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Suggestions On Lead Synth Sounds

Johnbee58

By Johnbee58
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Johnbee58

Johnbee58

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I would really like to write more instrumentals because I can't sing anymore and it's getting more difficult and frustrating with every new project. 🤬

I like to do an occasional instrumental but I'm limited on lead instruments.  The one I use mostly is a Chinese flute model called "Dizi Flute" which is a free plugin and I love it. But I cannot use the same lead every project.  It gets old after awhile.  I have TONS of synth sounds, some I paid for but most free.  I have Dimension LE, Syntronix, DX7-V, Kontakt Factory Select, a free library in Reaktor, a few AAS sound packs  and I just got Iris 2 by Izotope.  I haven't downloaded all of its library yet though. But I haven't found a nice and rich sound for a lead synth yet.  Maybe I just haven't shopped around enough.  Does anybody have any suggestions?   Would appreciate it.  Looking for nice, rich melodic sounds.

Thanks

🙂John B

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Johnbee58

Johnbee58

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Thank Toddskins and Mark M. 😀

Todd, there is no song right now.  Most of the instrumentals I've worked on up until now have used the DIZI flute plugin I mentioned above.  Here's the latest one:   https://johnbowen.bandcamp.com/track/gingers-song   That flute is my main go-to for instrumentals as far as the lead voice.  But I feel now as if I've used it enough and just would like to use a nice mellow synth type sound for one or two tunes.  I do love the DIZI because it reminds me of Chuck Greenburg's lyricon sound from Shadowfax, if you've ever heard any of their stuff when he was with them in the 80s.  It's also easy to control.  Not bad for a freebie.  But It's time for some variety because I must've used it in at least 10 songs.  Maybe I'll find something when I'm finished downloading the rest of Iris 2s library.  It has 11 gigs of sounds and I don't think I'm anywhere near the end yet.

Mark M.  Is that a free synth?

😀JB

Edited by Johnbee58
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msmcleod

msmcleod

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2 hours ago, Johnbee58 said:

Thank Toddskins and Mark M. 😀

Todd, there is no song right now.  Most of the instrumentals I've worked on up until now have used the DIZI flute plugin I mentioned above.  Here's the latest one:   https://johnbowen.bandcamp.com/track/gingers-song   That flute is my main go-to for instrumentals as far as the lead voice.  But I feel now as if I've used it enough and just would like to use a nice mellow synth type sound for one or two tunes.  I do love the DIZI because it reminds me of Chuck Greenburg's lyricon sound from Shadowfax, if you've ever heard any of their stuff when he was with them in the 80s.  It's also easy to control.  Not bad for a freebie.  But It's time for some variety because I must've used it in at least 10 songs.  Maybe I'll find something when I'm finished downloading the rest of Iris 2s library.  It has 11 gigs of sounds and I don't think I'm anywhere near the end yet.

Mark M.  Is that a free synth?

😀JB

It used to be commercial, but now it's free :)

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Starship Krupa

Starship Krupa

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That is a tall order, John, but you are in luck, as there is a plethora of instruments out there, both free and otherwise.

It sounds like you might have a sound in your head that is an idea of what you're looking for, so the challenge is just to find it.

There is a thread here for Freeware Instruments that you can check, and Pluginboutique usually has AIR's Hybrid 3, Loom 2, Vacuum Pro and Xpand! 2 each on sale for $14.99 or less (do NOT pay more than that for any of them). They each have great lead sounds, You can often pick up Vacuum Pro for $14.99 with the Fresh Air preset pack included, and from what you describe, it might be the closest of them all to having a preset that would serve the purpose.

It's over the cutoff price, but if you don't already have Hybrid 3 and Xpand! 2, go get 'em. I think they're both $14.99. I don't yet have Loom 2 so I can't personally vouch for it, but it gets great reviews for that price. It's $14.99 right now.

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JoeGBradford

JoeGBradford

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I was going to recommend the Air products too - as you say if you can pick them up for a sensible price they are great tools - I particularly like Air Xpand 2 and have just picked up Loom 2. I got Vacuum Pro on an old Computer Music disc and picked up Hybrid for nothing or next to nothing - possibly as part of a PIB deal

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Mánibranðr Studios

Mánibranðr Studios

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On 8/28/2019 at 7:50 AM, Starship Krupa said:

That is a tall order, John, but you are in luck, as there is a plethora of instruments out there, both free and otherwise.

It sounds like you might have a sound in your head that is an idea of what you're looking for, so the challenge is just to find it.

There is a thread here for Freeware Instruments that you can check, and Pluginboutique usually has AIR's Hybrid 3, Loom 2, Vacuum Pro and Xpand! 2 each on sale for $14.99 or less (do NOT pay more than that for any of them). They each have great lead sounds, You can often pick up Vacuum Pro for $14.99 with the Fresh Air preset pack included, and from what you describe, it might be the closest of them all to having a preset that would serve the purpose.

It's over the cutoff price, but if you don't already have Hybrid 3 and Xpand! 2, go get 'em. I think they're both $14.99. I don't yet have Loom 2 so I can't personally vouch for it, but it gets great reviews for that price. It's $14.99 right now.

I personally recommend Hybrid and Vaccuum Pro, They're very very powerful.

If you don't have any money on budget though, Vember Audio's Surge VST is a great offering.

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Johnbee58

Johnbee58

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Does anybody know how much longer Hybrid is on sale?  I might try that.  I can afford $15.00, but I'd like to play around with it first before I buy.  I already have Iris 2.

@razor7musicGenre would probably be pop/soft rock or adult contemporary.

Thank you all!❤️

😀JB

Edited by Johnbee58
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mettelus

mettelus

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Iris 2 is a bit more powerful than it appears at first glance. It is worth downloading the content for and learning. The front end (sample space) alone will let you import samples/captures, define regions to use, tailor the spectral content, and define the root note on the keyboard (which adjusts global playback speed). You can independently do 4 layers this way, and that is all before you get to the rest of the synth.

If you isolate/pull samples you want to use, you have most leads you would want already in Iris 2. 

Edited by mettelus
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Mánibranðr Studios

Mánibranðr Studios

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5 hours ago, Johnbee58 said:

Does anybody know how much longer Hybrid is on sale?  I might try that.  I can afford $15.00, but I'd like to play around with it first before I buy.  I already have Iris 2.

@razor7musicGenre would probably be pop/soft rock or adult contemporary.

Thank you all!❤️

😀JB

On PluginBoutique, until September 2.

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Christian Jones

Christian Jones

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John, do you have Dimension Pro and Rapture etc from a previous Sonar installation? You may already have what you need. 

Do you have Kontakt? Personally my favorite synth maker by far is Steve from Synth Magic https://www.synthmagic.co.uk/store.html - he doesn't charge a whole lot for those and they're the best I've heard of their kind and he'll probably be having a fall sale on those already low prices. Those are vintage style synths but a good sound is a good sound and you can make it work in your genres. I own many of those and one of my favorites is the Logan Big Band which will probably be on sale for under $13 soon. Read the descriptions of the synths and listen to the demos, many are good for leads. You can find other great and inexpensive synths on https://www.kontakthub.com and https://www.sampleism.com - but of course, you need the full version of Kontakt which now that I think of it you probably don't have because if you did you probably wouldn't be shopping for something else as even the factory content of Kontakt would give you what you need but anyway. 

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Mánibranðr Studios

Mánibranðr Studios

Posted
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On 8/30/2019 at 2:39 AM, Christian Jones said:

John, do you have Dimension Pro and Rapture etc from a previous Sonar installation? You may already have what you need. 

Do you have Kontakt? Personally my favorite synth maker by far is Steve from Synth Magic https://www.synthmagic.co.uk/store.html - he doesn't charge a whole lot for those and they're the best I've heard of their kind and he'll probably be having a fall sale on those already low prices. Those are vintage style synths but a good sound is a good sound and you can make it work in your genres. I own many of those and one of my favorites is the Logan Big Band which will probably be on sale for under $13 soon. Read the descriptions of the synths and listen to the demos, many are good for leads. You can find other great and inexpensive synths on https://www.kontakthub.com and https://www.sampleism.com - but of course, you need the full version of Kontakt which now that I think of it you probably don't have because if you did you probably wouldn't be shopping for something else as even the factory content of Kontakt would give you what you need but anyway. 

If he's looking for sampled libraries, I believe there are some stuff available for Sforzando and Zampler RX.

And also there's Full Bucket Music Synths.

Edited by Freyja Grimaude-Valens
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Tezza

Tezza

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Out of the box, a lot of lead sounds won't fit, the equalization might be way off you might have to tweak it a bit to get it to fit. It also helps if you know at least the ADSR stuff. I would also stick to analog sounds to start with since they are likely to fit better over both analog and digital sounding backing. I sometimes put a track down as lead that I will convert to vocals later, I don't find it easy and it pollutes what you are creating as lead synth is so different from vocals, Although you won't have that problem if it is going to permanently be part of the music. I ended up using something called bosendorf or something like that, it's in Massive. If I am to lazy to sing it or I am not set up to do that then I just use bosendorf to record the lead vocal line and any harmony ideas.

 

 

Edited by Tezza
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Kurre

Kurre

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14 hours ago, Francois van der Merwe said:

I can recommend two more free synths.

Surge https://surge-synthesizer.github.io

Helm https://tytel.org/helm/

Surge is good. It can make any sound you can think of...almost.

I had problems with Helm on my win7 64-bit. I uninstalled it long time ago so i don't remember the exact problem other than i couldn't use it.

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