Anyways, that title was just to get quickly get some attention. I'm home studio owner and musician who started getting into sound recording and mixing just so my hard rock and metal band can sound professional. Over the few years, I have amassed a decent VST collection to make sure my recordings are good. However, recently, I've been really wanting to broaden musically and get into composing, especially video game music.

My question is what is a set of good synth sampling stations that I can purchase to get me started. I already have EW Quantum Leap's Symphonic Orchestra, Steven Slate 3.5, Guitar Rig 3, Halion One, and Cubase 5. Even with all that I know I need other software. The only one that I can think of getting is Halion 4. Can anyone make any other suggestions based off of their own collection. I have looked over the stickied links at the top but most of the software links are broken or extremely outdated. Any help or pointing to the right direction would be great. I want to get a decent synth station up and running by the end of the month.

PS: I already own a MIDI keyboard for the sake of running Symphonic Orchestra.

Thanks

To be honest you've got a good start right there. You might want to look into getting some "world" instruments in there (not sure packages off the top of my head, but the Kontakt 4 library has some decent ones) and maybe some percussion, like StormDrum 2.

It all depends on your style really - if you're going for orchestral stuff then the Symphonic Orchestra will certainly see you right for a while.

Hello,

If you're looking for a lot of bang for the buck, take a look at Native Instrument's Komplete.

Cheers,
Moritz

Thanks for the response guys.

Mortiz: I was looking through KOMPLETE last night on the NI website. Have you used Reaktor and Absynth before? Would you recommend them?

StauntonLick: I was definitely looking at geting SD2 somewhere down the line. And yes, I do need more world music and ethnic type of software. Can you recommend any such ones from your own personal experience?

What I figure I really need to get started right is a good electronic synth software, like Absynth 5 or Halion 4. Are there other electronic synths that anyone can recommend? The sound I'm specifically going to go for once I get good enough is akin to the Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed Revelations, and Black Ops sound tracks. They combine orchestral compositions with ambient and power electronic music.

Definitely check out Omnisphere by Spectrasonics. This instrument is a beast and can help you to compose in different musical styles too.

http://www.spectrasonics.net/products/omnisphere.php

My impression has always been (although i'm a sucker for new toys to play with and always go against this) that it's not what you have but what you do with it. Particularly with me, I've searched for new software in the hope that that will make me sound better! I think there's definitely enough in what you've got already to make some great sounding music. Of course i've not heard anything yet (you could provide us with a link) but it's always my impression (because i do it so much) that relying on software to make "better music" is often a bit of a cop-out!

As i said, it's hard to tell what kind of level you're at but what you've listed seems to be a pretty solid foundation to work off.

Calum: Its true what you said, but I can't help but feel like I'm missing a strong electronica synth station foundation. And after thinking about it, I think thats what I'm really after. I'm not willing to throw down on FL Studio.


Can anyone tell me what a good/great electronica software is? There is so much to choose from that its really daunting. So far, I have Halion 4, Absynth, Reaktor, Reason, and now Omnisphere as possible candidates.

Mortiz: I was looking through KOMPLETE last night on the NI website. Have you used Reaktor and Absynth before? Would you recommend them?

I never got around to buying Komplete, so I can't really say. People who use it recommend it to me all the time, but I'm at a point where I can say I don't need any more generic sounds for now, they'd just clutter my hard drives.
I'll probably buy the Komplete 10 "ULTRA PERFECTION SUPERBLAST EDITION" when it comes out.

I do use NI's Massive though, great stuff for Electronica and I think it's also in Komplete.

And +1 for Omnisphere! Great sounds, nice synth section, good arpeggiator and FX.

You have me sold Mortiz, I'm going to go for KOMPLETE. Thanks guys.

Hope I didn't sound like I was giving a sales pitch - I'm not getting any money for this. (maybe I should, though)

Anyway, I don't think you'll regret it, with the EWQL Symphonic Orchestra and Komplete you'll be set for a whole while. It will probably take months to tunnel yourself through all the samples and presets, so have fun!

Cheers,
Moritz