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With a history going all the way back to the early days of the US electronic music scene, Electro and US dance music legend Scott Weiser knows a thing or two about analog synths. So we thought we would get his thoughts on the current crop of VST emulations. So here his current Top 5 “Most Analog Sounding” synth plugins.

 

My top 5 most analog sounding VST plugin synthesizers 2020 in this order…

#1. Pulsar Modular P900. Unquestionably, the king of sounding like a $35,000 Moog Modular system from yesteryear but unfortunately, only Mac and only AU. The fact that it’s 8 part poly so it would take $280,000 to get this sound back in the 80s is insane considering it’s only $140. Yay technology.. https://www.pulsarmodular.com/products/

#2. The Legend, by Synapse audio. Mini Moog Model D in the box, nothing else even comes close in the Moog non-modular department. There are multiple 3 way blind tests circulating on the net where most producers (even old and seasoned sitting in million-dollar studios) could not tell the difference between The Legend and an actual Mini Moog. https://www.synapse-audio.com/thelegend.html

#3. U-he Diva. CPU killer, but does a good job at emulating some of the most famous analog synths ever made. Basically a freeze track or render parts synth as it eats through CPU cycles like crazy but sounds incredible. https://u-he.com/products/diva/

#4 U-he Repro. Repro-1 is a beast without question.. It emulates the gritty Sequential Circuits Pro-1 sound like no other plugin has to this point. https://u-he.com/products/repro/

#5. XILS-lab XILS 4. XILS are ridiculous in their exact emulations of both synths and vocoders. If I want to sound like a Cylon Centurion’ from the original 1970s Battle Star Galactica TV series, XILS are the way to go. They also have the most faithful EMS Synthi AKS emulation I’ve ever heard. https://www.xils-lab.com/products/xils-4-p-148.html