Settings for soft synths for use in backing tracks

Hey,

I am putting together a 3 piece,  family-based cover band (guitar, bass drums).  

I would really like to record some backing parts with extra percussion and keyboard parts.  I am comfortable recording midi and using soft synths in Sonar but I have no idea how to configure them to sound even close to the synths used by, say the Cars or Depeche Mode.

Could anyone tell me where I could find a set of (e.g.) 80s patches for any of the synths that come with X1 Producer? 

Thanks a lot and happy New Year.

Cheers,
Thomas

well drum machines aren't an issue as you have an 808 and 909 in sonar, goldbaby do decent libraries also.

as for synth patches, it's tricky.. a lot of makers do "sound-a-like" patches or if you can find out the synth used in the original e.g. oberheim used in 99 red baloons / jump then it does make it a bit easier to find a modern equivalent.

there is a pack of vintage stuff does for z3ta +2  of 80's synths

but why not download muz3um for rapture  / z3ta... both are free and do have a lot of the older sounding synths.

I own lush + diva also.. both aren't cheap, and eat CPU but are very good.

a nice juno sounding thing is TAL's one.. which is a decent enough price

or get synth1 by the japanese guy.. on kvr.. the extra patches you'll find useful.

Does anyone use PSYNII?

I thought it's name was a reference to Pentagon. It seems less "in your face" than z3ta and way more stable than Pentagon. Of the CW stuff, I use Rapture most often but was curious why it never gets mentioned when seeking analog sounding stuff out of CW synths.

And pentagon also has the added feature of the Valley setting in the simulator. What a thrill when patches that use the simulator peg the output. It was a nice synth and the vocoder is an interesting touch but it seriously needs work.

scook, sadly I suspect Pentagon is doomed to be a legacy synth. The only one of the old RGC synths Cakewalk has bothered updating is z3ta+. I think if they were going to update it or reboot it, the time would have been 4-5 years ago when it was still in wider use with more than just people who owned Sonar. Most of cakewalk synths are fo0rmerly commercial synths that have become non-viable economically to sell. Thus being a nice bonus for Sonar buyers but not worth spending money on developing. I think they should make the code open source and let someone release an update as a labor of love. Maybe have a contest.

When either A) they develop or license a popular synth they can sell successfully at full price to fill the slot z3ta+2 currently holds and/or B) z3t+2 becomes borderline obsolete. I'm not saying that as a complaint. They have to make money and it makes sense to bundle a great product when it has reached market saturation. The original z3ta+ is very capable still of being a primary synth and thus a great freebie .

Maybe i should go through all the patches and alter and save them as a default bank and make it available for download. You would think cakewalk staff would have done that by now considering how damaging 640db spikes could be