I've been using TTS-1 as my 'go to' sound generator with SonarX2, but at times I'm struggling to get the quality of sounds I'm looking for.
Generally speaking I'm looking for 'real instrument' sounds (organ, piano, guitar, bass, brass etc.)
 
What's the next level up in quality for a soft synth?
When I played 'real' keyboards, I really noticed the improvement when I moved up from Yamaha/Casio up to a Korg keyboard.
What's the equivalent of 'Korg quality' in soft synths?
 
(I have still got a Korg sound module, but I'm hoping to move to a completely virtual environment).
 
Any thought/suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Cheers,
Paul

If you want the Korg sound buy Korg's plug-ins. I thought the sale was over but when I went to their site it appears they extended it to the end of the month.
 
Depending on which version of X2, Studio Instruments, Dimension Pro and Cakewalk Sound Center (the Dimension Pro/Rapture player program) are the tools bundled with SONAR which play "real" instruments. DSF makes quite a few expansion packs for the plug-ins.

Do'h !
Never thought to look for a Korg VST 😀
Virtual Wavestation is tempting; a little older than my old Korg N364 but should be similar quality.
 
DSF also looks useful....
 
Many thanks,
Paul

TTS is midi based and uses patches.... synths, to make the sounds. Moving sideways to any other midi patch based synth will give you pretty much the same sound quality. Perhaps a different tonal quality, but still patch based at the end of the day.
 
The next level up is to use a sampler based synth. Rather than creating the sounds electronically to try to emulate a piano or a trumpet.... the synth uses real instrument samples to create the parts needed. The result is a very realistic sounding part because it is real instruments playing the notes.
 
I think the Cakewalk Sound Center which comes with MC starting with version 5 (I think it was) and is also included with Sonar IIRC, will do that for you. You can buy additional sound packs.
 
You might also want to look at Native Instruments Kontakt since it is superb and has some very nice samples included not to mention all the 3rd party sample sets on the market for that synth.

In Cakeland, SoundCenter and the even more upscale Studio Instruments are probably what you are looking for.   And yea, there are various librariesof FZ files for many instrument groups.  I don't know if they will work in the above engines.
 
If you want to go whole hog, Rapture Pro is the top shelf synth from Cake, a sample playback synth that comes loaded with 1000s of instruments.  Cake lists Dimension LE available and it comes w/ plenty of patches/sounds and you can load any sfz file (which include the samples, of course).  Don't know if it is for sale but if it is ought to be cheap (the LE synths come w/ various levels of SONAR).  Kontakt is the modern sampler/playback engine that most companies do patches for, but the basic level doesn't come with the nearly as many sound sets.  You get to pay extra for those.

Kontakt seems to be the king daddy for sample-based sounds, though EastWest has their own Play software for superb sample-based sounds, as well.
 
Rapture Pro, as noted above, seems to me like a merge between Cakewalk's Dimension Pro (sample-based) and Rapture (synth), and layers things up beautifully.  It comes with all the Cakewalk-supplied Dimension Pro sounds, as well as the Rapture presets, and is quite a bit cheaper than buying Kontakt.
 
Bob Bone
 

Thanks all - very helpful
I actually 're-discovered' Cakewalk Sound Centre this morning whilst looking through the VSTs - I hadn't realised the power of this (and now I've discovered the Digital Sound Factory website, I can see the expansion packs  cold make this very useful).
I've downloaded the free demo expansion pack from DSF to see what the quality is like... but I can't get them working.
The install routine installed the expansion pack files to C:\Program Files (x86)\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\Cakewalk Sound Center  but my Cakewalk Sound Center is installed at C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\Cakewalk Sound Center
I tried copying the files form the x86 folders to the others, but I still can't seem to find the new sounds in CSC - is there some kind of 'refresh' option to get it to look for the new files?

If you need a multi-timbral synth alternative to TTS-1, a couple of good options are the samplers Native Instruments Kontakt and IK Multimedia Sampletank.  Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2 is 8-channel multi-timbral.  There may be others ...
 
But Cakewalk Sound Center, Studio Instruments, Dimension, Rapture, etc. all require a separate instance of the virtual instrument for each sound or MIDI channel.  Many other virtual synths work this way, unless otherwise noted.  Technically you could use the multiple oscillators within some of the as separate sounds, but it's not the same.
 
The reason that TTS-1 is still around is probably it's muti-timbral ability and the fact that it's the only GM (General MIDI) synth bundled with Sonar (edit: thanks scook).  Certainly not the best sounds, but works OK to fill in parts with until you can replace them with something better.
 
Cakewalk Synthesizers, From Presets to Power User, second edition, by Simon Cann:
 
What Is TTS-1?
Cakewalk TTS-1 is a GM2 (General MIDI 2)–compatible, multi-timbral, multi-output,
software synthesizer with 256 preset sounds and nine drum kits. It comes with SONAR
version 5. Let me explain a couple terms in this paragraph:
• A multi-timbral instrument is capable of playing more than one sound simultaneously.
With TTS-1 you can have up to 16 simultaneous parts. The advantage of multi-timbral
instruments is that you only need one instance of the synthesizer to create several parts.
This results in a lower CPU overhead. (Usually each instance of a synthesizer will take
up some computer horsepower.) In SONAR you can select each of the 16 parts (they
correspond to the 16 MIDI channels) with a separate MIDI track. The maximum number
of notes you can play simultaneously is 128 (subject to the power of your computer).
• A multi-output instrument has several outputs that can be routed to different destinations.
The advantage of multiple outputs is that you can keep your parts separate when
you are using TTS-1 in multi-timbral mode. So, for instance, you could send a bass
guitar to one output, drums to another, and an organ to a third output.

Why Use TTS-1?
If you’re looking for a synth to replay General MIDI files, then TTS-1 is a no-brainer. There
are many other reasons to use TTS-1, such as its wide range of highly usable sounds coupled
with good FX. Many people use it as a first-call synth, so when they start working on a part,
they select a sound from TTS-1 because it has such a wide range of usable sounds. The TTS-1
can then be replaced later with another (perhaps more flexible) synthesizer. However, often
you will find that the TTS-1 sounds as good as, or even better than, the sound you try as a
replacement.

NI Kontakt 5 has a "Player" version you can get for free.  Same with IK Multimedia Sampletank 3, it also has a "Free" version.  Both come with some free factory sounds to try out, and offer sound pack upgrades that work with the free editions.  Sampletank seems a little more generous with the free instrument sounds.  Give both a try and see what you like.
 

abacab
The reason that TTS-1 is still around is probably it's muti-timbral ability.  Certainly not the best sounds, but works OK to fill in parts with until you can replace them with something better.
 

That might be one reason but TTS-1 is the only GM synth bundled with SONAR. It will play any MIDI file. The same cannot be said about any other synth bundled with SONAR.