Soft Synth Clash: A Powerful Comparison of Serum 2, Pigments 6, Phase Plant, Vital, and Massive X - The Top Contenders in Virtual Instrument Sound Production
You're probably sick of those bloated, bulky synths from back in the day, swallowing up your entire room and burning a hole in your wallet. But let's take a moment to acknowledge the pioneers who dealt with those constraints: Bob Moog, Tom Oberheim, Dave Smith, Wolfgang Palm, and other legendary synthcraft legends. While those geniuses were most definitely rocking it with their impressive knowledge of electronics and sound synthesis, their true brilliance shone through in their ability to create instruments that actually made sense in the real world.
These musicians required instruments that:
- Were affordable
- Don't gobble up an entire room
- Can stand up to being carted between stage and studio
- Didn't require weekly maintenance after lugging them around
With the bulkiness and expense of synth circuits, navigating the perfect balance between capability and practicality is what set these pioneers apart. Fast forward to today, the limitations of modern software synths are totally different. Once you have a computer model for an oscillator, a filter, or an envelope, you can pack hundreds, if not thousands, of these bad boys into a synth without any extra expense or impracticality. The only real limitation is your CPU's power! That means we're currently freakin' alive in a golden age, where you can pick up some of the most powerful, flexible, and jaw-dropping instruments ever created for just a couple hundred bucks. But which one should you sidle up to?
Arturia Pigments 6
Arturia came onto the scene at the dawn of the software synth era, and quickly got its game on by focusing on creating computer models of classic hardware. As its collection of synths and plugins expanded, so did its library of algorithms and code. When they finally decided to spin their own original soft synth, they aptly named it Pigments.
Pigments sports a multi-engine design that allows various sound generators, filters, and FX processors to be mixed within a single patch. It features 3 sound generation engines, one of which is a "Utility" engine consisting of two noise generators and one analog-style oscillator, perfect for acting as a sub-oscillator or building a drone. The other two generator slots can house any one of five different synthesis models:
- Analogue: Offers a 3-oscillator design like many classic synths, complete with common waveforms, frequency modulation, and oscillator sync.
- Wavetable: An incredibly versatile wavetable engine with a large library of wavetables and the ability to import custom wavetables.
- Sample: Can host up to six sample articulations and operate as a classic sampler or switch to granular mode.
- Harmonic: An accessible implementation of additive synthesis.
- Modal: A physical modeling engine based on Karplus-Strong synthesis.
Pigments offers a wide range of filter models to load into its two filter slots, which can be configured in series or parallel. To sum it up, Pigments sports a sharp look, is easy to handle, and sounds fantastic. It might give your system a bit of a workout with more complex sounds, but it's totally worth it. The synth comes complete with an extensive library of patches, samples, and wavetables, and can run standalone or as a plugin.
Kilohearts Phase Plant
Kilohearts is known for their series of "Snapin" plugins that each perform a singular, focused task, but can also be combined in complex ways within one of the company's three host plugins. Phase Plant is the instrument we're interested in here.
The Snapin system makes Phase Plant the most flexible and modular synth in this roundup. An initial patch starts as a blank slate, split into three sections:
- Generator: This section hosts the main synth components like oscillators, filters, and amps.
- Lanes: Provides three busses for hosting additional effects and processors, which can be routing destinations for output modules within the Generator area.
- Modulators: Allows various envelopes, LFOs, and other modulation sources to be loaded and assigned to modulate a patch.
The Generator section is where sound generators, filters, and amplifiers are loaded. These are always arranged into groups with a group requiring at least one sound generator Snapin and one output Snapin for routing the sound to the Lanes section. Five sound generator models are available, each with a self-explanatory name. Phase Plant's advanced signal wrangling doesn't stop here, either.
Each of the three Lanes can load any processing Snapin installed on the system, offering a vast array of effects like filters, dynamics processors, distortion processors, reverb, and more. The Modulators section is similarly generous, with a wide selection of different realtime, automatic, and utility modulators to give your patches some life. Phase Plant is a visual stunner, easy to use, and delivers some serious sound. Although it can get a bit greedy on resources, this all depends on the patch complexity.
If you're itching to get your hands on these synths, make sure to check out our dedicated articles on the Arturia Pigments 6, Kilohearts Phase Plant, Native Instruments Massive X, Vital Audio Vital, and Xfer Records Serum 2 reviews. So, which one should you splash your cash on? That's entirely up to you, but these five instruments are powerful, flexible, and kitted out with advanced features to get your creative juices flowing. Happy music-making, folks!
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- With the growth in computer technology, it is now possible to own some of the most powerful, flexible, and awe-inspiring software synthesizers ever created, thanks to Arturia's Pigments 6 and Kilohearts' Phase Plant.
- Unlike the old-school synths that consumed entire rooms and burned a hole in your wallet, these modern synths are compact, affordable, and offer a greater range of sounds without the impracticality and expense.
