The Only Two Software Synths You Actually Need

[@BirdYoumans]

You've rapidly become my favorite "music" channel. We think a great deal alike and I love your enthusiasm as well. I do old time Gospel music in a somewhat blue grassy/country style so it doesn't lend itself to synthesized sounds too much. Very old school. But I am a musician and we all have a bit of need to experiment. At 78 I have retired from the road now for about 10 years and started a few years back to explore the free synths out there in order to write some music that has nothing to do with genre. Some are so good I often wondered why people paid for the paid ones. So a few months back, after using Uhe's Zebralette and Tyrell (both free) they quickly became two of my favorites. I kept hearing all this great stuff about Diva. So, I downloaded the demo. I was stunned. Within two days I paid the fee to get rid of the static in the free version. Then NI did a sale on the Uhe synths and I added Hive just because Diva was so good. Another slam dunk winner. It's hard to believe they can even exist, especially Diva with all it's "mix and match" components from the old vintage synths from my early days. But here's the real bonus, I just added the Linnstrument to my arsenal. I LOVE this thing. However, it uses MPE to get to it's real control capabilities and not all synths respond fully to it. But both Diva and Hive do! I'm now in heaven!! I will add tho that because Surge XT supports MPE as well, and it is free, I'm finding it to be useful too. But in the free category I would also mention Dexed. While Diva is the crowning "analogue" synth, Dexed is in there with the FM crown not to mention it plays all of my old DX7 (which I still own) patches, and there are literally thousands of patches floating about the internet for it. The DX7 was a beast to program for those of us who don't spend a lot of time with sound design (so much to do, so little time lol!) but the Dexed is much easier in many respects because of it interface. Still a beast tho, but those sounds!! I go back to when a "punch in" was taking the best parts of two or three takes by the band onto 1/4 inch 2 track tape from an Ampex machine. The studio I worked in had two of them so you could "overdub" by recording the band track and then feed that thru the board and add vocals etc to the other machine. And of course, you had to "mix" on the fly. No multi tracks like today.) and splicing them together with a razor blade, a splicing block and some tape to have the final master. So this world we live in now is just beyond belief. You young folks enjoy your "tools". You have no way of knowing what you have in those "silicone chips" lol! This old road dog will continue to learn new tricks and enjoy it with you! It never gets old. And be kind to each other!!

[@decapitateallcops3214]

I appreciate your long comment.

[@only4posting]

Thanks for your comment. We can feel how passionate about music you are.

[@NicoAbbrescia-f4t]

Hey @BirdYoumans what Is your best advice for someone Who wants begin now to create ambient music? I do not know nothing about create music, how can i start? What software synths to start? Thank you so much !

[@BirdYoumans]

@@NicoAbbrescia-f4t Hopefully you play keyboard since that would be the obvious way to interface and play the sounds you would use to create ambient music. There are other controllers of course, but keyboard is probably used by most people. There's a bit to learn of course because you need a way to record it so I would recommend Cakewalk by Bandlab because it is free and an incredible DAW. Easy to learn to use plugins with it. Lots of youtube vids on how to learn to use it as well. Then plug some sounds in and just start to experiment. Go thru patches until you find sounds that fit the mood you are looking forward to. I would also suggest that you start to learn some theory as to how music works, again lots of youtube videos on this. Take lessons on line or better yet from someone where you live. Don't feel you have to learn it all in a week or so because that's not going to happen, but just do some each day and one thing will lead to another. Most successful creators have been doing it for many years. There really isn't a short cut but it's so much fun as you learn, and weeks will turn into months into years and you'll get better and better if you want it badly enough. If you really want to do it, you can and will.

[@HOLODECK-MUSIC-PROJECT]

totally agree! Diva and Hive2 are a role model for universal and perfect sounding plugin instruments

[@musicmwmusic]

Glad that you mentioned Omnisphere. It's a great desert islander. About 5 years back, I cut back to only 1 vsti and that was Omni. Once you learn to program it, there's very little that it can't do. I later added diva and hive and have settled with this trio. The sonic possibilities are endless. We really do live in a golden age of sound synthesis. Great video!

[@jensenraylight8011]

68Gig of sample is uncool, Storage space is premium, also sample based synth is a massive CPU Hog, having less track because of Cpu hog also mean that cut your song potential short, always compensating, always fall short from your ideals that's why Omnisphere and Native Instrument went out of fashion, people just can't see the need for it anymore no wonder people move away from sample based synth to a more modern Wavetable, additive and Physical modeling synth. most modern synth are only 200+mb, but can produce unlimited sound from a complete Synthetic sound to a Real instrument simulator, it's pretty much like designing your own Rhodes, or fender guitar sound, or who know alien instrument from other planet unless you're a virtuoso level, the quality difference can't be distinguished easily, because every sound already went through a long chain of effect, and listeners don't care about your 200Gb ultra realistic soundbank either. they only care about a good song

[@musicmwmusic]

@@jensenraylight8011 some very good points. There is a lot that you can do even with free synthesizers today. And yes, a good song is paramount. Thanks for the feedback.

[@TommyLoaded]

Great video. Love it. Personally, I went with Pigments over Hive, because it was WAY EASIER for me to see and understand everything that's going on. Believe me, I wanted to go U-he (mostly for the Howard Scarr presets), but Arturia really nailed it with the visual simplicity and easy-to-read mod-matrix.

[@SHLDMusic]

Yes a big Up for Pigments! Simple, visual and great integrated effects.

[@scottnelle]

Yeah, Pigments is a great choice! Maybe you only need three software synths 😉

[@gabriel-dan4098]

+1 for Pigments.

[@SHLDMusic]

@@gabriel-dan4098 and it's got virtual analog oscs! So no need for 2 synths but only one 😁

[@williamshaneblyth]

Hive2 is very simple for my brain and uses so little CPU pigments didn't do it for me but hey we are all different think differently and create differently with different sound pallets so I hear you guys it all adds up to diversity in our creations and I love that

[@DavidLilja]

So, a small correction on Omnisphere. Yes, it has samples and wavetables so it's like a Roland JV/XP/XV synth in one way. But, it also has DSP generated waveforms, just like Hive and Diva. Here's a snipped from the manual: Synth Mode These are DSP waveforms, generated in real-time by the STEAM engine, that are similar in principle to vintage synthesizer waveshapes. They have the same rich character of classic synthesizers, but with a much greater level of control and sound shaping abilities. The Synth Oscillators are not modeled to emulate any particular brand of synthesizer, but instead were extensively tweaked to have a great-sound and versatile character that’s unique to Omnisphere.

[@MrQuuze]

exactly and very good comparison is these fre reasons one is main sound designer is done sounds at least for Roland D50 i understanded maybe later Roland models as well.

[@bennethos]

Sure it does, and I own it but it feels very dated the interface. When I try to make a Jupiter 8 sounding patch using it’s sampled osc etc I just don’t get there as quickly, it’s not as fun either. It’s also lacking some architecture like HPF to LPF like a Jupiter . Diva has me covered and the interface is more intuitive.

[@MrQuuze]

@@bennethos and when i tested omnisphere in shop i feel not so good i feel better get something else with its price. even i dont tested much synth sounds more choirs,guitars and other sampled acoustic sounds. becouse my setup is lacking such areas as well. i dont know how good shop speakers are if they give feeling they sound thin.

[@MadMaxMiller64]

Maybe, but Uhe lets you buy these two synths and you can still afford your mortgage 😀

[@FlockofAngels]

I could not part with any of my synths. My two favorites are (in this order), Falcon and VPS Avenger. (I probably use NI the most (collector's edition), it is like one big gigantic synth, East West sounds is also great, and Nexus, Omnisphere is also fantastic.)

[@Magnus_Loov]

Omnisphere has another ace up its sleeves: The hardware integration where a real hardware Synth that you own is emulated in Omnisphere in a way that all controls (knobs, sliders etc) reacts to what is showing on the screen. In addition to that the hardware Synth can also control other instruments in Omnisphere which aren't a <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="61">1:1</a> copy of your hardware Synth! Great for direct control/jamming! Also, lots of other hardware Synths are emulated in Omnisphere which lets you access them, despite not owning the actual hardware. To me this makes it a perfect candidate for being one of the two "Must have Synths". And it's no "sample player"/rompler anymore. It's got vast Synthesis capabilities with pure waveforms. And it does the emulations of all the different hardware Synths in addition to that. It is just that it is also happens to be a rompler that makes great soundscapes in addition to the more traditional sound synthesis!

[@natura808]

So as many many other soft synth including U-He Diva lol

[@Magnus_Loov]

@@natura808 No. The other soft Synths (like U-He Diva) doesn't have that hardware integration where it can map the sliders and knobs in a 1:1 fashion. So it isn't possible to do that great 1:1, knob for knob, "jamming" with the other VST:s, which was exactly my main point.

[@natura808]

@@Magnus_Loov Nowadays most soft synths can be mapped I don't care about that anyway - I would control my cutoff with a hardware ones in a year, for jamming I'd use hardware synths. And there is no latency when you're jamming with a soft synths and hardware MIDI control??? How CPU hungry Omnisphere is now, it's been more than ten years since I've used it last time? Omnisphere is a good tool but you simply can not compare it to Diva, Diva is completely different concept, Divas filters alone worth an award.

[@Magnus_Loov]

​@@natura808 You seem to be an "either or" person. I am just saying that Omnisphere has that Ace up the sleeve. Yes Diva is also great. And, yes, I also have hardware Synths, nine of them! But the 1:1 mapping is an ADDITIONAL FEATURE that you simply don't get when you map a controller to a general softsynth (like Diva). It's a fun way to play around with things even though it isn't the "real thing". You can get something unique and funny playing with it. The "What you see is what you get"(Or even "What you see and touch is what you hear"! Diva alone can't do everything that some people claim. As Starsky Car have pointed out in some videos, the sound of Diva gets a little "mellow", not as open as some other softsynts when he tries out the different versions it is trying to emulate. For some sounds this is a good thing. It may even make it sound "more analog" in some situations. But for many others it doesn't. The main Synth engine in Diva is quite old right now, more than a decade, even though it was one of the pioneering Synths with the ZDF filters (Zero Delay Feedback Filters). The other one being the Monark (and Reaktor in general. Think it was a Russian who came up with that algo). There are better specific "tailored" soft Synth emulations out now that are better at emulating every Synthesis type of emulation that Diva has. Diva is still cool for it's "halfway modular" way of mixing different Oscillators sections , filters, envelopes etc based on the hardware it is generally emulating. To create something unique of its own. And for the fact that it is used a lot and has a vast amount of libraries with sounds that you can get. As for the latency, yes that is always a fact you have to deal with. But when it comes to the audio part of the "latency equation" I have a PCI-express based audio card that makes the latency as low as you possibly can get (together with a fast CPU and optimized settings for everything). Then there is the always present Midi latency and "jitter" (unstable latency values over time). But that is always there both for hardware Synths (excluding some non-Daw systems) and midi controlled soft Synths.

[@natura808]

@@Magnus_Loov I would not compare sport car to a dump truck no matter what ace in it’s sleeve the dump truck has, it’s just looking like someone is trying to sell me that truck I most likely wrong and you just wanted to share useful information. So you on ProTools HD or something like that? Happy 2024 New Year’s to you!

[@FlowJunkie65]

Nicely done, Woody, and Happy New Year! I haven't visited since Dec. 2022 - probably have oversubscribed to too many YT channels. I think you have selected 2 very fine synths from which to create your compositions - they sound terrific, pretty unique, and obviously you are comfortable working around in them, so cheers to them! When I first got into soft synths, I went the Arturia way and understandably gravitated to their Prophet 5 recreation because my very first and last true analog synth was a Prophet 5 v3. And, because everything is mapped out for their Keylab MIDI keyboard, this set-up felt most familiar and accessible to be able to work around in it. If absolutely pushed, I'd likely choose Arturia's Jup-8 V synth since I really liked the sound of the Jupiter 8 synth back in the day, which was one of the Prophet 5's rivals and I chose the Prophet over it, but it was a very close 2nd place.

[@kokopelli314]

One thing I like about your videos Woody aside from the reviews is Listening to your repertoire of mostly British pop music that I really liked but forgot. There's always something that I'll learn and go back to share with forgetful friends of a vintsge era.

[@Luke-ew6uo]

Just got diva yesterday. So nice to see it on here. I have too many synth plugin. Thanks for inspiring me to put in the time to really master one.

[@dessiplaer]

When I got my new computer, I decided I would limit my synth plugins to one or two so I could really learn them, but alas, my vst library continued to grow and grow. Both of the synths you chose sounded great. You are much more disciplined that I.

[@JamesBermingham]

Great choices and great video Woody. I have Diva, but not Hive. Might have to check that out. My 2 regular “got to” synths, would be Roland Zenology which covers almost all of Roland’s synths they’ve ever made and is really great for contemporary sounds. And Arturia Pigments for a more contemporary sounding VST. For a deeper dive than 2 synths, Arturias V collection is amazing and a lot of the synths operations are transferable across all their synth so the workflow is pretty streamlined. And the Reason rack is also an amazing collection. But the 2 desert island soft synths for me are Roland Zenology and Arturia Pigments 🪄🎹🤩

[@johnleighdesigns]

Awesome to hear your thouhts - I am always distracted and endlessly re-learning the multitude of VST synth but my Korg classic range is a favourite and I also use Ana 2 I would love to find a drum machine with a mix of classic 80s/90s plus modern and not sure about wheere to go maybe u have some tip!

[@auberginedreams00]

I feel like there’s a preset for almost any sound I could possibly want In Omnisphere. The problem is that this can contribute even more to the choice paralysis issue. Still I think if I could only choose one it would be Omnisphere (especially if you’ve got Keyscape too).

[@analogsynthesizer]

What do you think about Caustic 3 app for Android?

[@WoodyPianoShack]

if you're asking me, i'm not a mobile app user generally.

[@HiEnergyMusic]

In my opinion UVI Falcon is the best "mega-synth". It does every important synthesis type. Also lots of soundware of any imaginable kind available for it.

[@MarcTelesha]

I use Diva, Hive 2 and Falcon for 90% of my synths. I really only use Falcon for samples and for complex sounds. The issue is Hive 2 can do soooooo much I have been using Falcon less and less.

[@saricubra2867]

Zebra 2 has FM, Additive, Substractive, additive, physical modelling (if you want) and i like more the semi modular design. UVI Falcon has good sound design posibilities, inspired by kontakt but the UI is the biggest flaw with it.

[@HiEnergyMusic]

@@saricubra2867 Both of them have their pros and cons. In my music I use both of them.

[@cybergwen]

I 100% agree with DIva, but my choice for digital sounding synth is Phase Plant. It's modular architecture and huge flexibility make it capable of almost anything, without making it look and feel cluttered and unwieldy. Not saying Hive is bad in any way though 🥰

[@natura808]

Phase Plant doesn’t sound nearly as good as the DIVA.

[@Arcessitor]

@@natura808He said Diva AND Phase Plant. Read.

[@KordTaylor]

Good point that too many choices can slow us down when writing. Thank you for the excellent reminder. 👏🏻

[@schniggedagges74]

Its really hard to decide! I own Diva and I love the presets, but I did not make any sounds on my own with it. There for I prefer Cherry Audios Dreamsynth or Sines. And I also use Vital a lot, that has imo one of the best interfaces of all synths ever made.

[@lodrezzon]

Finally! Someone used a little Level 42 in their demo. And that... is why we love you Woody!

[@francescocarosone5943]

Wasn't it Nik Kershaw Wouldn't it be good?

[@ShebenMuzik]

Using Cubase, I found out I could do soooo many things with Retrologue and Padshop only. But I still have a few other ones that I love, like the Juno106 and Arp2600 from Audio Cherry and a few great freebies too.

[@williamshaneblyth]

Nice I use to use logic it has an insane built in library so great to see someone actually using what's built in 👍🏼 I use Bitwig mostly now it has a bunch of synths built in it can do some deep modulations routing things other DAWs don't so I get that aspect mainly out of it's modular build your own synth part but love Hive2 for it's incredible movie and orchestral modern sounds.

[@thetrick9]

Great video, totally agree for diva but for modern stuff I would probably go with Arturia Pigmens as it covers range of synthesis options (virtual analog, sample, granular, additive). Arguably you could go even more minimalistic with uhe zebra hz only as it has awesome diva filters so you are covered for almost anything. Cheers

[@WarrenPostma]

My desert island minimal choices: 1. Diva 2. Pigments 3. Phaseplant However HIVE is FANTASTIC and so is ZEBRA. U-HE doesn't make anything that's not awesome.

[@ElectronicazMusic]

Your passion shines through as ever Woody. Keep it up! 😁 ♥ 🎶 🎹

[@GeorgeMichaelTribute]

Arturia V Collection and Roland Cloud has you covered for everything you will ever need. I know it's more than 2 synths, but these 2 sets of Virtual synth collections would cost way over 1 million £€ for their hardware counterparts, with very little sonic difference. What a time to be alive as a keyboard aficionado.

[@MrQuuze]

Where is wavetable synths? for example. btw each have own perfect tools.

[@martinarnold5239]

The Cloud is a subscription service. You're just paying to rent stuff, which sucks

[@MrQuuze]

@@martinarnold5239 actually Roland Cloud you can buy single ones. i seen some of these selled in local music shop what delivers licences. i dont know if any Roland synths worth get to me. thinked little JV1080 and I think SH-2. but now i focus other kind tools what i need for music but maybe later.

[@hiding_my_name]

Isn't there a lot of overlap between those two collections? I'm renting to own the V collection from Splice and so far it's been flawless. Is there anything from Roland that you can't get from Arturia? Just curious since I thought about the roland cloud, but didn't see anything I couldn't get with Arturia's suite. I guess there's the zencore synths, but I really really like Pigments, so I think I'm set there.

[@nobrains6107]

@Seth Derrick Pigments isn't part of the V collection.

[@prosaschleuder]

Reducing the choices is what I'm trying to do myself but I'm coming from another angle. I'd use one basic synth for the bread and butter sounds, let's say Synth 1 or TAL Noisemaker. Another one for the more complex stuff, that would be Surge XT, Vital or something like that. And finally: VCV Rack, because I really like building sounds from the ground up.

[@erichkohl9317]

A big YES for Diva! Just bought it a few weeks ago on sale. Love it.

[@michelebass5151]

Thanks for actually playing the synths instead of just arpeggiating us to death. Really digging Diva, and I just got a Minilogue XD, so I can't wait to try that with Omnisphere. That Level 42 tho! I was ready to break out my bass and jam with you 😀.

[@klstay]

The layout and workflow of Pigments is a big plus IMHO. One might get away with just it as their only VST.

[@akira20ish]

If you do dubstep I would beg to differ serum beats it hands down for sequences but there’s also snapheap for greater control of the LFO

[@neilbuchan5088]

I find that Pigments sounds a bit weak?

[@akira20ish]

@@neilbuchan5088 try the ms20 filter lol

[@aerofoilmusic]

I also like Pigments very much! And a big fan of the Om isphere as well. It’s expensive, but it features great analog modelled wavetables & thousands of other great sounds to combine, design, and build!

[@Hyper5nic]

Thank you so much Woody! For me I've landed on Soundpaint for both analog as modern synthesizer sounds. The interface is simple and it sounds so very musical without even using MPE.

[@benirodriguez9516]

Great choice. I do own several already, but if I didn't, I'd go for Diva and Serum, but if I can take one more in there... I'd change Serum for Hive2 and Zebra 2. So, yeah... U-He stuff is quite great! Sylenth1 was the first I bought, and I'm happy with it too. The best is to get started with one, and study it, get to know how you can get a bunch of different sounds from it with intentional knob twisting (not random luck), and that way, you will understand what it can do and where it may fall short so that your second synth can compliment the first one. Then you probably won't need a third one.

[@chrisfeeneymusic]

I recently had to downsize my VST use when my iMac reached its OS upgrade limit and the Native Instruments Komplete and many others were no longer usable. The two VST synths I now focus on are Omnisphere and Serum.

[@EncounterCaneCorso]

Definitely agree, less is more. My go to soft synths are Diva and Repro. I've been looking for a modern synth that won't take years to learn how to program. I like how UHE products integrate with Maschine+ and my Kontrol S88 MK2 keyboard. I was considering Zebra or Hive. Appreciate you mentioning that Hive is not a steep learning curve. Going to download the Hive demo and give it a try.

[@michipeka9973]

I personnally really enjoy Vital lately, it clicked with me and I enjoy designing sounds with it. But I understand your point about actually playing music, I'm not much a player and just a hobbyist anyway.

[@ChaosToOrder777]

I'm with you. Vital is awesome. I make psychedelic trance and I don't really use anything else. It even does my kicks. I gave them money to encourage them to keep developing. ❤

[@michipeka9973]

@@ChaosToOrder777 Same! I paid for the "plus" version not because I'm interested in the few extra presets and wavetables but because I feel bad and think it's borderline "criminal" to use the software without supporting the devs. Cheers!

[@Maluband]

If I had to pick two it would be Arturia Pigments for wavetable, virtual analog, granular and sampling analog software synthesizer plus Korg Opsix for a different type of sound with FM.

[@zilentman]

what controller are you using?

[@randytellez2451]

That was a fun video..but quite informative. Those 2 software synths are what I've been looking for as I just bought my first midi keyboard. I love big deep ambient synth sounds and you've pretty much ended my search here. Soon as I get a work desk built ( I am a learning woodworker) and the software (DAW) learned certainly I'll be getting the 2 programs. Thank you

[@davidemasi3102]

I had doubts about these two synths. I used them for a while, but I wasn't convinced of their functionality. Thanks to this video I am now sure that they are excellent programs for making music. Thanks a lot

[@MSM5500]

DIVA is really massive sounding synthesizer but I'd never give up Roland Juno 106 plug-in/plug-out synth as well. The latter one is 100% authentic in terms of setup & sounds.

[@jesusrocks7500]

Tone2 Icarus is hands down the best sounding, most versatile synth in my arsenal. Three oscillators, vast modulation, sequencer, drum machine, glitch sequencer and killer effects. It even creates amazing random patches with a single click. For the price, nothing else comes close. (For reference, I've got Pigments, Hive, Dune, Rob Papen Blue 2, Blade 2 individuals many others. I stand by my claim.)

[@grahamtruckel]

Good choices Woody, and great to hear a bit of Level 42 from the Diva synth!

[@sevchyk]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="216">3:36</a> Which synth is that?

[@thedailyremedy968]

OPX-PRO 2 sounds incredible as does Diva-both always bring me joy and wow factor. If I could add another two next would be Omnisphere and Dune 3. Slate and Ash Choreographs amazing so far for creating alive evolving textures, original sound design.

[@williamshaneblyth]

Never heard of OPX you mention would love to hear more about that if you have time I have dune3 and Hive2 and dive i particularly love the u-he 2 mentioned

[@annother3350]

@@williamshaneblyth OPX-Pro II is the best VST Oberheim Emulation IMO

[@timbrandon1466]

Great video. Aaaaaa, what was the second tune you played. I've git it somewhere but can't remember what it is. Driving me nuts. Approx at 4.44

[@purrbox7514]

I love Diva so much, it's got me back into music making again after a 15 year gap. Just gorgeous sounds.

[@lumpielump3576]

very nice video - I absolutely share your thoughts on hording too much plugins. I also would choose Diva and Hive/Zebra2

[@NukleoNMusik]

Great demos. I'm trying to decide between Diva and Serum for my next softsynth. The reality is that I'll probably buy them both. :) I picked up Pigments 5 and it's fantastic. Very deep!

[@TheVideogamemaster9]

UVI Falcon is my top choice for synthesis, there's nothing it can't do with its extremely powerful capabilities. I don't know if Roland Zenology counts, because it uses samples, but that one is my goto workstation. But then same for the Korg Triton plugin and Steinberg Halion. I need all my software synths lol

[@maydaygoingdown5602]

I've been looking a bit at Falcon 2.8 lately, it looks like it's quite complex, there's just so much to it. However it certainly is without question the most powerfull VST on the planet right now...No question. 2 days ago I was almost buying the Waldorf irridium keyboard version because I know it's amazing for sound design and imparticular ambiant pads that can be modulated and evolve. That was until I watched a video on pad design on Falcon 2.8. I'll 100% be investing my beer tokens into Falcon in the next couple of days...100%. I'm just going to have accept that I'm going to have to sit down with it for a couple of weeks to understand it's routings and workings.

[@neilbuchan5088]

@@bassc Falcon sounds immeasurably better than it did when I first bought it (fairly recently so it's always being improved). It is a powerhouse indeed and the only contender is possibly Omnisphere. However, it is cumbersome in the backend and I find the editing hierarchy a bit confusing. BUT it has 10's of great libraries and 1,000s of presets and they always have sales.

[@neilbuchan5088]

I didn't do Falcon justice there. It is a bloody monster!!

[@KG808]

Thank you! I appreciate your honesty and enthusiasm. I'm looking for my first virtual synth purchase and Hive 2 is shaping real good!

[@WoodyPianoShack]

nice! i don't think you'll be disappointed! Zebra Legacy strong contender too, if you want something even deeper!

[@KG808]

@@WoodyPianoShack Thanks for your recommendation! 🙏

[@MrDCPatterson]

I had decided that DIva and Hive 2 might be the best choices for simplifying my synth collection. When I found this video I realised I could live with that choice. Thank you for making this!

[@basspartout]

Haha, briliiant! Having gathered probably a gazillion soft synths over the years myself, these are the exact ones I'm using most often and I always come back to. (and Zebralette!) Well done, U-HE!! 👍🙏

[@Music-tg5is]

Zebralette is one of the best FREE synths ever. And everyone that doesn't own the full Zebra 2, should check out the Zebra Legacy package, which is only 99 Euros and includes the previously separate ZebraHZ and loads of great preset packs. On another note... Zebra 3 is hopefully not too far away now [fingers crossed]

[@deadlights6743]

Excellent fellow who speaks a lot of sense. Actually bought Hive 2 on the strength of Woody’s review. A quality channel.

[@gautrstafr]

I''m doing something similar but for me, VSTs are Surge XT and I''m currently choosing between either Reaktor or VCV for more experimental stuff.

[@epicsynthwave]

I've stopped counting... I'm afraid to count how many plugins I own 😂 In all honesty it's a great idea to limit yourself. But if I had to choose only two synths, I would probably pick Phase Plant and Dune 3.

[@benirodriguez9516]

same here about being afraid to count how many plugins I own.🤪 Phase Plant and Dune 3 are great choices too.

[@kelseydaniels7283]

Good points. Phase Plant would be on my list too. It’s boundless. I also like NI’s Monark for more retro stuff.

[@dariuseviltwin]

I totally get it and am thinking of doing some housekeeping my myself lol. Hive is definitely staying for both modern and retro and I feel Vital might be my other keeper for face melting shenanigans lol

[@adamarmstrong9408]

So glad I chose diva ,it's so good! I will probably get hive next

[@aneveningwithebola2727]

My favorites are Dexed, Vital and Zenology. The latter is annoying at times, but I like being able to take the patches I make on it and put them on my MC-101.

[@RaveyStabs]

I think its good and indeed healthy to resign yourself to just a couple of workhorse synths. For me thats UVI Falcon and Softube modular (which incorporates all their synths) at the moment. Both massive playgrounds that once you gel with the initial framework you can keep on building comfortably within and go deeper. It has gotten me out of trying lots of things but feeling I was mastering nothing.

[@GIOVANNIDELIGHT]

Which daw do you use?

[@WoodyPianoShack]

reaper and ableton

[@marcgrauss3425]

I fully agree with the purpose of your video, reducing stuff for more efficiency. I would reduce not to two but three ones : SynthMaster2 - very inexpensive, powerful and well designed, Dune 3 - like many of us, so inspiring, and CZ-V - between analogue and digital, so expressive and easy to use. Congrats for all your videos !

[@RikMaxSpeed]

Do any of these two cover FM? Or additive / spectral morphing synthesis? Point well made, however, that less is more.

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

Thanks for this demonstration. Even though I've produced music for over 20 years I only just started to venture off and take synths seriously about a year ago. Before I would simply pick an included patch and do random tweaks until I found something that suited the song. The other thing is I've never purchased a dedicated software synth and only used ones included with the DAW like Reason's racks for example. I recently got into learning Vital, Dexed and OBxd since they're mostly free to understand both FM, and subtractive synthesis but if I were going to spend money that Diva really blew me away. It actually sounds like analog gear which is mind blowing. 😇

[@vitaliiandronov8629]

Hey. After your words about cutting edge sounds of Hive I went out to video with all its presets. Hmm, can you please give me some examples which of them are "cutting edge"?

[@therealmattmann]

I love all the old tunes you used to audition sounds….especially the Nik Kershaw and Howard Jones tunes!! ❤

[@martinarnold5239]

I would have to go Pigments and Repro. Diva is nice but it can't do the Jupiter as well as TAL or Arturia. I love the TAL Juno and the Arturia Jupiter, but Repro is two great sounding synths in one

[@johnbudden3630]

After watching this video I bought both of these and they are sonically stunning. I am new to virtual synths and had not heard of either of them before. Bought both on Etsy for £30 - bargain! Thanks for the content.

[@CoolDudeClem]

The only synths I use are subtractive and FM and I build most of them from scratch, no presets. Also old computer sound chips can sound interesting so sometimes I make sounds with them.

[@Art0691p]

Tried many soft synths but Omnisphere all the way for me. Powerful, flexible and sounds great.

[@amb13nt59]

What a wonderful demo! Thank you.

[@TechGently]

I've been using only one plugin, Arturia's Minifreak V2 VST now for sale for people that already have.a midi controller. I'd say would be a good 3rd, for odd waves and the sheer range of sounds you can get from it. Normally sells for $200, but I got it for around $70.

[@itinerantghost]

Loved it! Great job at pulling amazing sounds from those lovely synths, and for the honorable mention list. Lots of great synths there. I've been using Omnisphere a lot these days as I'm very later adopter, and I'm loving the sample-synth combo as their library is huge.... I must say though, that I don't consider Omnisphere a rompler. Far from it. You can get lots of modern sounds with it with the synth engine, but if we compare it with other synths that have a lot more wavetable shaping options (like Serum, Vital, Pigments, Phaseplant, or Hive, just to name a few) those bleeding edge modern sounds are going to be way easier in those other synths because of those options.

[@nickpmusic]

That's why I was a Reason Studios user for many years as everything was in one package and I never felt stressed or overwhelmed or had compatibility issues with 3rd party plugins, everything just worked really well. Sadly this has changed now as RS have not carried on improving their DAW and staying true their original brilliant concept of an all-in one production power house. Now it's sub model and slow development with new chips like Apple M1.

[@Vinylistin]

I can sadly absolutely agree! Until Reason 4 it was amazing - so much possibilties for routes ectect and worked perfect in rewire

[@RoyChartier]

The two ultimate softsynths made my the same company...seems more like advertorial than a proper review.

[@lokologico]

good choices, I'm considering them both since it seems both are also MPE compatible!

[@AdamTheAd-vanc3d]

I love z3ta ( dated I know) for more modern ish sounds, shall we say. Really good to hear your opinion and learn what other guys like here. Btw imo is an absolute beast 💪🏾🔥🔥🔥

[@Music-tg5is]

You're not alone. the Z3ta synths were great. Shame they were bought by Cakewalk before that DAW was discontinued. Leaves that synth now in limbo as no new purchases or development can be made.

[@fxdaly]

Interesting video and I guess everyone has their favourites. Having used a lot of soft synths from Arturia, NI, Spitfire Audio, Decent Sampler, etc, I would recommend Arturia’s DX7 for vintage and Arturia’s Pigments 4 for modern sounds, with runner-up’s of Vital and Massive. I haven’t used Diva but I think it’s user interface is very dated - ok I know it’s for vintage sounds, but look at Arturia’s DX7 which has those vintage sounds wrapped up in a slick modern interface. It has to sound good first, but if it has a more accessible modern user interface then you’re more likely to use it regularly.

[@Screaming-Trees]

Diva's interface is super intuitive and fast though. Especially if you're used to hardware because of the hardware metaphor. I can dial in a sound in seconds. But, then I come from hardware so....may not be everyone's cup of tea.

[@fxdaly]

@@Screaming-Trees Good point, but I’m guessing that people who mainly use soft synths, like me, prefer the designer to take advantage of the screen (with graphic representation of sounds, and other features) rather than a cluttered screen of similar knobs representing hardware but with no tactile experience. For example, an iPhone or Android phone maximizes it’s capabilities rather than trying to emulate a 90s phone.

[@Screaming-Trees]

@@fxdaly Yeah I get that. Personally I don't care for graphical representations of envelopes etc. I'm fine working with old school sliders and knobs. Actually in Kurzweil VAST you kind of have to work with numerical values (milliseconds/seconds/cents/hertz etc). It's not my favourite but it's workable. I rely heavily on my ears and as I said I have a bunch of hardware so I've probably developed an intuitive understanding over the years. But I might be jumping the gun a bit. I presume by graphical representations you mean envelopes? Is there anything else that's represented graphically in these more modern interfaces? I presume in case of wavetable synthesis you probably have something like a picture of the waveform? But other than that what else is visually illustrated? I don't use any of these more modern synths like Serum etc so I really don't know what the hype is about. I presume it's partly about the interface.

[@fxdaly]

@@Screaming-Trees I completely agree that there are different schools of thought and difference preferences for how to interact when creating music. Although I grew up listening to, and looking at, all those synths in the 70s and 80s and my work in IT moved from mainly textual and clunky interfaces to the smoother modern interfaces of today, there are still many colleagues who prefer the textual interface of unix/linux to the Mac or Windows interface and also many who prefer vintage and modern hardware synths to soft synths. I like the representations of the animated envelopes, the moving waveforms, the 3-d representations of wavetables, the animated sequencers, the colour coded groups of notes, and many other visual aspects which help understand what is happening in the sound in apps such as Serum, Vital, Pigments, MiniFreak V, Zenology Pro, Ableton’s synth components and many others. I also believe that many people follow this channel because they like old hardware synths (and I do to a certain degree and I own one or two of them) and to understand how to fully use vintage soft synths, you need to appreciate the original hardware to a certain degree. However my preference is for a MacBook Pro, a bunch of soft synths, a good midi keyboard and midi controller rather that a studio full of hardware synths (but I can see the appeal of that).

[@fxdaly]

@@progrockrules I couldn't agree more. NI's Massive and FM8 have great sounds but awful UIs whereas Arturia's V Collection 9 synths look awesome and sound awesome.

[@jetxee]

I like your approach. But what would be your one and the only Piano plugin? PS. I picked up Hive 2 on the recent sale, hoping that its workflow may be more immediate, but I still feel like I can't get anywhere without the manual, and the preset browser is not easy to navigate. I stick with Pigments for now.

[@swampdweller5]

What a great video….I’d love to try those…I know this is not a popular choice but for over a year I have used the Arturia CS80v. I just vibe with it for some reason. Cheers

[@Screaming-Trees]

I use Diva only for when I need anything VA or analogue. Diva can impersonate that whole family of sounds so well that it would be difficult to leverage whatever differences remain between analogue and digital in an actual composition. If not impossible in most contexts. For digital family of sounds that's a bit harder. I use a Kurzweil most of the time because they are so musical. For ITB digital I primarily turn to Virtual CZ. Not the Arturia one but the one that came before the Arturia version. That's such a musical sounding synth as well. The Kurzweil has a DX7 built into it so I have access to those sounds too. Between it, VirtualCZ and Diva there isn't really anything you can't cover. I know there are other choices for digital ITB but I go with what I know. I agree with the minimalist approach though. One synth for one family of sounds and just one more for the other.

[@JuliusLC]

Plug-in Boutique VirtualCZ?

[@nitsujism]

Omnisphere is categorically NOT a ROMpler! It's a powerhouse synthesiser with hundreds of wavetables covering everything from vintage to modern. Incredibly flexible routing, tons of filters, tons of FX. Continues to be used in countless film scores. It also just happens to have the option of playing samples for oscillators instead of wavetables and in that case you have the choice of samples from the huge 60gb library that comes with it. It can easily do the sounds played in this video.

[@Abeltone]

I was actually expecting to see Omnisphere 2 in one of the 2 synths here as well!

[@garyhendrie4001]

Me too. Falcon not really getting a mention is criminal. But everyone to their own.

[@blackbeardsghost6588]

I completely agree. Omnisphere was originally Atmosphere, and actually WAS a "rompler". But NO MORE. This thing is the ULTIMATE BEAST. Lacking "modern sounds"?! You HAVE to be kidding. This thing has analog oscillators of every imaginable waveform, PRISTINE digital samples, an arpegiattor that is unmatched, and an effects section others would only DREAM of. With it's bit crushing ability and harmonia, if I had to pick ONLY ONE software synth to be stranded with on a desert island, it would . . . HANDS DOWN . . . be Omnisphere 2. (I own Diva, and it's really cool. But it's NOWHERE NEAR as deep as Omnisphere.) Another thing about Omnisphere 2 that makes it so awesome is that you can be as shallow (rompler) as you want, playing nothing more than it's incredible presets, or you can dive DEEP into this thing and be mesmerized for HOURS by the sonic capabilities, and much in between. Expensive? Sure - but it beats having the 5 or 6 OTHER software synths you would have to have in order to be able to create all of those sounds.

[@HyperNova137]

@@blackbeardsghost6588 Agreed... I have dozens of the top soft-synths out there, but Omnisphere 2 is almost always my go-to when I'm ready to start a new project (especially anything with pads and atmospheric / meditative stuff). I use Diva when I want something a bit warmer and more retro-sounding, because sometimes Omni does have more of a "digital" feel to it... But it's still the all-around winner for me. Probably the only legit downside is the steep price.

[@aquaticborealis4877]

Can Omnisphere do object modeling akin to Objekt from Reason? Beardyman did a video on it and it was pretty jaw dropping. He says it can do things that nothing else can, although it’s not a do everything kind of synth.

[@rockyhill9965]

Woody - you give a very good demonstration here.

[@daz4627]

No No No!!!! ... Be weak, Woody!!! Cave in to your inner Wakeman and Jarre .... cram as many hardware synths into your studio as you can... I don't need any new hardware synths (I've been telling myself that for years) so in the last 12 months, I've gone and bought a Korg Wavestation A/D rack and a Hydrasynth Deluxe so definitely no more (NO MORE I tell you) synths until I save up a bit more.... I can even ponce around in my studio wearing a gold cape... it's FAB :-) ... all I need now is a dry ice machine.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

i'm up for poncing around in capes!

[@LeadingMotive]

Good choice! Obviously it also makes sense to use what you already have. Diva is excellent but my Halion synths already cover most of that retro ground. And note that many ROMpler instruments such as Omnisphere do not have drums, so you might need a third VSTi on your list. Again, Halion has those as well. But it’s wonderful we have so much choice nowadays!

[@williamshaneblyth]

The thing about diva is you swap modules in a single click .. Oberheim oscillators feeding into mod filters and Jupiter adsr and some other brands effects.

[@barrystevens3550]

Nice work as usual, I was so close to getting Diva, you may have pushed me over. Have you played with magix? I spent a couple of hours newbeing and was pleasantly surprised. mange tak igen . . . .

[@marcelruetters]

i also reduced my synth vsts, i'm using diva and serum and get everything covered.

[@Klangraum]

Very difficult choice: Synapse Dune and Surge XT. But I would cry if I didn't have my Terratec Komplexer and ZynAddSubFX anymore.

[@YotamPiano]

lol I literally screamed "Omishpere" at the screen two minutes before your mentioned it Woody :-) Actually, another advantage not mentioned of using 2 softsynths from the same company that you might get a discount, a bundle etc. for buying more than one product.. P.S thumbs up for Nik Kershaw and LEVEL 42 ! !

[@Death_By_Media]

For down sizing work flow I can’t recommend Surge XT enough ! OSCs: 2 different analog emulation/ VA types as well as a whole port of Mutable Instruments Plaits 2 different Wavetable type engines Alias Osc for the retro digital with additive synthesis as a bonus 2 and 3 op FM Kaplus strong OSC Filters : more than a dozen types with Moog , Roland , OB ,and Korg MS20 types as well as other more esoteric kinds with 2 per part Modulation : with more LFOs with uni bi / mono / poly , msegs , ENVs , step sequencers and even scripting options then one may ever need . Effects : ridiculous amount including Mutable Instruments ports , Chow DSP , Air FX , and dozens more in a very flexible routing architecture. Bi timbral or split or layer per instance. And it’s Open source , freeware with consistent upgrades and development to boot . And most importantly it sounds great on par with Pigments , Diva and Dune 3 and exceeds in parts . Note its default classic skin I think puts people off as imho makes it look harder to work with than it is as it makes the sections look too busy ? But it has other skins and is skinable as well that make it feel more inviting to me . I think you should give it a solid go . Cheers .

[@peteraaron8626]

Interesting video. I have found this works for hardware as well: I ended up having all 29 of my synths wired up and ready to go in my studio and I was flitting quickly between them trying to find sounds that worked and I wasn't getting much finished. Having packed away a lot of them and leaving myself with 3, I'm spending more time on them working on sounds and getting more done.

[@Parkerz007]

I am intrigued to know which 3? 😊

[@peteraaron8626]

@@Parkerz007 Erebus, Minilogue, and Microfreak.

[@kunimitanaka1079]

Another advantage of going all u-he is complete platform flexibility. u-he plugins are available for Mac and Windows of course but more importantly for Linux as well.

[@ryanstark2350]

I know you about talking about synthesizer type sounds here but the first go to digital instrument in my opinion is Pianoteq. No big sample banks to deal with and great feel to play which makes you play and you have enough various sounds to keep you interested like electric pianos. You can slso tweak it quite a bit to get extreme sounds. The only other software synth I use is Wolfgang Palm's Wavegenerator, insanely now unavailable. The reason I use this is because it sounds really great. This is my first priority, the sound because I have hardware synths and most plugins fail to sound as good.

[@Teeb2023]

Great choices Woody. I can sit down to Hive for a quick session and have to peel my rear off the seat after two hours that felt like five minutes.

[@TheUnfinishedSynth]

Zebra and Diva for me. Though I’m really enjoying Serum at the moment. And RePro would be close as well.

[@TheUnfinishedSynth]

@Jesus From The Hood. Have a nice, powerful PC that can handle it. :)

[@TheUnfinishedSynth]

@Jesus From The Hood. Asus Prime X299-Deluxe, running off a Scan X3S custom build unit. Nearly four years old now but, still running beautifully.

[@Music-tg5is]

​@Jesus From The Hood. u-he's Zebra2 is one of the least CPU-demanding, yet still great-sounding synths available. Even Diva and the Repros are okay CPU-wise once you enable the 'multicore' option and manage the quality and polyphony settings.

[@rayderrich]

You showed two extremely good VST's. I happen to love UVI Falcon as it can do 'everything' but it is not easy if you do not like sound design. Reducing the number of VST's is definitely a good thing, we are being tricked into buying new ones all the time.

[@Music-tg5is]

Did you hear the news? Image-Line (developers of FL Studio) have bought UVI.

[@rayderrich]

@@Music-tg5is I did not know yet, and am not happy about it. We'll see.

[@cammillar4068]

Thank you for the 're-affirmation'... of how I should really explore the Diva that I own and why I fell in love with it at first lisen, and also for the re-affirmation that it is better to understand one or two synths really well instead of owning so many that they become strangers every time I open them (guilty as charged!)

[@ronricherson6685]

Nice overview. If I had to choose just two? You're asking a guy who (besides having orchestral libaries from East/West, Spitfire Audio, Project Sam, Cinesamples, Audio Imperia, and more), has Omnisphere 2, UVI Falcon, the full Arturia V Collection and Pigments, a bunch of NI stuff (including Arkhis, Lores, Piano Colors) and and and...I have to pick two? Well, I recently got u-he HIVE and I've got to say, the sound engine is wonderful. I think I would make that one of my two choices. For those still reading, I'll share my thoughts... Omnisphere is amazing, but it does have a "cold" quality to it...I think it is partly because Eric Persing (the CEO) came from his time with Roland and I always felt like Roland had that cold digital blue sound. Arturia Pigments is pretty cool but has an edgy harsh quality, many of the presets in some categories are completely worthless to me. UVI Falcon is powerful (and I just got it, so, can't say too much yet) but HIVE has a pure, deep and clean sound engine that I just love. I find that certain soft synths are good in some areas, but weak in others. While HIVE is not perfect (and has its share of "junk presets"), I really love it. And it's not that expensive!

[@Sunstatemusic]

Happiness in old age is to sell all your hardware synths and play on mini 3 octaves keyboard by software synth sounds passing though mini soundcard on the table. The top notch endorphines release booster.

[@mudi2000a]

Very good choice imo. Also support from u-he is really good as they regularly update their software. And of course the sound! Especially Diva, it’s incredible.

[@beattorrentsweeper5477]

Diva is the best sounding soft synth I've come across in my 17 years as a music producer . Today, i also discovered Retrolougue 2 by Steinberg, a worthy contender for sure

[@ErmisAnargyrosAvgoustidis]

I lost omnisphere from upgrate my imac to catalina, now i cant authorise it again. Keygen not working, worth to buy it? Or to ga for diva? I like pads most

[@robertshamansky1912]

I have a boatload of softsynths and the U-He synths are my favorites.