Xpand!2 is a no-brainer ...

[avasopht]

I just got it yesterday and I'm gobsmacked.

It's uber low CPU, has great sounds, requires minimal HDD space (like 1GB), has all those bread & butter sounds, sounds like a hardware workstation, has easy to use layering, and on top of that has intuitive drum selection & tweaking (plus it's easy to load only one type of drum sound in a device if you want to process each type of drum sound separately).

Did I mention it's easy to use?

For just £10 from Plugin Boutique.

I only checked it out after someone mentioned it on the Korg Triton VST thread, suggesting it's much better value for money. It is.

It's really playable too. I had seen Xpand!2 recommended before but I went for the Steinberg Collection instead. What a mistake!

So glad I got it. This is now my go-to device for bread & butter sounds and will replace a few Refills for starting tracks. Will have to check out Structure 2 at some point.

[hurricane]

It's crazy that you can sometimes find it given away for free.

It has almost 2,500 presets, creating your own layers is easy and fast and they come out sounding great, and it's the handiest instrument of all time, in my opinion.The acoustic sounds in Halion/Halion Sonic are of higher quality though (based off/come from the Yamaha Motif), but XPAND2 is pretty good and very useful.

[DaveyG]

I think I got it free with a keyboard. Tried it once then forgot about it. That's the trouble with getting something for free - you don't value it enough to pay it attention!

[Ulpu]

Didn't know about this instrument! Thanks for the "heads up"
Sounds very interesting:

[Ulpu]

Did it ask you to install PACE Anti-piracy when you were installing Xpand2?

[Mistro17]

@Ulpu I only had to use iLock to authorize it.

@avasopht thanks for the heads up. I got it yesterday and had hours of fun last night. Totally worth the $15

[jam-s]

Did it ask you to install PACE Anti-piracy when you were installing Xpand2?

I think so. Those Air plugins require a (software) iLok activation (from PACE).

[Kalm]

Funny how these instruments are making a serious intervention nowadays

[Ulpu]

Did it ask you to install PACE Anti-piracy when you were installing Xpand2?

I think so. Those Air plugins require a (software) iLok activation (from PACE).

Ok, that explains

[avasopht]

[...] in my opinion.The acoustic sounds in Halion/Halion Sonic are of higher quality though (based off/come from the Yamaha Motif), but XPAND2 is pretty good and very useful.

I'm supplementing it with EWQL for high-quality instruments, which is another insane bargain (£20/mo). Along with the quality synths I've gotten for cheap, I've found myself pretty much spoilt for choice and quality at very little cost.

What I like most about Xpand2 is that it's organized, sounds and feels like a hardware workstation, and has easy and intuitive controls that make it easy to work with.

The pricing can fool you, but the sounds immediately set me straight. Especially the drum selector.

This would also make for a brilliant Rack Extension. ReasonStudios would be wise to pay them to make a port - and even wiser to include it with Reason!

[EnochLight]

I got it for $1 USD years ago. As far as Air Plugins are concerned, it's a pretty bread-and-butter rompler that Pro Tools folks have used for a long time. When I first got it, I honestly wasn't that impressed - at all. A lot of its content is sorely dated (the multipatches come to mind), but after spending some time with it - there's definitely some useful stuff in there. I mean for $1 USD or free (or even $10 USD) it's hard to critique it. If I had any complaint, I'd ask for an update on its GUI/UX so it can be resized, and maybe some updated stock presets to bring it more in alignment with modern synths. Also, the browser is absolutely abysmal. About as bad as Reveal Sound's Spire VST.

But seriously - for the cost - I can't complain.