Greatest Software Synths Of All Time
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- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2022
- Here are the most important, iconic and influential software sunthesizers of all time. I'll demo them all back and present some information about each. These are the synths that defined the sounds of new musical genres and revolutionized the music industry. All the synths we talk about today are softsynths, virtual synthesizers in software VST plugin format for running in your DAW for music production.
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SPOILER
SYLENTH1
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS MASSIVE
U-HE DIVA
XFER RECORDS SERUM
Honorable mentions
SPECTRASONICS OMNISPHERE
ARTURIA V COLLECTION
#synthesizer #synth #synthwave 
Видеоклипы
![[Drum Cover] Bobby Caldwell - What You Won’t Do For Love](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VeKUsKvDpgk/mqdefault.jpg)
I don't know about influential, but Arturia's Pigments is the deepest, most flexible, and powerful software synthesizer I know of.
IMHO:
1. Synapse Audio Dune
2. Softube Model 84
3. u-he Diva
4. Arturia Pigments
5. G-Force OB-E
Then there’s the whole range of synths from Cherry Audio, there’s Vital, there’s TAL-U-NO-LX and TAL-J-8, there’s Arturia V Collection and KiloHearts PhasePlant. I love them all but then the whole point of a top 5 is to really distill your absolute favourites!
Love your content as always, Woody!
Always so upbeat and straight forward.
Keep ‘em coming.
Nice video woody, I would say the Ominisphere belongs on this list.
Of these, you should still buy Diva if you don't have them. Don't bother buying massive or sylenth1, or serum unless you are an obsessive preset pack buyer. Serum seems to be the one everyone buys and then buys thousands of presets for. Maybe you can make money selling Serum presets as everyone seems to want to buy those.
Other candidates for greatest: Phase Plant, Pigments
Special category for free and insanely great: Surge XT, Vital.
If you were to pick one from Arturia, it would be Pigments with an honorary mention to the V-Collection suite. Pigments presents a lot of creative options, but presented in a way that’s not intimidating. Each version has gotten better, whether it’s adding new sources or new functions. It basically gives you the ability to create your own dream synth patch/sound.
As for the V-Collection, it’s basically a synth museum in your computer and for a steal (when compared to the original list price on several of them).
I know Pigments is considered “new”, but I still think it’s worthy of the title as it has also been around for not too long.
literally came here to suggest Pigments. Pigements is "Serum who?". Pigments is FUN to make sounds in, its beautiful and fun and i love it
Pigments is great! I use mainly Diva, Pigments and Kontakt Libraries in all of my tracks. With Diva definitely as most used 👍
Pigments is a proper heavyweight, amazing scope and the sound
Diva still sounds terrific
These days, we have some amazing stuff. Dune 3 has an amazing sound, OB-E is huge, Pigments has just about everything, and Hyperion is very powerful. Lots of others I have not tried.
Dune3 is glorious
@@Jason75913 Dune 3 is amazing. But I think Hyperion is probably the most powerful and epic synth I have. It's jaw dropping what you hear just by playing the presets.
The filtering and oscillator quality on Dune 3 blows away anything here. It's very apparent. With that, I really like Massive a lot, as well as the V-Collection. U-He's. Hive is also quite good.
It is a pleasure to listen again to my favourite ones too. Cheers
Thanks for doing this!
What a surprise @1:31 China Crisis - Black Man Ray. Somehow this band went off the radar of the industry. What a brilliant band, combining multiple influences always with a certain nonchalance. Flaunt The Imperfection is must have ...Love your videos ! Thank you for sharing your insight...
at last somebody that recognised and reacted to my peculiar choice of cover songs! always loved that track, and their other hits.
I absolutely love China Crisis so hearing that made me so happy lol
Great VSTs. Diva is awesome.
Another that I would like to mention is HYBRID 3 🎹🎶
I agree :)
Having XPand!2 and Hybrid 3 gives you all the Late 90s and early 2000 sounds out of the box or should i say in the box :)
I love both sylenth1 & diva but i find myself digging into the Korg legacy collection just for their low cpu usage & old school analog sound
Hi Woody, I've used several Virtual Synths plugins, of various values, from free to $400, 3 free, I got great sounds; Synth 1, PG-8X and of course Dexed, but of all the ones that came closest to a real synth was the OPX-pro II! 😄 The serum is very intuitive I like it too!
Your channel perfectly shows why Roland is so amazing. I will stay with my System-1, JD-Xi, D-05 and Juno DS.
D-05 makes me appreciate my Juno-DS, MC-707, and JD-Xi much more.
But Massive, Massive X, Sylenth1, and Dune3 are no slouches.
They all sound great, Diva and Serum in particular. Serum is probably the most visual one in showing the actual waveforms changing interactively.
Woody hear getting sounds out of these that I never attempt (the playing mainly) makes me want to go back to sylenth for more vintage dreamy stuff. I'm a big fan of Ana especially the slate aap version with all the extra sounds. For modern dance sounds serum is amazing just the way you can screw with the waveforms and add fx. For instant nostalgia and classic sounds without as much effort the arturia stuff is great.
I'd add Vital. It's got a lot of fresh and unique sounds and capabilities, and is a definite powerhouse.
Totally agree with the list. There are so many synths out there, but only a few are really something worth using.
Thank you! That’s sick
very welcome :)
When you played Black Man Ray, I was so impressed! Love it Woody!
hi dudley, well, i'll feature it again in my next video then, stay tuned!
For beginners: Arturia MiniFreak V
For advanced: Pigments
Both have a visualization of the waveforms so that you can understand what's exactly going on with the signal. So, perfect for beginners like me :)
Synth1, Spire, and FM8 deserve at least honorable mentions.
great synths indeed, but did they really dominate in the same way?
Spire really does sound great!
Spire does
1. OP-X Pro II - Classic Oberheim OB-X sounds. Amazing famous presets.
2. Pro~53 - An oldie but a classic. Load original Prophet 5 presets right in via sysex. Great
presets.
3. Korg M1 - Load the original sounds in via sysex. Lot's of great sounds available.
4. VB3 - Great Hammond clone.
Vital is definitely worth checking out (though given it's only a year old or so it probably doesn't have quite the same following as Serum or similar). My favourite soft-synth (that isn't an emulation) is one that rarely gets covered, ANA 2. Super versatile and while it may not be as popular as Diva or Serum, it's capabilities are definitely up there I'd argue! It has a great variety of filters & waveforms (arguably one of the big selling points of Diva I guess)
Keep up the great work!
U-He Zebra 2 surely also should be added to this list. It has been used by Hans Zimmer for Film scoring.
I have their plugins because they make them for Linux too (in a sort of beta form, but that's good enough).
@@6581punk I think they are a great company, good support for all plugins with regular updates and Urs is a cool guy, watched some interviews with him.
You are absolutely correct. Also, I prefer Hive over imho the inferior, but more popular, historic and Dutch made Sylenth-1.
@@PendelSteven I prefer the sound of any U/HE synth to any softsynth, save for maybe Geforce OB/E … Sylenth1 still gets a lot of use by me though, as that superior u/he sound comes at a cost of significant CPU tax .. 40% utilization on most DIVA patches, where Apple Silicon Sylenth1 is less than 4%
@@AdamsBrew78
I have an iPad Pro, and there are tons of really nice synths available….and cheap too! Worth checking out.
If you're talking objectively the greatest as far as features & flexibility with oscillators, I would have to include Image Line's Sytrus & Harmor plugins. Truly ahead of its time & still very relevant today
greatest as in the most widely used and important for the music production of the last decade or two. if features then it could end up being some very obscure stuff, like abysnth, a bizarre reaktor synth or something!
such nice pplaying!
The thing with Sylenth1 is that it's got every bit just right but not more.
Just wondering if Gary N de-monetized you? 😂 but thank-you! This enlightened me to some SW synths I wasn’t familiar with, the Diva patch Ephemeral Spirit is beautiful!
Two more Legendary but forgotten Synths Would be Rob Papen Blue and Predator!!
Those Rob Papen presets sound very Roland-inspired, and Woody might already have a Roland unit.
Alchemy. I know it's discontinued, but it was great.
Was going to say Alchemy. I have an old version and heard it was bought by Apple for Logic.
@@beachsidetech I think it's now been discontinued but there are archived copies out there, I believe. It was pretty cool.
It‘s inclusive when you buy Logic Pro
Hi Woody! I believe you correspond with Espen Kraft. Do you know what the state of his channel recovery is? I can’t believe U-Tube’z programming, personnel and storage redundancy are so inept they can’t recover a person’s hacked channel in shorter order.
Yes, I'm wondering about that too :(
A whole channel gone like that...
That's annoying, I only watched one of his videos the other day. This site really is terrible.
Bad news 🙁
i do talk to espen sometimes, but haven't reached out about this, I imagine he's quite stressed and doesn't need me making enquiries! i'm sure he'll get it back, and hopefully he'll share some lessons learned so we can avoid this happening to ourselves.
Omnisphere!
Also, what is the software you're using to display the chord info on screen?
good shout! and it's chordie app
Omnisphere is all
Those in one.
great tho it is, i'm sure you'll get lots of replies disagreeing!
Love all those, have not had much time with diva. I’ve spent a ton of time getting to know Ableton Operator, and limit myself to the box, would love to see an all time greatest synths that ship native to a DAW.
I think with Diva, Spire and Serum, you can make 99% of digital sounds out there.
I'm curious about something Woody. Now that the whole Omnisphere 'is it a synth or a rompler' issue is resolved, whether or not you'd place Omnisphere in the above list?
One of my favourite synths Is Dune it has some awesome presets to get you started and is really easy to use and it has an excellent interface, but let’s face it we are very spoilt these days you can’t really go wrong with any of them.
@woody what software are you using that displays your chords and notes???
Would love to see what this man thinks about Phase Plant
Muy genial
Fun stuff! What is the chord analyzer running on the screen?
that's chordie app
@@WoodyPianoShack Thanks Woody! Enjoy you channel very much.
Loved the Gary Numan nods. How are you generating the note/chord
graphics? A very musical presentation
thank you, i'm using chordie app here, but midiculous another great and free solution
I bought Chordie. Never know what
you'll learn in a Piano Shack video!
Wow, so tough to think and choose which synths have gone by, there have been some unsung heroes that have a great analogue feel.
You probably picked the right selection, they were all ground breaking or definitive in a way. To me, they still sound great and competitive because they have their own sound. Sylenth is Sylenth, Diva is analogue, and Massive can make increddddible soundscapes, Serum is the current staple sound design tool and it's excellent but i don't think much of the sound to be honest. I would probably add U-he Zebra, it's not really a sound but when it was released it was a leading powerhouse for sound design.
Have you done a video about what are the greatest new synths ? That would be interesting. Other than Serum, Pigments might be an ovious one, but what else brings something new to the table, or a definitive progress. The hardware synth emulations have come a long way, they deserve an inclusion, but all bundled into the same category.
greatest new synths is a great topic, but harder to define, since we don't know which will stand the test of time. a lot of people heaping praise on zebra, must be something in that.
@@WoodyPianoShack ah standing the test of time, i forgot about that variable !
I've had Zebra since release, and i still havent exhausted it's possibilites. It's like a modular but can create any style of synthesis and sound.
“Black Man Ray” sounded really nice
reFX Vanguard was a cool synth, unfortunately it's discontinued and only 32-bit.
Dune 3 is another awesome synth that I expected to see in this video.
Have you ever tried OP-X Pro II? It sounds very analog and is more CPU-friendly than Diva.
no, and I don't really have any relationship with the og hardware, not sure if diva is a cpu hog in the same way that it was on computers 10 years ago. curious to do some tests.
OP-X Pro II is one of my go-to's, but then again, it does emulate (and quite well I might add) my all-time favorite synth, Oberheim OB-X. It is ALL over my CD, leads, pads, plucks, arps, ....
For me, falcon 2 and omnisphere should be in there.
How do you like the Kontrol keyboard? Do you prefer it over the Korg you were using?
i like it, but not digging into the special feature much yet, just using it as a dumb controller with 8 rotary encoders! never used a korg, previouly I was on the cheaper NI A series.
good work as usual, time for your symphony, or something . . .
Are all the serum presets you used stock? I loved all of them, especially the one that says PD D_Pad 1
these are just random factory presets.
@@WoodyPianoShack sweet, thanks for the reply!
Title could have been "history of groundbreaking core/do-it-all/go-to-first software synths" as well. To me Omnisphere is more than just honorable mention and the brilliant Pigments UI and 3.5 update at least get it awful close to being on the list now. There are also some great focused emulations like OB-E, Repro, and U-NO-LX to name just 3, but that is not what this was about.
all great shouts, thanks! yeah, I like your alternative title too.
I made Patches for Sylenth1 Mate, Factory Bank 4 Starting from Patch 366 Onwards :)
nice one! mad respect!
Sylenth1 is still very good. Even got a recent minor update. I was recently playing Rank 1 Airwave with a preset I found in a cover of the song.
Dune 3.5 is one of the best. Often overlooked. D16 Lush-101 is surprisingly good. And GForce Imposcar2 and other GForce synths are very good..
I have a zillion software synths. I use PluginGuru Unify to keep track of them
Lots of good free synths from Full Bucket. If you use a PC, Viper is good for Virus sounds.
The DSP emulator 'Osirus' is great if you can't get your hands on a Virus B/C, since it emulates the processor found in the hardware, it produces the exact same sound.
Seems like everyone got here before me :-) Mentions of Vital and Omnisphere of course, both are great. Not sure Arturia stuff would belong on this list as it's a great collection of vintage sounds, but generally not unique. Same with Kontakt - good sampler, not really a synth most of the time. I would put the Roland VST's into the same bag as the Arturia, good stuff but more useful as a collection. Gigasampler, while not used anymore, was huge in it's time (no pun intended... or was it?) And I suspect you're going to find a lot of Zenology going forward as it's so versatile.
right on, I love zenology but from what I can tell, it hasn't caught on and established itself as a go-to plugin in the same way as the others...?
@@WoodyPianoShack No, not yet but I’ll predict a back door usage first from the Hardware synths that are based on it, like the Fantoms etc. The older JV’s and XV’s were so popular as core sound sources and I see this engine as a direct extension of those.
HI, Woody. What plugin did you use to create notes and chords in the bottom left corner?
chordie app
@@WoodyPianoShack Thanx
What’s a good synth to buy that can mimic the stock vst from fl studio, it’s called sim synth. It’s a retro sounding vst synth that’s modeled after the analogue synths in the 80s. It has that Chorusy sound and it sounds dope for trap beats.
“The sound is created by three oscillators, filtered by a SVF section (State Variable Filter) and amplified by an ADSR envelope. The unit includes a programmable LFO section that can control some of the parameters in the oscillator and SVF sections. Finally you can filter the sound with a chorus effect to widen the stereo panorama of the patch.”
I don't run FL Studio, but if something like Synth1 doesn't quite make it DIva DEFINITELY will.
Z3TA+ is one old synth I'll always be subconsciously sad about because I don't own it. Never got around buying it and when I finally decided, Cakewalk stopped selling it. I only have the demo on my Cakewalk account.
what software(the one that shows the clefts and chords) are you using?
chordie app
Avenger from vengeance-sounds is my first pick, furthermore Hive 5 and of course vital.
Great stuff, but greatest vsts may be a bit misleading and forever changing. Perhaps make a video of the most influential vsts? D16 and especially the earlier NI were really groundbreaking
After getting Omnisphere I would have to say this is it. Its amazing.
pigments. and i'd say absynth as well, for its completely novel approach to sound design.
There are no Softube emulations here. That’s crazy.
in a later video iirc
I'd add Falcon to the list.
U-he diva is insane plusi i like dune and that's it
Zebra 2 and UVI Falcon. Beasts that aren't for everyone.
regrettable, but expected . . . the Albino synth by Robert Papen and LinPlug . . . is Not on the list 😇😊 But after using it for almost 19 years, I'll be using Albino for the REST of my life. That thing is just OUT of this world. The problem with Albino of course, is that while it was a hit upon its release, its marketing and the feud between Robert Papen and the LinPlug team, caused it to end up going the unfortunate route and landed it in the graveyard. But buuuoyyy, the sounds and synthesis capabilities from the Albino synth . . . = remain almost irreplaceable 😛😛.
I have them all but would include pigments, omnisphere and spire….
All good synths but, I think Omnisphere deserved more than an honourable mention.
And no Zebra?! Woody, you be trippin’! :)
All grist for a follow-up video, eh?
hello there! well, between you and I, practical reasons led to the omni honorable mention, they don't have demo version, and I don't need to drop $500 on it right now! Zebra, need to look into that. I stumbled across your sound packs when researching diva, good stuff!
@@WoodyPianoShack Ah, Omni priced itself out of the video! Imho, Zebra's the greatest softsynth out there. Definitely worth adding to your arsenal. :)
@@TheUnfinishedSynth well, you more than anybody would know, so yeah, thanks for the tip, i'm on to it!
@@WoodyPianoShack If you do get it, let me know and I'll fire over some soundsets to play with. :)
OMNISPHERE
Hi Woody, I understand what you’re aiming for here, and my two suggestions don’t make this list perfectly but deserve recognition (in a similar manner)…
Reaktor. Not exactly a soft synth, but an incredibly powerful platform (?), like if you could have only one VST this might be it.
Pigments. Too new to have the rep (yet) for this list, but one of the recently developed VSTs that will prove itself over the test of time (in time).
funny, i have a rather random and obscure reaktor video soming soon. yeah, worthy of some recognition. also pigments, but still very much the new kid and not yet established as an essential tool.
I tried only Massive and Diva from the shown synths. I still have Massive. Diva was killing my CPU. I need many times more powerfull computer to be able to make music with Diva. Unfortunately.
You have to try tone 2 vsts
never heard of them until now, thanks!
@@WoodyPianoShack check out some demos on RUclips
I would say Spire and Sonic Academy ANA2
thank you! i'm aware of those yeah!
Dune - Rapid - Omnispere - Falcon
No Love for Dune 3?
Tone 2 synths and Rob Papen.
ah, yeah, the rob papen stuff is up there.
No Nexus on the list?
i heard great things about it, but perhaps never quite as successful and widely used as the others?
@@WoodyPianoShack Nexus was a Rompler more than it was a synth. Though influential, I wouldn't put it on this list
@@WoodyPianoShack I'm pretty sure Nexus and Nexus 2 were all the rage in their time, I don't hear much about Nexus these days.
what about Omnisphere ?
it got a mention at the end! all I can do because I don't have a copy, but still I think not as widely used as the others I mentioned. although for fim scoring it's still popular I believe. amazing synth from a fantastic company though, no doubt!
@@WoodyPianoShack , i know, omnisphere has it limitations, no modular features, the fm engine lack
Fm algorithm etc, but omnisphere still stands out, because the osc, is so clean,and the filters is so fat and juicy, the omnisphere patches, samples, from the omnisphere internal library is far better than any synth.
The fx section is superior to any other fx software.
Allso, the synthmaster 2, well properly not the best software synth, but i got it 50% or was it 70%, cant remember , but i bought it cheap.
Synthmaster is a great software synth.
I guess these are the most used plugins in modern day productions, but of course "greatest" is very subjective.
I like these plugins, but there are others I prefer to use way more :). But that's not the point of this video of course.
hi xav, i know which are some of your favorites! these are the ones that I believe have been/are most widely used and have been on the most hit records...
Good synths but I think AAS Ultra Analog VA-3 is a must have on the list!
i feel like Nexus and fm8 deserved a spot on the list, especially Nexus because you could hear it all over late 2000s and early 2010s hiphop, pop and dance music
its was like the Korg M1 of its time
Well, Nexus was more a Rompler than a synth, but it definitely was influential
ok apologies for the omission of Nexus, somehow it seems to have passed me by.
@@SwiftDreamer "Nexus was more a [synth] than a synth"
🤦
@@WoodyPianoShack no need for apologies, maybe Nexus did not have the same impact in the Europe that it had here in the US
its stock bells and piano presets were all over American pop and hip hop
when i first got into production back in 2010 Nexus was part of the holy trinity (Massive, Sylenth1 and Nexus), almost every producer had to have those
Its not as popular today as it was before but it was very influential since its release in 2006 to at least 2012
No Omnisphere?
Honorable Mention 🤪🤪🤪
i don't have it, no demo version, and therefore couldn't demo it. still not sure if it as widely used as the others, due to the high price. is it mainly film scorers using it, or is that a myth?
@@WoodyPianoShack I use in a cover band quite a bit playing 80’s music. It’s powerful and adds that icing over my hardware synths.
DUNE, bruh ;)
These are certainly popular, but I think there are much greater ones. For example, Steinberg/Wizoo Hypersonic 2 is the best virtual workstation plugin, with every kind of sound you could ever want. Spectrasonics Omnisphere has been extremely important in synthesized music as well. And for actual synthesis, I consider UVI Falcon the best ever made.
Dexed
NI Kontakt probably is used more on modern songs than most of these great synths. Then again, is it a sampler more than a synth?
The synthesis options in it are vast anyway.
Rolands cloud offerings also sound great, maybe the closest to the real analog thing out there. But then again, the cloud thing with subscription is really, really bad!
yeah, kontakt was in and out of the video, until I decided to put it into the sampler category. plus I recognise the importance of kontakt and already made a tribute video!
Reaktor
I've always found Diva very boring and extremely overrated, I'd remove it from that list and add Dune 3, Spire, ANA 2, Arturia V Collection, KORG...
be sure to check access virus new free emulation ;)
i still love zebra 2
phase plant 2 is also amazing
and if you want to have maximum power, but dig in a hard GUI check out tranzistow... its like having a solaris ,andromeda etc
checkout my new midiverb emulation "UBERVERB", great for all classic synth fx
I wish someone would make a decent GUI for Tranzistow. It’s utterly impenetrable in its current format! :)
congrats on your midiverb, will try and remember to check that out, had the hardware back in the day. also thanks for the virus tip!
@@WoodyPianoShack thank you Woody,you wont regret ❤