Soft Synth Quality?

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Can someone briefly describe how a softsynth works? My question is this: A softsynth does not go through the AD convertor, correct? So does your interface/hardware play anypart in the quality? Or is it strictly the quality of the software synth samples etc. Some commercial CDs have big beautiful synth sounds that are supposed to be soft/synths. Any comments, suggestions?
 
My understanding is that a soft synth is created entirely inside the computer and inside the synth software, thus it is called a soft synth.
 
yup its entirely inside the box

Ive got a couple and they sound good...but if i were to recommend a synth to someone Id say get a jv 1080 ($200) and the vintage synth expansion card ($150) and try to find a soft synth that competes with it.....thats a lot of sound for next to nowt

Saying that I was going to buy a DX-7 last year and apart from a grittier sound FM-8 sounded better...way more flexible, cheaper, and you can add the grit anyway

I even have the DX-7 presets for it :)
 
Thanks KC,

That unit has great reviews, strange its only 200clams, definately gonna check that out.
 
PDP said:
Can someone briefly describe how a softsynth works? My question is this: A softsynth does not go through the AD convertor, correct? So does your interface/hardware play anypart in the quality? Or is it strictly the quality of the software synth samples etc.
Click to expand...
It depends upon the setup. A soft synth works entirely within it's own "box", yes, but that "box" is not always necessarily the same one that contains the digital recorder or the DAW. It's not uncommon to find setups where the soft synths are located in a separate computer and the combo acts simply like another instrument with it's own audio out into the mixer or recording DAW. We have it set up like that at the main studio, where the soft synths and sample libraries et al are set up on a laptop with the keyboard/MIDI controller connected to that. This is completely seperate from the digital mixer and the DAW computer and there are converters between them. My old partner in the first studio who these days works solo and exclusively with software emulations of his old analog synths (PAIA, ARP, Moog, Sequential Circuits, etc.) does a similar thing, except he uses an old desktop minitower PC for his synth controller and connects it directly through an interface card to his DAW computer and has no mixer in-between.

That said though, any difference in the quality of the converters in-between the synths and the DAW is going to be only a very minor factor in the resulting sound. The quality you may hear in some commercial recordings (and frankly they aren't all always that good) is due usually far more to the qulity of samples, model of synth emulator, or soft synth patch/setting used, followed by the quality of the rest of the signal path and the quality of the engineer that it ever will be to the sound of the converters. While they can make some difference, it's usually just the last percent or two of difference.

G.
 
PDP said:
Thanks KC,

That unit has great reviews, strange its only 200clams, definately gonna check that out.
Click to expand...

it was nearer $1500 when it came out but its old..'96 i think

the sounds on it a bread and butter to say the least but the expansion boards range from $50 - $200 and they are excellent, really keep it going

the 1080 takes four cards plus two PCM cards..there are bigger, 2080, 3080, 5080 but the cost extra..I have 6 boards..I just swap over if need be

http://www.planet-groove.com/roland/expansion.html

a worthy purchase is midi quest as the JV is a pita to programme, but its a couple of hundred bucks so its best you have other stuff you can use with it too
 
I love softsynths and the expandability they give to my soundsources, but I also go back to the sounds on my Fantom X quite a bit. It's much easier to hit "Piano Mode" if I need a piano sound quickly to work something out, rather than going into Kontakt and waiting for Alicia's Keys to load up.

I usually record most of my piano/keys, synths, strings and horns as MIDI then experiment with which instrument source sounds best on them.

That said, I think between Omnisphere/Trillian and Komplete with all the libraries I have for Kontakt, I'd be just fine if I had chosen way back when to invest in a simple MIDI controller instead of a full on workstation, not to mention all the smaller and/or free softsynths I've picked up.
 
I'm looking at the new trilliam bass module. Super big bass sounds really nice. Just came out.
 
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