Have controller, need synth

August 2, 2009 4:21 PM

I've got a PC, and an EMU-49 key midi controller. I've also got an Audiophile 192 sound card with midi-in-out connections. What I want to do is play some synths on the PC....

I've been out of the game for a long time with respect to synths and midi, but I just put my PC together and got the controller for cheap. So I ask you...what synth software would you recommend? I'm looking for sounds - pianos/ambient synths to make music. I'll probably use an old copy of Audition to do recording. But I'm curious about what's good and inexpensive. Bang for the buck here. Suggestions?

posted by Thistledown to computers & internet (14 comments total)

You typically need a host program for synths - the Cubase VST and VSTi are the most common on PCs. Check out KVRaudio.com for various freeware VST hosts and synths.

This is the limit of my PC knowledge since I use Macs.
posted by Spacelegoman at 4:50 PM on August 2

I'm a big fan of Reason. It's a whole rack full of virtual gear for less than some individual synth/sample packs. The pianos sound pretty good. The software has long been some of the most efficient virtual instrument stuff I've seen. The learning curve is pretty gentle. It also has a built in sequencer that's not my favorite (I miss Performer) but it's serviceable.

If you want to patch to your hearts content at the wonkiest level, puredata will give you that (note: on the other hand, just getting sound out of it can be a bit of work).
posted by weston at 4:53 PM on August 2

I've heard that Reason doesn't support VST synths. Is this true?
posted by Thistledown at 4:54 PM on August 2

Audiomulch is an inexpensive and very easy to use modular synth patching program, and will allow you to record from within the program itself. It combines some of the geekyness of puredata with a greater ease of use. Unlike vanilla PD, it also hosts VSTi plugins, which are pretty much the way to do a synth on windows. There is also reaper, which is also very inexpensive, and can host VSTi plugins within a multi-track DAW recording/editing environment.
posted by idiopath at 4:58 PM on August 2

It's true that Reason does not support VST synths, or any other kinds of plugins or instruments, for that matter. It does, though, have some pretty cool synths built-in, and you can get refills (that's what they call the packaged up sample packs that the instruments in Reason use) to do pretty much anything you want. The Reason pianos refill has some of my all-time favorite sampled piano sounds, actually.

Outside of Reason, though, you'll need a DAW, as others said. Though I haven't used it, Audacity is commonly cited as the best free DAW out there, so you might give it a try before you spend money.

Once you get into soft-synth land, there's a LOT out there. Read up on the forums, try freebies, etc. Off the top of my head, as soft synths go, I'm a fan of the Imposcar synth, I LOVE the Minimonster, the CS-80V is awesome, and the Glass Viper is really cool.

Have fun!
posted by nosila at 7:53 PM on August 2

Audacity is not a DAW, it is a sound file editor. The OP was already planning on using Audition, which is a DAW.
posted by idiopath at 8:16 PM on August 2

Also the best free DAW out there is ardour, which I wouldn't advise using on a platform other than Linux.
posted by idiopath at 8:17 PM on August 2

I would strongly suggest Reason and Reaper. Reason should give you enough in the synth world to play with for many months before you try everything there, and Reaper is a very full featured inexpensive DAW that will let you add other VST synths later on, as well as do any audio recording you may want to do.
posted by markblasco at 9:05 PM on August 2

I've heard that Reason doesn't support VST synths.

I don't think it does, but I've never really missed not being able to host VST synths inside Reason. If there's already a specific softsynth you're highly intrigued by, that's certainly a consideration, but the variety of devices included is pretty great.

The other thing is that with MIDI and some software that routes audio between applications, hosting/integration may not matter all that much. I'm not sure if there's something that effectively does interapp audio routing for windows or not, though.

And I think Audition does have VST support. You can always mess around in Reason, dump the output to a soundfile, import it into Audition, and build the rest of a piece up from there.

Outside of Reason, though, you'll need a DAW, as others said.

I don't know a ton about Audition, but my understanding is that it's a capable enough multitrack editor/mixer that the poster will probably be fine. I suppose it might depend on how old the version is.
posted by weston at 9:16 PM on August 2

Also, if you are trying reason, reason uses an inter-program audio sharing API called rewire, which many DAW's can use to get audio directly from an application, and to send midi from the sequencer in the DAW back to the application. Reaper can do this, I am not so sure about audition. Theoretically you can do anything with an audio sharing API like rewire that you could do with plugins, though there are tradeoffs of course.
posted by idiopath at 9:34 PM on August 2

If you can afford it, get a copy of Ableton Live LE. It is a fun (but very powerful) sequencer and VST host, designed for live performance but also good for pre-arranging songs. I think you will enjoy using your computer to make music a lot more if you can work with MIDI, rather than just recording audio tracks in Audition.

As for synths, there is a comprehensive database of VST plugins at KVR Audio. Many of these plugins are free, and you can search for specific types of instruments.

In my opinion, Live and free VST synths and effects should be enough to make almost anything you can imagine.
posted by scose at 10:56 PM on August 2

I'm not sure why you say Audacity isn't a DAW, idiopath. Is it because it doesn't have hardware with it? The OP already has a soundcard. Maybe our definitions of DAW are different? Not trying to be a smart-ass...I'm actually curious.

As far as Audition vs. Audacity goes, the OP said they were probably going to use an old copy. Just thought I would suggest another (free, open source) possibility.
posted by nosila at 6:36 AM on August 4

As I understand it the difference between a DAW and a sound file editor are the following:

In a DAW, edits are nondestructive.

In a DAW, effects are usually applied to busses or signals, not directly to the content of the track.

In a DAW, there is a seperate mixing interface where the levels of each track can be adjusted.

Here is a thread on the audacity forums talking about how and why audacity is not a daw.
posted by idiopath at 9:09 AM on August 4

Guys - if you're still reading this thread, thanks very much for the answers.

I'm slightly familiar with Ableton, and I may mess with it for some live stuff, but right now, the main thing is to be able to lay down some synth tracks and loops to go along with the songwriting I've been doing on acoustic instruments. To that end, recording locally is the endgame.

Really appreciate the help, folks. I picked up Reason 4 and a book and I'm slogging through that now. Bloody powerful it is. Just the Dr. Rex module is fairly amazing.
posted by Thistledown at 6:46 AM on August 6