# Newbie who just got into MIDI world.. need synth recommendations



## qkrzazzang (Mar 5, 2017)

Hi everyone.
I currently bought everything I need for a home studio except vsti and a midi controller.

My DAW is cubase 9, and I'm still in the process of learning Cubase alone. When I finish with it, I'm planning to start creating tracks.

I think these songs show what style of beats I'm after/hoping to achieve.
(hoping to be a producer in Korea, so these songs are Korean)








I'd like to know what soft synths are best suited for these kinds of genre. My budget is $4000. One of my friends suggested omnisphere 2 but to me that sounded too much like soundtrack-oriented.. IDK, it's hard to judge as I do not own one myself.

Thank you in advance!


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## sazema (Mar 5, 2017)

You just need Native Instruments Maschine for creating this hip-hop loops + Massive + FM8.


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## Ron Kords (Mar 5, 2017)

Maschine would be a great starting point....


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## Jaap (Mar 5, 2017)

Omnisphere 2 can bring you to every place you want to go to be honest (also a lot of EDM patches included) and easy to also make your own sounds. If you like messing with stuff and create your own sounds, check out also Zebra 2 (or any other synth from U-he)

For the record I am not a synth guru so take this advice lightly


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## synthpunk (Mar 5, 2017)

I would start with Native Instruments Maschine, you get a free copy of Massive with it and that can be a very versatile synth to start with. As an alternative you could also look at a Akai MPC they're more recent offerings integrate well with Daw and MPC and is still the staple in the hip hop community and production of pattern based music, samples, and loops.

Your could also add Native Instruments Komplete Ultimate which will give you allot of instruments to work with to start including Kontakt sampler.

U-he and Synthmaster virtual synths are very highly regarded around here. U-he Hive or Sylenth is a good place to start.

You may also want to consider Ableton Live which not only allows producing pattern-based music, but also includes a lot of good instruments, loops, sample to start with. Ableton Push is a good pad controller.

For a keyboard controller you could look at Akai or Nektar.


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## Silence-is-Golden (Mar 5, 2017)

Less mainstream NI maybe:
- reveal-sound spire
- synapse audio Dune2
- Vengeance sound Avenger or Nexus2 possibly( older)
- parawave audio Rapid

Access Virus TI also has good stuff onboard. Integrates with DAW

For your slicing & chopping Machine studio as suggested above.

Btw Ableton also has push2.( ah, synthpunk already suggested it) :D

If possible let yourself be informed and play around at a local music shop.

I am on a Mac, if you are also and you want a decent keyboard, Novation Impulse is good.
Otherwise you could go NI all the way and buy their keyboards with light guides.


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## sazema (Mar 6, 2017)

Silence-is-Golden said:


> Less mainstream NI maybe:
> - reveal-sound spire
> - synapse audio Dune2
> - Vengeance sound Avenger or Nexus2 possibly( older)
> ...



Apsolutely, for that type of music I would choose Ableton as main sequencer over Cubase. It's just born for that


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## creativeforge (Apr 11, 2017)

sazema said:


> Apsolutely, for that type of music I would choose Ableton as main sequencer over Cubase. It's just born for that



sazema, do you use Live successfully? If so, how do you find the workflow with soft synths and vstis, against latency, CPU usage and fluidity?

Thanks!


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## sazema (Apr 11, 2017)

creativeforge said:


> sazema, do you use Live successfully? If so, how do you find the workflow with soft synths and vstis, against latency, CPU usage and fluidity?
> 
> Thanks!



It's ok, like any other sequencer.


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## sazema (Apr 11, 2017)

Here is just an example on YT, but you can find plenty of videos and tutorials of how to use Live.


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## AdamAlake (Apr 12, 2017)

Serum is a great starting synth, great UI and it does everything from subtractive to FM.


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## EvilDragon (Apr 12, 2017)

With CPU usage to boot. I would say Zebra is a great starter synth.


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## elpedro (Apr 12, 2017)

my fav is uvi falcon...


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## Wibben (Apr 12, 2017)

I think all the suggestions here are great synths, but as a "starting synth" I think Cubase has some great options already. Retrologue 2 will let you learn the workflow of something like a classic Moog and it sounds great. Padshop lets you get into granular synthesis and it also sounds great. Learning the built in synths in Cubase will get you started and will give you more of a sense of where to go/what you're interested in. This said, I don't think there's anything better for what you want to do than Komplete. Massive, FM8 and Kontakt are pretty much industry standards and are great additions to the built in synths of Cubase.

But moving on from starter synths, I personally think Zebra 2 from U-He, Xfer Serum and Omnisphere 2 is all you need forever... and ever and ever.. I love them all...


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## Ryan99 (Apr 12, 2017)

I love Vengeance Avenger. It has quickly become my favorite synth!


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## Chandler (Apr 12, 2017)

Synthmaster One is a good starter synth. It is easy to use and has quite a few different synthesis types. It's cheap and sounds good too.


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## Vastman (Apr 12, 2017)

Fleer, the only dude I know that has more stuff than I do, nailed it... I have all mentioned above (except for Cubase products as I use Sonar) and wouldn't trade Omnisphere for ALL OF THEM...

Lots of amazing stuff in this amazing world but Omnisphere, with full PluginGuru O2 sound packs, rules the roost... It AIN'T EVEN CLOSE...

Spend an evening with Skippy's huge library of unbelievably awesome Omnisphere tutorials and you'll begin to understand the depth, breadth, and functional utility of O2... It is unparalleled. Save yourself a lot of time and money and start there... Everything else is icing on the cake... I luv them all but...

Can't comment on DAW... And maschine like stuff never appealed to me... Tried um, dumped um for various reasons... Only speaking to synth /Soundscape creation although Airwave's O2 work with Skippy shows how O2 blows doors in the world of beats too.


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