Synth Vst reviews from Reddit
Summary
We analyzed 206 Reddit reviews across 14 subreddits and 29 posts to rank the best Synth Vst brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/synthesizers, r/musicproduction, r/phonk, r/synthwaveproducers, r/ableton. Top-rated brands include Arturia (4.8/5), Vital (4.9/5), Xfer Records (4.7/5).
Stats
Reviews206
Subreddits14
Posts29
Brands61
Products54
206 reviews from
and
By Brand
/By Product
#1
Arturia
4.8
(36)
"If you want an all in one synth I'd go ... Pigments for paid."
"I really love pigments especially if you can get it on sale"
"Pigments - I love, easy to use and amazing engines. Wait for the sale."
"Pigments is fantastic."
"If you registered your controller with Arturia, then you will likely get a good crossgrade offer for pigments."
"Arturia Analog Lab (Collection V version)"
"Pigments is fantastic! I got it for 99$ the other day!"
"Pigments just because sometimes you need somethibg fast. Falcon is NUTS."
"Phase Plant and Pigments are probably the most complete options."
"Pigments"
#2
Vital
4.9
(25)
"If you want an all in one synth I'd go Vital for free"
"Otherwise Vital for flexibility and affordability"
"Don't sleep in Vital or SurgeXT either. Both free and great!"
"Vital's free tier brings you everything you need and there are ton of community presets available."
"Vital and SurgeXT are free and very powerful if you just wanna dive in."
"Free: Vital (you should really check this one out)"
"For the T-Square type sounds Vital will do you well. And it’s FREE!"
"For synth sounds Vital and Surge XT are pretty unmatched and both free."
"VITAL THE GOAT"
"Some good free vsts to look into: spitfire labs, spitfire bbc, sinefactory, projectsam free orchestra For synth, there is vital"
#3
Xfer Records
4.7
(19)
"Don’t hate me but serum2 is actually incredible"
"Serum 2 ! It's insanely powerful"
"Serum 2"
"As others mentioned, Serum and Pigments are probably your best choices."
"My number 1 recommendation would be Serum 2 for $190. It has anything you’d ever want."
"Paid: Serum"
"How Serum is not top ranked comment? It has best UI of any synth ever."
"Serum for sure"
"Serum"
"Serum"
#4
u-he
4.8
(10)
"Any u-he synth would be amazing quality, like Diva"
"Any u-he synth would be amazing quality, like ... Zebra."
"Any u-he synth would be amazing quality, like ... Hive"
"Diva for "does the most and does it well""
"Diva probably the most versatile VA"
"And also Diva from u-he as an incredible “analog” synth."
"Zebralette 3 from u-he is outstanding and sounds much bigger than a single oscillator."
"Diva U-he"
"Zebra"
"Diva, any decent j106 plugin"
#5
Kilohearts
4.8
(9)
"My preference is phaseplant just because of how powerful it can be while being easy to use for a modular platform."
"I make patches faster in Phaseplant than any other synth."
"Phase Plant and Pigments are probably the most complete options."
"For non-analog, Phase Plant or Pigments."
"Phaseplant"
"Can't go wrong with Pigments or Phaseplant. Pigments has better fx, Phaseplant the ultimate freedom to create."
"As an alternative synth that is amazing I would look into Phase Plant: it can do a lot."
"I also really like phase plant as it let's me dive in a bit more deeply."
"KHz PhasePlant. Same as Falcon but less of osc types (no fully featured sampler), no scripting, less fx and less layering options."
#6
Surge Synth Team
5.0
(8)
"I particularly like SurgeXT. It's every bit as good as any of the paid stuff and keeps getting better."
"Same with Surge."
"Short of playing samples, SST's SurgeXT is *insanely* powerful."
"Surge XTfor me."
"Surge xt is free and very good"
"Together with surgext and vital, that are amazing, the most malicious user would love Cardinal"
"Also incredible free synth: Surge"
"Https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ and https://vital.audio/ are both fantastic and my first recommendation to anyone who wants to check out subtractive and wavetable synthesis."
#7
UVI
5.0
(7)
"UVI Falcon"
"UVI Falcon ... steep learning curve, but insane power."
"Falcon > Serum > Vital on my experience…"
"UVI Falcon"
"I second the UVI Falcon. It covers pretty much everything and is very powerful and flexible."
"Check out UVI Falcon but prepare for a learning curve."
"UVI.net has a wonderful selection of warm vintage analog synth VSTs."
#8
TAL
4.3
(7)
"Would be good."
"Is one of the best vst that emulates the sound of the 80's."
"Start with Lokomotiv, TAL Noisemaker mkI or PG8X. They aren't too overwhelming (feature-wise), are graphically laid out in an easy to digest manner and will make you pick up on subtractive synthesis rather quickly!"
"For VST I would recommend "TAL-U-No-62" as a simple free synth, it's based around the Roland Juno 60."
"TAL-NoiseMaker is a very basic virtual analog synthesizer. Could be very good to learn on. Free."
"TAL Noisemaker (version 1) would be a good start."
"TAL Bassline is a great emulation."
#9
Korg
4.3
(6)
"Synth: Korg minilogue. Original or XD is irrelevant and upt to you. Both can do all the good things."
"I recommend checking out Pluginboutique.com they always have some good deals and discounts on plugins"
"I recommend checking out Pluginboutique.com they always have some good deals and discounts on plugins"
"Also, a lot of the Korg VSTs are on sale until the 27th."
"Not free but the korg m1 vst is great for happy hardcore. The synthbass, choir, bell, string and ofcourse piano presets are a great starting point."
"The korg monopoly vst is 3rd."
#10
Native Instruments
4.2
(6)
"It's my favourite when it comes to growls, sub-bass, and modern-ish bass sounds in general."
"Massive X is up there as one of my all time favourite synths, period."
"Reaktor. you get everything plus you can make your own"
"Not free but really fun and on sale for $19 atm - NI Reaktor Super8 - makes really good use of expression because their keyboards all have the touch slider mapped to expression by default."
"Massive was the go to VST for dark synths for a long time."
"I have Massive X and love the presets,but the UI is not that intuitive"
#11
U-he
4.2
(5)
"It's free, relatively easy to use, full of great industrial-ready presets and absolutely rock-solid."
"Tyrell N6, PG8X, TAL U-No, anything Full-Bucket... there's so much out there to explore!"
"Alternatively, you could look at Tyrell N6. I think there are a good handful of tutorials available."
"Tyrell n6 is good too."
"U-He synths are very CPU efficient and well developed."
#12
Spectrasonics
5.0
(4)
"Omnisphere! I compose for short films and media. And my style is scfi cinematic. Omnisphere has everything you need."
"One day when you are more stable… get omnisphere and you’re good to go for a long time"
"Omnisphere 2"
"Omnisphere. Technically speaking, it’s actually a rompler, but whatever. It does everything! Like, EVERYTHING!"
#13
Air Music Technology
4.8
(4)
"I recommend checking out Pluginboutique.com they always have some good deals and discounts on plugins"
"I recommend checking out Pluginboutique.com they always have some good deals and discounts on plugins"
"I recommend checking out Pluginboutique.com they always have some good deals and discounts on plugins"
"Is on sale for $15 on adsrsounds."
#14
Dexed
4.5
(4)
"Is free classic yamaha fm synth emulator."
"Try Dexed. It tries to emulate the Yamaha DX7."
"Dexed"
"Free instruments like Dexed VST, sforzano, TAL-Noisemaker, Surge and Vital are more than enough."
#15
Roland
4.5
(4)
"I recommend checking out Pluginboutique.com they always have some good deals and discounts on plugins"
"I recommend checking out Pluginboutique.com they always have some good deals and discounts on plugins"
"Roland Zenology Pro"
"Roland Zenology"
#16
Serum
5.0
(2)
"I still use serum for everything."
"Is always nice. Lots of versatility."
#17
Alchemy
5.0
(2)
"If you absolutely have to have a synth that’s not stock, vital is an incredibly powerful free synth."
"It has everything you need. Learn it."
#18
VCV Rack
4.5
(2)
"If you want to get into electronic music, vcv rack is the best intro to synthesis out there."
"Or try VCV for the modular rabbit hole"
#19
Massive
4.5
(2)
"I recommend massive to everyone."
"Massive is awesome."
#20
Steinberg
4.0
(2)
"Steinberg HALion 7 / Steinberg HALion 7 Sonic"
"Halion 7"
#21
KV331 Audio
4.0
(2)
"Consider Synthmaster. That is a ton of value for what it can do and it is capable of a lot. It punches way above it's price range."
"Synthmaster? was my first VST and offers a wide variety of synthesis options at a good price."
#22
Matt Tytel
5.0
(1)
"Which imo gives Serum a run for its money – but it's free."
#23
Plugin Boutique
5.0
(1)
"Some of the best ones I've used and still use is Xpand 2, D50, Hive and Serum."
#24
Knif Audio
5.0
(1)
"Update: get Knifonium."
#25
Synth1
5.0
(1)
"I use Synth1 a lot, it's free + you can find thousands of presets online."
#26
DSP56300
5.0
(1)
"It’s a near-perfect emulation of Access Virus."
#27
Dune 3
5.0
(1)
"I haven't tried anything that comes even close in terms of sound quality."
#28
Omnisphere
5.0
(1)
"Probably omnisphere based on the number of hit pop records that have been made with it."
#29
Pigments
5.0
(1)
"I used their emulations for the longest time but have switched to almost always use Pigments."
#30
Phase Plant
5.0
(1)
"Phase plant is literally just an open ended sandbox synth"
#31
Trillian
5.0
(1)
"Oddly enough, I have to give it to Trillian. I use it on everything."
#32
Algo
5.0
(1)
"I second the purchasing of Algo 🥂"
#33
Sylenth
5.0
(1)
"Sylenth, very good and very light"
#34
Dreadbox
5.0
(1)
"Get a Dreadbox Typhon. It’s so awesome, so fun.. it’s technical enough to keep you busy for ever but simple enough to grasp at first, and very cheap."
#35
Nils
5.0
(1)
"Nils K1v immediately went in my top 5 VSTs when I ran across it."
#36
Minimal Audio
5.0
(1)
"Current from Minimal Audio if you want the best & biggest quantity of factory presets imo, while also getting a versatile powerhouse of a synth you can make pretty much anything with"
#37
Evi-ner
5.0
(1)
"It's not exactly free, but for 15$ you can get Evi-ner, which is the best VST for synth sounds for wind controllers and comes with 30+ reallt good presets out of the box."
#38
Synthmaster
4.0
(1)
"It's on sale for around $30 at the moment, and it easy to use and sounds great."
#39
NI
4.0
(1)
"For free, NI's Komplete Start has 7 soft synths included."
#40
Helm
4.0
(1)
"Is free (donation) and is a really nice alternative to Tal-U-No."
#41
Waves
4.0
(1)
"Cool/weird approach to FM synthesis with filters and a sequencer."
#42
Plogue
4.0
(1)
"Plogues Chip synth MD, PortaFM, and OPS7 are $25 each on Black Friday."
#43
Surge XT
4.0
(1)
"Not the most intuitive GUI but it is quite versatile."
#44
Cherry Audio
4.0
(1)
"I'm a big fan of the cherry audio synth emulations."
#45
Wavetable
4.0
(1)
"This is one of the most useful for me."
#46
Polivoks Station
4.0
(1)
"Also PolivoksStation (an emulation of the iconic soviet polivoks synth)."
#47
Dave Smith / Sequential
4.0
(1)
"I would say anything that emulates Juno / Polysix / Jupiter would do the job."
#48
Puremagnetik
4.0
(1)
"Has some funky FM texture generators."
#49
Harmor
4.0
(1)
"I would recommend harmor as one of the most in depth additive synths"
#50
Hive
4.0
(1)
"Hive is quite CPU friendly compared to the other u-He synths"
#51
Synthesis Technology
4.0
(1)
"For that, you can either get Sonic Academy Node or Synthesis Technology Waveedit."
#52
JST
4.0
(1)
"Paid: Jst Sub Destroyer"
#53
Reveal Sound
4.0
(1)
"Gotta go with Spire, just wish they would have worked on adding wavetable synthesis."
#54
GForce
4.0
(1)
"Gforce ob 1"
#55
Sonic Academy
4.0
(1)
"For that, you can either get Sonic Academy Node or Synthesis Technology Waveedit."
#56
Behringer
4.0
(1)
"I highly recommend one of the Juno6 emulations. Easy to understand, and fun, with a great sweet spot."
#57
Cardinal
4.0
(1)
"Or Cardinal for a VCV VST."
#58
Lokomotiv
4.0
(1)
"Start with Lokomotiv, TAL Noisemaker mkI or PG8X. They aren't too overwhelming (feature-wise), are graphically laid out in an easy to digest manner and will make you pick up on subtractive synthesis rather quickly!"
#59
PG8X
4.0
(1)
"Start with Lokomotiv, TAL Noisemaker mkI or PG8X. They aren't too overwhelming (feature-wise), are graphically laid out in an easy to digest manner and will make you pick up on subtractive synthesis rather quickly!"
#60
Tone Boosters
3.0
(1)
"There's also Flowtones from Tone Boosters. It's a little unusual and power hungry, but it has superb"
#61
DS Thorn
3.0
(1)
"My favorite even if not as flexible as others is DS Thorn"
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