Soft Synths for Rock Music

Hey guys,

Just getting around to making a few what I call micro tracks. Little 2 minute songs. I am really new to the whole process and to making music in general.  I play mostly in the classic rock genre and I'm looking for advice in regards to what synths are best for this kind of music.

Right now the tracks I have are your basic Drums, Bass, & Guitar.  I have Lounge Lizard to add keyboards as well.  What other type of synths are out there that I can use to add some spice?  

This really depends on what sounds you are after I would have thought - if you are using X1 Pro, you will have Dimension Pro and Rapture included (along with some other synths) that all give you an arsenal of sounds to play with - I would have thought that would have been the place to start - even the old TTS (which I use all the time when I'm composing) will give you usable sounds
Nigel

If you say classic rock, I would assume that it revolves mostly around what you have - drums, bass, guitar.

Then, maybe a bit of electric piano - you have that covered w Lounge Lizard - and maybe some Hammond and acoustic piano.

I don't know of any Hammond I could recommend since Native Instrument's B4 has been discontinued (I think). That leaves sample-based solutions or maybe other soft synths I'm not familiar with.

For acoustic pianos, there's an almost endless list of choices, and you already have a couple included w/ Sonar (I think one of them is called True Piano). Dimension also covers a lot of ground. 

As Rain says - Hammond the first thing that springs to mind. There are alternatives to the dicontinued B4 GSi free Organized Trio and the full product VB3 are worth checking out.

Native Instruments Vintage Organs is another, more expenisve, alternative. On its own it does not do the really dirty, distorted stuff as good a VB3 but its good and versatile. Select direct injection, layer it with Shabby Chic's RMI electra Piano samples (full Kontalt required) and put the whole lot through Amplitube 3 you can create really dirty distorted Jon Lord type sounds. 

G Force Minimonsta is IMHO one of the best emulations of the classic Mini Moog synth that fits well in classic rock

For classic rock I don't think synths, but pianos, organs etc.  Many softsynths can do those, either sample-based or emulaters. 

If you are on SONAR it is hard to beat the deals Cake offers on DimPro and Rapture.  DimPro has a wider base of acoustic instruments, more orchestral along w/ pianos, while Rapture is more electronic.  Rapt. has more organs and such, while DimPro gets the nod in acoustic pianos.  Z3TA, the original René synth, is more of a synth's synth.  A great thing about Rapt and Z3TA is The Museum collection (free), which gives you access to more old synths than you can shake a stick at, if you want those kind of sounds for classic rock.

It would be hard to go wrong w/ the DimPro/Rapture collection.  both also "cut" very well, in the sense of biting right through a dense mix, not "rounded" like a VA (Z3Ta is more along that sound).

Then there are the other sample-based synths - like Kontak etc.  A bit expensive, but a large collection of provided sounds and you can buy libraries for it to focus on what you need.  Another good one, tho a sleeper, is Samplebase.  The engine is free and you add pretty cheap libraries to it at $20-40 a pop.  Not as extensive as some of the others w/ the base library, but you can add sounds you need w/ the money not spent.  It is from Illo, who are known for their libraries of sound.  They also have loop libraries, so when you go electro you are set up or don't feel like programming all the drumming.

@

I'm a classic rock guy, too, and to me classic rock means anything goes as far as instrumentation. Sure, you've got to cover the basics - piano, electric piano, and organ - but the genre also embraces synths, mellotrons, strings, woodwinds, sound effects, anvils, gongs, didgeridoos, wind machines, Latin, Indian and African percussion, you name it.

VB3 is a good Hammond emulation that's not too expensive. If the budget is tight, 
ORGANized trio is a decent freebie (the link lists multiple free organ synths).

For a Vox-style combo organ, check out the Combo Model V. It's an excellent emulation and amazing value at $0.00.

Of course, if you really want to open up the amazing world of software instruments, an investment in Kontakt is the way to go. 

I agree with most of the commentary above. 

Classic and rock of all genre's really, is based on the 4 basic foundational instruments of ROCK....

Guitar, Bass, Drums, and keyboards. 

NI and many others have a wide variety of synths and sample libraries to allow an endless variety of those 4 stalwarts. 

I think Native Instruments has got the whole Classic Rock genre coverd
Abbey Road 70's Drummer
Vintage Organs
Scarbee Vintage Keys
Scarbee Pre-Bass and J-Bass
Retro Machines

I checked out Minimonsta and VB3,they were both very cool

StevenMikel

I think Native Instruments has got the whole Classic Rock genre coverd
Abbey Road 70's Drummer
Vintage Organs
Scarbee Vintage Keys
Scarbee Pre-Bass and J-Bass
Retro Machines
 

+1 on Kontakt.  It's a bit pricey but a very worthwhile investment that will keep you in good sounds for a long time.  First of all, it comes with all the above libraries, of which I quite like Retro Machines, if synths are what you're looking for.  Once you've absorbed the cost of Kontakt into the household economy, you can expand from there quite economically with a number of offerings from Hollow Sun.  You can get the RMI ElectraPiano for just 25 bucks which gives you a great classic Genesis KB sound.