Best Synth Vst For Synthwave

[Glauco Schlembach]

Hieveryone,

Wanted to gather a list of new synths, bass synths and drum machines that are best suited for synthwave and darkwave styles of music production. Vintage synths cost a small fortune today and need frequent repairs. I find that my Virus TI2 does a decent job as an all in one synth for this style.

Those genres generally use fairly classic synth sounds as a rule so you can get what you need pretty easily without too much specialisation or weirdness. A lot of the early artists in the dark wave area made great use of the Korg MS10 in particular, which is quite different from the MS20.

I was curious if there were apps that focus on 80s synthwave sounds. I know iOS has a lot of great synth apps but I don't think I have found one that makes these kind of retro sounds a priority. I'm looking more for presets or if it is a modifiable synth nothing too complex (I can do small changes if need be). Any help is appreciated.

Definitely the korg stuff mentioned already ... Also the Korg Module IAP: Dreamy Synths has some excellent 80s /early 90s synth samples ..Was listening to Twin Peaks theme song as I was browsing the presets and found some that sounded very close .

@AnimalHeadSpirit said:

Definitely the korg stuff mentioned already ... Also the Korg Module IAP: Dreamy Synths has some excellent 80s /early 90s synth samples ..Was listening to Twin Peaks theme song as I was browsing the presets and found some that sounded very close .

The thing with 80s synths is that it meant the end of the analogue era and the start of the digital one. Analogue synths are all the rage now and they get lots of love from software developers, but digital ones are almost absent from the apps store.

Korg iM1 for most bread and butter sounds

Poison-202 primarily for bass synth sounds and a couple leads

FM Player for the DX stuff

Moog Model D for anything punchy - esp bass sounds

iMonoPoly for arpeggiation stuff currently

DM1 for retro drum kit sounds

Nowadays VSTs have reached a phenomenally high level of emulation, and are very easy to carry around for live shows which is why I use them as much as possible. Obviously the dear old analog synthesizers have their charm - I own a Yamaha DX7 which I use whilst looking for inspiration - I must say that "physical contact" with an 80's instrument is always very pleasant and nostalgic.

Having said that, among my favorite and most used VSTs I can mention are u-he Zebra2, Dexed, OP-X PRO II, Minimonsta, FM8 and the wonderful Arturia V Collection. I have used them all since my very first albums, and alternate between them. In my latest productions ("Weekend" LP and "Out Now" EP) the presence of the FM synthesis is very strong (Dexed most of all)

For drums I prefer to use single shots to be placed at my convenience. Since many have asked me, in my track "Italian Gigolo" (which was included in the first episode of Stranger Things 3 when Billy flirts in the pool with Mrs. Wheeler) I did not use VSTs for guitar and bass but I played my humble but beloved Yamaha 420D electric guitar and a basic Ibanez 4-string bass.

As I said earlier, I prefer virtual instruments because of their practicality. For this reason I suggest everyone, especially those who are doing their first live performances (perhaps with a limited budget for any flights and baggage) to minimize the equipment and the risks. As you play live more and more you can try to make the performances more spectacular and choreographic, but in my opinion without exaggeration. Ours is not a virtuous genre like prog rock, metal, jazz ... (I expect harsh comments) but a style of music that makes you dance, have fun and bring us back with a little sweet nostalgia in the past.

If I can give some advice based on my experience in the Synthwave genre, I suggest first of all not to be too critical with your music and try to release as many songs as possible to get noticed. It is also necessary to create a nice brand image, a nice logo, good communication on your socials and try to promote yourself on webzines, podcasts and compilations.

My go-to synth for beat ideas and jamming is my Roland JD-Xi as I love the analog and digital sounds, its arpeggiator is easy to use, it has great looping capabilities, and it's awesome for programming drum patterns. Plus, it's mini and lightweight, so it's perfect for touring!

A good rule of thumb, especially touring as an indie artist - be as minimalist as possible. A great show starts with you - and you can build that with just a laptop, Ableton (or your preferred live DAW), audio interface, and a small midi keyboard. You can always expand and add more gear, lights, and costuming to your show once you know how to rock the basics.

For the most part - people I've met in the Synthwave scene are very cool and supportive. Take the leap, put yourself out there, learn from your mistakes, and you'll find a rad community with a ton of heart.

In terms of the visual design around album teasers, singles and album artwork and music videos, my inspiration is always derived from cinema themes, particularly from the 80s era. I generally start with the design of a story board and then I develop a story that I try to tell in music. Once the idea is well established, I work with artists like Marquee Adam, Milwoki or Foreigner Art to develop the final visual assets and to consolidate the project.

The tool I have used most for synthwave is definitely the TAL-U-NO-62 soft synth. This is a free download and has dozens of free user created sound packs out there for it too. Websites like PluginBoutique were a treasure trove for me when I started out as they had all sorts of soft synths and plugins to try out and get familiar with.

Trackers can be a bit intimidating to get started with though. The quality of sound comes down to what plugins you use. DAW's that are easy to use and get into would be Ableton Live for the reason that it has so many users and there are so many tutorials for it on youtube.

I currently use Presonus studio one 2. It has a nice and clean interface and drag and drop functionality. I find it very easy to use, but I came from Cubase. Most Daw's with the exception of trackers and FL studio has a similar style GUI and approach. The plugins that come with it is tolerable but you need to get a few synths and a virtual sampler because the ones in the program is just poor.

For a complete solution in a box there is propellerheads reason. Some very good plugins in it with a GUI that looks like a rack tower, to which you add sound units. You edit in a piano roll like in most daws, but unlike most daws you dont have your screen cluttered with plugins. They are nice and tidy, all in a fixed position in the rack and you can turn the rack around and drag wires between them to create some pretty crazy sounds. Liam Howlett from The Prodigy made a couple of albums with it. So don't confuse 'simple to use' with 'amateurish'.

Reaper is a free DAW. Lots of users. Lots of tutorials. Similar to other daw's but with a few tricks of its own up its sleeve. The plugins that come with it are shit for the most part but they have a deal with a couple of plugin developers who sell their plugins at a solid discount to users of Reaper.

Cubase, the godfather of modern Daw's. It can do everything and you don't need that much. It has a bunch of left over bloat for recording artists that are entirely irrelevant to electronic musicians (Which is why I went with Studio one after 10+ years with cubase)

All this is assuming that you use windows/mac, though I think FL and Reaper has Linux versions or have them under development. Also you need to learn how to use sidechain compression, since it is a stable of the synthwave sound.

Synthwave can be everything from the classically 80's inspired tones all the way to modern Neo-retro type sounds that are decidedly in theme but only possible due to modern synthesis techniques and technology.

So from a synthesiser we want the ability to sound analogue, but also there's the occasion need for digital for those classic silky bells. We need soft attacks and a rich and full sound. Additional effects are a bonus with a particular lust for rich tonal chorus types and finally the ability to save our synthwave presets is a given.

Additionally It's sound is authentic, organic and life-life and the software adds functionality through FX and modulation which takes it far beyond what you could find on any of it's hardware relations.

Each replicates their respective hardware counterpart and with a very good degree of accuracy. All can be wrapped up and used in combination with one another via Korgs included MDE-X software, which not only allows you to load up multiple synths and play as one instrument but also includes a wide range of effects both independent to each synth and globally to the combined output.

Modelled on the popular Juno 60. It's been developed with zero feedback delay filters ( explanation here ) and carefully calibrated controls which make this synth a good replacement for the analog device with all the advantages software plugins have.

TAL-U-NO-LX feature list includes all things classic such as portamento and different filter LFO waveforms, an on-board arpeggiator, a very fast envelope with a smooth roll-off, emulated inaccuracies in sound and the very smooth filter gives this synth the typical sound. The synth was directly calibrated against the hardware device.

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