Tagged As: Virtual Synths
Question:
I have been interested lately in virtual synthesizers since I do most of my music writing/playing via the computer. I really like the Cakewalk TTS-1 synth that comes with Sonar, but what are some other ones that have a big database of various sounds like the TTS-1? I mean, do keyboard makers like Korg and Roland put out virtual synths based on their keyboards? I'd really love to get a virtual synth of the Korg Triton keyboard...that would be sweet! So any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.
Answer:
There are a number of Roland and Korg emulations available, although you'll have about as much luck finding a Korg Triton simulation as you will the K2600. The TTS-1 is a general midi module. Any GM based synth will have those sounds (not the exact same sounds but each patch has to be certain type: piano, bass, etc. Korg is making virtual synths based on the MS20, Polysix, Wavestation, and M1 called The Legacy Connection: http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?A_PROD_NO=Legacy. Demos are available (except the M1). Though not quite the some analog some are pretty close and no doubt plenty of succesful musicians have switched to emulations. The www.kvraudio.com site mentioned by James Price mentioned is pretty much the bible of plugins. Their search page allows really specific searches that can help narrow the 600 or so plugins down into something manageable. Qite a few virtual synths out there - and the cool thing is, you can find a good number of them in freeware, like Da Hornet (Wasp emulation), Cheeze Machine (an analogue string machine!) and ReFX's Claw ( a Moog-like mono synth, one oscillator but excellent filters and delay built-in). You can find links to these at www.kvr-audio.com . Korg's got two packs out of virtual synths, one of analogue (Poly-Six and MS-20 included) and one of digital (M-1 and Wavestation). Roland has produced a few, but those only work in conjunction with their VariOS hardware box (think of it as a large, expensive dongle). The exceptions are the Sound Canvas and HyperCanvas programs they released a few years ago. One of the best companies for plug-ins is Native Instruments, and they've come up with some killer virtual synths like Absynth, B4 (electric organs) and Pro53 (modeled after the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5). One of theirs which I love isn't virtual at all, but a real frequency modulation synth called FM7 - nine operators, and it can load and save sysex from the entire Yamaha DX family of synths from the eighties. Steinberg has some interesting stuff too, I have the Halion Player with its library of samples, and Groove Agent 2, which is a virtual beatbox with a variety of styles, patterns, and is pretty flexible for editing (note that these work with a USB dongle which you have to purchase separately, although you'll be sitting pretty if you own any of the recent versions of Cubase). Another one to check out - IK Multimedia's SampleTank 2 and Sonic Synth 2, they're sample playback but they have a wonderfully clean sound and are highly tweakable, plus they're multitimbral for stacking sounds within it. (They also do Miroslav Orchestra, which uses the SampleTank engine but substitutes the samples for really good orchestral instruments).
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