soft synths that compliment a Jupiter 80?

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malice95
Posts: 2
Joined: 13:29, 16 July 2015

soft synths that compliment a Jupiter 80?

Post by malice95 »

Loving my jupiter 80.. excellent synth! Been thinking about adding some soft synths to
the setup vs going with another hardware synth like the Kronos. Something that will compliment the
Jupiter 80 and bring in new sounds. I mainly play 80's and 90's pop/dance/rock with the occasional
flashback to the 60's and 70's.

So far I'm looking at
  • NI Komplete 10
    Arturia V collection 5
    Omnisphere 2
    GSI VB3
I imagine there is a fair amount of overlap between these but they seem to be the big players at least
from what I read.

For those of you that use soft synths, what do you like that compliments the J80? Out of my list above, what would you recommend? Any others I should check out you would recommend? I'm totally green when it comes to software synths.

I do have a Yamaha TG77 that covers DX7 type sounds for the most part. But that's hardware. I'd like to give this software synth thing a go and see what possible.

Thanks!
Devnor
Posts: 696
Joined: 20:22, 27 September 2010

Re: soft synths that compliment a Jupiter 80?

Post by Devnor »

I use FM8 and Kontakt (with 3rd party libraries) from the Komplete series. Omnisphere too. Lately I'm been using just hardware synths like a Motif XF and Moog voyager. I sequence up a number of parts, then record the synth outputs as audio files - freeing up the gear for new layers. I liberally apply insert plug ins on the audio files which really opens up a whole new world to older sounds.
cloudswimmer
Posts: 13
Joined: 03:39, 24 March 2016

Re: soft synths that compliment a Jupiter 80?

Post by cloudswimmer »

Boy which soft synths ..... thats like asking whats your recommendation for ice cream flavors :) If you haven't gotten into the world of soft synths yet, after you do that might be ALL you ever use again :) Its been 2 months now since getting my Jupiter 80, and for the first few days I played around all day with it, but after that it was internal sounds off and VST's back on. The Jupiter 80 is now my mother ship (central DAW controller) in my studio. I like its 76 keys and all the pretty colored buttons and lights, it reminds me of my old Jupiter 8 which I foolishly sold in 1988. Anyway which soft synths ..... hmmmm. well myself I play/write in the style of Chick Corea, Jan Hammer, Vangeles, some prog type stuff, smooth jazz, etc. Some of my most used VST soft synths are:

Arturia V Collection
Korg Collection
Native Kontakt (tons of sample libraries)
Ivory Italian Grand
VB3
Spitfire Audio Orchestra Stuff
EastWest Stuff
Nexus

Just to name a few. Also have started incorporating my iPad and the excellent soft synth apps from:

Korg
Arturia
IK Multimedia
Roland
and a ton of cool boutique apps

I thought hard after getting my Jupiter 80 about getting a Kronos 88 too, but after playing one for about an hour with headphones on at the local GC, I came to the conclusion that there was nothing I was hearing that I pretty much didn't have covered in my studio of soft synths, I was basically looking at replacing my Roland RD-700gx with another 88 weighted key controller, but have decided to keep the Roland for that role and save myself four grand in greenbacks. Im now looking hard at a triple Moog Mother 32 analog setup (half the price of the Kronos and more unique)

I should also mention your computer and audio interface is going to play a big part how pleased you are with soft synths. For my iPad I use and Apogee Duet, and on my PC an Emu 1616m. Both give you under 2ms latency with a fast computer. My PC is home built with an Intel I7 @ 5ghz (overclocked) and 16gb of ram, and my iPad is the big iPad Pro with 4gb ram.

Some of these soft synths give you time limited demos, Arturia for example will let you try out their new V collection which includes a very cool Synclavier and Roland Jupiter 8. For a DAW I switched from Pro Tools years ago to Cockos Reaper, you can use Reaper for free indefinatelyin demo mode, or buy it and get rid of the nag screen for sixty bucks.

The Jupiter 80 is a killer synth, it sounds killer, has a killer action, has a killer build, and looks killer, I'll probably keep mine forever as a controller and to play its internal sounds ocasionally, but soft synths these days are killer too and just so easy to use in a work flow :)

Chris
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kimsnarf
Posts: 275
Joined: 17:55, 4 January 2013
Location: Oslo, Norway

Re: soft synths that compliment a Jupiter 80?

Post by kimsnarf »

I find the Jupiter-80 a good companion to Omnisphere. The latter has barely no "traditional" or acoustic sounds but excels on unique sounds. While the Jupiter-80 is almost the opposite. The Jupiter-80 is suitable for a broader range of styles and easier for basic compositions, but layering with Omnisphere can add some very nice textures and movements. However, "traditional" styles is not the strength of Omnisphere. It's more about atmosphere and soundscapes.
troggg
Posts: 71
Joined: 18:39, 25 September 2013

Re: soft synths that compliment a Jupiter 80?

Post by troggg »

UVI stuff is quite tasty.
moogi
Posts: 8
Joined: 12:20, 3 January 2014

Re: soft synths that compliment a Jupiter 80?

Post by moogi »

Hmmn - I am not satisfied with my VSTIs any longer since I have the Jupiter 80.
troggg
Posts: 71
Joined: 18:39, 25 September 2013

Re: soft synths that compliment a Jupiter 80?

Post by troggg »

moogi wrote:Hmmn - I am not satisfied with my VSTIs any longer since I have the Jupiter 80.
That's great. Just be aware that certain popular DAWs like Studio One already discriminate against hardware synths/workstations in the present because they foresee the shift to VSTis. And that Roland's sound development for the Jupiter series is basically nonexistent already while the elves at VSTi companies are coming up with new stuff every single day.

But you've got a load of sounds at your disposal that should could you happy fairly indefinitely.
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