Best synths?

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chaocrator
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Re: Best synths?

Post by chaocrator »

FM synthesis is not that easy, it's OK.

if one wants to learn it, i highly recommend these videos (btw, using Dexed):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPADttG4GK0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_wNjPLDWgE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFmCP54OB_k

and of course the classic book of John Chowning (the official inventor of this technology) „FM Theory and Applications“ that is easy to be found on the net as PDF.

also, there are a lot of tutorials for FM8 on youtube. the vast majority of them is applicable to other FM synths, if one understands how FM works.
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Re: Best synths?

Post by khz »

      • :idea:
>> Synthesis [2] <<

c/p vrooom https://www.sequencer.de/synth/index.php/Synthese
Synthese
Synthese / Synthesis = to put together
Synthesizers uses the method Synthesis to generate sounds
  • :arrow:
    • INTERNATIONAL*
Method to generate a sound / noise - synthesis works on the basis of arranging modules or components with simple musical functions like Oscillator, Filter, Amplifier etc.
>> Synthesis [2] <<
      • :idea:
https://www.deepl.com/translate
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Re: Best synths?

Post by davephillips »

Response to the OP, some of the go-to synths here at Studio D :

Things for $$$:
U-he ACE, Diva, Bazille, and Zebra2 - These are awe-inspiring products, worth every penny.
DiscoDSP Discovery Pro - One of the best-sounding synths for any OS.
Modartt Pianoteq - Really, there's no competition.

Things for no $$$:
VCV Rack - Free virtual modular synthesis environment.
Csound - The monster. Maybe most viable through the Cabbage plugins.
ZynAddSubFX/Yoshimi - Again, no competition.
Helm - A great synth, easy to program for some very cool sounds.
Hexter - IMO the best FM (DX/TX) softsynth.
LinuxSampler - Yes, it's a beast, but nothing tops it.
QSynth - Always there if I need a basic GM synth (though of course it's capable of more than that).

Best,

dp
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Re: Best synths?

Post by glowrak guy »

chaocrator wrote: and returning to the unanswered question from the very first post in this topic:
tavasti wrote:With my understanding it is hard to find reason why we need so many synths, do they have distinctive features really?
The 'we' that is referred to, is actually many people with differing yet specific needs,
desires, and situations. An old guy in a poor country, with limited resources and lifespan,
will likely have a different perspective and plan, than a young guy in a rich country.
Hence the ever growing variety of products, innovations, and improvements.

Regardless of age and finance, there are also different temperments,
some have the desire to painstakingly carve out new sounds from an bare init patch,
and someone else will be happy to browse for hours seeking a great preset,
and another will study a bit, and learn to modify presets.

Assuming one has a modern audio interface, and decent monitors/headphones,
we've already hit the human-hearing ceiling, so projecting
what will be used in 50 years, won't matter, because it won't sound better...
any big aural improvements would be out-of-range, and a poor R&D investment.
Then, as people age, and build wealth, and can afford better gear,
their hearing depreciates, with aging audiophiles arguing over every sonic nuance,
yet can't hear their wife saying, 'Hey, the birds are singing, get some sleep already! '
:wink:
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Re: Best synths?

Post by Baggypants »

I like setBFree. Gigged with it for a couple of years and still prefer it’s slightly more crunchy sound and Leslie sim over my vastly more convenient VR-09.
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Re: Best synths?

Post by tavasti »

Frank Carvalho wrote:
tavasti wrote: Tested dexed. Crafting own sounds with it does not seem to be that easy
Dexed is an implementation of the DX7(++), and the DX7 was notorius for being difficult to program, or maybe rather difficult to understand, because you have to abandon the familiar subtractive way of thinking. On the DX7 you "build" the sounds by enriching with more harmonics. So while subtractive synthesis is about taking away harmonics (filtering), FM is all about adding harmonics with stacks of operators.
Understanding of theory was not a problem, but first of all, missing documentation for meaning of knobs. Got most of them now. However, when browsing maybe 200 patches, and not finding any which would cause 'wow what a sound' effect, I expect dexed not to be my thing. Or it may apply to whole class of FM synths. Tthere can be some cases when dexed might be suitable. Creating sounds which sound change their character during one note would be that case.

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chaocrator
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Re: Best synths?

Post by chaocrator »

tavasti wrote:Creating sounds which sound change their character during one note would be that case.
DX7/dexed have much smarter envelope generators than ADSR commonly used in subtractive synths.
(luckily, it's not difficult to build subtractive synth patches with DX7-style EGs for Axoloti 8) )
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Re: Best synths?

Post by milkii »

https://wiki.thingsandstuff.org/Synthesis

no idea on how good most of them are, but the list might help those who wish to find out.

the vast majority are free and or open source. anything (very much preferably free and or open) missed out?

they/them ta / libreav.org / wiki.thingsandstuff.org/Audio and related pages / gh

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Re: Best synths?

Post by khz »

milk wrote:https://wiki.thingsandstuff.org/Synthesis

no idea on how good most of them are, but the list might help those who wish to find out.

the vast majority are free and or open source. anything (very much preferably free and or open) missed out?
Your WIKI is excellent and so much more.
Thanks for that!
That's right, there's so much information gathered there.
:freedom:
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Re: Best synths?

Post by ssj71 »

If you just want comprehensive lists, then there is linuxsynths.com too. :)

I was looking for short lists to be produced here. :) I don't have time to audition all of them.

EDIT: FTR, I like Helm a lot, Zyn, amsynth, and phasex (but I don't use it much because its not a plugin).
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Re: Best synths?

Post by tavasti »

ssj71 wrote:If you just want comprehensive lists, then there is linuxsynths.com too. :)

I was looking for short lists to be produced here. :) I don't have time to audition all of them.
You are perfectly in my point. Even 'apt-get search synth | grep synth' gives 122 lines. I don't think I have time and energy to learn all of them so properly that I could judge are they great, ok, or not so good. Therefore opinnions provided here are valuable.

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Re: Best synths?

Post by tavasti »

ssj71 wrote: EDIT: FTR, I like Helm a lot, Zyn, amsynth, and phasex (but I don't use it much because its not a plugin).
http://linuxsynths.com/PhasexBanksDemos/phasex.html

'It is mono/poly-phonic, and can be run either as a plug-in or as standalone.'

For the quick look in the UI, looks like having plenty of features, takes for a while to learn, but looks it might provide versatility I'm looking for.

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Re: Best synths?

Post by rghvdberg »

In the right hands dexed is a very powerful tool

All sounds made with dexed. Amazing.

https://archive.org/details/OSC74Dexxed ... Pieces.mp3
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Re: Best synths?

Post by chaocrator »

phasex is very nice synth, one of, say, 5 my favorites.
not pure subtractive or FM or wavetable, but hybrid.

and how could happen no one mentioned bristol?
this is the very first softsynth on linux that i massively used.
a bit quirky to use, but has very nice emulations of old classic machines from 70s–80s.
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Re: Best synths?

Post by tavasti »

chaocrator wrote: and how could happen no one mentioned bristol?
this is the very first softsynth on linux that i massively used.
a bit quirky to use, but has very nice emulations of old classic machines from 70s–80s.
Instead of one synth, it is more like ~40 different synths packed in one program. In terms of learning time and getting desired sound, maybe not best option? It has for example DX7 emulation, and many more.

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