Software for that 80's/early 90's electric piano and synth

[elfro89]

Been searching for awhile to find a great sounding software that doesn't sound like cheap casio keyboard, and I really having a hard time finding any software that does this really well. Anyone recommend anything that covers this area really well?

 

[jackthehack]

There's a lot of stuff out there; what's your budget?

 

[swarfrat]

I think you're looking for DX7 patches. You should probably be able to find them by the truckload, perhaps even free ones.

 

[jackthehack]

There's probably the need for old analog synth sounds - think Roland Juno 8 - as well as FM synths like the DX7 to recreate all the sounds from the era...

 

[elfro89]

budget is around £200

 

[jackthehack]

Windows or MacOS?

 

[elfro89]

Windows or MacOS?

windows xp

 

[jackthehack]

What are you going to be using for a MIDI recording interface? Most interfaces come with at least one base version of Cubase/FLstudio/Abletron Lite/etc. These all support VST/DX plugins, and you can find hundreds/thousands of those for free or for add'l money.

Cakewalk Home Studio 7 XL is maybe a good place to start, runs around US $99 on line. http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/HomeStudio/feature.aspx/Dimension-LE

 

[elfro89]

yeah I'm rocking Cubase the now, I've been looking at tones of software but I'm having trouble trying to find anything I'm after (due to the lack of sound eamples), all the demo's have very spacious sounds and things you find in sci-fi films and games but they all seem to be geared towards hip hop or trance or things I don't care for. I'm basically looking for a software version of a high end keyboard. Tons of piano sounds and synth voices and that sort of thing, all very 80s sounds. So far everything I look at sounds really shitty or full of great sounds I don't want. And I don't see the point of spending hundreds on software if I'm only using 1 or 2 sound banks.

 

[tangent]

Native instruments do the best softsynths IMO.. they are not a very good value though unless you buy the komplete package.  Although the sound clips/advertising is mostly geared towards hip hop or electronic musicians, NI products are chock full of excellent vintage synth sounds.. especially FM8 and Massive.

NI Komplete also includes Guitar Rig, which is the best and most advanced amp simulator and effects engine there is (software or hardware), so if you use it for that also its a really good deal.

Aside from NI, spectrasonics omnisphere is very good. 

You can get tons of vintage/80's synth sounds for free, but the quality of them is not up to par with the commercial stuff.  Most DAW software like Ableton, Cubase, Sonar, etc come with many of these type of sounds, but again the quality is generally not as good as what you get from NI or omnisphere.

 

[Superlizard]

I tend to stick to Native Instruments for most vintage synth stuff.

It's all about VST Instruments...  get yourself a keyboard MIDI controller and some NI software.  :icon_thumright: