well one example, pluggo was taken off the market. so was spektral delay. NI and cycling74 still own each one respectively but they thought it would compete with current products. pluggo was included in max4live but missing 80 patches. spektral delay was replaced by a not quite the same 3rd party reaktor patch. some software runs on mac OS9 but not OSX some of the older software is really inefficient or has poor quality simulations of analog synths. like the analog filter emulation is worse on average when using older soft synths. for me, there is no worry of not knowing how to use a new softsynth. they are all based off the same subtractive synthesis blueprint. indie software is cool but ultimately flawed. its much more likely that the larger companies write more efficient, stable, better sounding code. analog filter simulations are in every college textbook. thats why there are all these one man software companies. but trust me that fft from the textbook sounds like shit. FXpansion was one of the first soft synth companies ever. when it was native instruments vs fxpansion and no one else even in the game. they now have 3 fulltime guys that do nothing but play with oscilloscopes and real analog synths. about another 6 guys in marketing sales etc...the fx section of synthsquad is licensed from a $1400 package. but you get a synth with fx for $250. the reverb etc.. is hardwired. like you cant run audio through the synth and run it through the reverb at the same time due to the license. but you can have a beast multi with all 3 plugins stacked and synced. plugins can modulate each other. you get morph groups going that controlls 10 knobs on one knob. so yeah I would rather use that or massive or kontact or reaktor or predator.
Synth Squad and Komplete'll get you 90% of the way there, to be honest. I have a soft spot for Audio Damage, also. Cheap as fuck and they sound great, synths and drum machines.
I want a giant bunny and I want a bunch of regular bunnies and they will form a hive mind and the giant bunny will be the queen bunny and they will attack in swarms.
komplete 7 is such a beast when you consider the online library of reaktor patches is like 10,000 patches and the 3rd party expansions for kontact cover all styles of synth and percussion. not everyone can drop $500 on software though. the only reason to get synthsquad after komplete is the sound of the filters are better in synthsquad. soundtoys filterboy can be used on top of anything if you want a standalone filter plugin that sounds great. its just dont know if you can sync it with the midi gate signal and keyboard tracking and all that. its also kinda pricey.
