You may want to give AAS stuff another look. Their stuff does sound incredible to me.
I don't try to compare their synths to actual or particular analog gear. Instead I just play and listen and find the sound and responsiveness excellent.
LL3 is a beautiful instrument. To be honest, I don't know how closely it compares to the real thing, but it sounds great so I really don't care. Tassman has very unique and excellent sounding possibilities. String Studio is so responsive to my playing that when I sit down with it I usually don’t get up for hours – it’s just fun to play. Ultra Analog sounds very solid (although it is probably my least favorite and inspiring of the group – and I have such great SCOPE analog synth emulations, I don’t really have a use for it).
Don't take my word for it - here is what Electronic Musician said about String Studio:
Electronic Musician - January 2006
Editors' Choice Award: Best Synthesizer (software)
"Virtual-instrument developer Applied Acoustics Systems has made tremendous contributions to the field of physical-modeling software, beginning with Tassman, its flagship modular synth. In 2005, the Canadian company introduced String Studio VS-1, a multiformat plug-in and standalone synth that simulates practically any instrument with strings: violins, guitars, basses, pianos, clavs, harps, sitars, shamiens, and even a few that don't exist in the real world. Among hundreds of included presets are unique pads, unusual sound effects, and amazing digital-synth arpeggios that other software can't touch. The sound is so organic that you might never know you were listening to a software instrument.
Want to pluck piano strings mounted on a violin body with pickups and then process the sound through chorus and distortion? Now you can do that. String Studio VS-1 reproduces all the acoustical nuances of vibrating strings, soundboards, pickups, frets, and all the other details that make up stringed instruments, giving you control over parameters such as intonation, vibrato, body type, damper type, and whether motion is initiated by a bow, pick, or hammer. You also get effects such as chorus and delay, an arpeggiator with programmable patterns, and an audio recorder to capture your performances. Put all the elements together, and String Studio VS-1 delivers a timbral palette and advanced capabilities you won't find anywhere else."
There are some things with AAS’s user interfaces that I don't particularly like – but the sound makes up for it in my opinion.
The only other software synth I care to use is Absynth because of the unique things you can do with it.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: powerpulsarian on 2006-01-12 05:48 ]</font>
