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VST
So what do you do when you have a great love of electronic music and synthesizers but suddenly find yourself in the domestic situation of having no space to set up your large collection? Well to the rescue comes VSTi or virtual instruments. Created by those wonderful people at Steinberg.
VSTi's are software synthesizers, in many cases versions of classic hardware but more often than not totally new creations. They can vary in complexity and use but easily compete with their hardware rivals with the added advantage of many being freely available (check out the Links section).
Unfortunately it's not all plain sailing, first of all you need a host application as the majority are not stand alone instruments. I use Cubase SX as my weapon of choice, an advanced and powerful sequencer package although most modern sequencers will allow the use of virtual instruments although there are a number of different standards (VST, DX, AU). There are also stand alone host applications the only one of which I have ever tried was AudioMulch.
The second problem concerns "latency" or simply put the delay between a note being played on your MIDI keyboard and this being converted to a signal the VST understands. For this you generally need a good soundcard, so you can safely discount that built in sound chip on your motherboard!. What you specifically need is a soundcard with an ASIO driver. For this I had to retire my reliable and worthwhile Sonic Fury and replace it with a Terratec DMX 6Fire. This now gives me acceptable latency being designed primarily as a musicians soundcard, the side effect is that it does not perform particularly well with games so I have utilized the built in card on my motherboard to take care of this duty. The Terratec was in the end the only viable option, in much the same way as the Sonic Fury, in the fact that its one of the few, if only, available card's that allow the connection of a daughter board and I was far from willing to scrap the Yamaha DB50XG that was plugged into the Sonic.
The VSTs can either be controlled by Cubase or from an external MIDI controller keyboard for which I am now using an M-Audio 49e which has replaced my CZ-101.
As stated before there are many free instruments available but many of the better ones do require some (considerable) expense, below is what I currently use or have used.
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| The Cheese Machine | Superwave P8 | |
| The wonderful Cheese Machine, designed to replicate the string machines of the 70s, its simple in its design and although it doesn't have a wide range of sounds it does what its meant to do very well. A favourite for supplying thick pad sounds | The SuperWave P8, not sure if this is still available but being software I'm sure it can be picked up somewhere. A traditional analogue synth which is capable of some very powerful sounds. The presets don't really do it justice as many are just too similar but like the Cheese Machine its most obvious use is as a pad synth but is capable of a whole lot more | |
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| B4 | A1 | |
| Everyone knows what the Hammond B3 sounds like, if you say no then believe me you do! The instrument that supplied the classic organ sound of the 60s and 70s is replicated perfectly with this simulation. Obviously it's not going to supply you with the range of sounds of a fully fledged synthesizer but you won't get a better Electric Organ anywhere. | The A1 comes supplied with Cubase SX and I believe is often overlooked when people talk about quality VSTi's. Again a traditional analogue that's far easier to program than the P8 and a very capable instrument. | |
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| Claw | Crazy Diamonds | |
| This doesn't look much, is monophonic and has few controls but does produce a very powerful sound, very much like a beefed up TB-303 but makes a good lead and bass synth. | Hard to describe this, a combination of string machine and organ. Very good for mellow sounds but you have to remember to save your edits as they wont be remembered in Cubase. | |
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| daHornet | Exciton | |
| A replica of the classic EDP Wasp, probably the most successful British built synthesizer ever. A simple monophonic which can be bettered by many other VST's but nostalgia value alone makes it appealing | This is a good poly synth but can be very daunting on first inspection, worth the effort in persevering. | |
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| impOscar | FM7 | |
| I have an original OSC Oscar to compare this against and you would be hard pushed to tell the difference, apart from the feel of all that rubber!. One of the most sought after synthesizers even today and this is as near to one as you can get. | One of the most famous synthesizers ever was the Yamaha DX7 which brought the joys of FM synthesis to the world. This is an accurate simulation of that and the DX7 II which maintains all the complexity of the original. Which means its only a preset instrument as far as I'm concerned but a bloody good one at that. | |
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| Junglist | JunoX2 | |
| In many ways this reminds me of the DW8000, not really explored this one much but its a standard analogue with a variety of different available waveforms | By all accounts this resembles the Roland Juno synths of the 80's but as I never had one I couldn't say. What it is though is a very simple to operate instrument but surprisingly powerful although its not always easy to understand the controls. | |
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| z3ta+ | Oddity | |
| A very digital sounding synthesizer that is surprisingly easy to program. Similar sounding in many ways to the FM7 but lends itself to experimentation far more easily. A personal favourite of mine | Always wanted to own an ARP Odyssey but as they are somewhat of a collectors item and very expensive my chances are slim. I therefore looked forward to trying this out but was slightly disappointed. An accurate but confusing control panel doesn't make sound creation easy, plus there is minor problem with the live triggering on my system | |
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| Pro52 | PPG Wave 2 | |
| When I first got into synthesizers the Prophet 5 was one of the classic machines but at nearly £3000 in the early 80s it was well beyond my means. The VST is initial disappointing as the presets don't do it justice but a solid if unremarkable unit | The PPG Wave2 was an early digital synth and like the Prophet one for the rich musician only. Although its front panel is basic it holds some major creative power once you delve into its menu and unlike the Pro52 is not let down by its presets | |
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| Free Alpha | JXSynth | |
| Its drab colour scheme doesn't give you confidence but still a rather good poly synth. Best of all it's absolutely free | A very basic synth that will not astound you but its clean and easy to understand panel makes it a joy to experiment with and like the Alpha it's also free | |
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| Oberon8 | Mercury-1 | |
| A SynthEdit creation which I would normally avoid but it's simplicity and vintage look make it a joy to use | Very similar in looks and sound to the Roland SH synths of the 80s. | |
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| Pentagon I | Triangle II | |
| Traditional analogue synthesizer whose front panel can be very daunting. Its also available in a front panel design resembling the Triangle II which is a much easier to read version. Powerful instrument | Monophonic synthesizer which is believed to have been a development tool for the Pentagon. It's free and its great. | |
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| Albino 2 | PlastiCZ | |
| Complex and that takes time to master, could do with a bit more of a cutting edge but a fine instrument all the same | Awful GUI but a very faithful representation of the Casio CZ series, not great for warm sounds but handles cutting sounds well | |
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| V Station | Crystal | |
| Powerful and classic sounding analogue synth, ideal for bass and lead lines | A very digital sounding synth that is not easy to get to grips with but does produce very good results if you can give the effort required | |
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| Polysix | Wavestation | |
| This sounds far better than I expected for a single oscillator synth. I avoided buying a real Polysix at the time because of this limitation but am impressed with this. Part of the Korg Legacy collection. | This is capable of some very complex sounds and the presets are amazing, just wish I knew what I was doing as far as programming it was concerned. | |
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| Virsyn Tera | Minimoog V | |
| A very complex but interesting synth that definitely deserves attention, more than I've given it so far! | A faithfull reproduction of the original Minimoog with additional effects. Again not the most powerful sound creation tool around compared to others but it is an all time classic | |
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| Blue | mda Piano | |
| From the same people that gave us the Albino. This has a nice simple sequencer for creating rhythmic changes in the sound, similar in many ways to the Korg MS2000 | Yes it looks pretty plain and boring but it's the best piano simulator I've come across. | |
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| PolyIblit | Slayer 2 | |
| Another very powerful traditional analogue which is not always easy to understand initially but does produce some nice powerful sounds | One thing that's always been difficult to achieve with synthesizers is a good guitar sound, this is great for instance rock, heavy metal and thrash guitar and with a bit of setting up a good acoustic as well | |
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| CronoX3 | CS-80V | |
| Very much a synth for creating "atmospheric" sounds, not always easy to work out whats going on though | Software version of the classic Yamaha Cs-80 which is surprisingly confusing for a standard analogue, but still an all time classic | |
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| Discovery v2 | Moog Modular V2 | |
| Another anolgue synth that's easy to operate but has some considerable power is aimed at the "dance" market and is good at doing those type of sounds | Ok, I admit I don't know what's going on with this half the time. A synthesizer that even Joe 90 might struggle with but worth it just for it's look and the presets. | |
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| Bass Station | CS33 | |
| Software version of Noavations BassStation, simple to use and does exactly what you expect it to do! | Styled along the same lines as a Yamaha CS-01 but featuring much more power | |
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Last update |
06/10/2007 21:02:41 |
© Dave Wateridge |
