Vintage Synth Emulations?

[michael.jaye]

Can anyone recommend the best Vst(s) or Vst bundle for Vintage Synths? Things to consider are the amount of patches, the amount of useful patches, value for money, the amount of synths they emulate, and how faithful the emulations are. I know it's very subjective, and some may like a VST for the Interface/ease of use over how 'true' the sound is. Has anyone say, bought Retro Machines then bought V-Collection and now the former is redundant?

Owners of Korg M1 LE have a cheap upgrade to the Legacy Collection, so I'll probably get that.
I'll eventually get Komplete 11 Ultimate that'll include Retro Machines & Monarch, though I'll still purchase The Legend.
I already have Abl2 so not in a hurry to pay for 3. Will probably get V-Collection for the sheer amount of machines it recreates.

Your thoughts on the below (or others I may have missed):

NI Retro Machines MKII
U-He Diva
Arturia V-Collection 5
Korg Legacy Collection
D16 Lush 101 vs TAL Bassline 101
D16 vs AudioRealism
Synapse The Legend vs NI Monarch

[eXode]

I would add some more synths to check out.

TAL U NO LX (Juno 60)
Memorymoon ME-80 (CS-80)
PG8X (Free, JX8P)
Sonic Project OP-X (OB-X, etc)

There's also the XILS-lab stuff (Xils 4, PolyKb, PolyM, Syn'X, etc)

[eXode]

As for advice, I would probably start with Diva or Arturia V-Collection and then evaluate what I need after that.

[michael.jaye]

I would add some more synths to check out.

TAL U NO LX (Juno 60)
Memorymoon ME-80 (CS-80)
PG8X (Free, JX8P)
Sonic Project OP-X (OB-X, etc)

There's also the XILS-lab stuff (Xils 4, PolyKb, PolyM, Syn'X, etc)

I haven't heard mention of the Memorymoon stuff or XILS. Thanks!

[am0eba]

LOVE the Arturia synths! Very deep emulations! The Synclavier is even endorsed by the original designer of the instrument! Plenty of patches, lots of amazing tweak ability, and each one has the character of the original, but also has improvements that can optionally be accessed to make them even more useful and fun.

Highly recommended!

_Dave_

[ScottieByNature]

I also love the Arturia V collection. The CS-80 and Prophet emulations have quickly become go-tos for me. I was lucky enough to pick it up on a 50% off deal, but I think the whole collection is certainly worth full price.

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[EdGrip]

I'm REALLY enjoying Repro-1, even though it's a monosynth. Also, IK have just released an epic collection called Syntronik. Have a look.

But I would totally start with VK2 and The Legend RE, because rack integration counts for a lot (at least to me).

[Ahornberg]

Take a look at:
130p http://www.hollowsun.com/HS2/sli/130p/index.htm
H1 http://www.hollowsun.com/HS2/sli/H1/index.htm
Novalite http://www.hollowsun.com/HS2/sli/novalite/index.htm
Oberheim Matrix 1000 http://www.hollowsun.com/HS2/products/m1000/index.htm
Roland VP330 http://www.hollowsun.com/HS2/products/vp330/index.htm
...
each of them cost a bargain.

[raymondh]

I really like the V-Collection too. Still scratching the surface but it is very good.

Sonic Projects OP-X is superb. Especially the filter. Highly recommended. The patches that come with it include many emulations of famous vintage sounds made by other synthesizers. Check them out on YouTube.

PG-8X is free/donationware and a must have. I own a JX-8P and find the PG-8X is very, very close.

Synapse The Legend - I have never played a real Moog Model D, but whereas the Blamsoft Viking 1 sounded a bit flat to me, The Legend is wonderful and it frequently takes bass duties in my tracks now (competing well with real hardware bass synths).

Blamsoft's VK2 sounds superb but I didn't buy it because it was too demanding on my CPU.

[michael.jaye]

Synapse The Legend - I have never played a real Moog Model D, but whereas the Blamsoft Viking 1 sounded a bit flat to me, The Legend is wonderful and it frequently takes bass duties in my tracks now (competing well with real hardware bass synths). Blamsoft's VK2 sounds superb but I didn't buy it because it was too demanding on my CPU.

I agree, Hearing the Legend in the rack was the first time I was shocked with how good a synth sounded. Don't know if it's the presets, but Viking 1 doesn't get a lot of use inmy productions.

[fieldframe]

Another recommendation for the V Collection here.

Although if you are looking for something a little cheaper but with comparable breadth, IK Multimedia just came out with a sample-based vintage synth collection called Syntronik. I don't know how it compares to Arturia sonically, though the user interface design looks somewhat less refined. Still, it's a different approach that might be worth a look if you like their sample libraries.

[michael.jaye]

Although if you are looking for something a little cheaper but with comparable breadth, IK Multimedia just came out with a sample-based vintage synth collection called Syntronik.

I bought IK Multimedia's Sample Tank years ago, don't remember being too impressed with it.

It's cool that most of these VST's can be demo'd.
Checking out Retro Machines, while the presets aren't that spectacular, the 'sound variations' are actually interesting and useable.


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[raymondh]

Another recommendation for the V Collection here.

Although if you are looking for something a little cheaper but with comparable breadth, IK Multimedia just came out with a sample-based vintage synth collection called Syntronik. I don't know how it compares to Arturia sonically, though the user interface design looks somewhat less refined. Still, it's a different approach that might be worth a look if you like their sample libraries.

If we're going to include sample based instruments, then Bitley's Way Beyond Fairlight is an absolute must have. It covers a really wide range of synths (beyond Fairlight and the patches are all extremely usable.

[michael.jaye]

Yep, have Bitleys Fairlight. A great Refill.


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[EdGrip]

I thought I'd download the skinny free version of Syntronik to see what it's about last night - even that's over a gigabyte. Looking forward to trying it.

[tumar]

Owners of Korg M1 LE have a cheap upgrade to the Legacy Collection, so I'll probably get that.
I'll eventually get Komplete 11 Ultimate that'll include Retro Machines & Monarch [...]

I upgraded from Korg M1 LE (free version bundled with Korg controller) to Legacy Collection for 50 USD. Worth every cent, stunning bundle!
With Komplete you'll get NI FM8, faithful Yamaha DX7 emulation (can even load original patches from hardware Yamaha).

[chk071]

Synapse The Legend vs NI Monarch

I have a video for you on that:

[EdGrip]

I have tried free version of Syntronik.
Their selection of presets is a bit stingy, but you get the idea. It's basically a ROMpler/preset player with some nice modelled filters with drive, and modulation. You can't "program" any of the many synths, beyond amp and filter envelopes. There's a nice well-featured effects section.
BUT, the presets sound good. There's some "drift" going on with the samples so two notes won't necessarily sound the same. I found a few of the presets quite inspiring (especially the Andromeda ones) and I intend to try and replicate them with proper softsynths.

So it's an expensive, good, sample-based preset player - much the same as I imagine Nexus to be, though I've never tried it.

[TheWeathermonger]

Not a big fan of the V-Collection myself although I did get some good sounds out of the Prophet-V. They're not necessarily particularly great emulations of the original synths compared to some more recent VSTs like Diva or the Roland plug-outs.

My personal favourite vintage emulations are...
Re-Pro 1 (looking forward to the upcoming Re-Pro 5 addition)
TAL Bassline 101 and TAL U NO LX
impOSCar 2

[JdA57]

Not a big fan of the V-Collection myself although I did get some good sounds out of the Prophet-V. They're not necessarily particularly great emulations of the original synths compared to some more recent VSTs like Diva or the Roland plug-outs.

My personal favourite vintage emulations are...
Re-Pro 1 (looking forward to the upcoming Re-Pro 5 addition)
TAL Bassline 101 and TAL U NO LX
impOSCar 2

I think (and some compared directly with the originals, most of them I'd to work as originals some years ago) Arturia V-Collection's plugs mostly are very close to the originals. In some cases Diva sounds another way, but is 'not allways' close to the originals too. But it doesn't matter. And all UHE-Synths sounding great but using much to much CPU.

There was some different sounding hardware-originals (same type of synth) too
Yes, and because Moog I think actually 'Legend' is the best emulation.

Because Arturia V-Collection. For this price you get the best complete Emulation-Pack you can buy. (And I'm not talking about the actually special-price. Because this is like a gift (Y) ).
For shure, in a song-context (arrangement) you'll not hear which of this emulations you're using: Diva, TAL, Roland, Repro, OB Xd or Arturia. And I don't like the Roland PlugOut-System (and not their Cloud-System too)

Yes: impOSCar2 is very good. But I like much more Synapse 'Legend', complete Arturia VC, Korg LC, PG8 (FREE), OB Xd (FREE), PPG and Audiorealism-Plugs.

[fieldframe]

CPU usage is actually one of the other things I really like about V Collection - it's often considerably less demanding than some of the competition. This may mean, in some cases, you don't get that last, alias-free 20khz sparkle that Diva is working so hard to put out (Arturia's manual actually shows how their "TAE" alias-free tech rolls off the very top end), but when I'm usually just going to EQ that out anyway, I'd much rather have the extra CPU back.

[Pi5cEan]

I went ahead & bit the bullet: I bought Arturia's V collection via Sweetwater's half-off sale. It's for the boxed version only, but I have no problems with that. It's been awhile since I excitedly waited for a knock at the door from the delivery man, when it comes to software lol. I haven't even upgraded to 9.5 yet. Which will wait till I have an adequately powerful laptop, as I don't want to install 9.5 on my desktop, as I will lose the AutoArp RE forever & I have too many tracks with it in use that I haven't rendered out yet...
But I digress!
Just super excited to have the V collection, even though I won't be able to use it for a while. That deal is just too good to pass up. Slightly off-topic, but everyone should also consider getting Synthmaster, especially since it is on sale for 64$ until Sept 4. Having Synthmaster, the V collection & the Soundtoys bundle (something else I'm going to have to wait for a sale on), I will quite literally not need to purchase another VST instrument or effect, EVER again. Maybe just a couple mixing plugins (FabFilter ideally), and I am literally done with buying music software forever! Haha.

[michael.jaye]

I'm trialling Arturia's ARP 2600 V at the moment, sounds gorgeous.

[CaliforniaBurrito]

I've had Diva for a couple months and I'm loving her so far. Bread and butter. Raymond mentioned VK-2 which I also have and it seems to be harder on my system than Diva which is pretty interesting. VK-2 has been my go-to for melodic plucky sounds though as opposed to polyphonic pads so I'm getting by just fine! I bought Lush-101 on KVR from somebody at a discounted price of course but haven't been really inspired by it. I prioritize composition and arrangement over patch design and I'll have to set a day or two aside just to get into Lush-101 because that's the way it is in my opinion. Lush-101 doesn't compare to the TAL Bassline 101 in my opinion because Lush-101 is capable of so much more! I have AudioRealism's ABL3 Rack Extension and I'd take this over any other emulation hands down especially with the new version that came out this year.

[eXode]

I'm quite hopeful about the upcoming Repro-5 from u-he.