Antidote + Expanse vs Synthetic Rig4

[Ulpu]

Oh... I am so torn between Synthetic rig4 or just Antidote and Expanse
First I was sure the Synthetic Rig4 (for my delayed bithday present) would be the best option since it has Antidote + Expanse BUT also other cool synths + drum machines. But after trying these other synths, I noticed they didn't really give anything "special" after Expanse and Antidote (and Thorn…).

The Parsec seems interesting - but it is a bit confusig (at least for me, and I find the sound creating to be quite challenging with it). At the moment Antidote + Expanse would be 130e together, Synthetic Rig 199e. I am still a bit tempted about the Parsec - maybe I would learn to use it... But then again, does Europe or Thorn offer same as Parsec (well not same but similar)?

About the drum machines: I started to think - I usually just use ready samples. I am not so much into tweaking own drum sounds etc. So maybe they really don't offer much for me since Reason has Redrum + Kong

[Loque]

ABL3 is very special and unique imo. Nostromo is a must have, same is Parsec. The RP stuff is also quite good and helps you to get the full Explorer Bundle quite cheap if you want it. Bitspeak is cool too.

Antidote can you get in the Synapse Bundle. Its uber cheap if it goes on sale and a must have.

Not sure what you already have or what you tried. The Rig is good value. On BF it might go for half price, but its quite a lot of time to next BF.

[fieldframe]

On one hand, you do get quite a bit more for the additional 70e. But on the other hand, Antidote and Expanse, along with Europa and the other Reason core devices, would still give you an amazing amount of synth versatility, more than most high-end studios had 25 years ago.

If you like having more toys to play with (speaking as one who likes having more toys ), I’d go for the rig, but if you just want versatility, Antidote and Expanse have you more than covered.

[xboix]

Trialling REs has saved me a fortune over the years. It's easy to get hyped about something and buy it without thinking. I trial them and almost always end up underwhelmed. Antidote is just an "also ran" for me. I've not tried Expanse.

Fact is, none of us need any more synths. And I love players but they get kinda samey after a while. So trail them first and them make an informed decision.

The reality is that the stock synths in Reason are, collectively, superb and are more than enough for pretty much anything. And I bet most users have barely scratched the surface of those synths. Back in the day you would buy one very expensive hardware synth and dedicate yourself to learning everything it could do, because it was all you had.

[TritoneAddiction]

Trialling REs has saved me a fortune over the years. It's easy to get hyped about something and buy it without thinking.

True. Even though I buy quite a lot of REs, there are even more REs that I trial and never end up buying.
I was very close to buying the Synthetic Rig a couple of days ago. But apart from the stuff I've already got, there were only a few REs that I was really interested in. So for me it was actually better to buy those particular REs seperately.

Having said that every now and then it's fun to just gamble a bit, to take a chance and see what you get. It's pretty stupid but also more exciting. For me R11 Suite was like that. Lots of new devices that I didn't know whether I'd like or not. But I've had fun with a bunch of stuff there so no regrets this time. Lots of music has been made with the new Suite devices.