The VST Instruments topic

[maleek]

Name of VST:
AMVST Unifier

This VST does:
Great for slightly rough trancey monofonic sounds.  

Quality:
From two days of intensive tracking, I would say that the quality is really good. It has a punch in the bass region I've lacked in similar synths. It doesen't eat as much cpu as some monster-synths I use either. Fully programmable and easy enough to get a grip of if you are somewhat familiar with analouge synths (or digital vsti:s).
The presets are not very interesting though. For me at least.

License of this VST (and costs):
Freeware (!)

Link to VST or site:
www.amvst.com

[Pesho_Zmiata]

Name of VST: Slayer 2
This VST does: Guitar emulation
Quality: 7/10
License of this VST (and costs): 90$
Link to VST or site: http://www.refx.net/?page=Slayer2
Description: A very good and cheaper alternative to the guitar rig. The plugin is lighter, but it's fully customizable in terms of postand after amp effects, guitar size/body thickness, slap, chords etc. I have been able to make great guitar sounds with just the demo version, which is made to mute the volume after 2 minutes of use.

Name of VST: Superwave P8
This VST does: Virtual Analog synthesizer
Quality: 7/10
License of this VST (and costs): Freeware
Link to VST or site:http://home.btconnect.com/christopherg/main.htm
Description: Possibly everything you might need for a trance/techno sound. 8 voice polyphony, 2 oscilators, 2 LFO's, reroutable modulation, and a 7-wave detune called "superwave" which adds that trancy detuned feel.

[Sam_Zen]

A tip : MiniHost. A GUI to run VST's on their own. Nice for testing. Freeware.

[HvitRavn]

Name of VST: Edirol Orchestral
This VST does: Synthesize a symphonic orchestra
Quality: Very high when compared to space requirements
License of this VST (and costs): Commercial, $385
Link to VST or site: http://www.kvraudio.com/get/252.html

[pafufta816]

Name of VST: Casio VL-TONE Emulator
This VST does: Emulates Casio VL-1 mini synth/calculator
Quality: Great.  Classic 80's Casio toy-keyboard sound by emulation (software code is written to reproduce hardware of original).  Code for VSTi is based on hardware circuitry of the Casio VL-1*doesn't use .wav files : )*
License of this VST (and costs): Free
Link to VST or site: http://www.polyvalens.com/vl1/index.html

For anyone whose owned or played with a Casio SK-1, you know the charm of the synth sounds availabe on this toy.  While the VL-1 didn't come with a mic/sampling feature, it did have ASDR synthesis, allowing the user to create their own synth sounds using the keyboards advanced calculator features.    Great for retro-synth fans.  I've achieved really wonderful sounds using this VSTi with distortion/chorus/reverb.

[SoundCrafter]

I wonder if you can circuit bend it!

[Nahkranoth]

Name of VST:
NuBi LE
This VST does:
Tonewheel organ emulation (Hammond)
Quality:
Almost perfect!
License of this VST (and costs):
FREE!
Link to VST or site:
http://www.fxpointaudio.com/nubi.html

This thing comes with VST "Spinner LE" - Leslie speaker effect with distortion. The VSTi itself does not have distortion and Leslie so you can use it with effects you like. I've added distortion 2 times - the sound is really killing! ([NuBi LE VSTi]->[Spinner]->[Distortion])

[Nahkranoth]

Name of VST:
Orca
This VST does:
Bass monosynth
Quality:
Superb quality and haunting GUI  :shock:

License of this VST (and costs):
FREE!
Link to VST or site:
http://www.fxpansion.com/

Guys at fxpansion say this is an experimental synth built to showcase new technology. Hell if I know what so experimental about this except the GUI. But nonetheless it sounds great!

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Name of VST: Kontakt 3
This VST does: Sampling, and then some
Quality: Super high quality. Includes a 33GB sample library. Able to load just about any file you throw at it (except XIs and ITIs... ='( ).
License of this VST (and costs): Commercial. $449 (399Euros)
Link to VST or site: http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=kontakt3&ftu=047ca53c4e70607

This is the best sampler I've ever used. A massive range of inbuilt effects, super high quality sample library with beautiful sounds, great interface... It's got it all.

Note: to get this working with OpenMPT, it's necessary to use Xlutop Chainer (or similar) as a container, because MPT just doesn't like it. =D

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Also check out this post for information about Kontakt samples and libraries... Free downloads! =D

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Just found this. Haven't checked it out yet, but it's basically an OGG player, designed for people who want to save disk space. Ambient artists etc. who use large files a lot should find it useful. VSTPloOGGin.

[Saga Musix]

VSTSynthFont, a VST in which you can load your SF2 sound fonts. This is useful (but not limited to) when writing MIDI tracks!

[LPChip]

Is it much better than sfz?

[Saga Musix]

I didn't try sfz. But the interface seems to be pretty straight-forward.

[psishock]

I use FM8 for everything but percussion sounds:

Name of VST: FM8 (form Native Instruments)
This VST does: FM synthesis
Quality: 10/10 for me
License of this VST (and costs): Commercial ($229 / 199 €)
Link to VST or site: http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=fm7_us

It's THE Instrument for OMPT for me, you can make ANY almost any sound you desire with it, can make strings, leads, basses, effects...everything ^_^, even percussion sounds if you desire (for this only i use a other VSTi, the DR-008).
Got too many features to describe, the best ones that i can think of are:
- it is has a very powerful graphical envelope tools
- Has 6 oscillators (with many special waveforms), 1 filter, 1 limiter/noise generator, and 2 LFOs
- Modulation matrix and the FX matrix
- got a lot useful embed effect
- every MidiCC parameter can be configured (~1100)
- the "sounding", it beats any other synth in my option. ^_^

The percussion instrument i reccommend:

Name of VST: DR-008
This VST does: percussion instrument (drums, snares, etc.)
Quality: 10/10 for me
License of this VST (and costs): Commercial (75 €)
Link to VST or site: http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=21

Uses synthesis to create the sounds rather than using samples, this gives you a lot higher level for controling the sounds and quality than any "fixed" sample based program. You can modify every shape of your sound. (or create one from zero)