What synths do you use?

Manfred-Klose

I'd like to find out what else is out there?

I heard that "East west" and "Miroslav" plugins are good for symphony type stuff.

There is a cheaper one, "Edirol HQ orchestral", does any one use it, does it sound good?

AlanRatcliffe

Hi Manfred

Yeah I use the Edirol. It's great for quicker composing as it's a lot less resource hungry than my symphonic sample libraries and is a lot more user-friendly. It's still sampled sounds, and they are good.

I'll often compose with it, doing most of the tweaking of note values and levels with it because I don't have to freeze/unfreeze tracks all the time to get it to run. Then as part of the last stages before mixdown, replace the instruments one-by-one with sample libraries and then freeze each sample library track so don't get dropouts. Sometimes I end up keeping some of the Edirol sounds - they are that good.

sepheritoh

Manfred

I use a very similar approach as Alan above. I use Garritan's Personal Orchestra (GPO) as the starting point. It is a really great package once you get used to it. Once I have the whole song laid out I would use EWQL-SO Gold Pro to render the tracks. Many a time I would end up using GPO in the final mix as well. The harp in GPO is much better than EWQL-SO and GPO has up to 6 individual instruments sampled for violins, celli, trombones, trumpets, etc.

For orchestral percussion I use a combination of EWQL-SO and Project SAM's Truestrike.

Other synth's I use often is Cakewalk's Dimention Pro (the piano, basses and pads are great). For ambient pads I often use WuzicstationCM or Cakewalk's Z3ta+.

From time to time I might throw in another synth or 2, but those mentioned are the most oftenly used.

Manfred-Klose

Wow thanks, i'll look into those synths.

Manfred-Klose

What synth do you recommend fo a good acoustic piano sound?

AlanRatcliffe

If we're talking synths other than orchestral too, then I use these regularly:
Applied Acoustics Lounge Lizard V3 - good electric pianos and a small footprint.
Edirol HQ Orchestral - already discussed.
Edirol Hypercanvas V1.53 - great for quick band oriented stuff. Bass, drums keys, etc..
Korg Legacy Collection - Some great synth sounds here, especially multilayered pads and arpeggiated stuff
Native Instruments Absynth - My go-to synth for synth sounds. Otherworldly with pads, atmospheres and textures being a strong point.
Native Instruments B4 - The best Hammond organ! Small footprint.
Native Instruments FM8 - FM type sounds. Small footprint.
Native Instruments Pro53 - Analog synth sounds. Small footprint.
Native Instruments - Sample sound player, I'm gradually converting all my GigaStudio files to the Kontakt format, as I can use them within Sonar then.
Swar Systems Swar Shala - Indian instruments particularly Tabla.

Generally I prefer using the Native Instruments synths as they are less problematic when used with guitar synth. Great interfaces and easy editing too.

AlanRatcliffe

Manfred Klose wrote What synth do you recommend fo a good acoustic piano sound?

One instrument you have to go sampled for. The EastWest and Post pianos are great. I have a bunch of Steinways (B, C, D), a Bosendorfer 290, an Estonia Grand, and Nemesis/Tascam's GigaPiano (Yamaha) all in Giga format, but I'm converting them as I need them. Go-to piano is the Yammy, as it works well in rock and pop stuff - the grands are to keep my classically trained wife happy.

Actually, the pianos in Edirol Orchestral are quite good too.

Mr-M

I have Native Instruments Komplete 3 which is very comprehensive 'cos it includes almost every VST Native makes. I just need to get the upgrade to V5.

My favourites are Kontakt 2, Battery 2, Guitar Rig 2, B4 II & Reaktor 5.
Alan you should check out Reaktor. Complicated but capable of some pretty complex & dramatic sounds. Massive also looks quite cool.

Manfred Klose wrote What synth do you recommend fo a good acoustic piano sound?

+1 on the Bosendorfer 290. Akoustik Piano from Native also sounds very realistic IMO. I've tried Steinberg's The Grand 2, but it didn't sound as good compared to the other two. The Korg OASyS on the other other hand has probably the best Pianos I've heard. That is like R80+K though.

Manfred Klose wrote I heard that "East west" and "Miroslav" plugins are good for symphony type stuff.
There is a cheaper one, "Edirol HQ orchestral", does any one use it, does it sound good?

I've used Garritan Personal Orchestra & Steinberg Halion Symphonic Orchestra at a friend's studio. I've found both to sound very good IMO, but I will admit to not being the expert on orchestral instruments. Nonetheless I found they both reproduce very real-sounding results.

AlanRatcliffe

Alan you should check out Reaktor.

I've always been under the impression that was more dance oriented. I think I did try an early version, but had problems with it and never bothered again.

Complicated but capable of some pretty complex & dramatic sounds.

Complicated is not really a problem. I may be beta testing for NI soon, so I'll see if I can weasel a copy from them then.

Mr-M

Alan Ratcliffe wrote I've always been under the impression that was more dance oriented. I think I did try an early version, but had problems with it and never bothered again.

It really is a cool sound designers tool, so I think it'd fit in with the whole wall of sound you like.

Complicated is not really a problem. I may be beta testing for NI soon, so I'll see if I can weasel a copy from them then.

Well it is isn't all that new so they might be willing to donate one to your cause.

sepheritoh

Manfred Klose wrote What synth do you recommend fo a good acoustic piano sound?

My favourite piano is in VSampler format. It came with Sonar 3 or 4 I think. The VSampler interface is a bit of a dog, but it is worth it for that piano library only. Total size about 850MB. Dimention Pro comes with a piano sample that is pretty usable as well and fits great in any rock track.

Renesongs

I used to use a Roland SC55 External Module basic Meat & potatoes of my sound (Rock and Orchestral) and add Soundfounts for the weak instruments such as flute. Now I use Edirol softsynths for Instrument sounds
Edirol Hypercanvas - (Cakewalk TTS) Basic Meat and Potatoes, replaces Roland SC55
Edirol Super Quartet - Better Drums and Bass sounds for Rock and Jazz
Edirol HQ Orchestral - Pretty convincing orchestra - neatly divided in to sections
RGC Audio SFZ+ - adding better quality intruments or exotic ones like jaw harp
For complete pure synth sounds I like to use Applied Acoustics Tassman 4 or Linplug Albino

I also used to use Cakewalk Sonor 6 exclusively as my DAW (excellent for midi work) however it has a humongous GUI and when you ad an ampsim such as Guitar Rig to one of the above drop outs. Now I compose my complicated midi sections in Sonar and export them to Reaper before adding live recording, no freezing, no stem rendering, no drop-outs, just bliss.

AlanRatcliffe

As it happens, I've been using Edirol Orchestral today:
http://ratcliffe.co.za/music/wild_things.mp3

sepheritoh

Alan Ratcliffe wrote As it happens, I've been using Edirol Orchestral today:
http://ratcliffe.co.za/music/wild_things.mp3

Alan I loved that tune!

The mix is really transparant. Well done.
8)

Manfred-Klose

Great mix, Sounds like the Edirol HQ gets the job done.

AlanRatcliffe

Thanks guys! That's the rough mix. I just listened to it again myself - I find it hard to be critical when I'm busy putting something together. It's not bad, the basics are there, but there's a few things that need fixing. I'll especially check the tuning on the guitar before I rerecord it :-[ . The micing can be better too - I used a small diaphragm condenser at about 2' and a large diaphragm at about 4' for a bit of air, but it sounds like it'll work better with just the close mic. A few of the note transitions on the violins are a bit abrupt too. Now I have to try and get my wife to lay down vox sometime.

sepheritoh

Your rough mix sounds much better than my best effort!