VST SOFTWARE PROGRAMS 

What are VST software programs and which one should I use to produce music? This is a great question as a music producer! Which software is the best one to use? Sound Bankz has compiled a list of the best VST software programs that you can use for your music studio!

What Does VST Stand For?

Virtual Studio Technology (VST) is an audio plug-in software interface that integrates software synthesizers and effects units into digital audio workstations. VST and similar technologies use digital signal processing to simulate traditional recording studio hardware in software. Thousands of plugins exist, both commercial and freeware, and many audio applications support VST under license from its creator, Steinberg. VST Instruments can help get your creative juices flowing for your audio production. Perfect Pianos, Strings, Synths, Pads, Guitars and Bass at your fingertips.

How to Choose the Best VST Programs for your Studio

There are a few important key points to consider when you choose which VST you’ll use for recording your own music.The first is that despite different looks and workflows, they all essentially do the same thing, produce music. Once you grasp the basics down of digital music production, your choice of VST software will seem a little less important. The main differences between them are mainly about features, plugins and sub-programs and workflow. The best way means to choose the right VST program for you is by testing them first or using free trial out to see it it really fits your producer criteria.

Download a Free VST Demo

Most VST programs offer free download or trial to use and help you decide if they are a fit for you. Starting off with a free demo version first can save you a lot of time and money. Once you’ve found the one you like and are comfortable with using then we suggest figuring out what your budget is to spend. We have compiled a list of the best VST software programs that are out there and their costs.

Best VST Software Programs

1. Native Instruments – Komplete – Kontakt – Free Demo – MASSIVE X– Free Demo

Costs: $149-$1,599 USD

KOMPLETE 13

KOMPLETE 13’s builder platforms can be used to create just about any instrument you can imagine. KONTAKT 6 powers advanced sampling and instruments from Native and hundreds of leading manufacturers. REAKTOR 6 takes care of the synthesis side of things with a flexible modular environment for building synths, effects, and more. If you don’t want to dive in too deep, both platforms include comprehensive libraries full of sampled instruments and synthesizers for making music straight away.

Flagship synths, immersive platforms, unique sampled instruments, and sounds for any genre, production, or performance. KOMPLETE 13 packs the very best Native has to offer into a do-it-all production toolkit that includes brand-new GUITAR RIG 6 PRO, SUPER 8, NOIRE, and much more.

Expansions are genre-specific sound packs full of samples, loops, one-shots, and more, and KOMPLETE 13 packs in 24 of them, so you’ll always have the right sounds when you need them. MASSIVE X Expansions contain 150 presets each for our flagship synth, designed by pro designers who have mined its complex architecture for undiscovered audio gold.

KONTAKT 6

With KONTAKT 6, you can sound like a snare drum, a symphony orchestra, or anything in between, from a universe of sampled instruments. It’s a simple sampler when you want it to be, and a deep sonic scripting laboratory when you need something more. The next generation of the world’s favorite sampling platform gives you new instruments and new features under the hood – so you can layer, link, stretch, and shape your sounds any way you can imagine. KONTAKT 6 introduces the KONTAKT Play Series: New twists on sought-after sounds. Each places powerful, creative processing chains into a simple, intuitive interface. These hybrid instruments combine wavetable synthesis with creatively sampled content, allowing dynamic live blending and sound sculpting.

The instruments all feature eight carefully assigned macro controls, corresponding to the eight rotary encoders on our KOMPLETE KONTROL and MASCHINE hardware. These controls are mapped to numerous shared parameters behind the scenes, so you can change a sound dramatically with a single twist of a macro knob.

KONTAKT is a host for hundreds of highly realistic and detailed sampled instruments. And because it’s the most widely-used host platform, you’ve probably already heard KONTAKT – on chart-topping pop and club smashes, hit TV shows, and blockbuster movies. As well as our own KONTAKT instruments, there are currently around 600 licensed instruments from other manufacturers that run in KONTAKT, plus thousands more so-called ‘indie’ instruments. This diverse ecosystem means that KONTAKT 6 is your access point to the industry’s biggest collection of playable sampled sound.

One of the reasons why we labeled Native Instruments in the number one spot is because of their high quality and dedication to sound design and advanced software. Native Instruments is one of the top best VST software programs soon the market hands down! We highly recommend you check them out!

MASSIVE

Rethought, rewired, and reincarnated – MASSIVE X is the successor to an iconic synthesizer that helped spawn entire genres. Get everything you need to create any sound imaginable. Quickly patch complex routings to bring your ideas to life – no matter how far-out they might seem – and take things further than you thought you could with expressive, playable modulation. Think it up, dial it in, and define what the future sounds like. MASSIVE X will grow, adapt, and evolve with regular free updates – both inspired by, and to inspire, the cultures it helps to create.

At the heart of MASSIVE X you’ll find the completely new oscillator section – capable of producing more variation than some entire synths, right at the source. Choose from over 170 wavetables and 10 different modes of reading them – from the aggressive Gorilla family, to a wavetable-bending mode, Hardsync, Formant, and many more – each with their own unique sub-modes and additional controls. Dial in two phase-modulation oscillators to inject extra movement into the main oscillators.

Whether you’re a daytime sound designer or all-night deep diver, switch to a skin that suits your workflow. Keep a little extra CPU power under the hood with stripped-back flat modes, and resize MASSIVE X to fit your studio. Connect any output to any input, and see what happens. The intuitive routing setup lets you essentially rewire parts of MASSIVE X, meaning you can bypass, feedback, and send audio any way you like. It’s also possible to route modulators as audio sources to excite elements such as the comb filter.

2. LennarDigital – Sylenth1 – Free Demo

Costs: USD$199- EU$139

Sylenth1 

Sylenth1 is a virtual analog VSTi synthesizer that takes the definitions of quality and performance to a higher level. Until now only very few software synthesizers have been able to stand up to the sound quality standards of hardware synths. Sylenth1 is one that does. Sylenth1 is not just another synth. It was built from a producer’s point of view. It was built to produce superior quality sound and music. It was built to perform. A lot of research has been invested in order to achieve unheard warmth and clarity. The graphical interface ensures the highest level of usability so you can fully unleash your creativity. Sylenth1 has been used by a numerous amount of famous music producers such as Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Tiesto, AfroJack and more!

At its core Sylenth1 houses 4 alias-free unison oscillators, which generate analog shaped waveforms. Each oscillator is capable of producing 8 unison voices in full stereo, adding up to a total of 32 voices per note. With its 16 notes of polyphony this means you can play up to 512 voices simultaneously! The oscillators perform extremely well in both the very low (down to 0.01Hz and below!) and very high (all the way up to half the samplerate) frequency regions without losing their sharpness, liveliness or character. This makes them well suited for all kinds of sounds, from the deepest basses imaginable to the highest crystal clear bells.

Performance: With all the functionality and processing horsepower mentioned above, you might expect that this synth would max out even the fastest CPU in no-time, especially considering the high sound quality of each single voice and effect. Well, one of the many benefits of this synth is that it doesn’t. It uses highly optimized code and SSE instructions in order to reduce the CPU usage to a minimum. It will also automatically turn off any parts that are not used, to save extra CPU time. This enables you to create pure quality sound using only minimal system resources.

3. Spectrasonics Virtual Instruments – Omnisphere Power Synth 2– Keyscape – Trilian – Stylus RMX

Costs: USD$499/ EU$399 – Standard Upgrade $249

Omnisphere 2.7 (58 FX Units) (1,600 Patches & 14,00 Sounds) 65 Vintage Synths & Keyboards

Omnisphere® is the flagship synthesizer of Spectrasonics – an instrument of extraordinary power and versatility. Top Artists all over the world rely on Omnisphere as an essential source of sonic inspiration. This award-winning software brings many different types of synthesis together into one amazing-sounding instrument that will spark a lifetime of exploration.

Omnisphere is the only software synth in the world to offer a Hardware Synth Integration feature. This remarkable innovation transforms over 65 well-known hardware synthesizers into extensive hands-on controllers that unlock Omnisphere’s newly expanded synthesis capabilities. Simply put, this ground-breaking feature makes using Omnisphere feel just like using a hardware synth! By bridging the physical experience gap between software and hardware, users gain intuitive control of Omnisphere by using the familiar layout of their supported hardware synth. Virtual instrument users can now experience the joy of the hardware synth workflow and hardware synth users can fully expand their capabilities into the vast sonic world of Omnisphere!

List of Supported Hardware

65 Synth & Vintage Keyboards. -Most Roland, TI Virus, Korg, Moog, and Nord Keyboards + More!

New Hardware Sound Library

Omnisphere 2.7 includes a stunning new “Hardware Library” with over 1,600 new patches created by Eric Persing and the renowned Spectrasonics Sound Development team. Each hardware profile has a corresponding set of sounds in the Hardware Library which were specially designed using that hardware synth as an Omnisphere controller. These inspiring new sounds feature a wide range of categories and many have a distinctly ‘classic’ flavor! Notably, the 2.6 update takes Eric’s classic sound design work from the original 1987 Roland D-50 into completely new sonic territory with Omnisphere’s vast synthesis capabilities. Best of all, the new sounds are available for ALL users, regardless of using the hardware or not!

Trilian is the successor to Spectrasonics’ award-winning Trilogy bass instrument, offering deeper control of musical expression and much greater flexibility of sound shaping. Trilian’s 34GB library is 10-times the size of Trilogy and features all new acoustic, electric and synth basses the size of Trilogy and features all new acoustic, electric and synth basses. Over sixty different 4, 5, 6 and 8 string Electric basses are presented in fingered, picked, fretless, slapped, tapped, and muted technique variations. Version 1.5 has added many of Omnisphere’s powerful synthesis functions as well.

With its comprehensive design, our Trilian Total Bass Module® brings many different types of Bass together into one extraordinary-sounding virtual instrument. Trilian has long been recognized as the most versatile bass virtual instrument available and has become an industry standard. Whether you need production ready sounds or prefer to carefully craft your own tones, Trilian is the ultimate bass tool for serious producers.

Unique subtleties have been deep sampled, including legato and glide articulations, mechanical noises and release overtones to bring these sounds to a whole new level of authenticity. Trilian’s stunning Acoustic Bass is one of the most detailed instruments Spectrasonics has ever released, with 4 audio channels and over 21,000 samples to create this single instrument! All of this puts a depth of realism into performances that is truly inspiring.

STYLUS RMX XPANDED

Ever since it’s introduction in 2004, Stylus RMX has been an award-winning loop-based virtual instrument plug-in featured on thousands of major productions. RMX emerged as the first product to offer the combined power of Groove Control® with Spectrasonics Advanced Groove Engine (S.A.G.E.™) technology giving users dramatic control over loop-based groove production – with dozens of innovative features including the ground-breaking Time Designer® and Chaos Designer®. RMX remains an industry standard tool of many top composers and music producers.

Unsurpassed Innovations
Of the many remarkable capabilities in Stylus RMX Xpanded, possibly the most innovative features are the Time Designer® and Chaos Designer®. With simple controls, the user can introduce musical Chaos into the groove, which allows it to have constantly evolving variations— giving the impression that the audio grooves are improvising. The results can be subtle or extreme by setting the simple to use controls. A Capture feature allows the spontaneous audio chaos patterns to be made into a MIDI file, dragged and dropped into the host sequencer, and played back again for further editing by the user. The Time Designer feature is unmatched in any other rhythm software and allows realtime changing of audio grooves to any time signature, feel or pattern – an infinite creative tool!

4. REFX   NEXUS 3

Costs: $249-$4,239

Nexus3 features a completely new librarian. It’s large so it can fit all the content available for NEXUS! It features three columns for easy navigation, and displays counters for folders, categories, and presets. Color-coded tags, bookmarks, favorites, and a dedicated location for user presets. Easily find what you’re looking for with instant sound preview, search-while-you-type, filter by category and tags, and so much more.

NEXUS3 features a brand-new sequencer mode. It’s easy. It’s intuitive. Give it a try! Nothing stands between you and those chords you’ve always wanted to put down. Create the most complex patterns with multiple notes per step and set the velocity individually. Zoom in on the x-axis or the y-axis to make fine adjustments or zoom out to have an overview of the full pattern.

New Arpeggiator- Time for an arpeggiator overhaul. Access all sixteen layer arpeggiators, in addition to the main arpeggiator. Extend the pattern length up to 256 steps and play the most complex patterns you can come up with.Throw in improvements for more comfortable editing and experimentation, and the result is the best arpeggiator you can find on the market.

New Effects – Fully revamped effects page. Now with visualization of the signal-flow to give you real-time feedback.You see what you hear and you hear what you see. Four insert effects, four equalizers, filter, reverb, delay, impulse, and limiter. Color-coded for navigating incredibly fast. All on one page. No clicking back and forth countless times to get to the desired result.

Here at Sound Bankz are a HUGE fan of Nexus and personally use this VST software program in our production. High quality synths, pianos and sounds that can help you really polish a song from start to finish. Amazing tool to have for your audio arsenal library of “GO TO” sounds.

Nexus has been used to produce multiple hits on the radio by producers such as Marshmello, ZED, Steve Aoki, Tiesto, David Guetta, AfroJack, Axwell, ATB and many more!

5. Xfer Records– SERUM – Free Demo

Costs: USD$189

Why Choose SERUM?

The dream synthesizer did not seem to exist: a wavetable synthesizer with a truly high-quality sound, visual and creative workflow-oriented interface to make creating and altering sounds fun instead of tedious, and the ability to “go deep” when desired – to create / import / edit / morph wavetables, and manipulate these on playback in real-time.

IMPORT YOUR OWN AUDIO / CREATE CUSTOM WAVETABLES WITH EASE

Serum has a Wavetable editor built right in- you can create your own wavetables in a variety of ways. Import audio directly from audio files – Serum has a variety of methods and options for analyzing audio for breaking it apart into individual waveforms. You can import single-cycle wavetables of course, as well as many at once (with in-built sorting options, or manual re-ordering). Morph between various wavetables using standard linear interpolation (crossfading) or via harmonic/spectral morphing. Draw directly on the waveform, with optional grid-size snapping and a variety of shape tools. Generate or modify waveforms using FFT (additive). Create or process waveforms using formula functions. Processing menu options allow you to do the other tasks you would want, such as apply fades, crossfades, normalize, export, and much more.

ULTRA- CLEAN OSCILLATORS

Playback of wavetables requires digital resampling to play different frequencies. Without considerable care and a whole lot of number crunching, this process will create audible artifacts. Artifacts mean that you are (perhaps unknowingly) crowding your mix with unwanted tones / frequencies. Many popular wavetable synthesizers are astonishingly bad at suppressing artifacts – even on a high-quality setting some create artifacts as high as -36 dB to -60 dB (level difference between fundamental on artifacts) which is well audible, and furthermore often dampening the highest wanted audible frequencies in the process, to try and suppress this unwanted sound.

Advanced Unison

Serum will let you stack a single oscillator to use up to 16 voices. Each of the wavetable oscillators have a number of unison advanced parameters. Stack settings allow for note (e.g. octave) layering to get a fuller sound for a single note-press. Set the unison voices to all have their unique waveform at once with the Unison WT Pos setting, or have them all skewed in a different way with the unison Warp control. A variety of unison tuning modes per-oscillator let you get the stack sound blooming or swarming like you want.

6.Reveal Sound – Spire – Free Demo

Costs: $149

Spire is the first software synthesizer developed by Reveal Sound. The synthesizer utilizes multipurpose oscillators, filters, and effects units within a digital graphic interface. Spire combines elements from both Analog and software synthesizers. The synthesizer utilizes wavetable synthesis. The software can be run by itself or within a digital audio workstation. The plugin has been used almost exclusively in dance music.

Spire combines multiple forms of digital synthesis with reproductions of classic analog synthesis techniques. The synthesis techniques used by Spire are most easily described as subtractive, although the options available are much more complex than most real analog synthesizers. There are seven modes available for each oscillator: Classic, Noise, FM, HardFM, SawPWM , AMSync, and Vowel. The sounds from the four oscillators can then be routed to the modulation units, which include four envelopes, four Low Frequency Oscillators, two step sequencers, and routing matrix. There is also an effects section, which contains five effects: delay, phaser, chorus, reverb, and wave shaping.

Spire Synthesizer – the combination of best opportunities of software and hardware synthesizers. Spire features 4x multimode polymorphing oscillators
Classic, Noise, FM, AMSync, SawPWM, HardFM, and Vowel. Unique Unison Engine 9x unison voices on each oscillator. Spread unison voices by chords and octaves capable of imitating different types of unisons like supersaw and hypersaw. Filters includes 2x multimode filters with analogue and digital types of filtering
Built in FX processor Perfecto, Infecto, Acido, Scorpio, Combo, Shaper. Shaper/Decimator, Phaser/Vowel, Chorus/Flanger, Delay, Reverb. Modulation – 4x Macros, 4x Envelopes, 4x LFOs with morphing shapes, 15x Matrix slots each equipped with 2x sources and 4x targets.