In my spare time I enjoy using synthesizers to produce my owns sounds and musical compositions. So I wanted to write a little about my own favourite synths. I tend to use soft synths mainly because of the degree of automation and control that I can have over their synthesis parameters when I produce my music. Of course I love the sound of analogue synthesizers and some of the U-He synths are now getting very close to this analogue sound. It is still an open debate regarding which sounds best and rather than get involved in that side, I will say that as synth enthusiasts we can all agree the gap is definitely narrowing which is a great thing for all.
So I will do a short list of my favourite software synthesis in 2019, they are not in a specific order as each has its strengths and weaknesses that I will write about. Personally speaking I tend to judge a synth based on its fundamental sound engine quality more so than having the widest range of functions and features. Of course functions and features are important and great to have on any synth but I feel that the end results produced often weigh quite heavily on the quality of the soft synths sound engine.
Sylenth1 - this is an old but great quality synth. Sylenth1 has a direct, powerful and potentially liquid sound. It has a real tangibility and can easily be mistaken for a quality hardware virtual analogue synth. It sits VERY well in a mix and has a classy sound. It has one of the best saw waves I have heard, rich, thick and powerful. It does not excel at all sounds, it does not do FM synthesis ( specifically, though some fast LFO modulations may get you close) yet probably has one of the most robust sounding engines for pure virtual analogue type sounds. It does not have 25 filter types but the ones it does have do well and it has very good, snappy, punchy envelopes. Modulation is limited but it can still produce great sounding results.
Massive X - this is a new favourite it has a quite warm sounding synth engine but also can produce very clear and glassy sounds. It does both very well. I have not been immensely impressed by its FM capabilities despite the fact it has a couple of modes of FM (PM) built in. It is a wavetable synth and has some great wavetables shipped and has some very unusual and interesting (unique) wavetable morphing effects built right into the oscillators. Routing can be slightly complex but this will not stop you from making great sounds easily with basic synthesis knowledge. It has a competent effects section and again unusual and quite good filters, a few odd ones that have potential and plenty of them. I think we will hear new sounds in tracks from this synth that will become staple in some genres.
Massive - I still have a lot of love for the original NI Massive an old synth but it has some solid character and whilst it may have a sound of a time when programmed that way it still has a solid sound to it. It was one of the most respected early softsynths that really took ITB synthesis up a notch. The filter can be a little less exciting and often feels like it has a narrow sweet spot compared to other synths, a slightly odd response at times. The sound is a little glassy and dirty so good for harder styles of dance music. You can get many thousands of presets for this synth because it is old and good. It is a classic IMO. As much as a classic for dance music as Sylenth1 and the hardware Virus, which incidentally brings us onto.............
Viper - This is a very cool emulation of the ACCESS VIRUS. Its functionality has recently been updated to include wavetable oscillators, though it still lacks the formant complex modes of operation with F-shift which can be responsible for a lot of very spaced out sounds. Viper is a little smoother and at times a little more metallic sounding (Maybe the reverbs a tad "zingy" in character). The original virus has a slight dirtyness to its sounds (probably from a little aliasing) and the filter has a very specific character. It has good envelopes that are very responsive. So think of Viper as a Virus with a slightly smoother tone to it. Viper has quite good effects and as a synth can make a very wide range of sounds, it is a very good value synth given the sonic power available.
Serum - Serum is a great synth, probably the most hi fi synth of them all. It has a wonderful and easy GUI to use, high quality wavetables, it has workman like filters and does some great FM sounds, super envelopes and modulation is a breeze. It has very a good effects section so at times you do not even have to use your own bespoke effects processing. It excells at brash sounding dance music sounds IMO but can work any genre well. Its strength is not as a classic analogue emulation. It can do "glassy but classy" very well, sounds clean and modern and has an exceptionally pure digital sound if that is what you need. It is almost a must have for modern dance music production genres. Sometimes you can read online that it sounds a little thin but this can be mitigated against with carefully selected processing.
Parawave Rapid - This is a really great synth, it has had regular updates and sounds very good. A very hi fi sounding synth with a sound that could be somewhat compared to Sylenth1 despite the latter not being a wavetable synth, it has a very direct and slightly glassy sound to my ear. Very clear and always cuts through a mix nicely. It is a wavetable synth at heart but can do various FM forms. It has many good wavetables shipped with the synth and will keep you going for hours and hours making new sounds and has some nice presets shipped as well for various styles of music. I find the synths filters a little weak at times, though I must try its new ones as they have a few new analogue filter models. I previously found the synth to have quite narrow filter sweet spots with the LPF's that were available witha very harsh sound at high resonance settings. All in all it is one of the best soft synths on the market IMO. It simply cover so much ground well. It has a unique and power effects section and very comprehensive modulation capabilities.
U-He Repro-1 and Diva also need a mention, these are the analogue-a-likes, very good emulations of classic style analogue synths such as the Sequential Circuits Pro-1 and Diva being a blend of Moog, Roland Jupiter/Juno/ JP classics with its semi-modular filter and oscillator options. Both can use a lot of CPU processing power but in return you do get warmth and a certain authenticity to the sound that they produce. They can both produce very fat and thick sounding results that will fool many ears that they are the real thing.
I will give an honoury mention to RP Predator 2, it is an old synth now and yet somehow it will occasionally throw something up that you cannot resist. It is powerful and has a bit of a "sound of a time" associated with it. It has an abundance of presets, maybe positioning it sonically in the early 2000's. It has a lot going for it with many powerful features, modulations and envelopes, it is all there. Maybe the waveforms in the oscillators are a little lacklustre (it is afterall a very old synth) and have a character of what a soft synth used to be but there is something endearing about it. And if retro is your bag then it may just be perfect.
As synth enthusiast and a mastering engineer competent in mastering synth music I suggest you download and install the demo's test the presets make some of your own bread and butter genre sounds and see how they fit into your music and approach to sound design.
So I will do a short list of my favourite software synthesis in 2019, they are not in a specific order as each has its strengths and weaknesses that I will write about. Personally speaking I tend to judge a synth based on its fundamental sound engine quality more so than having the widest range of functions and features. Of course functions and features are important and great to have on any synth but I feel that the end results produced often weigh quite heavily on the quality of the soft synths sound engine.
Sylenth1 - this is an old but great quality synth. Sylenth1 has a direct, powerful and potentially liquid sound. It has a real tangibility and can easily be mistaken for a quality hardware virtual analogue synth. It sits VERY well in a mix and has a classy sound. It has one of the best saw waves I have heard, rich, thick and powerful. It does not excel at all sounds, it does not do FM synthesis ( specifically, though some fast LFO modulations may get you close) yet probably has one of the most robust sounding engines for pure virtual analogue type sounds. It does not have 25 filter types but the ones it does have do well and it has very good, snappy, punchy envelopes. Modulation is limited but it can still produce great sounding results.
Massive X - this is a new favourite it has a quite warm sounding synth engine but also can produce very clear and glassy sounds. It does both very well. I have not been immensely impressed by its FM capabilities despite the fact it has a couple of modes of FM (PM) built in. It is a wavetable synth and has some great wavetables shipped and has some very unusual and interesting (unique) wavetable morphing effects built right into the oscillators. Routing can be slightly complex but this will not stop you from making great sounds easily with basic synthesis knowledge. It has a competent effects section and again unusual and quite good filters, a few odd ones that have potential and plenty of them. I think we will hear new sounds in tracks from this synth that will become staple in some genres.
Massive - I still have a lot of love for the original NI Massive an old synth but it has some solid character and whilst it may have a sound of a time when programmed that way it still has a solid sound to it. It was one of the most respected early softsynths that really took ITB synthesis up a notch. The filter can be a little less exciting and often feels like it has a narrow sweet spot compared to other synths, a slightly odd response at times. The sound is a little glassy and dirty so good for harder styles of dance music. You can get many thousands of presets for this synth because it is old and good. It is a classic IMO. As much as a classic for dance music as Sylenth1 and the hardware Virus, which incidentally brings us onto.............
Viper - This is a very cool emulation of the ACCESS VIRUS. Its functionality has recently been updated to include wavetable oscillators, though it still lacks the formant complex modes of operation with F-shift which can be responsible for a lot of very spaced out sounds. Viper is a little smoother and at times a little more metallic sounding (Maybe the reverbs a tad "zingy" in character). The original virus has a slight dirtyness to its sounds (probably from a little aliasing) and the filter has a very specific character. It has good envelopes that are very responsive. So think of Viper as a Virus with a slightly smoother tone to it. Viper has quite good effects and as a synth can make a very wide range of sounds, it is a very good value synth given the sonic power available.
Serum - Serum is a great synth, probably the most hi fi synth of them all. It has a wonderful and easy GUI to use, high quality wavetables, it has workman like filters and does some great FM sounds, super envelopes and modulation is a breeze. It has very a good effects section so at times you do not even have to use your own bespoke effects processing. It excells at brash sounding dance music sounds IMO but can work any genre well. Its strength is not as a classic analogue emulation. It can do "glassy but classy" very well, sounds clean and modern and has an exceptionally pure digital sound if that is what you need. It is almost a must have for modern dance music production genres. Sometimes you can read online that it sounds a little thin but this can be mitigated against with carefully selected processing.
Parawave Rapid - This is a really great synth, it has had regular updates and sounds very good. A very hi fi sounding synth with a sound that could be somewhat compared to Sylenth1 despite the latter not being a wavetable synth, it has a very direct and slightly glassy sound to my ear. Very clear and always cuts through a mix nicely. It is a wavetable synth at heart but can do various FM forms. It has many good wavetables shipped with the synth and will keep you going for hours and hours making new sounds and has some nice presets shipped as well for various styles of music. I find the synths filters a little weak at times, though I must try its new ones as they have a few new analogue filter models. I previously found the synth to have quite narrow filter sweet spots with the LPF's that were available witha very harsh sound at high resonance settings. All in all it is one of the best soft synths on the market IMO. It simply cover so much ground well. It has a unique and power effects section and very comprehensive modulation capabilities.
U-He Repro-1 and Diva also need a mention, these are the analogue-a-likes, very good emulations of classic style analogue synths such as the Sequential Circuits Pro-1 and Diva being a blend of Moog, Roland Jupiter/Juno/ JP classics with its semi-modular filter and oscillator options. Both can use a lot of CPU processing power but in return you do get warmth and a certain authenticity to the sound that they produce. They can both produce very fat and thick sounding results that will fool many ears that they are the real thing.
I will give an honoury mention to RP Predator 2, it is an old synth now and yet somehow it will occasionally throw something up that you cannot resist. It is powerful and has a bit of a "sound of a time" associated with it. It has an abundance of presets, maybe positioning it sonically in the early 2000's. It has a lot going for it with many powerful features, modulations and envelopes, it is all there. Maybe the waveforms in the oscillators are a little lacklustre (it is afterall a very old synth) and have a character of what a soft synth used to be but there is something endearing about it. And if retro is your bag then it may just be perfect.
As synth enthusiast and a mastering engineer competent in mastering synth music I suggest you download and install the demo's test the presets make some of your own bread and butter genre sounds and see how they fit into your music and approach to sound design.
