Vst reviews from Reddit

Summary

We analyzed 191 Reddit reviews across 20 subreddits and 45 posts to rank the best Vst brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/edrums, r/synthesizers, r/FL_Studio, r/musicproduction, r/trapproduction. Top-rated brands include Arturia (4.7/5), Vital (4.5/5), Xfer Records (4.8/5).

Stats

Reviews191

Subreddits20

Posts45

Brands77

Products55

Top communities

r/edrums28 r/synthesizers26 r/FL_Studio24 r/musicproduction24 r/trapproduction18

191 reviews from

and

By Brand

By Product

Arturia

4.7

(16)

"I really love pigments especially if you can get it on sale."

"Pigments 6 will be on sale in November/December, it's a good Synth, you can fo and learn a lot with it."

"Pigments - I love, easy to use and amazing engines."

"You could try the Arturia V package. They remade vsts of all classic synths!"

"Pigments is fantastic. I also really like phase plant as it let's me dive in a bit more deeply."

"The Arturia V Collection is really good for hip hop (as well as synth pop and EDM)."

"If you're looking for a new synthesizer, you might want to try Pigments"

"+1 for pigments. There’s just something about it’s UI and workflow that just makes me WANT to play around with it and create."

"It makes sound design enjoyable."

"I can’t go without Arturia pigments, amazing all in one synthesizer, wavetabel based"

Vital

4.5

(14)

"Definitely I would be looking at using collections to get to stuff quickly. But yeah, if you want an all in one synth I'd go Vital for free or Pigments for paid."

"Vital at vital.audio is enormously powerful and the basic version is free."

"Maybe for synths you could try Vital, there's a lot you could do with that."

"+1 for Vital"

"Free: Vital (you should really check this one out)"

"Vital and Surge XT are pretty unmatched and both free."

"I'm blown away by Vital @\_@ thank you"

"Vital is free. No reason not to grab it."

"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."

Xfer Records

4.8

(10)

"Don’t hate me but serum2 is actually incredible."

"Serum 2 ! It's insanely powerful."

"Serum 2."

"My number 1 recommendation would be Serum 2 for $190. It has anything you’d ever want, and most of the content out there as far as tutorials, YouTube videos, or preset sound packs, will use Serum."

"Serum can make just about anything... [Our personal GoTo because it's fun to create things from scratch]"

"Paid: Serum"

"I think serum with expansion banks are great."

"You should learn serum or vital. Rly good for percs and pads"

"I use Serum a lot, the modulation is very good, Serum 2 seems awesome but it uses too much processing power in my setup."

"Serum 2 just launched and seems cool."

XLN Audio

4.1

(9)

"XLN Audio XO (VST)"

"You get better sounds with Xpand and you don't even need to sound design"

"Expand, kontakt and serum are the big 3 fr"

"Xpand2 , Zenology , Spire , Sylenth , Electrax , Kontakt , Arcade"

"Xpand , Zenology , Arcade , Sylenth , Spire , Kontakt"

"Maybe try something like Xpand!2 as a budget alternative while you save up."

"Xpand2!"

"Xpand, Serum, Reason rack and purity for the most part"

"I use it mostly as a sample manager, but it has a great drum sequencer as well."

Spitfire

4.5

(8)

"Spitfire is the goat, though."

"Spitfire bbc symphony orchestra is really nice (and has a free version)"

"Spitfire VSTs are the best that I’ve tried."

"Both of these are good."

"You can try their individual LABS packs of strings etc."

"Spitfire has some good ones"

"Spitfire, Eastwest, Cinesamples are some names that come to mind."

"Spitfire labs."

Toontrack

4.7

(6)

"Very impressive software indeed. As a drummer I feel I know how the end result should sound so I can make it sound very close to a well recorded acoustic kit now."

"Sd3 probably has the best edrum integration though supporting positional snare and ride, and good hihat tweaking."

"Check out websites like Toontrack for Superior Drummer 3 and little brother EZ drummer 3."

"The best drum instrument (which is Toontrack's Superior Drummer 3)."

"The cheaper options are ezdrummer and addictive drums and ssd5 and ggd and bfd3."

"Ezdrummer is a good plug and play option that sounds really good."

Addictive Drums

4.7

(6)

"I love addictive drums and use it regulary."

"Addictive drums 2 is an awesome vst for drums."

"Addictive Drums is all you need, for any genre."

"Addictive drums 2 is really one of the best vsts."

"There's some other options I haven't tried that get recommended such as Addictive Drums and Get Good Drums."

"+1 for Addictive Drums - also authentic sound and tweakable enough."

eDRUMin

5.0

(5)

"Edrumin is the cheapest best option."

"But seriously eDrumin is what I’d recommend as well, it’s the most versatile."

"If you don't need sounds the answer is ALWAYS eDRUMin!"

"EDRUMin."

"If your just looking to use VSTs, get an edrumin."

Superior Drummer

5.0

(5)

"Superior Drummer takes the cake here👌"

"I have SD3 it’s good."

"Superior drummer and then an expansion."

"Yes Superior Drummer 3 is the king."

"The one that was an absolute game-changer for me: Superior Drummer 3."

#10

Purity

4.0

(5)

"I’ve been using purity for those Detroit basses."

"Purity, xpand, anything by u-he, nexus, uvi falcon, Electra x, serum, anything by arturia,and one shots"

"Another one to get would be purity, Electra X, zenology as well"

"If u want some cheap alternatives u can get purity, xpand, and pigments rn it's 99€"

"Purity xpand!2 and zenology for me"

#11

Spectrasonics

5.0

(4)

"Omnisphere! I compose for short films and media. And my style is scfi cinematic. Omnisphere has everything you need."

"Omnisphere might fit what your looking for, someone else mentioned kontakt libraries can work too."

"Omnisphere is definitely worth the investment. It’s basically a goldmine for ambient pads, bells, and weird textures that fit perfectly into trap production."

"There’s so much customization in Omnisphere."

#12

Spitfire Audio

5.0

(4)

"Best strings on the market currently"

"Spitfire Audio's options are really hard to beat."

"Checkout Spitfire Labs! They have a lot of really high quality instrument-sample synths."

"Have a look at Spitfire Audio's LABS."

#13

Omnisphere

4.8

(4)

"Some of the best and most popular VSTs and plugins include synths like Omnisphere."

"Omnisphere is awesome. Super organic sounds, very cinematic."

"Omnisphere, as you mentioned - vey all round plugin."

"Yeah omnisphere is still good."

#14

Native Instruments

4.3

(4)

"Kontakt has some excellent libraries of real instruments with a great interface for phrasing."

"More control over VSTs and DAWs like Battery 4"

"I’d honestly say Battery 4. I’ve found Reason to be decent also but I always keep going back to Battery"

"Kontakt is still a beast"

#15

Serum

5.0

(3)

"Some of the best and most popular VSTs and plugins include synths like Serum."

"SERUM."

"Serum - Most versitile synth ever."

#16

Steven Slate Drums

4.7

(3)

"I’d second Steven slate for that price point but I can’t say enough good things about modern and massive from get good drums"

"Steven Slate drums is nice and it's currently on sale for $49 USD which is like 70% off the original price"

"Steven Slate have a free pack as well."

#17

Pianoteq

4.7

(3)

"I am using a pianoteq with a Roland FP-10, the action of the fp10 is great but the vst and the internal sound card are not, using a VST produces a nice result."

"Your search begins and ends with Pianoteq."

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - Pianoteq 8"

#18

EastWest

4.7

(3)

"East West Hollywood Orchestra on sale is one of the most bargain offers on the market today."

"For your situation I’d look at EastWest Composer Cloud and/or Musio precisely because they’re subscription models."

"Sample libraries like East-West, Spitfire Audio, Arturia, Berlin"

#19

reFX

4.3

(3)

"Nexus 5 with all expansions, fab filter bundle, don't even need anything else lol"

"I’ve been going crazy with Nexus recently. Can’t go wrong with Xpand or Purity either"

"Nexus has been my go to for years"

#20

Steinberg

4.0

(3)

"HALion is impressive. i can find support on YT. lots of content."

"Fair enough. I think I'm gonna go with HAlion."

"Yh it can be overwhelming it's time consuming to learn, but its worth it especially if your in college."

#21

Nexus

4.0

(3)

"If you do, just select vocals in the preset library, the free soundbanks xfer gives contain a lot of vocal presets including vocal stabs and leads"

"Nexus/Serum 1 has many. I've used some spire ones but they typically sound very one dimensional for me so I end up layering a few at different octaves to make them more dynamic"

"I use Nexus and soundfonts. I LOVE my 8Dio orchestra stuff."

#22

ML Drums

5.0

(2)

"I've been using the free version of ml-sound-lab for a while know and it's been great, honestly my favorite atm"

"ML Drums is really nice, too. The free plugin gives you a good taste and expansions are pretty reasonable."

#23

Valhalla

5.0

(2)

"Valhalla Supermassive is a crazy effects plugin that really shouldn't be free, but is."

#24

Ultimate Vocal Remover

5.0

(2)

"Ultimate Vocal Remover 5 (UVR5) is the best, and it's free."

"UVR. I think it's free?"

#25

BFD

5.0

(2)

"My vote is to go with BFD 3.5, I watched a more in depth review today and I really like how versatile it is"

"At your price range I’d be considering the following… BFD 3.5 - massive recent upgrade, very high quality sounds."

#26

Razor

5.0

(2)

"Razor and Phase Plant are the beastliest VST synths."

"Phaseplant is for sure my favorite for sure, with the lanes and somewhat unlimited amount osc and modulators you can throw in."

#27

FabFilter

5.0

(2)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - FabFilter Pro Bundle"

"Fabfilter saturn is excelent."

#28

Vienna Symphonic Library

4.5

(2)

"VSL in my experience is the most subtle and most tweak-able with the most articulations."

"Vienna Symphonic Library offers a free demo/trail of many of their libraries."

#29

Rob Papen

4.5

(2)

"Rob Papen’a Subboom is faaaaantastic."

"I use Rob Papen’s Subboombass. I have no complaints"

#30

Kontakt

4.5

(2)

"Some of the best and most popular VSTs and plugins include Kontakt with libraries like Output Arcade."

"The instructions when you buy GGD(I’m assuming that’s what ssd is supposed to be) will instruct you to download Kontakt. It’s free."

#31

Plogue

4.5

(2)

"Sforzando with a soundfont from your favourite vintage console, and you’re golden."

"Plogue has a few Chiptune Synths"

#32

Musio

4.0

(2)

"I personally think Musio has better strings than Eastwest."

"Musio is a good option. It is a large collection of natural instrument sample libraries, especially geared towards classical."

#33

SSD

4.0

(2)

"SSD 5.5 - good upgrades and support, lots of edrum user highly rate this."

"Ssd5.5 is a great budget option."

#34

Korg

4.0

(2)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - Korg Module Pro"

"I love the Korg M1 (very dated sounds) and Korg Triton Extreme (dated sounds) for these needs... Part of the Korg Collection."

#35

Edirol

3.5

(2)

"Edirol Orchestral is a free vst, hasn't been updated in years however but it has great strings and brass."

"Back in the days i used orchestral vst called Edirol."

#36

Chris Hein

5.0

(1)

"Honestly my favorite is Chris Hein’s."

#37

Ableton

5.0

(1)

"If you have Ableton Suite, it has a lot of amazing synths plus Max 4 Live brings many more options."

#38

Cinesamples

5.0

(1)

"Cinesamples have really great string packs."

#39

Valhalla Super Massive

5.0

(1)

"For VST effects, you can check out Valhalla Super massive."

#40

u-he

5.0

(1)

"Any u-he synth would be amazing quality, like Diva, Hive or Zebra."

#41

Kilohearts

5.0

(1)

"My preference is phaseplant just because of how powerful it can be while being easy to use for a modular platform."

#42

Koala

4.0

(1)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - Koala and Koala FX"

#43

Fruity

4.0

(1)

"Fruity waveshaper! You literally just make your own curve."

#44

ToneStack Pro

4.0

(1)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - ToneStack Pro"

#45

Beathawk

4.0

(1)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - Beathawk"

#46

Brusfri

4.0

(1)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - Brusfri"

#47

Drambo

4.0

(1)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - Drambo"

#48

Loopy Pro

4.0

(1)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - Loopy Pro"

#49

Turnado

4.0

(1)

"Turnado - flexible sound mangling multi effects plugin."

#50

Grand Finale

4.0

(1)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - Grand Finale 2"

#51

MIDI Messenger

4.0

(1)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - MIDI Messenger"

#52

Decent Sampler

4.0

(1)

"You could try decent sampler. It has Great Banks."

#53

TB Equalizer

4.0

(1)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - TB Equalizer"

#54

TB Compressor

4.0

(1)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - TB Compressor"

#55

TB Barricade

4.0

(1)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - TB Barricade"

#56

Phase Plant

4.0

(1)

"Phase Plant is probably the only synth that gives you the right amount of control for that."

#57

Waves

4.0

(1)

"Waves CLA Vocals"

#58

Aberrant DSP

4.0

(1)

"Digitalis by Aberrant DSP would be worth looking into."

#59

D16

4.0

(1)

"D16 Frontier (free limiter) VST can be quite good for smashing drums"

#60

Bleass

4.0

(1)

"Bleass Megalit. - deep wavetables synth"

#61

YEASS

4.0

(1)

"I use YEASS"

#62

Moog

4.0

(1)

"Here’s the AUv3’s I use. (AUv3 is the iOS version of VST) - Moog Minimoog Model D"

#63

Friktion

4.0

(1)

"Friktion Modeled Strings in Reason has a lot of articulation / dynamics doo-dads"

#64

Soraboy

4.0

(1)

"Soraboy is a great free plugin to create that chiptune stuff."

#65

Performance Samples

4.0

(1)

"The most Playable Libraries I’ve ever used are from Performance Samples (Jasper Blunk)."

#66

Echo Sound Works

4.0

(1)

"ESW [Echo Sound Works] Vinyl Guitar 2 Lots of layering and FX options, very realistic instruments."

#67

DS Audio

4.0

(1)

"My favorite even if not as flexible as others is DS Thorn."

#68

MT Power Drums

4.0

(1)

"MT Power Drums is free and sounds pretty good."

#69

Surge

4.0

(1)

"Same with Surge."

#70

Trilian

4.0

(1)

"Trillian"

#71

Splice

4.0

(1)

"Get yourself a Splice subscription for samples."

#72

TAL Noise Maker

4.0

(1)

"For something more simple, you could try TAL noise maker."

#73

Acon Digital DeNoise 2

4.0

(1)

"If someone sent you airy vocals I'd recommend Acon Digital DeNoise 2."

#74

FLEX

4.0

(1)

"FLEX, Spitfire BBC Discover"

#75

Complete Orchestral Collection

4.0

(1)

"This is the first thing that I thought of: https://www.bestservice.com/en/complete_orchestral_collection.html"

#76

BPB

4.0

(1)

"In terms of free plugins, try BPB Saturator."

#77

NANI

3.0

(1)

"If u want the next best thing check out "NANI" it's a saturator plugin"

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