Other Virtual Synths

I have had no compatibility issues with this plugin. I run it on a Macbook with Presonus interfaces and it seems to work great. I have not needed to reference the manual as it is very similar to most other virtual synths. The general configuration is fairly simple. There are a lot of options on this synth but they are almost all right in front of you and easily accessed. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I run this synth in both Logic 9 and Ableton 8 and it works great. It doesn't hog much CPU power and sounds rich and full. So far the plugin has never crashed or lost any presets, very stable. The plugin functions well in my host programs and responds well to all midi messages and controls so I give it a 10 out of 10 for performance. I have been using this synth for about 3 months. OVERALL OPINION What I like most about this synth is actually the thing I dislike most about it. This is primarily a synth for techno/dance musicians in my opinion. With that said, I love it when I am in the mood to write that kind of music. It is capable of making some extremely rich pads and crazy arpeggios as well as some good bass lines. When I am not writing dance music, I almost never touch this synth. The sounds lean so much to that genre that I sometimes wish I didn't get it (I write so little in that style). I paid $200 for this plugin. Its worth every penny if you primarily write in the techno/dance style. If you don't, they are far more versatile synths out there and I would suggest passing this one up. I have used many synths over the years and this is a great synth if you need a specific sound. I would not buy this again only because I don't use it that much.

Heavyocity Evolve is software instrument of cinematic sounds. It contains drum loops, individual drum hits, melodic instruments, and stingers/transitions (think whooshes/big hits movie trailers). The software runs runs inside of Kontakt (or Kontakt Free) from Native Instruments. I purchased the DVDs of Evolve, but I think I can also be directly downloaded at this point from the Heavyocity website or the NI website. Authorization is completed using the NI Service Center. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE Heavyocity Evolve received a major update since its release to include a new GUI and trigger effects. I definitely enjoy using this library more since the update. The trigger effects are great - they allow you to temporarily add some effects by simply pressing a key on your keyboard. When I am using Evolve, I don't end up using a lot of the trigger effects, but they are perfect in the rare event you want to add a special effect. Although the sounds are unchanged in the major update, there is a fair amount of increased flexibility and control of the included sounds that make the update highly recommended. Compared to the original release, the upgrade changes the way the drums loops can be triggered. In the original release all the drums loops were mapped across the keyboard for triggering - one loop per key. This is a useful way to access the loops especially if you want to build up many layers of drum loops. With the update, each individual loop was made into individual Kontakt instruments. The individual pattern is stretched out across the keyboard with each 'hit' on a different key. This is useful if you just want to sample the snare drum from a loop without the rest of the loop. OVERALL OPINION Heavyocity Evolve is a sample library of cinematic drum sounds and melodic instruments. Of all the Heavyocity Evolve libraries I own (Mutations 1 and 2, Damage), the melodic instruments in Evolve are the least usable. I've found that it takes a fair amount of tweaking to get a decent sound. I think the Heavyocity team have really improved this aspect in the more recent releases. The drum library is quite extensive. It has tons and tons of loops. Layering these loops makes it really easy to get the 'car-chase' sound. The individual drum hits are epic right out of the box. They are perfect for adding extra impact to the loops. I am not a film composer. Although this library was created mostly for film, I use it to had extra effects to rock music. I have been really happy with the results.

There weren't any kind of compatibility issues in the program , it worked really great. The book provided by the program was quite clear regarding the general configuration of the program and how the settings worked to get a clear understanding. General configuration and setup is pretty easy. The typical functions are accessible fro a nice window in the great design that has a lot of editing options to choose from and many presets provided by Izotope SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The software performs incredibly well, the gear is stable and I've been using it for some time and I still use it in all of my tracks , the configuration is stable as you can imagine with such a pro company as iZotope. I do get some nice desired changes in my mixes with this program. I've been using this program for a couple of months, but I do enjoy every tweak provided by it. OVERALL OPINION What I do like most about it are the sounds, those sounds that are just so high quality and can be used in your hip-hop, pop composition , you can also manage to create a great orchestral composition. I also like iZotope's pro effects and processors, including chorus, reverb, delay, distortions, and filters that allow to modulate your sounds to a whole new level. THe value of price is great, I think it deserves the 200$ , you can layer some different unique sounds to make a very original composition , and that's something that I really like about this program, is how easy and fast is layering. Precision and quality of sounds are without a doubt to mention, they are extremely well made, realistic, pro , and easy to work with. Yes, there are a lot of models out there, but you should without a doubt give this program a try and see how it works for you. Knowing what I know I would buy this program and try it out to get a whole new perspective on music creation.

ReFX Claw is a one oscillator with PWM. All of the effects and features of the Claw VST are pretty simple and easy to understand. This VST is completely free and you have nothing to lose, if you download it you probably wont uninstall it because it will come in use at some point or another. Most of the sounds that come with Claw are pretty basic, they wont shock and awe you by any means but they will do for now. If later one your want to get some more presets, you can download a ton of them online or even purchase some by some people that have really took the time to develop so price worthy sounds for this freeware VST plug-in. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE Claw by reFX has worked perfect for me, I have ran it multiple times in several different software’s, I have probably used it on a total of 4 different machines and it has not crashed ever or caused any problems. They are still yet to update Claw version 1.0 yet though, I am not sure if they have came out with a newer version of it or not. I will keep my eye out. I have been using Claw for about 2 years now and will continue to use it. OVERALL OPINION In my opinion when it comes to freeware VST plug ins, you really don’t have anything to lose, especially if you are downloading from a site that is reputable and not some virus prone site. When you download reFX vst, you will immediately start to use it, there is no learning curve and all of the sounds and functions are easy to use and access. I am actually surprised that it is free. I am glad that I chose to download this, I have used many other reFX products and VST and each of them is worth using.

Togu Audio Line Bassline is a freeware VST that can be downloaded and installed in no time. The only reason that I tried the Togu Bassline VST is because it was free and I was over at KVR looking for some new Bass VST’s so I gave this one a shot. It is not perfect by any means , but it is very easy to use and you can get some great bass sounds when using it. There was no manual, and it is a pretty small VST so it wont take much of your CPU or RAM up using it. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I did have some issues when running it on my quad core pc running Windows 7 , my pc has 2.6GHz and 6MB, I have great computer specs , when running Togu Audio Line Bassline multiple times within the same session it would crash. This would only happen if I had it open like 4 or 5 times. Now you can easily work around that and not open it that many times. But I like for all of my basslines to be in different channels not just different patterns. So I would say the performance I am getting from Togu Basslines is about 50 percent, it could be a lot better and has room to grow. Togu has created a good baseline VST with a lot of room to get a lot better, I see a lot of potential for this VST in the future. OVERALL OPINION The thing I hate about it is, I cant run it more than 4 times without it crashing and me having to shut down the whole session and re-open the session just to hope that it doesn’t crash again. The thing I like best about it is that you can get some really good base sounds if you know what you are doing and take the time with which sounds you choose and how you mix it with your other instruments and drums.

installation without problems, general configuration was easy, no incompatibilities, user manual a bit thin.... SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE imac osx snow leopard,i5, 4 gb ram, digi 003 sound card, works perfectly fine with this configuration, stable hardware/software configuration. OVERALL OPINION I've been using it for three months and its the best virtual instrument that I've had up to now. The sounds are incredible!!! Value for money? It's expensive for a virtual instrument, but you really get your money's worth. I would buy it again with my eyes closed.

I run this on a Macbook Pro i7 with 8gb ram and an RME Fireface 800. I run this Kontakt 5 either as a standalone or in Logic 9 or Ableton 8. So far I have had zero compatibility issues. This is a very simple instrument so you really don't need to reference the manual. The setup is as simple as installing, then finding the set through Kontakt's file browser. The configuration is very simple. You essentially get three tabs to find all the controls offered on this synth. The three tabs are Master, Control Panel and Effects and they contain simple parameters like Velocity, tuning, pitchbend, reverb, delay, phase shifter and other parameters to "fine tune" the string sound (envelope, filter, level/mix). These are easily found and tweaked. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE So far I have not had any crashes, lost work of audio dropouts and glitches. It appears to be very stable and it sounds terrific. I never used one of these in real life, but a fellow engineer says he worked with one back in the day and was fairly impressed by the sound quality. The performance is great. No latency, no issues with mapping and such. I have had this for about two months. I usually reach for my various Mellotron samples to get that vintage string sound. This sample set was cheap so I picked it up and I must say, I still love my Sampletron but I also grab this one out just for something a little different. OVERALL OPINION What I do like is the samples are quite full and warm, despite being sampled strings. Also, the GUI is neat, and very easy to navigate. I also love the price. There is really not anything to complain about with this synth. For only $15, you can't go wrong. Even if you have some solid Mellotron samples in your arsenal, this synth still has a place. Again, I haven't used the real deal before. A friend has, although many years ago, but he says it seems pretty spot on. I have not had much experience with synths made solely for strings. I highly recommend this sample set, especially for the same price of your average album.

This VST installed nicely and quickly and has worked nicely on both of my computers. I have used it on a low end computer (1.8GHZ pentium and 1gb ram) as well as my current (2.5GHZ Core2Quad & 4GB ram) and it runs equally as brilliant on both. The lbirary is easily accessable and nice to use, a breath of fresh air from other VST's that opt for dropdown menus that can't be scrolled in Ableton Live. It works nicely in both of the DAW's that I use, Ableton and FL Studio. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE This software works well in both of my DAW's and performs admirably. There is a huge bank of sounds available and they all load near instantly. The CPU load is pretty low too so there is no problems with stacking up sounds. The memory usage is also low for a VST of the nature that it is, it has hundreds upon hundreds of preset sounds in the library. It is remarkably stable too, I have never found any crashes using soley this VST. I have been using it for a couple of months now. OVERALL OPINION I love some of the sounds on offer from this VST, they are thick and somewhat juicy. However the acoustic sounds on offer are remarkably dry and sound boring. Some of the sounds are pretty low quality too. There is a problem I have found using this vst, the sounds don't save in unless you double click on the library instead of just the single click to load the sound. Also, sometimes the VST will pick the wrong sound after you double click one of the sounds you want. It makes it a nightmare to find the sound you are looking for again through pages upon pages of sounds. I would still get this VST though knowing what I know now.

I use the UVI libraries on two of my PC’s. My main touch screen pC desktop, and also on my pc laptop. Since my laptop doesn’t have the largest hard drive, I keep all of my UVI sample libraries on a dedicated msata drive with 500gb capacity. Uvi has recently updated their download and installation process, which used to be really confusing and used to involve moving files into subdirectories, but they now are quite streamlined with a download and install manager that works great. I use it with iLok, but is also setup to use elicenser if needed. I hate elicenser and only use it for cubase. ILok is much better, more secure, and in programs that don’t offer multiple licenses, it’s easier to deactivate from one to move to another. Most of the UvI synth libraries share a common set of parameters,customized graphics that suit the theme of the line of synths being emulated. There are exceptions to this, and unfortunately, not all UVI libraries share a common foundation where sounds are loaded in from a root directory. Fortunately, all three synths in the Digital Sensations V2 all share this feature. Apart from having a common way of loading sounds, this convenient method allows easy favoriting of your more used patches. With a library this large, it’s important to have this feature. Other uvi libraries, the sounds must be loaded in via the application, not the uvi player. A feature which I’d like to see normalized across all libraries moving forward, and preferably backward in an update. Parameters are somewhat basic. You have some control over the basic sound with envelopes, lfo’s, and Multimode filters. Some rudimentary control over the sound source is available, but as it is a sample library, is limited. Sound quality is pretty superb. I got addicted to these libraries for a reason. For one, I really enjoy vst clones of synths, such as arturia’s V collection. While th4 uvi libraries are not “clones” per se, they do offer an accurate flavor of the original synths at hand, and offer modern interpretations on what might otherwise be somewhat of a dated sound. For those who may be unfamiliar with the UVI workstation (or Falcon), it is a stand-alone, vst, RTAS, or AAX platform where you may install individual sample libraries. While I am only ever concerned with UVI’s synthesizer libraries, they are not limited to such, offering string, brass, piano, EM, and even libraries of toys. For my interests, I stick with the synth libraries. I presently use the Digital Synsations V2, Synth Anthology 2, Vintage Vault 2, UXV80, and UVPX80 libraries, with a few more I’m interested in but do not yet own. I find I buy one every month or two whether I need them or not. I’ve kind of become addicted. The UVI player is your platform for your sound libraries, and while each individual library may contain their own unique set of subfeatures, the player itself will allow you to arrange any 4 sounds from any 4 libraries at any given time, and has sophisticated arpeggio features and additional built-in effects. Individual libraries may supplement these features as well. The digital sensations 2 library is a bundle of three libraries sampled from the Kawai K5000/s/w/r, the Roland JD-800/990, and the Ensoniq Now again, these libraries are not clones, but use sounds from each of these synths as the foundation sound source for each patch. The sample set is then manipulated with its own set of filter, envelopes, lfo’s, etc. I presently own a JD800 and have owned a K5000, and the essence of these synths is certainly there, but many sounds have been brought back to relevance with some wonderful programming straight from the factory. It’s kind of making my aging jd800 irrelevant. Similarly to the IK Syntronik, each library features a unique GUI that resembles the respective synth, but in reality, these libraries share the same parameters. I haven’t deeply explored the effects or arp sections, but based on the presets, they are certainly powerful and flexible. Now, so,e advise on purchasing the UvI libraries. Wait for sales. Each library I own I paid no more than half it’s normal retail price. Also, but bundles and not individual libraries. For the DS V2, I paid $149. Single libraries seems to run $49-79.

The SoniVox MI Wobble is the perfect VST plug in for grime and dub step music. You can use it as a stand alone or a plug in in any DAW you want. It will work with your Mac or your PC software and it costs less than 100 dollars. At this price, for the quality of the MI Wobble you won’t spend that 100 dollars in a better place! If you love to design sounds then the Wobble will let you do that and do it easy and quickly. There really are not too many parameters to mess with in this VST. Its pretty simple, basic and to the point. There are some effects on this VST, Chorus, Delay (that can be tempo synced) and Reverb. It would be nice if it had some more effects but you can use your mixer for any other effects that you might want. It comes with 200 + presets that are dubstep and grime influenced. Most of those sounds are really fat and rich, you can edit them very easily just by tweaking and turning some of the knobs on the VST dashboard. All of the effects are generated in real time too. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE Setting this VST up only takes a few seconds, it is a pretty small VST and it does not take much computer space (hard disk) or CPU to run it. You just need a PC with 512MB of RAM and be running Windows XP or higher. On a Mac you need OS version 10.5.1 and up with the same about of RAM (512MB). OVERALL OPINION There aren’t many VST plug-ins that can give you this really good fat dub sound that the Wobble can do. At this price you will not find any VST that can come close for dub and grime. If you are not into dub or grime then don’t waste your money getting this because most of the presets are heavily designed around dubstep music.

Hollow Sun TriOsc is a 3 Oscillator synth with FM and AM modulation. Though it does only have a small list of effects that include Distortion, Chorus , Phaser, and a few different echo’s, it is still a powerful VST. The price of the Hollow Sun TriOsc is very low, I think it only cost about 10 dollars or something like that when it first came out and you can pay with pay pal or your bank card and get a download link right away. There is no manual for it which I didn’t like because it was a bit confusing at first because the interface is a little different than what I was use to at the time. The interface is very easy to understand and looks like most of the Kontakt instruments interfaces. There are three different menu’s that you can click on that will bring up a different interface, you have the “control panel”, the”Effects” and “Info” panels. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The TriOsc works great and has never gave me a single issue. I have just started using it and got it because it was really inexpensive and it also models after a really older unit that I was curios about. OVERALL OPINION The best part of TriOsc for me is I can sculpt some pretty good leads with it and get some really heavy and thick baselines as well. I seem to get better every time I use the TriOsc VST at making and molding my own sounds out of it. It has really brought a better understanding for me on how to properly use Oscillators. Before I started using TriOsc I would just mess with the Oscillators until I was happy with what it would sound like, now that I have been using the TriOsc I am starting to understand the right way to program sounds. I am very happy with it.

Nostalgia by Zero G is basically a library of patches that came in wav files and also with .nki files. I am very glad it came with .nki files because I use Kontakt and that is what those files belong to. Nostalgia has some sounds in it that are so amazing, there are some really good synths and basses. There are a ton of presets and presets of all kinds. The Nostalgia Zero G could be great for almost any style of music across the country and will give you a very unique sound. The Nostalgia Zero G runs great and will not give you any issues at all. I do wish it would also come with a pre made exs24 so we could have all of the regular sounds of the instruments without having the effects and everything on it. The Nostalgia Zero G will take a little time to get use to if you are using it as a stand alone, and if you are using it in Kontakt you will have no problems (assuming that since you already have Kontakt that you know how to use it). SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE Zero g runs great, I have never had any problems with it as a stand alone or as just using the .nki files or even the .wav files. Everything seems to work great and sound great, and once you get past the small learning curve you will be well on your way. OVERALL OPINION I was not happy with the price of this VST though, when it came out I didn’t want to fork out that much money for it so I ended up just putting it on a credit card and paying it off slowly. I don’t feel like it should have cost that much, it was about 50 dollars over priced in my opinion especially when you have to use it with Kontakt in some programs. I have used it with Kontakt 3 and now with Kontakt 4 and it still works great though. The quality of all of the instruments are good, some of them are really good and quit impressive.