7 Huge Synthesizer Plugin Collections – Tops and Flops
Which Synth Plugin Collection is Best for You?
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Looking for a one-stop-shop for your synth plugins? There are some very decent options out there, all with something to offer. We take a look and try and figure out which one is the best!
7 Huge Synthesizer Plugin Collections
Variety is the spice of life, so they say, and when it comes to synthesizers, we are truly spoiled for choice, particularly in the world of software plugin synths. So a number of developers have decided to help us out by curating their various plugins into vastly more affordable bundles or collections.
The benefit of these collections is that you can save more than a significant amount of money by buying these instruments in this way, as opposed to picking them up individually. Another real benefit is that most developers use a consistent UI paradigm, making it much easier to navigate multiple instruments that use a very similar front end.
So this weekend, I’ve decided to take a quick look at seven different such bundles and highlight the benefits or shortcomings of each. Hopefully, if you’re still hovering over the buy button on any of these, it might help you make that choice. And so, in no particular order at all, here are seven of the best…
Arturia V Collection 11
Arturia’s V Collection is the granddaddy of all of the synth plugin collections. Now on version 11, which was released just the other day, it contains a broad range of recreations of classic synths as well as a growing number of new and original instruments.
The vast majority of instruments are recreations of classic analogue synths, from the Moog Modular and Jupiter 8 to Elka’s Synthex and even Arturia’s own MiniBrute. There is an increasing number of digital instrument recreations, not least the most recent Jup-8000 V, a stunningly brilliant recreation of the Roland JP8000.
But V Collection isn’t just limited to synth recreations. V Collection 11 now contains the full set of Arturia’s Augmented range. These instruments blend deep, multisampled sounds with synthetic sounds to give you a huge palette that embraces acoustic tones rather than synth ones. Augmented YANGTZEE is one of my particular favourites!
There’s also a healthy smattering of electromechanical-based instruments such as Rhodes, Wurlitzer and Mellotron, as well as an excellent physically-modelled acoustic piano. But one of the best features is Analog Lab. This instrument acts as a compendium for every V Collection plugin and allows you to jump around them with ease, as well as making live performance with the suite a breeze.
Arturia’s V Collection 11 is available as both Pro and Intro versions, with the latter gathering a select few essential plugins together at a significantly lower price than the Pro version. V Collection remains the benchmark for all plugin collections.
Cherry Audio Synth Stack
If Arturia are the mainstream stars of synth collections, Cherry Audio are the indie legends. Over the last few years, they have grown from a small number of interesting and affordable recreations to being one of the most leftfield synth brands in the market today.
Choosing, in the most part, to recreate and enhance vintage synths from the past, they also create unique, original instruments of their own design. Recent additions to their catalogue include the Yellowjacket (EDP Wasp), P-10 (Sequential Circuits Prophet 10), KR-55C (KORG Rhythm 55) and Atomika, their excellent recreation of the Polivoks.
Early on in their career, Cherry Audio’s plugins were dismissed by some as being less-than-accurate. What this actually was was a huge dollop of snobbery on the part of the synth cognoscenti who saw their low price point as an indication of low quality, too. They could not have been more wrong.
Cherry Audio have worked tirelessly to bring us instruments that others can’t or won’t attempt. Their Octave Cat was inspired, and their Rhodes Chroma was so good that Rhodes authorised it and it now officially bears their name!
Let’s also not forget that their version of KORG’s mighty PS-3300 is a tiny fraction of the price of an original, or even the reissue, yet contains all of what made that particular synth so wonderful and unique. And you can now buy all of their plugins as a collection called ‘Synth Stack’. Like all the other bundles here, you save significantly over buying the plugins individually.
What’s great about Synth Stack is that Cherry Audio give a whopping discount on the price of it if you own a bunch of their stuff already. If you want a collection of ‘alternative’ synth plugins, you really cannot ignore Cherry Audio!
UVI SonicPass/Sonic Bundle
Another offering from across the English Channel/La Manche, is that of UVI. UVI rival Arturia for their time in the industry and their collection of instruments is testament to that. But UVI take a different approach to their offerings.
Rather than create accurately modelled virtual synths, UVI choose to deeply multisample their instruments and present them in their own format which can be played back and manipulated using their free UVI Workstation or their fantastic Swiss Army knife of an instrument, Falcon.
I first encountered their work when they brought out Emulation, a sample-based recreation of the E-MU Emulators that featured a whole bunch of the classic factory sounds, as well as a wealth of new presets made with the old samples.
The interface was very much inspired by the original hardware, and this is something they do with all of their recreations. But rather than going for pinpoint accuracy, they use the design cues to craft an interface that conforms to their overarching UI theme.
UVI add things like arpeggiators, sequencers and more to go beyond the original inspirations and deliver something new and fresh. Their portfolio covers the last 50 years of synthesis with analogue and digital synths catered for, but it goes way beyond that with some truly inspired instruments that feature acoustic samples as well as effects.
Their collection comes in two forms. One is a subscription-based model that offers their entire product range for just €24pm/€240pa. Maintain your subscription and when UVI add a new instrument, it’s yours and all you need to do is download and install it.
They recently announced their Sonic Bundle for those who don’t want a subscription. However, this has a cut-off point, and anything released now will not be included. It still represents excellent value for money and will get you a drive-busting amount of sonic inspiration!
Check out the UVI SonicPass here and the Sonic Bundle here.
Full Bucket Music
No article talking about synth collections should miss out Full Bucket Music. They have been churning out a superb number of virtual instruments that take inspiration from KORG synths, in the main, but there’s other stuff in there that goes beyond that.
Unlike every other company mention here, Full Bucket Music are essentially a one-man-band, namely Björn Arlt. He lovingly creates his instruments and maintains them to a high standard, even releasing them in multiple formats for Mac and Windows.
The most incredible thing about Björn’s work is that every plugin he makes is free of charge. This is amazing in its own right, but it is even more so when you see and hear the quality of his work. He could easily charge Cherry Audio prices or more, and nobody would quibble about the price/quality ratio.
There are around 33 plugins available at the Full Bucket Music site, and each of them is unique, up to date, and well-maintained. There are vintage KORG, ARP and Crumar emulations, original synths and effects that can all add something great to your compositions.
Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, there’s no bundle option, so downloading them is a bit of a click-fest, but they’re free so who cares? Björn does send out emails every time a plugin is updated so there’s little chance of you falling behind versions.
The music world is a much better place for the likes of Full Bucket Music. To think that someone on a low to non-existent budget could get access to such great quality plugins for free was unimaginable some years ago. I always recommend this collection to young people starting out. I just wish this stuff was available to me when I was a lad!
You can peruse the entire Full Bucket Music portfolio here.
KORG Collection
Of all the ‘Big 3’ synth manufacturers, KORG were the first to come out with virtual recreations of their hardware legacy. They kicked off with the likes of the M1, Wavestation, PolySix and Mono/Poly but in recent years, the collection grown to include many more of their finest hardware moments.
Currently at version 5, the collection now includes the likes of the miniKORG 700S, the Prophecy, Triton and microKORG as well as a couple of ARPs, electric pianos and organs and even an Electribe! It might be a smaller collection compared to others but it’s all great quality.
As yet, KORG haven’t included their newer plugin versions of their recent hardware synths, such as the multi/poly, opsix, wavestate and modwave. All of these are available separately. There’s also no ‘compendium’ instrument, like Arturia’s Analog Lab Pro or Roland’s Galaxias.
For me, the real issue with KORG’s collection is its price. It does not compare favourably with its competitors, and when it comes to upgrade time, loyal customers often seem to get a pretty hefty upgrade bill should they wish to keep up to date.
On the other hand, KORG often do significant discount deals on their plugins, so my advice would be to keep your finger on the trigger and watch out for such events and pick this up at a discount. Check out the KORG Collection 5 here.
Roland Cloud
Roland’s cloud-based offering of virtual instruments set the bar for subscription-based packages and despite having a little bumpy start to its life, it has become a very comprehensive collection of some of the greatest synthesizers known to the human race.
With one of the biggest hardware legacies of any manufacturer, Roland was spoiled for choice when it came to recreating that in software. Over the years, they have pretty much covered all of their classics, albeit with a few conspicuous omissions.
With packages starting at just $2.99pm, right up to $19.99pm for the Ultimate tier, there’s a plan for everyone, including a free one! Almost all of the plugins in the collection can also be bought as perpetual lifetime licences, so the subscription-averse amongst you have another option.
But one of the big benefits of Roland Cloud, specifically at the Ultimate tier is that for every full year of subscription, you can pick and choose a number of instruments as Lifetime keys. This means that should you decide to stop your subscription, you can keep those instruments for “life”.
The collection contains all notable classics, such as the Jupiter 8, TR-808/909, the Juno range, SH101, TB303, D50 and more, as well as effects and sample libraries. The Zenology range delivers many more of these classics using the ABM modelling techniques found in Roland’s ZEN Core range.
As far as quality and accuracy are concerned, Roland’s plugins are unquestionably spot on. There’s also a compendium instrument called Galaxias that is their answer to the likes of Analog Lab Pro or Mainstage. And the collection now includes many V-Drum and DW drum sample libraries too.
They’ve been quiet of late, with no new instruments added in some time, but it still represents one of the best collections of instruments available today. You can check out the various subscription levels at Roland Cloud here.
GForce Software Ultimate Bundle
GForce Software is another software brand that has been around since the very early days of software instrument plugins. They, too, focused on recreating classic instruments of yore, such as their fantastic Mellotron emulation, the M-Tron Pro and their spin on the ARP Odyssey with Oddity.
One of their most revered plugins back then was impOSCar, which remains to this day, updated and enhanced way beyond Chris Huggett’s original vision. Led by Dave Spiers and Chris Macleod, GForce ploughed their own unique furrow, gaining plaudits and much respect along the way.
In recent years, and largely driven by Dave’s obsession with all things Oberheim, they have worked in partnership with Tom Oberheim and Marcus Ryle to deliver faithful recreations of instruments such as OB-E, OB-X, SEM and the DMX drum machine.
They’ve also recreated a 90s classic in the form of Novation’s Bass Station, making those of us who remember lusting after the hardware version back in the day feel very old indeed! But whatever GForce turn their hand to, they do it with style, passion and a philosophy of respect and excellence.
They recently introduced their Ultimate bundle which offers their entire collection at an excellent price that shaves hundreds off the cost if you were to buy individually. Unfortunately, much like UVI’s Sonic Bundle, there’s a cut off point in the current bundle, so IconDrum and Bass Station are not included at this time.
Conclusion
To be fair, there’s no winner here, and it was never my intention to crown one package over another. For some, one of these bundles will resonate much harder than others. Conversely, some people will feel the need to have them all.
And sure, there are other bundle collections from other developers out there that are equally worthy of consideration. If you feel I’ve left any important ones out, be sure to let us know in the comments.
The best takeaway from this is that there truly is something for everyone, every style, every budget and every taste. When it comes to synthesizer plugins, we’ve never had it so good!
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One response to “7 Huge Synthesizer Plugin Collections – Tops and Flops”
Interesting that NI aren’t in the list with anything. Not saying they should be, more thinking – how the mighty have fallen.