Melina Nguyen
Melina Nguyen
Here are Lucid Monday’s top five VST picks for the week of March 16.
Producers are always searching for what plugins to add to their collection. Here, we’ve curated this week’s picks of VST plugins that are widely used among amateur and professional producers.
Zenology is quickly becoming the gold standard for electronic, hip-hop, and even film music.
The synthesizer plugin is incredibly versatile and offers more than 3,500 presets at download. Each synth contains customizable oscillators, filters, amplifiers, dual step-LFOs and lush effects.
With the possibility of expansion through external sound packs, Zenology is widely acclaimed for its vast number of sound banks and the ability to build them from scratch.
It’s no surprise producers like kyuro, credited on Kendrick Lamar’s “Euphoria,” are maining this plugin.
The flagship VST of Spectrasonics is considered an essential for producers across all genres when it comes to synth sounds that emulate analog.
With a myriad of adjustable parameters and more than 40,000 sounds across 18 libraries, Omnisphere 3 supports connection to a wide range of MIDI controllers and synths from Akai, Nektar, and Novation.
Omnisphere is also vouched for by Metro Boomin, making it a must-have for hip-hop and trap producers.
After more than a decade of development, the sequel to the beloved Serum is receiving its own praise.
The plugin, released last year, improves upon the original version with additional oscillators, filters, modulation effects and a clip sequencer as well as an updated, wider user interface.
A favorite for electronic producers, the upgrade for the multipurpose synth was free for existing owners of the first edition.
Serum is a regular choice for producers like famed DJ and producer deadmau5 and slayr, who’s been helping to lead the underground rage scene.
Analog Lab V is a must-have preset plugin for producers across genres from EDM to ambient music to modern pop and hip-hop.
With over 2,000 presets, this collection’s sounds derive from respected Arturia synths, like the JUN-6 V, Emulator V, Vocoder V, and OB-Xa V.
The plugin features MIDI integration with many controllers, such as the MiniLab, KeyLab, and Keystep, as well as third-party options.
The highlights of Analog Lab V include macro controls for speedy adjustments, multi-instruments to create new sounds, and a stage mode for live sets.
Native Instruments’ star software sampler takes the crown for virtual instruments, offering over 900 orchestral, acoustic, band, synth, and vintage sounds.
As part of the NI ecosystem, Kontakt 8 features seamless integration with related hardware like the S-series keyboards. It can also import third-party sound libraries, serving as an all-rounder software.
The sampler offers what it calls the Leap engine to manipulate samples and loops in real time and has a native grand piano library.
And with the free plugin bundle, Komplete Start, producers can download the Kontakt 8 Player as well as instruments and an array of studio effects, like iZotope Ozone EQ.
With five options for countless synth sounds and presets, most producers will probably already have at least one of these VST plugins in their music kit.
Regardless of your genre and experience level, a solid library of go-to sounds will be the basis for a seamless production experience.