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Tips for Interesting vsts for someone returning to PC after years iOS-only

ParthandParthand
edited June 16 in Desktop

Hi. I’ve just bought a relatively cheap laptop after ten years of solely using an iPad. Finally gave in to play a few old games. I suddenly realised it opens the door to some of the pc only music apps I’d seen and wanted over the years.

I have pretty much everything on iOS in that regard, ironically I’d just for the first time felt I don’t need anything before getting the laptop. I’m well covered with pianoteq, swam, xinematix, staffpad iaps, synths effects etc. But it’s a whole new world on pc.

Please don’t limit your suggestions I love anything interesting experimental sound design wise, anything particular;y amazing or emotive orchestral wise, anything I might have been missing out on that I can now try!

As a little guide the first things I’ve downloaded, or saved to bookmarks are:

  • cakewalk free
  • Modo bass (not an ik fan but Ive wanted this for so long)
  • rhythmic robot audio hurdy gurdy
  • Arturia pigments
  • Arturia buchla
  • Project sam free orchestra
  • acustica various gear (la2a, neve, pultec)
  • Spitfire bbc orchestra
  • Plogue chip sounds stuff and their vocal synth thing
  • Pianobook kontakt stuff!
  • roli equator/Mpe synths/acoustic electronic in general
  • East west silk - I love Chinese and Asian traditional instruments
  • some mediaeval instruments vsts I can’t remember looking for that lute sound

Just any cool inspiring things I might have been missing out on on iOS if anyone can help. Mainstream or weird esoteric, experimental or just something you think is particularly fantastic. I love interesting textures and composing with weird instruments.

I dont make EDM but I do like synths, (not into sequencers)

Thanks! Maybe can become a vst chat

Comments

  • GavinskiGavinski

    For mpe, check out Plasmonic by Rhizomatic, also look at some of the Madrona Labs synths

  • hibjshophibjshop

    Polyverse SuperModal

  • cuscolimacuscolima

    Synplant 2

    https://soniccharge.com/synplant

  • tyslothrop1tyslothrop1

    Very complex free synths:
    https://vital.audio/
    And
    https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/

    Complex free sequencer:
    https://stochas.org/

  • DarkstringDarkstring

    Free:
    Zebralette 3 - synth
    Tyrell N6 - synth
    Supermassive - reverb

    Paid:
    Serum 2. Get the demo and try. It can do so much now.

    Getting serious:
    Bitwig and Phase plant, preferably PP hosted in Bitwig for all the extra modulation.

    For added tinkering, Harmor.

  • SergiuSergiu

    fullbucket.de

  • DSZADSZA

    I'm not much in the PC these days, but I always think fondly of Arminator 2:
    https://www.getdunne.net/Krakli/vst.php?id=Arminator2

  • frosttrance_7frosttrance_7

    @Darkstring said:
    Free:
    Zebralette 3 - synth
    Tyrell N6 - synth
    Supermassive - reverb

    Paid:
    Serum 2. Get the demo and try. It can do so much now.

    Getting serious:
    Bitwig and Phase plant, preferably PP hosted in Bitwig for all the extra modulation.

    For added tinkering, Harmor.

    I think Harmor is FL only now. Razor is on sale. I want to say that BazilleCM and ZebraCM are now free and available on the U-he Website. If you want FM synthesis, there is Exact Lite and then Baconpaul's SixSines

  • frosttrance_7frosttrance_7
    edited June 16

    Some suggestions:

    • Free stuff: SQ8L (32-bit only, but sounds great), U-he stuff (Tyrell N6, Zebralette 2/3, ZebraCM, BazilleCM), Cobalt, Sixsines, ExaktLite, VOPM, JuceOPL, Quilcom stuff, Fullbucket stuff, Charlatan (old and free versions), Tunefish, Synth1, Cardinal
    • Cheap stuff: Memorymoon's instruments, Aurora FM, Audiomodern Soundbox, Renoise Redux, some NI stuff that's on sale now, including Razor, HY-Poly, Plogue OPS7 ($25 on Black Friday), SQ80V (used license for $30), Imaginando DRC and FRMS
    • More expensive but affordable synths: Audjoo Helix, U-he stuff (especially Hive), Albino 3 Legend, Opsix native, most Tone2 stuff
    • Higher-end stuff: Spire, Serum 2, Tone2 Icarus 3, Chromaphone 3, and Omnisphere/Falcon

    And I suggest you check out the synths that have been used for KVR's One Synth Challenge contests

  • triple7triple7

    blue cat connector, shaperbox2/3, infiltrator

  • triple7triple7

    Native instruments Reaktor = hundreds of synths

  • SquishySquishy

    Portal and arturia fragments for granular, texture type sounds

  • 0tolerance4silence0tolerance4silence

    Perhaps not for everyone, but to me the nicest surprise was The Usual Suspects project reverse engineering some digi classics - basically a wrapper for the original hw firmwares. They sound really good and those I tried so far had been stable.

  • abfabf

    Great suggestions so far.

    effects to check out:

    free:
    fkfx influx free (bottom of the page)
    https://fkfxaudio.com/influx-pro/

    donation-ware or "steal it":
    https://freakshowindustries.com/

    paid:
    aberrant dsp:
    https://aberrantdsp.com/plugins/sketchcassette/

  • AudioGusAudioGus

    @triple7 said:
    blue cat connector, shaperbox2/3, infiltrator

    Yah I love Infiltrator 2

  • AudioGusAudioGus

    @abf said:
    donation-ware or "steal it":
    https://freakshowindustries.com/

    Ooh, th3se are n3@t

  • GavinskiGavinski

    @AudioGus said:

    @abf said:
    donation-ware or "steal it":
    https://freakshowindustries.com/

    Ooh, th3se are n3@t

    I love their (anti-) 'branding'

  • heshes
    edited June 21

    Surge XT and Vital and the main multi-platform, open source synths. Both are huge, fully featured, excellent, all you need.

    https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
    https://vital.audio/

    For other free "big" synths, VCV Rack and Cardinal are both modular Euro rack emulations, similar to miRack on iOS (which itself is based on old VCV Rack code). Cardinal is also based on VCV Rack, forked off because VCV Rack is not fully open source. Cardinal is fully open source, and where I'd start.

    https://cardinal.kx.studio/

    [Whoops, just noticed @tyslothrop1 already mentioned Surge XT and Vital. So I'll add a +1 to that, too.]

  • tyslothrop1tyslothrop1

    @hes said:
    Surge XT and Vital and the main multi-platform, open source synths. Both are huge, fully featured, excellent, all you need.

    https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
    https://vital.audio/

    For other free "big" synths, VCV Rack and Cardinal are both modular Euro rack emulations, similar to miRack on iOS (which itself is based on old VCV Rack code). Cardinal is also based on VCV Rack, forked off because VCV Rack is not fully open source. Cardinal is fully open source, and where I'd start.

    https://cardinal.kx.studio/

    [Whoops, just noticed @tyslothrop1 already mentioned Surge XT and Vital. So I'll add a +1 to that, too.]

    I can add a +1 to cardinal, too, cheers.

    It's especially interesting, since the free version of vcv is just standalone, and free cardinal works as a plugin. If you don't need the vcv-shop with a couple thousand modules, cardinal might have all you want.

  • AudioGusAudioGus

    @Gavinski said:

    @AudioGus said:

    @abf said:
    donation-ware or "steal it":
    https://freakshowindustries.com/

    Ooh, th3se are n3@t

    I love their (anti-) 'branding'

    Yah gives me a very cozy 90s vibe. I miss when this was half the internet.

  • SquishySquishy

    @AudioGus said:

    @Gavinski said:

    @AudioGus said:

    @abf said:
    donation-ware or "steal it":
    https://freakshowindustries.com/

    Ooh, th3se are n3@t

    I love their (anti-) 'branding'

    Yah gives me a very cozy 90s vibe. I miss when this was half the internet.

    These remind me of Guitar Gadgets, loved these weird effects back in the day

    😮 they’re still online! https://www.kvraudio.com/product/guitar-gadgets-by-musical-entropy

  • ecamburnecamburn

    So many VSTs lol

    If you’re into that warbly Boards of Canada sound Phonec is a quirky little number.

  • NeuMNeuM

    @ecamburn said:
    So many VSTs lol

    If you’re into that warbly Boards of Canada sound Phonec is a quirky little number.

    (Not M1 compatible for Macs)

  • NeuMNeuM

    @tyslothrop1 said:

    @hes said:
    Surge XT and Vital and the main multi-platform, open source synths. Both are huge, fully featured, excellent, all you need.

    https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
    https://vital.audio/

    For other free "big" synths, VCV Rack and Cardinal are both modular Euro rack emulations, similar to miRack on iOS (which itself is based on old VCV Rack code). Cardinal is also based on VCV Rack, forked off because VCV Rack is not fully open source. Cardinal is fully open source, and where I'd start.

    https://cardinal.kx.studio/

    [Whoops, just noticed @tyslothrop1 already mentioned Surge XT and Vital. So I'll add a +1 to that, too.]

    I can add a +1 to cardinal, too, cheers.

    It's especially interesting, since the free version of vcv is just standalone, and free cardinal works as a plugin. If you don't need the vcv-shop with a couple thousand modules, cardinal might have all you want.

    Should be noted that Cardinal is free, but third-party modules which work with it are not.

  • tyslothrop1tyslothrop1

    @NeuM said:

    @tyslothrop1 said:

    @hes said:
    Surge XT and Vital and the main multi-platform, open source synths. Both are huge, fully featured, excellent, all you need.

    https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
    https://vital.audio/

    For other free "big" synths, VCV Rack and Cardinal are both modular Euro rack emulations, similar to miRack on iOS (which itself is based on old VCV Rack code). Cardinal is also based on VCV Rack, forked off because VCV Rack is not fully open source. Cardinal is fully open source, and where I'd start.

    https://cardinal.kx.studio/

    [Whoops, just noticed @tyslothrop1 already mentioned Surge XT and Vital. So I'll add a +1 to that, too.]

    I can add a +1 to cardinal, too, cheers.

    It's especially interesting, since the free version of vcv is just standalone, and free cardinal works as a plugin. If you don't need the vcv-shop with a couple thousand modules, cardinal might have all you want.

    Should be noted that Cardinal is free, but third-party modules which work with it are not.

    I think you confuse Cardinal with VCV. Cardinal exclusively uses included modules, if I'm not mistaken.

  • NeuMNeuM

    @tyslothrop1 said:

    @NeuM said:

    @tyslothrop1 said:

    @hes said:
    Surge XT and Vital and the main multi-platform, open source synths. Both are huge, fully featured, excellent, all you need.

    https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
    https://vital.audio/

    For other free "big" synths, VCV Rack and Cardinal are both modular Euro rack emulations, similar to miRack on iOS (which itself is based on old VCV Rack code). Cardinal is also based on VCV Rack, forked off because VCV Rack is not fully open source. Cardinal is fully open source, and where I'd start.

    https://cardinal.kx.studio/

    [Whoops, just noticed @tyslothrop1 already mentioned Surge XT and Vital. So I'll add a +1 to that, too.]

    I can add a +1 to cardinal, too, cheers.

    It's especially interesting, since the free version of vcv is just standalone, and free cardinal works as a plugin. If you don't need the vcv-shop with a couple thousand modules, cardinal might have all you want.

    Should be noted that Cardinal is free, but third-party modules which work with it are not.

    I think you confuse Cardinal with VCV. Cardinal exclusively uses included modules, if I'm not mistaken.

    Ah, OK. Thanks.

  • heshes

    @tyslothrop1 said:

    @NeuM said:

    @tyslothrop1 said:

    @hes said:
    Surge XT and Vital and the main multi-platform, open source synths. Both are huge, fully featured, excellent, all you need.

    https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
    https://vital.audio/

    For other free "big" synths, VCV Rack and Cardinal are both modular Euro rack emulations, similar to miRack on iOS (which itself is based on old VCV Rack code). Cardinal is also based on VCV Rack, forked off because VCV Rack is not fully open source. Cardinal is fully open source, and where I'd start.

    https://cardinal.kx.studio/

    [Whoops, just noticed @tyslothrop1 already mentioned Surge XT and Vital. So I'll add a +1 to that, too.]

    I can add a +1 to cardinal, too, cheers.

    It's especially interesting, since the free version of vcv is just standalone, and free cardinal works as a plugin. If you don't need the vcv-shop with a couple thousand modules, cardinal might have all you want.

    Should be noted that Cardinal is free, but third-party modules which work with it are not.

    I think you confuse Cardinal with VCV. Cardinal exclusively uses included modules, if I'm not mistaken.

    Yes, that's a major reason to use Cardinal over VCV Rack, and why the Cardinal fork was created. They specifically say it straight out on their home page. Cardinal is open source. Cardinal contains 1247 modules. Cardinal does not run any external modules. https://cardinal.kx.studio/

  • NeuMNeuM

    @hes said:

    @tyslothrop1 said:

    @NeuM said:

    @tyslothrop1 said:

    @hes said:
    Surge XT and Vital and the main multi-platform, open source synths. Both are huge, fully featured, excellent, all you need.

    https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
    https://vital.audio/

    For other free "big" synths, VCV Rack and Cardinal are both modular Euro rack emulations, similar to miRack on iOS (which itself is based on old VCV Rack code). Cardinal is also based on VCV Rack, forked off because VCV Rack is not fully open source. Cardinal is fully open source, and where I'd start.

    https://cardinal.kx.studio/

    [Whoops, just noticed @tyslothrop1 already mentioned Surge XT and Vital. So I'll add a +1 to that, too.]

    I can add a +1 to cardinal, too, cheers.

    It's especially interesting, since the free version of vcv is just standalone, and free cardinal works as a plugin. If you don't need the vcv-shop with a couple thousand modules, cardinal might have all you want.

    Should be noted that Cardinal is free, but third-party modules which work with it are not.

    I think you confuse Cardinal with VCV. Cardinal exclusively uses included modules, if I'm not mistaken.

    Yes, that's a major reason to use Cardinal over VCV Rack, and why the Cardinal fork was created. They specifically say it straight out on their home page. Cardinal is open source. Cardinal contains 1247 modules. Cardinal does not run any external modules. https://cardinal.kx.studio/

    That's good news.

  • AudioGusAudioGus

    @Squishy said:

    @AudioGus said:

    @Gavinski said:

    @AudioGus said:

    @abf said:
    donation-ware or "steal it":
    https://freakshowindustries.com/

    Ooh, th3se are n3@t

    I love their (anti-) 'branding'

    Yah gives me a very cozy 90s vibe. I miss when this was half the internet.

    These remind me of Guitar Gadgets, loved these weird effects back in the day

    😮 they’re still online! https://www.kvraudio.com/product/guitar-gadgets-by-musical-entropy

    Hah! Wow, yah, just got flashbacks from some of those.

  • PxlhgPxlhg

    Synplanth 2 has been mentioned and it's not only very good but so original. Their audio plugins are also very cool, especially Permut8 and the drum computer Microtonic it's old but many producers praise it, as the one, to this day.

    One of the most brilliant audio plugins ever is released by Lunacy Audio (Cube Synth) and is called Beam I absolutely love this one, so versatile.

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