The Only Two Software Synths You Actually Need 

You've rapidly become my favorite "music" channel. We think a great deal alike and I love your enthusiasm as well. I do old time Gospel music in a somewhat blue grassy/country style so it doesn't lend itself to synthesized sounds too much. Very old school. But I am a musician and we all have a bit of need to experiment. At 78 I have retired from the road now for about 10 years and started a few years back to explore the free synths out there in order to write some music that has nothing to do with genre. Some are so good I often wondered why people paid for the paid ones. So a few months back, after using Uhe's Zebralette and Tyrell (both free) they quickly became two of my favorites. I kept hearing all this great stuff about Diva. So, I downloaded the demo. I was stunned. Within two days I paid the fee to get rid of the static in the free version. Then NI did a sale on the Uhe synths and I added Hive just because Diva was so good. Another slam dunk winner. It's hard to believe they can even exist, especially Diva with all it's "mix and match" components from the old vintage synths from my early days. But here's the real bonus, I just added the Linnstrument to my arsenal. I LOVE this thing. However, it uses MPE to get to it's real control capabilities and not all synths respond fully to it. But both Diva and Hive do! I'm now in heaven!! I will add tho that because Surge XT supports MPE as well, and it is free, I'm finding it to be useful too. But in the free category I would also mention Dexed. While Diva is the crowning "analogue" synth, Dexed is in there with the FM crown not to mention it plays all of my old DX7 (which I still own) patches, and there are literally thousands of patches floating about the internet for it. The DX7 was a beast to program for those of us who don't spend a lot of time with sound design (so much to do, so little time lol!) but the Dexed is much easier in many respects because of it interface. Still a beast tho, but those sounds!! I go back to when a "punch in" was taking the best parts of two or three takes by the band onto 1/4 inch 2 track tape from an Ampex machine. The studio I worked in had two of them so you could "overdub" by recording the band track and then feed that thru the board and add vocals etc to the other machine. And of course, you had to "mix" on the fly. No multi tracks like today.) and splicing them together with a razor blade, a splicing block and some tape to have the final master. So this world we live in now is just beyond belief. You young folks enjoy your "tools". You have no way of knowing what you have in those "silicone chips" lol! This old road dog will continue to learn new tricks and enjoy it with you! It never gets old. And be kind to each other!!

totally agree! Diva and Hive2 are a role model for universal and perfect sounding plugin instruments

Omnisphere has another ace up its sleeves: The hardware integration where a real hardware Synth that you own is emulated in Omnisphere in a way that all controls (knobs, sliders etc) reacts to what is showing on the screen. In addition to that the hardware Synth can also control other instruments in Omnisphere which aren't a 1:1 copy of your hardware Synth! Great for direct control/jamming! Also, lots of other hardware Synths are emulated in Omnisphere which lets you access them, despite not owning the actual hardware. To me this makes it a perfect candidate for being one of the two "Must have Synths". And it's no "sample player"/rompler anymore. It's got vast Synthesis capabilities with pure waveforms. And it does the emulations of all the different hardware Synths in addition to that. It is just that it is also happens to be a rompler that makes great soundscapes in addition to the more traditional sound synthesis!

Glad that you mentioned Omnisphere. It's a great desert islander. About 5 years back, I cut back to only 1 vsti and that was Omni. Once you learn to program it, there's very little that it can't do. I later added diva and hive and have settled with this trio. The sonic possibilities are endless. We really do live in a golden age of sound synthesis. Great video!

Great video. Love it. Personally, I went with Pigments over Hive, because it was WAY EASIER for me to see and understand everything that's going on. Believe me, I wanted to go U-he (mostly for the Howard Scarr presets), but Arturia really nailed it with the visual simplicity and easy-to-read mod-matrix.

So, a small correction on Omnisphere. Yes, it has samples and wavetables so it's like a Roland JV/XP/XV synth in one way. But, it also has DSP generated waveforms, just like Hive and Diva. Here's a snipped from the manual: Synth Mode These are DSP waveforms, generated in real-time by the STEAM engine, that are similar in principle to vintage synthesizer waveshapes. They have the same rich character of classic synthesizers, but with a much greater level of control and sound shaping abilities. The Synth Oscillators are not modeled to emulate any particular brand of synthesizer, but instead were extensively tweaked to have a great-sound and versatile character that’s unique to Omnisphere.

Nicely done, Woody, and Happy New Year! I haven't visited since Dec. 2022 - probably have oversubscribed to too many YT channels. I think you have selected 2 very fine synths from which to create your compositions - they sound terrific, pretty unique, and obviously you are comfortable working around in them, so cheers to them! When I first got into soft synths, I went the Arturia way and understandably gravitated to their Prophet 5 recreation because my very first and last true analog synth was a Prophet 5 v3. And, because everything is mapped out for their Keylab MIDI keyboard, this set-up felt most familiar and accessible to be able to work around in it. If absolutely pushed, I'd likely choose Arturia's Jup-8 V synth since I really liked the sound of the Jupiter 8 synth back in the day, which was one of the Prophet 5's rivals and I chose the Prophet over it, but it was a very close 2nd place.

Your passion shines through as ever Woody. Keep it up! 😁 ♥ 🎶 🎹

A big YES for Diva! Just bought it a few weeks ago on sale. Love it.

One thing I like about your videos Woody aside from the reviews is Listening to your repertoire of mostly British pop music that I really liked but forgot. There's always something that I'll learn and go back to share with forgetful friends of a vintsge era.

The layout and workflow of Pigments is a big plus IMHO. One might get away with just it as their only VST.

In my opinion UVI Falcon is the best "mega-synth". It does every important synthesis type. Also lots of soundware of any imaginable kind available for it.

Good point that too many choices can slow us down when writing. Thank you for the excellent reminder. 👏🏻

Arturia V Collection and Roland Cloud has you covered for everything you will ever need. I know it's more than 2 synths, but these 2 sets of Virtual synth collections would cost way over 1 million £€ for their hardware counterparts, with very little sonic difference. What a time to be alive as a keyboard aficionado.

I have all the Native Instruments synths, SynthMaster One & 2, but Hive is my favourite synth of all time. People call it a "Trance" synth but it's capable of so much more. It's on track number one on all my template's.

When I got my new computer, I decided I would limit my synth plugins to one or two so I could really learn them, but alas, my vst library continued to grow and grow. Both of the synths you chose sounded great. You are much more disciplined that I.

Just got diva yesterday. So nice to see it on here. I have too many synth plugin. Thanks for inspiring me to put in the time to really master one.

Reducing the choices is what I'm trying to do myself but I'm coming from another angle. I'd use one basic synth for the bread and butter sounds, let's say Synth 1 or TAL Noisemaker. Another one for the more complex stuff, that would be Surge XT, Vital or something like that. And finally: VCV Rack, because I really like building sounds from the ground up.

Thank you so much Woody! For me I've landed on Soundpaint for both analog as modern synthesizer sounds. The interface is simple and it sounds so very musical without even using MPE.

My desert island minimal choices: 1. Diva 2. Pigments 3. Phaseplant However HIVE is FANTASTIC and so is ZEBRA. U-HE doesn't make anything that's not awesome.

Great choice. I do own several already, but if I didn't, I'd go for Diva and Serum, but if I can take one more in there... I'd change Serum for Hive2 and Zebra 2. So, yeah... U-He stuff is quite great! Sylenth1 was the first I bought, and I'm happy with it too. The best is to get started with one, and study it, get to know how you can get a bunch of different sounds from it with intentional knob twisting (not random luck), and that way, you will understand what it can do and where it may fall short so that your second synth can compliment the first one. Then you probably won't need a third one.

DIVA is really massive sounding synthesizer but I'd never give up Roland Juno 106 plug-in/plug-out synth as well. The latter one is 100% authentic in terms of setup & sounds.

Great video, totally agree for diva but for modern stuff I would probably go with Arturia Pigmens as it covers range of synthesis options (virtual analog, sample, granular, additive). Arguably you could go even more minimalistic with uhe zebra hz only as it has awesome diva filters so you are covered for almost anything. Cheers

Good choices Woody, and great to hear a bit of Level 42 from the Diva synth!

What a wonderful demo! Thank you.

Finally! Someone used a little Level 42 in their demo. And that... is why we love you Woody!

I love all the old tunes you used to audition sounds….especially the Nik Kershaw and Howard Jones tunes!! ❤

That's why I was a Reason Studios user for many years as everything was in one package and I never felt stressed or overwhelmed or had compatibility issues with 3rd party plugins, everything just worked really well. Sadly this has changed now as RS have not carried on improving their DAW and staying true their original brilliant concept of an all-in one production power house. Now it's sub model and slow development with new chips like Apple M1.

OPX-PRO 2 sounds incredible as does Diva-both always bring me joy and wow factor. If I could add another two next would be Omnisphere and Dune 3. Slate and Ash Choreographs amazing so far for creating alive evolving textures, original sound design.

I 100% agree with DIva, but my choice for digital sounding synth is Phase Plant. It's modular architecture and huge flexibility make it capable of almost anything, without making it look and feel cluttered and unwieldy. Not saying Hive is bad in any way though 🥰

If I had to pick two it would be Arturia Pigments for wavetable, virtual analog, granular and sampling analog software synthesizer plus Korg Opsix for a different type of sound with FM.

Thanks for actually playing the synths instead of just arpeggiating us to death. Really digging Diva, and I just got a Minilogue XD, so I can't wait to try that with Omnisphere. That Level 42 tho! I was ready to break out my bass and jam with you 😀.

Using Cubase, I found out I could do soooo many things with Retrologue and Padshop only. But I still have a few other ones that I love, like the Juno106 and Arp2600 from Audio Cherry and a few great freebies too.

I had doubts about these two synths. I used them for a while, but I wasn't convinced of their functionality. Thanks to this video I am now sure that they are excellent programs for making music. Thanks a lot

Definitely agree, less is more. My go to soft synths are Diva and Repro. I've been looking for a modern synth that won't take years to learn how to program. I like how UHE products integrate with Maschine+ and my Kontrol S88 MK2 keyboard. I was considering Zebra or Hive. Appreciate you mentioning that Hive is not a steep learning curve. Going to download the Hive demo and give it a try.

Awesome to hear your thouhts - I am always distracted and endlessly re-learning the multitude of VST synth but my Korg classic range is a favourite and I also use Ana 2 I would love to find a drum machine with a mix of classic 80s/90s plus modern and not sure about wheere to go maybe u have some tip!

Loved it! Great job at pulling amazing sounds from those lovely synths, and for the honorable mention list. Lots of great synths there. I've been using Omnisphere a lot these days as I'm very later adopter, and I'm loving the sample-synth combo as their library is huge.... I must say though, that I don't consider Omnisphere a rompler. Far from it. You can get lots of modern sounds with it with the synth engine, but if we compare it with other synths that have a lot more wavetable shaping options (like Serum, Vital, Pigments, Phaseplant, or Hive, just to name a few) those bleeding edge modern sounds are going to be way easier in those other synths because of those options.

Its really hard to decide! I own Diva and I love the presets, but I did not make any sounds on my own with it. There for I prefer Cherry Audios Dreamsynth or Sines. And I also use Vital a lot, that has imo one of the best interfaces of all synths ever made.

Another point....There is no such thing as a "Rompler" (that has simply come to be a derogatory nickname) but there are sample based synthesizers. When I worked in a music store in the mid-late 80's we didn't sell romplers we sold sample based synths like the Korg M1 etc. Instruments like it ushered in the next generation of synthesis in an era when people were tired of being limited to buzzy saw waves and hollow square waves etc. During that time many people stopped caring about analog synths because of their limitations and by the early 90's I had sold all of mine after they had lain dormant in my studio for quite some time. Analog is just one form of synthesis and there is a whole universe of fantastic sounds out there for people who are willing to open their minds to all the possibilities that modern synthesis affords us.

I fully agree with the purpose of your video, reducing stuff for more efficiency. I would reduce not to two but three ones : SynthMaster2 - very inexpensive, powerful and well designed, Dune 3 - like many of us, so inspiring, and CZ-V - between analogue and digital, so expressive and easy to use. Congrats for all your videos !

I feel like there’s a preset for almost any sound I could possibly want In Omnisphere. The problem is that this can contribute even more to the choice paralysis issue. Still I think if I could only choose one it would be Omnisphere (especially if you’ve got Keyscape too).

Thank you! I appreciate your honesty and enthusiasm. I'm looking for my first virtual synth purchase and Hive 2 is shaping real good!

Personally... I bought Ableton Live 11 Suite, and having a classical music background I just find outrageous that I should need anything else to make EDM tracks... Best music ever written were done so with pen and paper. I'm pretty sure that knowing inside out built in Live's instruments and effects, and knowing sound design, I can do pretty much everything.

Tone2 Icarus is hands down the best sounding, most versatile synth in my arsenal. Three oscillators, vast modulation, sequencer, drum machine, glitch sequencer and killer effects. It even creates amazing random patches with a single click. For the price, nothing else comes close. (For reference, I've got Pigments, Hive, Dune, Rob Papen Blue 2, Blade 2 individuals many others. I stand by my claim.)

Haha, briliiant! Having gathered probably a gazillion soft synths over the years myself, these are the exact ones I'm using most often and I always come back to. (and Zebralette!) Well done, U-HE!! 👍🙏

I've stopped counting... I'm afraid to count how many plugins I own 😂 In all honesty it's a great idea to limit yourself. But if I had to choose only two synths, I would probably pick Phase Plant and Dune 3.

Excellent fellow who speaks a lot of sense. Actually bought Hive 2 on the strength of Woody’s review. A quality channel.

Have them both, love them both...great picks!

My favorites are Dexed, Vital and Zenology. The latter is annoying at times, but I like being able to take the patches I make on it and put them on my MC-101.

I totally get it and am thinking of doing some housekeeping my myself lol. Hive is definitely staying for both modern and retro and I feel Vital might be my other keeper for face melting shenanigans lol

I think its good and indeed healthy to resign yourself to just a couple of workhorse synths. For me thats UVI Falcon and Softube modular (which incorporates all their synths) at the moment. Both massive playgrounds that once you gel with the initial framework you can keep on building comfortably within and go deeper. It has gotten me out of trying lots of things but feeling I was mastering nothing.

So glad I chose diva ,it's so good! I will probably get hive next

Nice work as usual, I was so close to getting Diva, you may have pushed me over. Have you played with magix? I spent a couple of hours newbeing and was pleasantly surprised. mange tak igen . . . .

Great video. Aaaaaa, what was the second tune you played. I've git it somewhere but can't remember what it is. Driving me nuts. Approx at 4.44

Choosing just 2 is really difficult. But put on the spot I'd probably go for U-he Zebra HZ and Synapse Audio Dune 3. Zebra because it's just an incredibly versatile synth for cinematic creation.. Dune 3 is a recent discovery for me but the sound is just glorious. Can cover a lot of tones... but I love its extremely low cpu. But sounds incredible. The effects and modulation on both these synths have a big impact.

Another advantage of going all u-he is complete platform flexibility. u-he plugins are available for Mac and Windows of course but more importantly for Linux as well.

Diva is the best sounding soft synth I've come across in my 17 years as a music producer . Today, i also discovered Retrolougue 2 by Steinberg, a worthy contender for sure

Já dei meu like, parabéns pelo trabalho 👍🏼🇧🇷

Diva indeed, and the extremely versatile and full fledged FXPansion Cypher 2 are in my opinion the ultimate duo

Good choice! Obviously it also makes sense to use what you already have. Diva is excellent but my Halion synths already cover most of that retro ground. And note that many ROMpler instruments such as Omnisphere do not have drums, so you might need a third VSTi on your list. Again, Halion has those as well. But it’s wonderful we have so much choice nowadays!

I could not part with any of my synths. My two favorites are (in this order), Falcon and VPS Avenger. (I probably use NI the most (collector's edition), it is like one big gigantic synth, East West sounds is also great, and Nexus, Omnisphere is also fantastic.)

very nice video - I absolutely share your thoughts on hording too much plugins. I also would choose Diva and Hive/Zebra2

Great demos. I'm trying to decide between Diva and Serum for my next softsynth. The reality is that I'll probably buy them both. :) I picked up Pigments 5 and it's fantastic. Very deep!

For down sizing work flow I can’t recommend Surge XT enough ! OSCs: 2 different analog emulation/ VA types as well as a whole port of Mutable Instruments Plaits 2 different Wavetable type engines Alias Osc for the retro digital with additive synthesis as a bonus 2 and 3 op FM Kaplus strong OSC Filters : more than a dozen types with Moog , Roland , OB ,and Korg MS20 types as well as other more esoteric kinds with 2 per part Modulation : with more LFOs with uni bi / mono / poly , msegs , ENVs , step sequencers and even scripting options then one may ever need . Effects : ridiculous amount including Mutable Instruments ports , Chow DSP , Air FX , and dozens more in a very flexible routing architecture. Bi timbral or split or layer per instance. And it’s Open source , freeware with consistent upgrades and development to boot . And most importantly it sounds great on par with Pigments , Diva and Dune 3 and exceeds in parts . Note its default classic skin I think puts people off as imho makes it look harder to work with than it is as it makes the sections look too busy ? But it has other skins and is skinable as well that make it feel more inviting to me . I think you should give it a solid go . Cheers .

I have a boatload of softsynths and the U-He synths are my favorites.

Very good choice imo. Also support from u-he is really good as they regularly update their software. And of course the sound! Especially Diva, it’s incredible.

I had decided that DIva and Hive 2 might be the best choices for simplifying my synth collection. When I found this video I realised I could live with that choice. Thank you for making this!

I own dozens. Too many. But I love them all! Playing in cover bands sometimes I try to use original models (usually with Arturia collection). I must admit, Diva and Hive are top class. But I tend to use Cherry Audio PS20 for mono presets because I own an MS20 since 45 years so my hands go faster than my mind, and ElkaX for polyphonic because Synthex was my dream when I was a kid.

It’s actually ‘keep it short and sweet’ 😅, but I appreciated the video. My version of this is Spire and the Softube/GForce synths for the ‘analogue authenticity’. Having said that, those virtual analogue synths that Hive is based on were designed to mimic analogue anyway, so you could pretty much get away with using just the one. A solid all rounder like LUSH2, Sylenth, Spire, Avenger or Hive.

After watching this video I bought both of these and they are sonically stunning. I am new to virtual synths and had not heard of either of them before. Bought both on Etsy for £30 - bargain! Thanks for the content.

Thanks for this demonstration. Even though I've produced music for over 20 years I only just started to venture off and take synths seriously about a year ago. Before I would simply pick an included patch and do random tweaks until I found something that suited the song. The other thing is I've never purchased a dedicated software synth and only used ones included with the DAW like Reason's racks for example. I recently got into learning Vital, Dexed and OBxd since they're mostly free to understand both FM, and subtractive synthesis but if I were going to spend money that Diva really blew me away. It actually sounds like analog gear which is mind blowing. 😇

Great choices and great video Woody. I have Diva, but not Hive. Might have to check that out. My 2 regular “got to” synths, would be Roland Zenology which covers almost all of Roland’s synths they’ve ever made and is really great for contemporary sounds. And Arturia Pigments for a more contemporary sounding VST. For a deeper dive than 2 synths, Arturias V collection is amazing and a lot of the synths operations are transferable across all their synth so the workflow is pretty streamlined. And the Reason rack is also an amazing collection. But the 2 desert island soft synths for me are Roland Zenology and Arturia Pigments 🪄🎹🤩

Omnisphere is categorically NOT a ROMpler! It's a powerhouse synthesiser with hundreds of wavetables covering everything from vintage to modern. Incredibly flexible routing, tons of filters, tons of FX. Continues to be used in countless film scores. It also just happens to have the option of playing samples for oscillators instead of wavetables and in that case you have the choice of samples from the huge 60gb library that comes with it. It can easily do the sounds played in this video.

I use Diva only for when I need anything VA or analogue. Diva can impersonate that whole family of sounds so well that it would be difficult to leverage whatever differences remain between analogue and digital in an actual composition. If not impossible in most contexts. For digital family of sounds that's a bit harder. I use a Kurzweil most of the time because they are so musical. For ITB digital I primarily turn to Virtual CZ. Not the Arturia one but the one that came before the Arturia version. That's such a musical sounding synth as well. The Kurzweil has a DX7 built into it so I have access to those sounds too. Between it, VirtualCZ and Diva there isn't really anything you can't cover. I know there are other choices for digital ITB but I go with what I know. I agree with the minimalist approach though. One synth for one family of sounds and just one more for the other.

good choices, I'm considering them both since it seems both are also MPE compatible!

A free but very good choice for me would be Synth1 for the analogue stuff (deeply inspired by Nord Lead) and Vital for the modern stuff. Take it as a "completly free" alternative. I own several paid synth plugins (yeah, you know how it feels, don't you?) but these two always ends up in the list of used ones, they don't cost you a dime, and there is a HUGE TON of free presets online, for both of them. Surge XT is another great one, and also Hybryd 3 is a wavetable synth deeply underrated. In any case, anything is good. Forget about plugins, make music with what you have!

Woody - you give a very good demonstration here.

I love z3ta ( dated I know) for more modern ish sounds, shall we say. Really good to hear your opinion and learn what other guys like here. Btw imo is an absolute beast 💪🏾🔥🔥🔥

I've been using only one plugin, Arturia's Minifreak V2 VST now for sale for people that already have.a midi controller. I'd say would be a good 3rd, for odd waves and the sheer range of sounds you can get from it. Normally sells for $200, but I got it for around $70.

What a great video….I’d love to try those…I know this is not a popular choice but for over a year I have used the Arturia CS80v. I just vibe with it for some reason. Cheers

You showed two extremely good VST's. I happen to love UVI Falcon as it can do 'everything' but it is not easy if you do not like sound design. Reducing the number of VST's is definitely a good thing, we are being tricked into buying new ones all the time.

what controller are you using?

I luuuuv U-He stuff. Diva, Hive, Repro 5 are superb quality. Apart from U-He synths I only use two other wonderful stuff, Xfer Serum and Korg Legacy Collection. Awesome video!

Tried many soft synths but Omnisphere all the way for me. Powerful, flexible and sounds great.

Very interesting choice of synthesizers if you can only have two of 'em. Interesting because my choice would be very similar: *a) TAL-Mod (semi-modular synthesizer)* That was no question for me simply because I know TAL-Mod in and out. I made two albums of electronic music where TAL-Mod is on nearly every track ... some tracks are also TAL-Mod only. From standard-sounds to experimental ones ... TAL-Mod does it all. *b) This is more complicated* Actually I would like to have one equally universal but also capable of producing more special-sounds. My list for the 2nd synthesizer would be: -- Arturia CS-80 -- Arturia Pigments -- Arturia Synclavier V -- Cherry Audio Dreamsynth -- TAL-Sampler -- u-he Zebra Narrowing down this list would be tough. Having a capable sampler in my repertoire - one with decent synthesizer-capabilities - would be very nice. A synthesizer with wavetables would also be nice. Actually ... I couldn't decide. But it would definitely one of those listed above.

Very difficult choice: Synapse Dune and Surge XT. But I would cry if I didn't have my Terratec Komplexer and ZynAddSubFX anymore.

Great choices Woody. I can sit down to Hive for a quick session and have to peel my rear off the seat after two hours that felt like five minutes.

UVI Falcon is my top choice for synthesis, there's nothing it can't do with its extremely powerful capabilities. I don't know if Roland Zenology counts, because it uses samples, but that one is my goto workstation. But then same for the Korg Triton plugin and Steinberg Halion. I need all my software synths lol

I like your approach. But what would be your one and the only Piano plugin? PS. I picked up Hive 2 on the recent sale, hoping that its workflow may be more immediate, but I still feel like I can't get anywhere without the manual, and the preset browser is not easy to navigate. I stick with Pigments for now.

I know you about talking about synthesizer type sounds here but the first go to digital instrument in my opinion is Pianoteq. No big sample banks to deal with and great feel to play which makes you play and you have enough various sounds to keep you interested like electric pianos. You can slso tweak it quite a bit to get extreme sounds. The only other software synth I use is Wolfgang Palm's Wavegenerator, insanely now unavailable. The reason I use this is because it sounds really great. This is my first priority, the sound because I have hardware synths and most plugins fail to sound as good.

Yeah I'm with you on Diva to cover the analog side of things Woody, but for the second choice I think I might go for one of the Synthmaster VST's - they sound great and you get a hell of a bang for your bucks. Let's narrow it down to just one VST to make it interesting! That's a no brainer for me - Korg Triton, it may be getting on a bit, but it is just so damn good, there's no base it can't cover

Woody, I fully agree!!! But my approach will not be to learn any of the darned synths in my arsenal (with the exception of 2 or 3 of them). I have TOO MANY to learn to operate and a massive battery of presets. My expertise with these VSTi's will be in learning to 'browse' my butt off!! I'm becoming a browser expert. LOL!! 😀 IF I were to start over, I'd only buy 2 or 3, exactly as you suggest. ❣

I agree very good choices and feel most commonly need sounds are possible with these. not yet have hive. and i need multiple one reason i not synth witch level where i can do all sounds itself and i going keep old ones even i found new favorites.

Happiness in old age is to sell all your hardware synths and play on mini 3 octaves keyboard by software synth sounds passing though mini soundcard on the table. The top notch endorphines release booster.

previously, people recorded on two-track tape recorders and there were hits that are still being played on all radio stations.there was no vst and there was nothing in flash memory.!!and you can still listen to these hits!

great video thank you

My go to synth is vital synth just because it’s free and sounds great, one of its drawbacks is that it’s quite loud and can dist in your daw

I think if I had to choose only 2 of the ones I own, it would be Diva and Synthmaster. I don't own Hive or Zebra, and have been really digging into Synthmaster recently and I really like it. Now, since like so many here I have more synths than I care to admit to, when I start a new project I have my wife choose 3 synths that I will use for that project. It has gone awry on me, for instance, I was working on an ambient/meditative track and one of the synths she chose was Vacuum Pro..... It was "interesting" but it really forced me to dig in and learn it.

Totaly agree with your choice 😢 Have both and also all NI, Arturia, Roland and many, many more, but Diva takes the cake anytime 😢

I''m doing something similar but for me, VSTs are Surge XT and I''m currently choosing between either Reaktor or VCV for more experimental stuff.