I think Serum was definitely called something like "Massive killer" back in the time when it came out. Remember how almost everyone was obsessed with Massive, because of dubstep and complextro genres, mainly? It was only one of a kind wavetable synthesizer at that time. Then Serum came out and everyone MASSIVELY (pardon the pun) started worshipping it.
Funnily enough I never got around to like Serum, spun up the demo a couple times but it always sounded too tinny imo. On the other hand, I still run massive to this day! Its built-in fx were nothing to write home about since day one but I find its limitations quite inspiring, such as not being able to import your own wavetables. Vital on the other hand, might just be the best sounding plug-in I've ever ran across, not to mention how user friendly and how gorgeous it is.
I almost didn't watch this because you're almost TOO good at convincing me to spend money. That said, I'm REALLY glad I watched this. You rule, man. Subscriber 4 life.
Vital is the most fun I've had with a synth in a long time. In addition to the wonderful ways you can bend and warp wavetables, you can also turn it into an combo WT + FM synth by switching LFOs to 'Keytrack' mode and mapping them to pitch or phase (or whatever). The Shepard's Tone WT warping is instant riser fun. Text to wavetable is awesome and no doubt going to be heavily abused this year. The Transposition Snap feature is really cool, acting as a sort of built-in MIDI Scale effect, but one that can be modulated by LFOs and envelopes. For some reason it's just insanely easy and fast to make the sounds that I want to make, from crazy ethereal pads to tough neuro bass. There are so many things about it that are fun, powerful and expansive. It's very... efficient? Not sure how to put it. In any case, it's a hell of a lot of fun.
Hey Benn, just wanted to let you know that my Polyend & Dreadbox Medusa -that I bought in large part because of your video - arrived about fifteen minutes ago. Looking forward to experimenting with it. Thank you for your content.
I've been playing with VCV quite a lot this year, and here are my recommendations for premium module collections (in no particular order): Vult Mysteries Vult + Geodesics (currently only the awesome Hexaquark microstep trigger sequencer, but more to come) VCV Sound Stage Plus a couple I think are useful, but have somewhat redundant features with various free modules Prok Drums Stellare Creative Suite
Entrian CV/Drum and Melody sequencers have definitely renewed my interest in VCV Rack this week. Up till now I’ve been more into Voltage Modular, Softube and Drambo, since I prefer a traditional DAW to structure everything. Entrian brings the DAW to VCV, and me along with it.
@@PlugInGuruVideo I'm neither agreeing nor disagreeing, I'm just observing how funny the metaphor is. I wouldn't even know, tbh, the only VST synths I've used are the ones that came stock in my DAW. I've heard many in UA-cam vids, sure, but I don't consider that enough to get a TRUE sense of them i.e. I don't have an opinion because it would be so ill-informed haha.
@@PlugInGuruVideo nope not really plugins like phaseplant are miles ahead than serum, what is serum? Just a wavetable synth with 2 osc 1 filter some modulators and effects, haseplant can combine wavetable, modular, granular,samples, analog with unlimited versatility, thats just one , vps avenger synthmaster are also much better than serum
My top 3 would be the 2 vst things that Hainbach has been involved with, the Fundamental instrument and the Wires fx unit, and the new stuff from Felt Instruments. Keep up the good work, sir!
softubes Parallels, Statement, and Monoment, and their Model D '72', get featured now in their modular so you can combine parrallels with a doepfer vcf, Their Amp room is pretty on point aswell, as a Bassist/Guitarist its one of the most accurate 'amp rooms' ive seen it is very similar to modular where you can daisey chain your perfect circuit. its pretty cool.
Drambo on iOS definitely deserves a top 10 spot. It’s like the best features of Elektron sequencers, combined with a modular powerhouse of synthesis, sampling and processing modules, with AUV3 instrument(multi-out), effects and midiFX support.
Great list!! We created a plug-in this year called Unify that lets you combine all of your plug-ins of any format, layer, split them, seamlessly load up to 24 of patches into a single patch in realtime with no audio glitching - we're very proud of how it's been received. Please check it out if you want to do more with your plug-ins. In 2020 we have too many plug-ins and not enough places to creatively play with them. Cheers!
I grabbed Pendulate when it was being given away for free(!) a few months ago and had a ton of fun with it. Generate is one of the few things on my very small software wishlist because it's (finally!) something genuinely different in the world of VSTi synths. It's like an 0-Coast took the limitless drug.
Why would you want to kill a synth plugin? I don't get it either. Very often you say what i am thinking and if that is not the case then i know i'm gonna learn something new. So thank you for that. Great list, great channel.
Thanks Ben for an excellent video. I watch all your videos and value your opinion so you’ve given me some great ideas for future acquisitions. Dear Santa........
Interesting stuff and another great review! The super VHS sounds great. Vital looks really cool, but you already sold me on Pigments last year! AKA Serum killer #119
Vital is basically free so it's defo worth checking out, even if you've already got Pigments. The versions you can pay for just have more wavetables and presets. The only feature you're locked out of in the free version is the text to wavetable, which is limited to 5 uses per day.
Thanks for this, most of these were new to me. In case it saves someone 5 minutes -- Vital is microtunable, Generate / Pendulate isn't (yet?). I know most folks don't need it but for those who do it's often a big deal.
Just recently released is the very cool Wires by a joint development with Hainbach and Audio Thing. Based on a Soviet WIre Recorder it has a unique way of distorting sound due to the, yes you guessed it, the wire it's recorded onto.
I really like Vital, but i discovered Phaseplant this year and since then i use it for near all i do. Phaseplant and Bitwig is just a wonderfull combination. Another vst i really really like is UVI Shades. That Filter is just amazing and its wonderfull that also i as a not falcon user ( at the moment ) is able to enjoy that insanity of a filter.
I LOVE NEWFANGLED Their EQuivocate is one of the best mastering eqs I have ever heard it is an eq based on the human ear drum 26 channel, bad as heck, they also make Elevate ( a master channel) Puncuate- the most complex transient Shaper.
nice and concise list. I will eventually mess with Generate, I have Pendulate and enjoy it. Haven't played with Vital that much. Already have too much stuff to check out in synthland as well as metal ampsim land. Haha. Picked up some Plogue plugins over black Friday weekend sale though, something I should have done sooner. Great stuff. Peace
Yes, I definitely agree with your top 2! Used Generate already on many projects this year, it's really unique. Personally, I would add "Cycles" by Slate+Ash to my 2020 best-of list. :)
Vital is awesome (I'll be posting a video with my free patches soon), so is VCV Rack and still have to dig more into Generate, Trying Pendulate, its little brother, which is free. Helm is also a great free synth by the same developer of Vital. Why the final shot with the dreadful Windows me? What am I missing? ;)
I was looking @ Vital and saying to myself "this GUI reminds of Helm somehow"... So that's why! Helm is a great free synth, good to know that the developer is still active and releasing great software
you can get decent tape emulation with Satin. Also, RC 20 is decent. And no, none actually sound like a tape, you are right. Bouncing it to my Tascam will always sound different than a plugin.
Synplant is amaaaazing. Incredibly underrated synth. Paired with a good sampler, the sounds you can make are literally endless. No idea what synplant 2 would bring but I'm all for it.
@@GeorgeL909 Imagine the Synplant concept expanded to a more comprehensive synth engine, or maybe different modes for different synthesis engines (one for FM, one for Subtractive, one for PM, etc) or even just to a FM engine with more operators, the possibilities look super great.
I want to add something, an update to a software you previously mentioned in another video: RapidComposer. V4 is coming out, and it includes a melody generator, in addition to the old chord-based composition sketching.
5:49 Fun fact: I have a similar model to the headphones in the picture, and guess what: I also have that piece of tape around it. Great headphones, shit build quality. You go, yelling kid.
I don't know but since they're related to Eventide I can only assume that whatever algorithm is in generate is at least similar to one of the Eventide verb plugins.
There is a free, mono synth baby version of Generate called Pendulate if you want to check it out.
doing god's work right here
And it's excellent. I love it so much, that now that I've seen Benn describe the full version in detail I'm going to go grab it.
TYSM!!! I really wanted to f with this.
is there MIDI support?
@@SomeDud-sw9ob if I understand you correctly, yes. it has vst support so you can feed midi into it
Mad props to Vital for making a Linux version! :))
This!
I think Serum was definitely called something like "Massive killer" back in the time when it came out. Remember how almost everyone was obsessed with Massive, because of dubstep and complextro genres, mainly?
It was only one of a kind wavetable synthesizer at that time.
Then Serum came out and everyone MASSIVELY (pardon the pun) started worshipping it.
Funnily enough I never got around to like Serum, spun up the demo a couple times but it always sounded too tinny imo. On the other hand, I still run massive to this day! Its built-in fx were nothing to write home about since day one but I find its limitations quite inspiring, such as not being able to import your own wavetables. Vital on the other hand, might just be the best sounding plug-in I've ever ran across, not to mention how user friendly and how gorgeous it is.
I almost didn't watch this because you're almost TOO good at convincing me to spend money.
That said, I'm REALLY glad I watched this. You rule, man. Subscriber 4 life.
Hey Benn, another bomb video, learned new things! Thank you, and of course, big thanks for featuring!
And thank you for the Tracker and all the wonderful firmware updates you've already released
Vital is the most fun I've had with a synth in a long time. In addition to the wonderful ways you can bend and warp wavetables, you can also turn it into an combo WT + FM synth by switching LFOs to 'Keytrack' mode and mapping them to pitch or phase (or whatever). The Shepard's Tone WT warping is instant riser fun. Text to wavetable is awesome and no doubt going to be heavily abused this year. The Transposition Snap feature is really cool, acting as a sort of built-in MIDI Scale effect, but one that can be modulated by LFOs and envelopes.
For some reason it's just insanely easy and fast to make the sounds that I want to make, from crazy ethereal pads to tough neuro bass. There are so many things about it that are fun, powerful and expansive. It's very... efficient? Not sure how to put it. In any case, it's a hell of a lot of fun.
some great tips here, been playing with Vital for a while and I haven t thought of exploring this. thank you.
I speed up your videos because I can’t stand how much I love you
Hey Benn, just wanted to let you know that my Polyend & Dreadbox Medusa -that I bought in large part because of your video - arrived about fifteen minutes ago. Looking forward to experimenting with it. Thank you for your content.
I've been playing with VCV quite a lot this year, and here are my recommendations for premium module collections (in no particular order):
Vult Mysteries
Vult + Geodesics (currently only the awesome Hexaquark microstep trigger sequencer, but more to come)
VCV Sound Stage
Plus a couple I think are useful, but have somewhat redundant features with various free modules
Prok Drums
Stellare Creative Suite
Entrian CV/Drum and Melody sequencers have definitely renewed my interest in VCV Rack this week. Up till now I’ve been more into Voltage Modular, Softube and Drambo, since I prefer a traditional DAW to structure everything. Entrian brings the DAW to VCV, and me along with it.
Damn Benn! your video production value is through the roof. That whit background with the green plant is eye candy
“Serum was killed like 5 years ago and there’s a long line of plugins just shooting its corpse in the head.”
What a vivid, forceful metaphor 🤣
Not sure I agree with this statement. Vital and Massive X are great but are no where close to Serum in pure sonics.
@@PlugInGuruVideo I'm neither agreeing nor disagreeing, I'm just observing how funny the metaphor is. I wouldn't even know, tbh, the only VST synths I've used are the ones that came stock in my DAW. I've heard many in UA-cam vids, sure, but I don't consider that enough to get a TRUE sense of them i.e. I don't have an opinion because it would be so ill-informed haha.
@@samuelwnovak ur domb u shold get some synths
@@darthbanana7 that sounds not very polite dude.
@@PlugInGuruVideo nope not really plugins like phaseplant are miles ahead than serum, what is serum? Just a wavetable synth with 2 osc 1 filter some modulators and effects, haseplant can combine wavetable, modular, granular,samples, analog with unlimited versatility, thats just one , vps avenger synthmaster are also much better than serum
My top 3 would be the 2 vst things that Hainbach has been involved with, the Fundamental instrument and the Wires fx unit, and the new stuff from Felt Instruments.
Keep up the good work, sir!
Absolutely love Generate, it's one of the most analogue sounding plugins I've ever used.
I highly recommend checking out Superberry by Fors.fm (Ess Mattisson and Felisha Ledesma).
1 × Super sharp Supersaw Oscillator
1 × Stackable Sub Oscillator
1 × Ordinary AHR Envelope
2 × Diffusing Bokeh Delay
1 × Poly/Asymmetric Roulette Sequencer
1 × Flexible LFO Modulator
I appreciate you not spoiling the winners in the chapter markers 😁
Ingenious ending with Windows ME running on the laptop 😄
softubes Parallels, Statement, and Monoment, and their Model D '72', get featured now in their modular so you can combine parrallels with a doepfer vcf, Their Amp room is pretty on point aswell, as a Bassist/Guitarist its one of the most accurate 'amp rooms' ive seen it is very similar to modular where you can daisey chain your perfect circuit. its pretty cool.
UVI Drum Replacer is absolutely tremendous, and I'm glad you have it in your list!
Ars. LOL! Big chuckles from the UK. This is a great "2020 silver lining" video. Subscribed.
XLN Retro Color has tape, vinyl, and 8/12 bit sampler, I love it. Love your videos!
Drambo on iOS definitely deserves a top 10 spot. It’s like the best features of Elektron sequencers, combined with a modular powerhouse of synthesis, sampling and processing modules, with AUV3 instrument(multi-out), effects and midiFX support.
Hell yeah! I'm glad you covered Vital, it's my personal favorite of the year
Did the new thing get announced yet?
Is it V-Collection 8?
Great list!! We created a plug-in this year called Unify that lets you combine all of your plug-ins of any format, layer, split them, seamlessly load up to 24 of patches into a single patch in realtime with no audio glitching - we're very proud of how it's been received. Please check it out if you want to do more with your plug-ins. In 2020 we have too many plug-ins and not enough places to creatively play with them. Cheers!
Unity Rocks!!!! Sounds amazing. Anything Plug-In Guru is SOLID!!! Mega Macho Drums... BEAST MODE!!!!
I grabbed Pendulate when it was being given away for free(!) a few months ago and had a ton of fun with it. Generate is one of the few things on my very small software wishlist because it's (finally!) something genuinely different in the world of VSTi synths. It's like an 0-Coast took the limitless drug.
Ben! Thank You for this Video! Keep going, because
I love this Channel
Great list Benn! Some new gems here that I didn’t see yet. Thank you!
So, what was the new thing? I'm still catching up, not that I'm not feeling like giving up on stuff.
Why would you want to kill a synth plugin? I don't get it either. Very often you say what i am thinking and if that is not the case then i know i'm gonna learn something new. So thank you for that. Great list, great channel.
Glad to see Vital here! That lord of the flies reference is hilarious
Loving Vital at the moment, that newfangled audio "generate" looks awesome as well, would love to see you review it dude
Good Job with Generate's little track, true goosebumps. (and amazing plugin)
Your channel is criminally undersubscribed. Keep making good content!
Super VHS is on Black Friday sale right now for $29 and the code above works too! Great deal, thanks!
Found your channel from the Behringer video an you make great vids!
I really dig Sketchcasette II and Mishby plugins!!
Newfangled Audio also has Pendulate, which is similar to Generate but is free
Just picked it up
Now i finally know why Generate sounds so unique. Thanks!
Cant wait for VCV rack vst. Fl studio and VCV rack together and well integrated would be so lit.
There's an unofficial third party plug-in which I believe is open source too - VeeSeeVee or something along those lines. Try it out!
super vhs is on sale for $29 now
+ 10% off :)
@@BennJordan Amazing Benn, Appreciate your channel and all you do!
have you tried the VHS reaktor ensemble? I wonder how it compares to this commercial entry....
im surprised the izotope rx8 isnt on here. thats an absolute beast
First time seeing your channel. Keep up the good work.
nothing to do with 2020, but did you check out SWAM ? the physical modeling is absolutely nailed there !
Yeah, it really is great stuff. Developers are really responsive too!
Text to WaveTable! oh man ...that sounded good!
Thanks Ben for an excellent video.
I watch all your videos and value your opinion so you’ve given me some great ideas for future acquisitions.
Dear Santa........
Expert’s view!!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Interesting stuff and another great review! The super VHS sounds great. Vital looks really cool, but you already sold me on Pigments last year! AKA Serum killer #119
Vital is basically free so it's defo worth checking out, even if you've already got Pigments. The versions you can pay for just have more wavetables and presets. The only feature you're locked out of in the free version is the text to wavetable, which is limited to 5 uses per day.
Thanks for this, most of these were new to me. In case it saves someone 5 minutes -- Vital is microtunable, Generate / Pendulate isn't (yet?). I know most folks don't need it but for those who do it's often a big deal.
0:32 Only watched the intro so far, and I'm already smiling ^_^
Awesome list! Thanks for sharing this.
That shirt still lookin' crisp!!
great list. and #1 is on sale at the moment. thank you!
holy shizz.. thanks Ben great videos!!
Just recently released is the very cool Wires by a joint development with Hainbach and Audio Thing. Based on a Soviet WIre Recorder it has a unique way of distorting sound due to the, yes you guessed it, the wire it's recorded onto.
This is an incredible plug-in. A 2020 favorite of mine for sure.
Good to see you running Windows Me. Quality software that wasn’t.
Benn looks like he’s constantly holding his breath
Has Benn ever done a video on his tape machines? Looking through his channel nothing jumps out.
Also take a look at UVI shade, I know no one needs another eq but this one is different - seriously different
nice...whatabout equator 2...sounds great even thru the youtube dacs and mpe to boot? im only being that guy because you asked.
This was very helpful!
I just subbed great video man.... Thats that good oil main!
I really like Vital, but i discovered Phaseplant this year and since then i use it for near all i do. Phaseplant and Bitwig is just a wonderfull combination. Another vst i really really like is UVI Shades. That Filter is just amazing and its wonderfull that also i as a not falcon user ( at the moment ) is able to enjoy that insanity of a filter.
What is mpe support
I LOVE NEWFANGLED Their EQuivocate is one of the best mastering eqs I have ever heard it is an eq based on the human ear drum 26 channel, bad as heck, they also make Elevate ( a master channel) Puncuate- the most complex transient Shaper.
Pffff, this video was expensive.... Thanks for all those tipps, you bring order into chaos. :)
great video benn , nice to hear from you always :)
nice and concise list. I will eventually mess with Generate, I have Pendulate and enjoy it. Haven't played with Vital that much. Already have too much stuff to check out in synthland as well as metal ampsim land. Haha. Picked up some Plogue plugins over black Friday weekend sale though, something I should have done sooner. Great stuff.
Peace
Great presentation!👍
Yes, I definitely agree with your top 2! Used Generate already on many projects this year, it's really unique. Personally, I would add "Cycles" by Slate+Ash to my 2020 best-of list. :)
What about the Ensoniq Paris? It emulated tape very, very well.
9:26 I love that sound! Does it make sense that I'm getting Blade Runner 2049 vibes?
The feature synth from Blade Runner is the Yamaha CS80
@@BrunodeSouzaLino Good to know :)
NICE thank you. Never would have found these.
Vital is awesome (I'll be posting a video with my free patches soon), so is VCV Rack and still have to dig more into Generate, Trying Pendulate, its little brother, which is free. Helm is also a great free synth by the same developer of Vital.
Why the final shot with the dreadful Windows me? What am I missing? ;)
I was looking @ Vital and saying to myself "this GUI reminds of Helm somehow"... So that's why! Helm is a great free synth, good to know that the developer is still active and releasing great software
You should review hrastprogrammer Tranzistow
It's bloody amazing , but ot for the faint of heart
man would love a 2022 version of this.
brillant nerdy swag there buddy ;-)
augmented layout with
the past memory
&
a shoutout
What was the final thing?
Zebra 3?!
#Ben Jordan I’m guessing that the secret synth is Noisy? Looks and sounds awesome!,,,,
I was just coding a few sounds for a song in C64 assembler, doing it like that also has it's place among all the other methods.
you can get decent tape emulation with Satin. Also, RC 20 is decent. And no, none actually sound like a tape, you are right. Bouncing it to my Tascam will always sound different than a plugin.
#4 The Latin word “ars” (English: art) actually sounds like “arse”.
VHS Magic Button is Free. Not as good as the whole thing, but still cool to have.
it would be convenient if the chapters were the name of the software contained
Did he ever do a 2021 version? I can’t find it
I hope the upcoming one you can't talk about is Synplant 2.
Synplant is amaaaazing. Incredibly underrated synth. Paired with a good sampler, the sounds you can make are literally endless. No idea what synplant 2 would bring but I'm all for it.
Omg!!
@@GeorgeL909 Imagine the Synplant concept expanded to a more comprehensive synth engine, or maybe different modes for different synthesis engines (one for FM, one for Subtractive, one for PM, etc) or even just to a FM engine with more operators, the possibilities look super great.
Do we know what it was
6:00 this gives me an idea, BRB gonna go write a song in machine language
What reverb was used at the end of that Generate demo? Was that internal?
2020 gave us NEOWISE!!!!!!!
I want to add something, an update to a software you previously mentioned in another video: RapidComposer. V4 is coming out, and it includes a melody generator, in addition to the old chord-based composition sketching.
Anyone have speculations on what he was talking about at the very end there?
A nod to Andrew perhaps
Arturia V Collection 8.
Okay but why use the Nysthi recorder instead of the vanilla VCV one? Genuine question, I've seen people use that and I don't get why is it better
Drum replacers are pretty cymbal indeed.
This is for the algorithm
5:49 Fun fact: I have a similar model to the headphones in the picture, and guess what: I also have that piece of tape around it. Great headphones, shit build quality. You go, yelling kid.
Yes! 👏🏻
Generate is on sale atm for $99
I assume you can't route audio through generate to use it's effects can you? Cuz that reverb sounds lush as hell.
I don't know but since they're related to Eventide I can only assume that whatever algorithm is in generate is at least similar to one of the Eventide verb plugins.
Thankfully I already own a couple of these so my wallet isn't going to hurt too much!
i guess the expression ars memorium is a nod to this fascinating historical stuff en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Memory .