Kev999
There's a particular bundled item that I'm making a point of not using - Addictive Drums. It took a ridiculous amount of time to install and required an online connection the whole time. I have more than one computer running Sonar and I didn't bother installing it on the others.

 Odd thing about XLN is if you have more than two machines and want another license you will need a seperate email account.  I emailed them about that and they never heard of such a situation. I have four machines registered under one account just about everywhere.

Fwiw komplete ultimate 10 with komplete kontrol lets you get easy access to all sounds plugins with a few keyboard pushes . Been finding gems like never before..

Dimension Pro and Rapture
They are old, outdated and sound like crap compared to what other companies have out, imo.

TerraSin
Dimension Pro and Rapture
They are old, outdated and sound like crap compared to what other companies have out, imo.

I'm curious how a synth sounds outdated? I can see some of the preset patches on a synth sounding dated, but the synth itself is going to sound like whatever the person programming it dictates. I was not so much questioning your opinion so much as hoping for elaboration to help understand. My synth programming skills are minimal, but if i take Rapture and make common synth sounds in use by modern producers (a simple 808 style kick for instance) it sounds pretty much like any other synth.

dubdisciple

TerraSin
Dimension Pro and Rapture
They are old, outdated and sound like crap compared to what other companies have out, imo.

I'm curious how a synth sounds outdated? I can see some of the preset patches on a synth sounding dated, but the synth itself is going to sound like whatever the person programming it dictates. I was not so much questioning your opinion so much as hoping for elaboration to help understand. My synth programming skills are minimal, but if i take Rapture and make common synth sounds in use by modern producers (a simple 808 style kick for instance) it sounds pretty much like any other synth.

 
I'm curious too. I like these softsynths because they are excellent for blending different sounds together and the multisamples are in a non-proprietry format, making it easy to add your own. What's so bad about about them?

Disclaimer: Let me start by saying that I'm certainly not a synth god. I love sound design as much as the next person but more often than not I buy preset packs from others because I don't have the time to sit around doing something that I know others could do better than I could anyway.
 
What it boils down to is how the program can modify the waves it's using, the effects it has built in, matrix controls, LFOs, modulation, etc. and how the program itself works with the data it is told. For instance, in audio you can have two compressors that have the exact same variables on what it will do to the sound it's given. You can set these exactly the same in each and end up with completely different sounding results because of the way it emulates that sound in each. The same can be said for synthesizers.
 
Rapture could be good but it needs updated. I don't think there's been any updates on it in like 6 years. Someone might correct me on that one but I believe it's been that long if not longer. It also needs a massive interface update and those are things I'm not sure Cake wants to spend the time on now that Zeta+ 2 exists which in itself isn't a bad synth at all, but I find myself using it less and less for things like Serum.

It sounds like your dislike is based more on available presets and workflow than the core sound abilities. I think that is a valid concern because the vast majority of artists i know pretty much use presets with the occassional modest tweak.  This is not a new thing. The "hoover" was the name of a preset that was used so much in dance music that many forgot it was originally a roland preset. In modern pop, the same Nexus, Massive, Sylenth and Sytrus presets  are eaily identified within a couple notes. With that said, it's not Raptures sounds that are dated ( i doubt any waveform will ever be dated) , but the presets. Even if waves could become dated, one could add their own waveforms.  A Rapture 2 would be a good idea if only to update interface and provide presets that resonate more with todays pop scene. The hardcore programmers are going to roll their own anyway.
 
I think Rapture missed the boat by not keeping up with music trends. Even as it is, it is far more powerful than most realize.  Every now and then I use it for drum or bass reinforcement  and get askd in the studio how did I get that thump. When i point to Rapture they go through presets and the impressed feeling they had dwindles rapidly. Sad.

Most of the presets I use I've bought from third parties. The presets that come with any synth (exclusing Omnisphere) have been unusable. The thing is, when I do delve into sound design, I can generally make something good sounding that I end up really liking but I have a perfectionist personality and it can sometimes take me weeks to get a single sound simply because I keep tweaking it. It's not logical for me to work on most of my own because of this. Plus, when you have a pro sound designer like John Lehmkuhl (PluginGuru.com) making things similar to what I'm looking for who can also add a lot of modulation you would have never thought of, it just makes more sense to me.
 
The waveforms don't change, what is being used to change them can have a very different effect on them though. For example, Serum has the ability to add your own waveforms. What is done to those waveforms via oscillators, LFOs, and effects are what make the VST shine so much. It's being able to modify waveforms into something new.

Waveforms can be added to Rapture. In fact, unlike most synths that can add sincle cycle waveforms, Rapture can also add long wave files. I have barely touched the surface with this but it has pretty amazing potential.  

I don't use Dimension Pro a lot these days most of that sort of work falls to Kontakt, but its still a decent source of sampled instruments and sometimes it has what I am looking for.
 
Rapture is another I only use occasionally, I tend to go for classic analogue emulations like MiniMonsta, XILS4 and the Arturia V collection, but I is a pretty decent synth and the Clive Anderton expansions are great.
 
When I want more modern sounds I like Z3ta 2. Most of the presets do not appeal to me at all but once I got my head around programing it from scratch it became much more useful to me.