Hi all, I am just starting out and have bought cubase. I was wondering what are the essential VST’s that I should get now?
I plan on making deep/tech house. What should I go for in VST’s and even what sample packs would be good?
Thanks.
Well since most of the tuts here use Sylynth1 I would go with that, it is pretty neat and well set out and easy to learn and pretty reasonable for the price
Availabe Sylenth1 | LennarDigital
Alternativly try someother demos or free vsti, just gooooogle there is plenty to try
Probably everyone here will say Sylenth… Its used quite a bit in the Tuts & is really easy to program.
The GUI is very straight forward & it offeres a lit of Mod possibilities & has FX & an Arp.
Do a bit of a search on the w/site - lots of people recommend it.
Its v.good & theres a demo available:
[url]http://www.lennardigital.com/modules/downloads/[/url]
If oyu right click on the centre GUI, you can INIT patch
Cool what about things for drums? I got just the groove agent for drums would I be better going for the Battery Vst?
Congrats !! i do also Produce Deep Tech House and also use cubase 5.any sample packages ( especially the Loop Masters ones). have nice Loops and one hit shots that can help to make any type of Deep Music. you just need to know how to work with the FX. now for the synths , I would suggest Sylenth . because it have a nice and powerful filter ,IMO .
groove agent one is all you really need… they added a few much needed features like sample start and end points with the latest 5.5 update.
a good reverb is important but the convolution one in cubase is decent
Always found battery too complex - But I think back then I needed something a little easier. I bought it in a Sale with NI & never used it. Library is Class though!
FXpansion is excellent. You can get a Demo of it & try it. Computer Music are doing a Free version of it next month - which will be cool, but I think its pretty stripped back. The main thing with Guru is how it Grooves. I dont think that it has that feature on the free one (saw a pic of it…).
Guru is deadly. I think its v.easy to use - certainly more than Battery. The Pattern page is class. You can do lots of micro editing in it too, like glitchy repeats, but also moving the hits forward & back so it sounds a bit out of time. Really cool.
AFAIK - They’re actually beta testing Guru 2 @ the moment - so that will probably be out “soon” enough. I think you can do a bit more in Battery in regards to drum synthesis. Guru cannot do anything like that… (edit:it might… cant remember!). I’d say with Reason 5’s incredible KONG & Battery’s synth features - Guru 2 will have a similar feature set. So if you did decide to buy - be aware that Guru 2 will probably be out sometime soon. Well worth it I think. Not as complicated to use as it looks…
[url]FXpansion - Home
Xfer Nerve is another one thats pretty hot @ the moment… getting a lot of press & good reviews. Haven’t got any experience of it yet. Dont think its got a drum synth in it, just 100% sample based - but maybe I’m wrong.
[url]http://www.xferrecords.com/nerve[/url]
Dont know anything about the Cubase Drum Machine - but saw some Tut’s in Future Music about it & it looked cool.
Try them all out. One will be the winner. Dont just buy something for the sake of it - but if it “clicks” (no pun intended :)) with you & y’cant be without that feature or workflow - then thats the one.
Thanks for the heads up guys I will give the groove agent a run for the mean time until I get comfortable with the cubase program and then look at others. I am a complete novice so it will take alot of time 
[quote]Damian (15/07/2010)[hr]Thanks for the heads up guys I will give the groove agent a run for the mean time until I get comfortable with the cubase program and then look at others. I am a complete novice so it will take alot of time ;)[/quote]
Deffo Man- Good call.
Try out the demos - but dont buy unless you really really want it.
My experience is speaking here - Sooo much stuff I dont use. Such a waste 
Lots of people here would say the same I’d say!
My buying habits have totally changed now & you’ll probably have a bit of that, everyone does @ the start… but you’re doing the right thing. Take your time.
Its a Marathon, not a Sprint! :hehe:
[quote]Damian (15/07/2010)[hr]Thanks for the heads up guys I will give the groove agent a run for the mean time until I get comfortable with the cubase program and then look at others. I am a complete novice so it will take alot of time ;)[/quote]
As ICN says that would be the best - know your DAW first and then look at one vst you like - and yeah it is a slow but hopefully an enjoyable learning experience
[quote]slender (15/07/2010)[hr][quote]Damian (15/07/2010)[hr]Thanks for the heads up guys I will give the groove agent a run for the mean time until I get comfortable with the cubase program and then look at others. I am a complete novice so it will take alot of time ;)[/quote]
As ICN says that would be the best - know your DAW first and then look at one vst you like - and yeah it is a slow but hopefully an enjoyable learning experience[/quote]
This
I’d recomend MDA Epiano and Ugo String Theory. Both are free and work well for the deeper stuff. String theory can be a bit of a processor whore though.
Ugo String Theory looks interesting will pluck with it tomorrow - thanks rob 
If I had to do it all over again, I would probably just get DCAM Synth Squad and Sylenth. Thats really all you need.
[quote]howiegroove (19/07/2010)[hr]If I had to do it all over again, I would probably just get DCAM Synth Squad and Sylenth. Thats really all you need.[/quote]
+1 for me on this one as well. I would only add Reaktor and I’m happy with these 3. I should also point out that I use Logic heavily and love their built in stuff.
the only problem with reaktor is that it takes away time from making music if you are not careful. I have reaktor, and when i decide to fire it up, its just to work with things that others have made and try other things out. I find the interfact confusing. However, I have Logic, and I have a class on it at Berklee next semester. Im really looking forward to it too!
[quote]rcorbo (19/07/2010)[hr][quote]howiegroove (19/07/2010)[hr]If I had to do it all over again, I would probably just get DCAM Synth Squad and Sylenth. Thats really all you need.[/quote]
+1 for me on this one as well. I would only add Reaktor and I’m happy with these 3. I should also point out that I use Logic heavily and love their built in stuff.[/quote]
[quote]howiegroove (19/07/2010)[hr]the only problem with reaktor is that it takes away time from making music if you are not careful. I have reaktor, and when i decide to fire it up, its just to work with things that others have made and try other things out. I find the interfact confusing. However, I have Logic, and I have a class on it at Berklee next semester. Im really looking forward to it too!
[quote]rcorbo (19/07/2010)[hr][quote]howiegroove (19/07/2010)[hr]If I had to do it all over again, I would probably just get DCAM Synth Squad and Sylenth. Thats really all you need.[/quote]
+1 for me on this one as well. I would only add Reaktor and I’m happy with these 3. I should also point out that I use Logic heavily and love their built in stuff.[/quote]
[/quote]
Your definitely right about Reaktor. 50% off the time I fire it up nothing gets done. Most of the reason I use it is for a synth called the Phat Cat. It’s basically a replica of the MiniMoog but I just like how it sounds. That or to make weird sounding grain clouds out of sounds…cool way to make very unique sounding pads.
Howie I think you are going to love Logic Pro.
[quote]rcorbo (19/07/2010)[hr][quote]howiegroove (19/07/2010)[hr]the only problem with reaktor is that it takes away time from making music if you are not careful. I have reaktor, and when i decide to fire it up, its just to work with things that others have made and try other things out. I find the interfact confusing. However, I have Logic, and I have a class on it at Berklee next semester. Im really looking forward to it too!
[quote]rcorbo (19/07/2010)[hr][quote]howiegroove (19/07/2010)[hr]If I had to do it all over again, I would probably just get DCAM Synth Squad and Sylenth. Thats really all you need.[/quote]
+1 for me on this one as well. I would only add Reaktor and I’m happy with these 3. I should also point out that I use Logic heavily and love their built in stuff.[/quote]
[/quote]
Your definitely right about Reaktor. 50% off the time I fire it up nothing gets done. Most of the reason I use it isfor a synth called the Phat Cat. It’s basically a replica of the MiniMoog but I just like how it sounds. That or to make weird sounding grain clouds out of sounds…cool way to make very unique sounding pads.
Howie I think you are going to love Logic Pro.[/quote]
I think so too. I am finally gonna get some professional training in it. I love ableton and I will continue to use it to get my loops and ideas down, but its arrange window sucks donkey penis. I deal with it and it works well, but I think Logic would work so much better when arranging. Get my loops down and go from there.
I mostly use Sylenth1, Minimoog for synths and basslines. Various TAL effects VST’s which are all free and pretty good and Ozone 4 to polish things up a bit.
I went through a stage of downloading dozens of VST’s and then would rarely use them - it’s best to get a handful that you like and feel comfortable with and just stick with them.