6 machines you use the most

[szaszhareen]

there are so many buzz gens out there that its hard at times to pick one out of the list. when i first discovered buzz i had the "gotta catch em all" mentality and tried to stuff my gear folder with everything i could find. as i started to learn more about using buzz, i realized i was overwhelming myself and spending too much time replacing machines and messing with params and not enough time finishing tracks. a while back i decided to clean out the gear folder and just keep a few things around so that i could really learn how to use them (i'm still trying to figure out how to coax the sound i want out of a few of them, especially qsamo :/).

if you had to pick 6 generators to work with for a while, what would they be? i was originally going to list 10 generators, but i realized that i haven't even been using that many lately. I'd like to add a few to my list and i'm interested to see what you guys would pick out.

right now i'm mostly using:

jeskola bass3
jeskola qsamo
ld auricula
arguelles guru4
hd monster kick
fuzzpilz unwieldytracker 2


edit: i changed the title to be more inclusive. feel free to list 6 native buzz gens and effects, 6 vst effects/instruments, 6 peers, whatever. i'm just trying to get a feel for what others find to be reliable go-to machines that are easy to use. hopefully i can add a few to my list to help me get the sounds i want without too much messing about.

[UNZ]

Matilde Tracker 2/3
Joachim Tethys 1.3
FireSlede ParamEQ
Fuzzpilz UnwieldyDelay 3
Polac VST(i)
mixIO

[4516N41]

I think my list of most used machines would look something like this.

Generators

Matilde Tracker
Bass3
Qsamo
Doof
Infector
And probably 808? But could be HD 303 REAL,Guru4...Csynth...Not quite sure.


Effects

Raverb
Ninja
colourfilterseries/Philta
Mixio/Jedshivameter
Joachims compressor v4
Phatman

[szaszhareen]

I think my list of most used machines would look something like this.

Generators

Matilde Tracker
Bass3
Qsamo
Doof
Infector
And probably 808? But could be HD 303 REAL,Guru4...Csynth...Not quite sure.


Effects

Raverb
Ninja
colourfilterseries/Philta
Mixio/Jedshivameter
Joachims compressor v4
Phatman

do you use rout 808 for your 808 generator? or is there something newer/better?
who devleloped the colourfilter series/philta? I'd like to check them out on buzzmachines.
do you find an advantage in using mixio and jedshivameter? they both have great visualization of levels, so i'm wondering why one would use both at the same time.
what's csynth?

my most used effects are:

mixio (sometimes i have so many instances of it in a track i wonder if i could make things more efficient somehow...)
jeskola ninja delay
larsha funkyverb
mt sidechain
jeskola filter3
bigyo parameq (can't live without the graph XD)
and for a seventh (why not), automaton compressor

@unz: that's a solid list. you mention pvst, which 6 plugins would you use most often?

[magmavander]

Gens :
- Infector
- SampleGrid
- XS-1
- Polac vsti
- Mtrk
- PeerChord

Effects :
- HD HALYverb
- Fuzzpilz chorpse
- Bigyo EQ
- Cheapo Amp
- FireSledge ParamEQ
- Oomek Masterizer

I'd say that my arsenal is more about 25 gens and 25 fx that I use in a lot of songs. And I like to use machine I dont know very well

[4516N41]

do you use rout 808 for your 808 generator? or is there something newer/better?
who devleloped the colourfilter series/philta? I'd like to check them out on buzzmachines.
do you find an advantage in using mixio and jedshivameter? they both have great visualization of levels, so i'm wondering why one would use both at the same time.
what's csynth?

It's Rout 808. Used it quite a lot through the years.

Csynth is Zephods Csynth. I don't use it much these days but used to. And the color filter series was also made by Zephod. You should be able to find them on buzzmachines.(blue/orange/yellow/green) Just search for Zephod.

Philta was made by FSM.

I prefer to use mixio. But I don't have much horsepower so when using a lot of machines in a song I use Jedshivameter instead. I don't use them in the same song.

[mridlen]

Instruments:
Rout 909
Oomek Aggressor 303
Samplegrid 3
FSM Infector
Qsamo (although probably not as much now that I have Corona)
Rout 808

(I also use GreenMilk upon occasion)

Effects:
Mars Filter 2
FSM Philthy
Jeskola Ninja Delay
Sonic Verb
Firesledge Pampurfe
Firesledge ParamEQ

(and I sometimes use Geonik Saturator)

[mcg]

Currently my favourite machines will be WhiteNoise's Noiz, WhiteNoise's Oscillator, KozalussNoizza, BTDSys Pulsar, JRMRINGO and BTDSys Peer LFO.
Total szurum-burum.

[syphilissauna]

Gen : unwieldy tracker , qsamo , speccy , gb (i forget the exact name its the game boy emulator) , peer chord
fx : raverb , tubescreamer , philthy , fswitch, ninja delay , jeskola limiter
other : peer control , peer trigger , peer appreg , ld mixer , mt KROSS , mt nada

[sleepzzz]

Generators:
1. Fuzzpilz Unwieldy Tracker
2. BTDSys Sample Grid Byte
3. Kazuya Cafe Bass 1/2/X
4. Arguelles TB4004
5. HalDreamer Percussive FM
6. Sgorpi Clap

Effects:
1. HD Haly Verb
2. Jeskola EQ-3 XP
3. Zephod MoogFiltah
4. Zu TubeHead
5. LD Transient 1/2
6. Rymix FlaserBox

I don't limit myself to only these, but going through my BMXs I see these the most. I mostly make Hip Hop with Buzz, so usually just use samples. When I make something else I have several favorite gens I know better than others, so I use those often. Buzz is still my favorite because I can always randomly open a gen/fx and see how it sounds. I love having that ability. I paid for Renoise and FL Studio a long time ago but they don't have Buzz machines, so they're not very fun or as easy to use. Viva le Buzz!

P.S. Are Rout's 808 and 909 only samples or is there a little bit of synth magic inside?

[tinga]

BTDSys PeerCtrl BTDSys PeerLFO IX Accumulator IX Split Kibibu PeerTune PeerScale, that's for peer machines, in all my bmx, minimum 3 of these machines, LFO is obligatory, the only alternative to the play button.
For gen, Qsamo, Wood one, 4fm, Greenmilk, Pulsar, PolacVst, Matilde 3 (i use only tunable synth, perfect for tonal/ modal/microtonal automations)
Effects, Jeskola Limiter, HalyVerb, Tethys, Fuzzpilz delay3, PeerTrig, MixIO.

I think my total gear is now around 50/60 machines, in the first years i used Buzz, i tested many machines, but many are not very useful now, this topic give me an idea, i will take a look to some old machines.

[DJ Saint-Hubert]

matilde tracker, samplegrid, BLOK modular, pvst, and cheapo amp probably lol

I'm mostly using buzz for the interface these days not so much the native machines. Infector can still be great though, and oomek aggressor is nice

anybody know what's up with BLOK/zephod btw?

[mosis]

I never use the native generators or effects any more, except for Matilde Tracker. Everything is Polac VSTs for me. No Buzz generators come close to the likes of Sylenth, Spire, etc.
I believe this is why I see so many Buzz songs with about fifty effects in them, trying to make the Buzz generators sound better.
I love Buzz for the interface and workflow, and you can't expect free generators to sound as good as commercial VSTis anyway. It's far quicker for me to just load a decent sounding preset in Spire, than to try to get 10% as good a sound out of a generator and ten different effects.

[mridlen]

Considering that Buzz gens are mostly 10+ years old, use about 0.5-3% CPU, and have no built in effects, it's not really all that surprising that a preset on a brand new VST with built in effects that uses 30% CPU sounds better than a preset on a Buzz gen. That being said, I think there are still several Buzz gens that hold up pretty well, even to modern standards: Zephod VoidLead, Rymix Kyrie, FSM Infector, Oomek Agressor 303, HD Real 303, Jeskola Qsamo (which is basically Corona at 1/10th the CPU usage), 6_Ultra_L (was my top choice for good string sounds for YEARS), LD Jacinth, Kazuya GBSound, Zephod BLOK Modular, ZX7.

I use mostly VSTi these days as well, but mostly because of the more robust MIDI support (and also I have GAS). A lot of buzz gens don't support pitch bend unfortunately. I use mostly Synth1, Fuzzpilz Oatmeal (if only this was a native Buzz gen...), and MiniMogueVA these days. A lot of VSTi are very bloated CPU-usage-wise but those ones are really efficient for how good they sound.

[mosis]

99% of my VSTS don't use 30% CPU. Sylenth uses about 1% CPU for a three note chord, if that, on my i7 860, a three year old CPU. Which VSTs do you think are bloated CPU wise? Lush-101 certainly is, but I don't use it, for precisely that reason.
I use Omnisphere, Nexus, Sylenth, Spire, and Kontakt 5 most of the time, and my CPU almost never goes above 20% for an eight track song. There is no need to use Buzz generators, as far as CPU goes, we're way past that stage now.
I have heard very few (if any) decent presets in any of the generators I've tried. Many years ago I used to use nothing but Buzz generators, and I can tell instantly whenever I listen to one of those songs.
By the way, I wasn't suggesting nobody else should use Buzz generators, it's nothing to do with me. It's just that for me, I use VSTs because they instantly sound good, just from the presets, with no external effects at all.

[mridlen]

I did not realize Sylenth1 was so CPU efficient... that might be my next purchase...

I'm still getting used to my new laptop which is an i7-4700MQ. There are a lot of VSTs that use SSE optimization which apparently doesn't work on AMD 1090T which is what my desktop is. Some VSTs are much better, but some still use 20-30%. Synthmaster and Corona both run around 20-25% on my AMD, but on my i7, they use about 5-10%. TyrellN6 sounds amazing, but it uses about 25-30% when using 8 voices. Diva uses a lot even on the low quality setting, so I haven't bought that one. The big drain most of the time for me is still VST effects. Some tend to use around 10% even on the new system.

Still, it seems like I'm always running out of CPU, even with the new super powerful laptop. I could use a computer that's about 10 times as powerful.

[4516N41]

Umm... Could we hear some of your songs.

[magmavander]

I believe this is why I see so many Buzz songs with about fifty effects in them, trying to make the Buzz generators sound better.

You're right in a way but wrong in the same time. Right because I think that adding zillions of Fx after a generator kills the sounds. As I wroted somewhere, any added Fx in a chain distorts/alter the original sound. That's why often the songs that use a lot of Fx sounds very thin.

Wrong because a lot of gens sounds very good, are powerful and can provide a wide variety of sounds. But I agree, there is no magical preset because there is no Fx included in the gens. So that means that you have to tweak a lot. But, what is interesting, even if it needs a lot of work and learning/trying/testing, is that you can then create your sound. The sound nobody else have. Artisticaly speaking this is very important I think.

I dont use a lot of Fx, I'm more concentrated on tweaking the synth/gen to get the sound I have in mind as near as possible. Then I use Fx. Mostly chorus/EQ/reverb. When you use these three Fx, you make your sound a lot more better. And after that you can add other Fx that will add magic to the sound.

I have tons of VST (mostly free, about 350 free vst maybe even more) but I use a very few of it, mainly mda Piano and ePiano and the SampleTank freeware. Or some stuff like Alchemy (freeware version) or Independence free. But even these I tweak the presets And I like a lot using soundfonts with Jeskola XS-1 which is the best soundfont player around the world.

Did you try Qsamo ? This is a wonderful piece of synth, with killer sounding. And it's a gen Same for GreenMilk, 6Ultra_L, etc...

But as you noticed yourself, every musician have its own way to create. It's a matter of taste. As a non-musician (I dont know music theory and I dont play any instruments) I like the act of creating my sounds myself, I dont like very much the "just push a button" way. But it's my problem

Is this your artist page :
https://soundcloud.com/mosis1

[Joachip]

Matilde tracker
Polac VST wrapper + ASIO inputs/outputs (i'll count this as one thing)
Tethys 1.3
Venus 2
FireSledge ParamEQ
Chopper 2

Well yeah I use my own machines a lot, because I know how they work. There are two VST reverbs I use a lot too, and some VST instruments and my own two VST effects (compressor and "temperature"). But the top 6 would be the above. This was tough to decide.

[elekt]

I believe this is why I see so many Buzz songs with about fifty effects in them, trying to make the Buzz generators sound better.

You're right in a way but wrong in the same time. Right because I think that adding zillions of Fx after a generator kills the sounds. As I wroted somewhere, any added Fx in a chain distorts/alter the original sound. That's why often the songs that use a lot of Fx sounds very thin.

I think you're both wrong
This is all a matter of preference, but heavy filtering is one of my favorite things in buzz. For instance, I often use two consecutive 2p filters in the same chain to narrow bands, though I know this can be done with one band-pass filter. But the controls are a lot finer this way. There are very few clean sounds coming out of any generator (buzz or VST) that I think shouldn't be tweaked in the chain later on. This is also true for samples. The low CPU usage of most buzz effects gives you a lot of freedom to isolate sound, but also to experiment as much as you like (especially now with replacing machines on the fly). I don't particularly have any respect for the original sound if it can lead to interesting things later on in the chains. But like I said, subjective point, just as yours are.

Edit: I can't make up my mind about the 6 machines. Will try again soon.