My Studio: Software
Ableton Live 12 Standard
Over the years I have tried most of the major DAWs including Reaper, Avid Pro Tools, Steinberg Cubase, PreSonus Studio One, Fruity Loops (now FL Studio) and more. I really like Reaper and FL Studio but after I tried Ableton Live I knew I had finally found the right DAW for me! The Session View is great when composing as I can easily try different combinations before making the final arrangement. The built-in effects and instruments are surprising good; I especially love the Glue compressor.
Native Instruments: Komplete 14 Ultimate
The Komplete bundle from Native Instruments is a feature packed bundle with several amazing VST instruments and effects and highly recommended! I especially love using Massive (an advanced but easy to use Wavetable synthesizer) for sound design, as it is very easy to program and is able to make almost any sound. I also use a lot of Kontakt and Reactor instruments both from Native Instruments and 3rd parties. And of course all VST instruments integrates well with my Komplete Kontrol S61 keyboard.
KV331 Audio: Synthmaster One/Synthmaster 2
Synthmaster 2 and Syntmaster One from KV331 Audio are two of my favorite VST synthesizers. Synthmaster One is a Wavetable synth with a nice modern sound. Synthmaster 2 is a semi-modular synthesizer with many different synthesis methods inclouding Virtual Analog (VA), Additive, Wavetable, Wavescanning, Phase Modulation (PM), Frequency Modulation (FM), Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and more.
Xfer Records: Serum
Serum from Xfer Records is an advanced Wavetable synthesizer with a very high sound quality. Build in wavetable editor, powerful effects rack and morphing oscillators make this a very powerful tool for sound design and a very capable synth.
Tone 2: Icarus
Icarus from Tone 2 is a very advanced synthesizer workstation with 54 (!) different synthesis methods including 3D-Wavetables, classic Wavetables, FM, PWM, Subtractive, Additive, Vocoder etc. Drag-and-drop modulation, 62 (!) filter types, powerful arpeggiator and builtin drum sequencer.
Tone 2: Electra
Electra is a multilayer synthesizer with many synthesis methods including Virtual Analog, Wavetable, Subtractive, Samples, Phase Distortion, FM synthesis, Physical Modeling, Ultra-saw, Vocoder, Sync, Ringmod, PWM, Noise, Wave-shaping and Fractal synthesis. And with 41 multimode filters to choose from there is lots of tools for creating your own sounds.
u-he: Repro-1/Repro-5
Repro-1 from u-he is a recreation of the classic Pro One monophonic synthesizer from Sequential Circuits. Repro-5 is a recreation of the classic Prophet-5 polyphonic analog synthesizer. The sound is very close to the originals, very impressive.
Depending on my mood I will use either of these or my Prophet REV2 if I prefer playing with real buttons instead of the mouse.
Toontrack: Superior Drummer 3
Toontrack Superior Drummer 3 is an amazing drum studio that not only have very impressive drum samples but also gives you complete control of each individual drum sound. Also includes MIDI tracks with different drum patterns.
Vital
Vital is one of my favorite software synthesizers. It is very flexible and powerfull yet easy to work with.
You can download a free version but can also support the developer by bying the “Plus” or “Pro” versions with more wave tables and presets and they are well worth the price.
SURGE XT
Surge XT is a hybrid synthesizer with many synthesis techniques including Wave table, subtractive, FM and more. It has a flexible modulation engine and also supports MPE.
Surge XT is freeware.
FabFilter
FabFilter Pro-Q 3 EQ, Pro-C 2 compressor, Pro-L 3 limiter and Pro-R reverb are without any doubt my favorite and most used effects.
I especially love the Pro-Q 3 EQ – the user interface make it very intuitive to dial in the correct frequencies and adjustments.
iZOTOPE Music Production Bundle
iZOTOPE Neutron and Ozone are simply amazing when mixing and mastering, especially the Advanced versions.
Youlean Loudness Meter
Youlean Loudness Meter is a MUST HAVE tool for ensuring you have the correct loudness on your tracks. It makes it easy to meet e.g. the -14 LUFS Integrated loudness specified by Spotify.
Youlean Loudness Meter is freeware.
