Pianos, Pads and Samples

[daviwandeag]

Hey guys,

I have recently gotten in to making music and have been using Ableton live. Some Plug-ins i have used are massive and Sylenth.

Im looking for a decent all round piano and pad plug in just so i can start to get a better idea of what is out there.

Also some good companies that create samples for drums.

Thanks guys.

[strategicsilence]

absynth is my favorite for any kind of pads. i cant remember the last time i DIDN'T use it in a song. for pianos, check out alicia's keys. i heard it was quite good, despite my initial prediction.

[mostapha]

I'm still a bit of a fan of Analog and kind of miss it. (yes, the Ableton instrument). As for Pianos…some of the samples NI put in Maschine sound good, so maybe look at theirs. But pianos are one of the things that's hard to synthesize and weird to sample. Avid makes one that I really liked at one point, but it doesn't run in Ableton.

[daviwandeag]

Thanks for the replies. I forgot to add, what is it like to get hold of big band vst or is it better to use samples?

thanks again

[padi_04]

NI Kontakt's pianos are the best i've heard so far. Tons of expresion. I use Sylenth for pads.

[mostapha]

Thanks for the replies. I forgot to add, what is it like to get hold of big band vst or is it better to use samples?

thanks again

Big band meaning horns and the like? Umm…chef.

Maschine comes with some samples of that kind of thing that don't totally suck, and I think I've heard a couple here and there, but mostly they leave a lot to be desired.

My suggestion–assuming you can't hire a big band and a recording studio–is to see if you can find clean sections of old tracks that you can sample yourself. Sampling individual notes like that is weird because so much goes into the sound…they're kinda like strings that way. The musician's embouchure, breathing, technique, etc. affect the sound a lot more than with some instruments that tend to be easier to sample. So, it's hard to create a sample library (or synth) that mimics all of that.

As for drums…paypal me postage, and I'll give you a copy of Battery 3 (still have the install disks, should be unregistered but I'll check)…but I can't seem to get rid of the thing. I–for one–kind of hate it. But it does have a lot of samples.

I'm a fan of Maschine, but it's a lot of money just for samples if you already like your workflow.

[seitz]

kontakt is god like and realistic