this is something i began thinking of when i was evaluating demo of Massive X, specifically when i noticed there’s no option to disable usage tracking. (maybe it’s just demo version?)
i’m looking for some plugin to use solely in Renoise, and Massive X seemed like a good option for that, BUT…
NI being turned to a corporate bs with its tricky way to turn off usage tracking (it’s not about tin foil hat, just silly practices), two separate versions of Native Access, being late to M1 party and all the subtleties, i don’t feel like investing to them really.
what would you recommend in this regard? some kind of a great sounding plugin which would cover a vast area of sounds to remain one and only for the purpose to really learn it and get me covered?
Arturia Pigments is getting a lot of love right now, it’s a powerful synth (not sure how it compares to Massive X) and I think on sale right now? No idea about usage tracking but Arturia have always seemed like a reasonably cool company to me
u-he is also a respectable company and they make really high quality plugins. I bought Hive 2 which is a surprisingly deep and great sounding wavetable synth and it’s very resource-friendly as well. Zebra2, Diva and basically all of their plugins get a lot of praise.
There’s never been a better time to be in the market for a workstation synth plugin. I’d break out the best of the best by market segment:
Flagship option: Arturia Pigments
Boutique option: U-He Zebra/Hive/Diva
Indie option: Matt Tytel’s Vital
You can’t really go wrong with any of these; it just depends on what gels best with you.
thank you all for replies, these are indeed all interesting options. i somehow overlooked arturia pigments, which seem to be the one i’ll get
cheers
You won’t regret it, best softsynth I’ve used by a mile.
U-HE Zebra has recently been re-issued at $99 which includes all preset packs & the Dark Zebra edition/Hans Zimmer presets. It’s an astounding synth even after all this time & good on CPU. It’s an absolute bargain at this price
U-he set the standard for professionalism from a plug-in developer. They make very high-quality products. They don’t release ahead of time or do gimmicky sales stuff and they maintain those products for years and years.
Ace is still getting updates more than a decade after release and it’s one of the cheapest plugins they make.
Hive or Zebra would both be great options for a nearly do-it-all soft synth.
Just a vote for Kilohearts PhasePlant as well, very good value now at 99 bucks, very powerful and a nice developer. and lifetime free updates.
Phase Plant, Phase Plant plugin, buy Phase Plant, download Phase Plant (pluginboutique.com)
I agree about u-he being a respectable company that does really really good products. I have Diva, Bazille and Zebra since years ago and keep using them. Hive sounds pretty good too. Their effects are amazing too (I love Colour Copy and Presswerk, and used to use Twangstrom a lot).
But honestly my choice for a single soft synth would be Vital: Wavetables, good filters, good effects, vast modulation options. And it’s free!
I don’t think there’s a better option out there. u-he filters are better, but the posibilities of Vital are hard to beat.
You can’t go wrong with Pigments, it’s superb.
Where people do go wrong is buying several rather than committing to, and fully learning, just one.
There’s a learning curve to Pigments where you might be tempted to try something else, but stick with it and it’ll all become natural to you.
I’d say the same thing if you went for Uhe or any of the others, any of the ones mentioned above will be totally capable, but I would/did choose Pigments.
I would like to add Plogue, Sampleson, and GForce to the list of respectable companies. Their plugins are kinda one-trick ponies, yet really great at what they’re doing.
…calling home…israelian plugin company waves started this nice, little “never trust ur custumer” tradition back in the early zero years…
and by now, there’s no software company left, that would not do so…in some way or the other…
i really struggle with cradle these days, since their license manager is a real pain in the ass for people who want their studiosystem offline most of the time…