The Only Two Software Synths You Actually Need

Discussion, demo and review of the only 2 software synthesizers that you probably actually need for music production. It's sometimes beneficial to reduce the choices and limit yourself to a couple of synths that you can focus on and learn inside out. That's my strategy anyway, and my opinioss, but I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

MORE WOODY PIANO SHACK

--- SPOILER ALERT
U-HE DIVA
U-HE HIVE 2

--- HONORABLE MENTIONS
SPECTRASONICS OMNISSPHERE
LENNAR DIGITAL SYNLENTH1
U-HE ZEBRA 2
ROLAND ZENOLOGY
XFER RECORDS SERUM
ARTURIA PIGMENTS

#synthesizer #vst #musicproduction

[HOLODECK-MUSIC-PROJECT]

totally agree! Diva and Hive2 are a role model for universal and perfect sounding plugin instruments

[DavidLilja]

So, a small correction on Omnisphere. Yes, it has samples and wavetables so it's like a Roland JV/XP/XV synth in one way. But, it also has DSP generated waveforms, just like Hive and Diva.

Here's a snipped from the manual:
Synth Mode
These are DSP waveforms, generated in real-time by the STEAM engine, that are similar in principle to vintage synthesizer waveshapes. They have the same rich character of classic synthesizers, but with a much greater level of control and sound shaping abilities. The Synth Oscillators are not modeled to emulate any particular brand of synthesizer, but instead were extensively tweaked to have a great-sound and versatile character that’s unique to Omnisphere.

[musicmwmusic]

Glad that you mentioned Omnisphere. It's a great desert islander. About 5 years back, I cut back to only 1 vsti and that was Omni. Once you learn to program it, there's very little that it can't do. I later added diva and hive and have settled with this trio. The sonic possibilities are endless. We really do live in a golden age of sound synthesis. Great video!

[BirdYoumans]

You've rapidly become my favorite "music" channel. We think a great deal alike and I love your enthusiasm as well. I do old time Gospel music in a somewhat blue grassy/country style so it doesn't lend itself to synthesized sounds too much. Very old school. But I am a musician and we all have a bit of need to experiment. At 78 I have retired from the road now for about 10 years and started a few years back to explore the free synths out there in order to write some music that has nothing to do with genre. Some are so good I often wondered why people paid for the paid ones. So a few months back, after using Uhe's Zebralette and Tyrell (both free) they quickly became two of my favorites. I kept hearing all this great stuff about Diva. So, I downloaded the demo. I was stunned. Within two days I paid the fee to get rid of the static in the free version. Then NI did a sale on the Uhe synths and I added Hive just because Diva was so good. Another slam dunk winner. It's hard to believe they can even exist, especially Diva with all it's "mix and match" components from the old vintage synths from my early days. But here's the real bonus, I just added the Linnstrument to my arsenal. I LOVE this thing. However, it uses MPE to get to it's real control capabilities and not all synths respond fully to it. But both Diva and Hive do! I'm now in heaven!! I will add tho that because Surge XT supports MPE as well, and it is free, I'm finding it to be useful too. But in the free category I would also mention Dexed. While Diva is the crowning "analogue" synth, Dexed is in there with the FM crown not to mention it plays all of my old DX7 (which I still own) patches, and there are literally thousands of patches floating about the internet for it. The DX7 was a beast to program for those of us who don't spend a lot of time with sound design (so much to do, so little time lol!) but the Dexed is much easier in many respects because of it interface. Still a beast tho, but those sounds!!
I go back to when a "punch in" was taking the best parts of two or three takes by the band onto 1/4 inch 2 track tape from an Ampex machine. The studio I worked in had two of them so you could "overdub" by recording the band track and then feed that thru the board and add vocals etc to the other machine. And of course, you had to "mix" on the fly. No multi tracks like today.) and splicing them together with a razor blade, a splicing block and some tape to have the final master. So this world we live in now is just beyond belief. You young folks enjoy your "tools". You have no way of knowing what you have in those "silicone chips" lol! This old road dog will continue to learn new tricks and enjoy it with you! It never gets old. And be kind to each other!!

[Magnus_Loov]

Omnisphere has another ace up its sleeves: The hardware integration where a real hardware Synth that you own is emulated in Omnisphere in a way that all controls (knobs, sliders etc) reacts to what is showing on the screen.
In addition to that the hardware Synth can also control other instruments in Omnisphere which aren't a 1:1 copy of your hardware Synth!
Great for direct control/jamming!
Also, lots of other hardware Synths are emulated in Omnisphere which lets you access them, despite not owning the actual hardware.
To me this makes it a perfect candidate for being one of the two "Must have Synths".
And it's no "sample player"/rompler anymore.
It's got vast Synthesis capabilities with pure waveforms. And it does the emulations of all the different hardware Synths in addition to that.
It is just that it is also happens to be a rompler that makes great soundscapes in addition to the more traditional sound synthesis!

[TommyLoaded]

Great video. Love it. Personally, I went with Pigments over Hive, because it was WAY EASIER for me to see and understand everything that's going on. Believe me, I wanted to go U-he (mostly for the Howard Scarr presets), but Arturia really nailed it with the visual simplicity and easy-to-read mod-matrix.

[haslo_]

I 100% agree with DIva, but my choice for digital sounding synth is Phase Plant. It's modular architecture and huge flexibility make it capable of almost anything, without making it look and feel cluttered and unwieldy. Not saying Hive is bad in any way though 🥰

[HiEnergyMusic]

In my opinion UVI Falcon is the best "mega-synth". It does every important synthesis type. Also lots of soundware of any imaginable kind available for it.

[prosaschleuder]

Reducing the choices is what I'm trying to do myself but I'm coming from another angle.
I'd use one basic synth for the bread and butter sounds, let's say Synth 1 or TAL Noisemaker. Another one for the more complex stuff, that would be Surge XT, Vital or something like that.
And finally: VCV Rack, because I really like building sounds from the ground up.

[jamiehunter]

I have all the Native Instruments synths, SynthMaster One & 2, but Hive is my favourite synth of all time. People call it a "Trance" synth but it's capable of so much more. It's on track number one on all my template's.

[Maluband]

If I had to pick two it would be Arturia Pigments for wavetable, virtual analog, granular and sampling analog software synthesizer plus Korg Opsix for a different type of sound with FM.

[GeorgeMichaelTribute]

Arturia V Collection and Roland Cloud has you covered for everything you will ever need. I know it's more than 2 synths, but these 2 sets of Virtual synth collections would cost way over 1 million £€ for their hardware counterparts, with very little sonic difference. What a time to be alive as a keyboard aficionado.

[ShebenMuzik]

Using Cubase, I found out I could do soooo many things with Retrologue and Padshop only. But I still have a few other ones that I love, like the Juno106 and Arp2600 from Audio Cherry and a few great freebies too.

[jesusrocks]

Tone2 Icarus is hands down the best sounding, most versatile synth in my arsenal. Three oscillators, vast modulation, sequencer, drum machine, glitch sequencer and killer effects. It even creates amazing random patches with a single click. For the price, nothing else comes close. (For reference, I've got Pigments, Hive, Dune, Rob Papen Blue 2, Blade 2 individuals many others. I stand by my claim.)

[WarrenPostma]

My desert island minimal choices:

1. Diva
2. Pigments
3. Phaseplant

However HIVE is FANTASTIC and so is ZEBRA. U-HE doesn't make anything that's not awesome.

[MSM]

DIVA is really massive sounding synthesizer but I'd never give up Roland Juno 106 plug-in/plug-out synth as well. The latter one is 100% authentic in terms of setup & sounds.

[schniggedagges]

Its really hard to decide! I own Diva and I love the presets, but I did not make any sounds on my own with it. There for I prefer Cherry Audios Dreamsynth or Sines. And I also use Vital a lot, that has imo one of the best interfaces of all synths ever made.

[FlockofAngels]

I could not part with any of my synths. My two favorites are (in this order), Falcon and VPS Avenger. (I probably use NI the most (collector's edition), it is like one big gigantic synth, East West sounds is also great, and Nexus, Omnisphere is also fantastic.)

[auberginedreams]

I feel like there’s a preset for almost any sound I could possibly want In Omnisphere. The problem is that this can contribute even more to the choice paralysis issue. Still I think if I could only choose one it would be Omnisphere (especially if you’ve got Keyscape too).

[klstay]

The layout and workflow of Pigments is a big plus IMHO. One might get away with just it as their only VST.