thing:



I'm huge fan of Repro. Here's the thing now though... you can buy Behinringers actual analog pro-1 for $350!!! I kind of want one of these haha.


----------



## lux

well, that may sound unpopular but I often end up using ReFx Nexux 2 with expansions, which fits the mix like just a few others to me. Such a plug-and-mix beast.

Sometimes I also use Arturia Collection, U-He Repro, Tal-Uno-LX. Synthmagic stuff also gets into for more ambient'ish electronica


----------



## Steve Wheeler

JohnG said:


> u-he's Diva is by far the best I have. Miles better even than their excellent ZebraHZ; Diva crushes it. I never would have believed you could get rich synth sound like that from a computer.



I do love Diva, but I may have to *respectfully *(emphasis on the respectfully) disagree that it's better than Zebra or even ZebraHZ. I think both kind of have their own thing that they do well.

Diva is pretty classic when it comes to oscillators and types of modulation it can do. It's got LFO's and a couple different flavors of ADSR envelopes. Classic. (There's a lot of other stuff it can do I'm glossing over too, I realize).

ZebraHZ has got a lot more options for modulation between the 4 X/Y pads and the MSEG stuff. I haven't set this up on TouchOSC on my ipad yet, but I plan to this weekend. The arpeggiator in Zebra is more advanced than Diva's as well. It's got more different oscillator shapes to choose from too, I'm pretty sure. Edit: Debateable. I missed the digital OSC section of Diva.

I will say, I think Diva comes with the better factory presets, but there are some GREAT 3rd party sounds for both HZ and Diva. I actually just did a demo for Heartwood Soundware's new HZ patches, and there are some great patches he's got in there. Super useful for action/tension kind of stuff. I don't think he's as well known as a guy like The Unfinished is, but his sounds are just as good (though they fulfill a different purpose for me). They're also a really solid bargain.

Anyhow, I love all of the u-he stuff. HZ is a little more complex to program from scratch I think than Diva or Repro is, but they're all great synths capable of some great sounds.

Love the tracks, by the way John. The Kingsglaive stuff is top notch.


----------



## JohnG

Steve Wheeler said:


> I do love Diva, but I may have to *respectfully *(emphasis on the respectfully) disagree that it's better than Zebra or even ZebraHZ.



Fair enough; I have 50-100 ZebraHZ instances in my basic template, and only a handful of Diva, so maybe I'm "voting with my feet" in agreement with you?

And thanks for the kind words, Steve.


----------



## Steve Wheeler

JohnG said:


> Fair enough; I have 50-100 ZebraHZ instances in my basic template, and only a handful of Diva, so maybe I'm "voting with my feet" in agreement with you?
> 
> And thanks for the kind words, Steve.



They're both super good. I do find myself reaching for Diva or Repro when I need something bread and butter "analog synth" over Zebra though, I must admit. Trying to actively use it more because I've been wrong on other synths like Omnisphere.


----------



## Pier

2chris said:


> I'm huge fan of Repro. Here's the thing now though... you can buy Behinringers actual analog pro-1 for $350!!! I kind of want one of these haha.



I bought a Behringer Model D and sold it a month later. It sounds really awesome but having no presets makes it super inconvenient if you work on many things at the same time. Diva or The Legend are 90% there soundwise (if not more) so it didn't make sense for me to keep it.

Repro is even closer to the real thing.

These days I think the only big advantage of hardware is the immediacy of the controls.


----------



## 2chris

Pier Bover said:


> I bought a Behringer Model D and sold it a month later. It sounds really awesome but having no presets makes it super inconvenient if you work on many things at the same time. Diva or The Legend are 90% there soundwise (if not more) so it didn't make sense for me to keep it.
> 
> Repro is even closer to the real thing.
> 
> These days I think the only big advantage of hardware is the immediacy of the controls.


I feel you, and you make a good point. For the longest time I mostly just used a 20 year old keyboard even though I had more stuff, and worked inside the box. I sold everything, and I'm down to a korg minilogue XD, and the Yamaha MODx which has turned out to be awesome. I use an NI Komplete Kontrol 49 most of the time for convenience.

I'm done buying stuff unless I get a cheap Behringer synth. The majority of the time I'm in a DAW using VST's. The korg stores presets - but sometimes I just sample really simple stuff and mangle the rendered audio. That's where this new Behringer stuff has an allure (Sh101, RD3, Pro1, Crave) because they are so freaking cheap that even if you are using plugins more, it's not hard to sample it.

I'm not saying it's the end all be all, especially workflow, but it's fun to have some real stuff sitting out, they do sound better than plugins even if only marginally, and they look cool.


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## Cinebient

I still search if something could replace P900 for me since i´m scared that it will not work one day. Good news that it still runs on macOS Catalina without any update for a long time.
There is still something with the included effects and (polyphonic) saturation which is even without any oversampling (but you also can use 2X, 4X or 8X if your cpu can handle it) more musical and full of "happy accidents" i get with no other software synth. Only which comes close sometimes are Repro, Moog Model D app and maybe Dune 3 but still not like P900.
I just love the gnarly and also soft timbres i can get out of it from the same presets just doing a few tweaks and connections.
F.e. these are mainly all tweaked from the same presets (my own default) and tweaked within a minute or so.




And a nice saturated analog acid arp from P900 (plus some extra external FX like Precedence and Replika-XT and a simple beat to go along while tweaking the preset a bit on the fly).


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## Pier

Cinebient said:


> I still search if something could replace P900 for me since i´m scared that it will not work one day. Good news that it still runs on macOS Catalina without any update for a long time.
> There is still something with the included effects and (polyphonic) saturation which is even without any oversampling (but you also can use 2X, 4X or 8X if your cpu can handle it) more musical and full of "happy accidents" i get with no other software synth. Only which comes close sometimes are Repro, Moog Model D app and maybe Dune 3 but still not like P900.
> I just love the gnarly and also soft timbres i can get out of it from the same presets just doing a few tweaks and connections.
> F.e. these are mainly all tweaked from the same presets (my own default) and tweaked within a minute or so.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And a nice saturated analog acid arp from P900 (plus some extra external FX like Precedence and Replika-XT and a simple beat to go along while tweaking the preset a bit on the fly).




Have you tried Bazille?


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## Cinebient

Pier Bover said:


> Have you tried Bazille?


Yes and while it is great P900 is just much better for me. Bazille has indeed some nice tricks for FM but the filters and saturation in P900 are unmatched for me. Maybe just me but there is no other synth which comes close when i think about analog sound. It could be of course my flavor.
At the same time is P900 more flexible for me and offers a much better reverb and delay on top (but you cannot modulate them in this case).
The saturation in P900 is also per voice like in Repro but a lot more useful and musical for my taste.
P900 is one of my 2 favorite synths i use 90% of the time in general (the other one is Alchemy and not the best for analog tones).


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## Pier

Cinebient said:


> Yes and while it is great P900 is just much better for me. Bazille has indeed some nice tricks for FM but the filters and saturation in P900 are unmatched for me. Maybe just me but there is no other synth which comes close when i think about analog sound. It could be of course my flavor.
> At the same time is P900 more flexible for me and offers a much better reverb and delay on top (but you cannot modulate them in this case).
> The saturation in P900 is also per voice like in Repro but a lot more useful and musical for my taste.
> P900 is one of my 2 favorite synths i use 90% of the time in general (the other one is Alchemy and not the best for analog tones).



Thanks for the comment. I'm going to keep the P900 in my radar. Probably get it in the next sale.


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## GtrString

Soundiron Sonespheres 1-3 for me lately. Lots of great sounds, and versatility. Doesnt have the usual over-the-top tweaks in the patches, which imho makes it very useable out of the box. Just got Sonespheres 3, and look forward to implement it.

I also own Omnisphere 3 and the stuff in Komplete 12 Ultimate, which is great too, but Sonespheres has that warm, analog sound called for by the OP, imo.


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## S.M Hassani

Omnisphere 3 you say? 

Oh I'd love to get my hands on that!

Most anyone here can do is 2.6... 

Seriously though, there's plenty of sound in what you have. And I'm sure Sonespheres is a good one to have. But there's a joy to those inspiring sounds that come from a fully customizable synth patch. I still lose myself to them, sometimes for hours!


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## GtrString

Yeah, sure Omni is great, and there is a bit of everything. Dont particularly think of it as “warm” though (except for a few patches). For me that is more than a technical boost in the low mids. Not many know Sonespheres, so I though it‘d be worth a mention. Its really good.


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## Cinebient

Mhh, seems my post get lost after the maintain thing. I try it again.
It seems my favorite synth for analog sounds get some new life and the developer(s) (it is under a new name/owner as well now) seems to plan the analog delay, plate reverb and output module (where you add the wonderful saturation) as FX version.
I would like the whole thing as FX but that would be a great start since i really love these 3 modules.
A simple preset (a mellow LFO on filter cutoff thingie) where i tweaked the delay, reverb and saturation a bit on the fly. Of course it is just a snippet of how the delay, reverb and saturation can sound. Again my personal flavor i like as well....

And one more again...mainly the same preset with different LFO settings with 2 delay modules and some good amount of the plate reverb module. Just held some chords and turn on (and back) the saturation a bit.
Class A in this case (P900 938 output module has 2 kind of saturation class A/B and class A).

The combo of this 3 modules is just really fantastic for me and has that organic/analog sound (at least for me) and i even prefer them maybe for these specific sounds over all my third party plug-ins.
Looking forward to it for sure.....


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## Stevo B

Fabfilter One is what I often go to for a straightforward 70s style synth sound. Very simple, no built in fx but sounds very solid if you know what I mean.


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## ptram

I like to go for the synths in UVI's Synth Anthology 2. Modern virtual synths may sound cleaner, easier to use in a modern context, but these are the _real_ ones. Sampled, not modeled. Rougher, but so were the synth at that time.

Paolo


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## Cinebient

Some more sound i made with P900. I would marry this synth :D


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## Cinebient

And some P900 Ambient Guitar in the morning (for me at least)...


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## Cinebient

And again a guitar like preset. No extern FX, just pure modular synthesis playing on my computer keyboard


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## Pier

chimuelo said:


> To get them to really get bigger like Diva’s Oscillators you saturate the sound using XMF Filter Drive. I tried used Distortion FX and it’s nasty digital crap IMHO.
> So get the big analog type sound inside the 4 OSC + XMF Heirarchy, then run that fat shit through the Diva Filters.



Hey @chimuelo






Or a demo or something


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## chimuelo

My demos are years old and original fusion jazz nobody likes much.

But I could send a preset that uses a really slow Attack and just gurgles and grinds the low end something awful.

The reason I really like Zebra2/HZ is because most synths sound good in the midrange, and are mezzo-mezzo in the low end. Sure they can boom, but I like that Straubs/Rush/Headhunters resonanting Drone filter sweep. 

It’s the Josef Zawinul 2600 sound used at the intro of Lusitanos from the Tale Spinnin‘ album by Weather Report, except I extended it and added a Filter Sweep once I captured the triple waveform setting. You can put the filter resonance on zero for the original patch.

Same Sound is used at the end of Dr. Bennie Maupins Sax solo on the Song Butterfly from the album Thrust by Herbie Hancock.
They Sound great in recordings but live they light The PA on fire and give you goose bumps.


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## nordicguy

I’ll add this one that just came up recently.
It’s worth a look at.

MegaHertz


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## Pier

chimuelo said:


> But I could send a preset that uses a really slow Attack and just gurgles and grinds the low end something awful.



Please do!


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## Pier

TAL Mod is another option I don't think has been mentioned in the thread.

I don't think it's in the same league as that P900, but for $60 it does sound nice.






TAL Software


TAL VST, AU, Audio Unit, AAX plug-ins for OSX and Windows




tal-software.com







Edit:

Also these presets by Solidtrax:


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## muziksculp

For pure analog synth sounds I would use the real analog hardware first. 

Then.. consider using VSTs that can emulate analog synths really well, there are a few I like a lot :

1. U-he DIVA
2. Synapse Audio Obsession
3. XILS POLY-M
4. AAS Ultra Analog VA-3
5. TAL Software TAL-MOD 

My favorite VST Synth for general synth sounds is :

Synapse Audio DUNE 3


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## muziksculp

I decided to purchase TAL-MOD a few days ago.

It sounds amazing, and has a lot of analog character. I will surely add it to my list of Analog Sounding VSTs that I would use. 

Thanks to @Pier for brining it to my attention.


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## Crowe

For me it's just Reaktor and Massive.

Now I feel boring.


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## Crowe

I took some time these last few days to look into Retrologue, which is a part of Cubase Pro (which I recently acquired). I gotta say I really like it and I'll probably be working with it for the forseeable future.


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## Mark1

Cinebient said:


> Here a little demo track i made with only some custom made presets...no extern FX used!



WOW! WTF...only for Mac...arrrgghhhhlll 😥


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## Alchemedia

Pier said:


> These days I think the only big advantage of hardware is the immediacy of the controls.



You should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas.


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## Brian2112

Crowe said:


> For me it's just Reaktor and Massive.
> 
> Now I feel boring.


(yawn)...not at all.

Latest is not always greatest. Reaktor still does it all.


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## Crowe

Brian2112 said:


> (yawn)...not at all.
> 
> Latest is not always greatest. Reaktor still does it all.


I am still boring, but have dropped Massive like a lead balloon. I still use a *lot* of Reaktor though.

My current toys of choice are Retrologue (funny how that happens), Knifonium and bx_oberhausen.


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## Alchemedia

Crowe said:


> I am still boring, but have dropped Massive like a lead balloon. I still use a *lot* of Reaktor though.
> 
> My current toys of choice are Retrologue (funny how that happens), Knifonium and bx_oberhausen.



Check out GForce SEM. It blows away bx_O.


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