Necrox Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 I have no consistent income or abundance of wealth, so are there any low cost plugins (probably $50 or less) that give good bang for buck? I am looking for synthesizer plugins that are good for pads (ambient bg sounds and "dreamy" stuff) and diversity is important too. I have been looking at Sytrus and I like the diverse array of sounds it can do; is that a good value, or should I look for something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garpocalypse Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 (edited) Some free post processors http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/vst-effects/ http://www.tseaudio.com/ Only free synth I know of http://www.tone2.com/html/firebird_vsti_vst_synthesizer_1.html $50 range http://www.korguser.net/shop/software/ I love the hell out of all of these in their legacy collection though for what you are looking for I'd go with either the M1 or Wavestation. Wavestation demo M1 demo Hope that helps! Edited September 22, 2013 by Garpocalypse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avaris Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Bigs ups to Variety of Sound. Also SKNote has a number of excellent cheap plugins: http://www.sknote.it/ Downloading IK Multimedia's Custom Shop right now will get you two free plugs. Their Classic EQ and Opto Compressor. BTW is the Opto Comp is friggin amazing! http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/trcs/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquid wind Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 I like sytrus a lot myself but it's not a great value at $180, for another $20 you could get zebra 2 which is a much much deeper synth or you could go cheaper for other semi modular options like synthmaster(which is also probably deeper come to think of it, sytrus is kind of a relic) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelsDen Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Synth1 One of the most underrated free synth-vst i know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Hakštok Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Synth1One of the most underrated free synth-vst i know. I disagree about it being underrated. It's well known and pretty much always on top of kvr rankings: http://www.kvraudio.com/plugin-ranks.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 (edited) Plugins that cost $50 or less are pretty hard to come off as "a good bang for your buck". Depends on the plugin, but in a general case, you're better off saving up more money for that one plugin that will last you years and years. Zebra2 is one of them ($200). I heartily recommend it for anything and everything synth-related, or anything in general, really. Anything that doesn't have to strain to be real can be done (i.e. pianos are almost impossible to make without physical modeling, electric guitars are out of the question, etc.). It can make bass drones, space pads, PWM pads/synth strings, moog leads, sync leads, trance leads, synth brass, E. Pianos, plucky arps, filter plinks, 80s acid house basses, kicks, snares, hi hats, bass drops, dubstep wobbles, harpsichords, clavinets, flutes, sitars (acoustic and electric), zournas (yup), sine arps, psytrance arps, 303 arps, pitch envelope basses, FM basses, CS-80 basses, dirty pounding basses, ... , and [insert your goal sound here]. Seriously, it can make all of those sounds, almost all of which I've learned how to make before. It's completely worth it, plus there's a good chance you could make your own unique sound if you experiment enough. Edited September 23, 2013 by timaeus222 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damashii!! Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 (edited) Yep, I'm not going to focus too hard on $50 or less plugins. With that target range and below (ie., 'free') I've enjoyed the TAL stuff and those Korg legacy stuff aren't too bad either (but I have a bunch of Korg keyboards so I just prefer recording live whenever I want a distinct 'Korg' sound ). On the other hand, if you're willing to go just a little bit higher I cannot recommend everything from Embertone and Impact SoundWorks enough. Embertone has several great things and occasional sweet deals for all price ranges, and even though I've only recently started using ISW products earlier this year I've had my eyes on their libraries for a long time now and I'm certain that they'll be the bane of my wallet's existence for many more months to come. XD EDIT: fuuuuu--- I read the first sentence and immediately replied without reading through everything. Embertone and ISW are more for all-around stuff (but you can easily craft some pads and experimental ambient stuff with some of the samples), but TAL does have some pretty good basic pads (presets) that I like to use. Mainly the 'Noisemaker.' Edited September 23, 2013 by Damashii!! actually read the complete OP this time >_> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argle Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Luckily for you, Valhalla DSP plugins are 50 a piece, and they're all awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necrox Posted September 23, 2013 Author Share Posted September 23, 2013 Only free synth I know of http://www.tone2.com/html/firebird_vsti_vst_synthesizer_1.html Thank you; this is pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnetic Ether Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Computer Musics CM plugins: The cost of a magazine for ~30 synths and effects, some of which are very very good. I've never used commercial synths so I don't really know how they compare, but they're much better than almost all of the freeware synths I've used. Would also recommend the Sonigen Modular beta. It's free and AMAZING. It's going to be released as pay ware soon I think. The only warning I should give is that on my machine it tends to crash Reaper a lot without warning, which is a pain in the ass, but not a big enough detergent for me to stop using it (it is still in beta after all). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Williamson Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 are there any good plugins that are NOT vst like au or something something that will work with Logic this is the one big thing with Logic I get pissed about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Last I heard, Zebra is available as AU ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avaris Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 are there any good plugins that are NOT vstlike au or something something that will work with Logic this is the one big thing with Logic I get pissed about Most paid for plugins are AU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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