Despite minor quirks, Sylenth1 is one of the most solid VSTi's out there

Widely regarded as a jack of all trades soft-synth and winner of multiple ‘Best Synth of the Year’ awards, LennarDigital delivers an absolute treasure in their product Sylenth1. A number of big name artists have sworn by Sylenth for years and I would argue that Sylenth has acquired attention beyond any other synthesizer on the market. Whether you’re a beginning or a master, Sylenth has something in store for you and chances are you will be able to find at least a small modicum of success when tinkering around with it.

Sylenth1 itself is has a very well laid out design. While it may not be the most visually appealing plug-in, appearances are easily deceiving when it comes to Sylenth. At the top half of Sylenth you will find that you can have a Part A and Part B of any particular sound. Each part allows you to use 2 oscillators, connected with an amplifier and in conjunction with a filter. You can then further change your sound in each part using modulation envelopes and LFO, but unfortunately you have to click through a drop down menu to link source information to a destination as opposed to just dragging them. Last, but not least, Sylenth’s main menu appears right smack in the middle of the program and allows you to manipulate your sounds by adding a variety of effects. Personally, I think some of these effects could be improved in future releases, but the effects themselves aren’t inherently bad and I find myself using the native arpeggio and distortion effects most often.

I wouldn’t say that Sylenth really has any downsides to it overall. While it may not be as advanced as some of the wavetable synthesizers like Massive or Serum, Sylenth is probably the most solid synthesizer on the market. I’ve never had it crash and it’s very light on CPU. The best part is that it is so widely used that there is an enormous amount of user created material available to anyone with a large enough bank account, even sometimes for free. I’m not sure if LennarDigital has any plans in the future for upgrading Sylenth, but I don’t think people would be upset if they decided not to. It gets the job done and gives you reliable results time and time again. I use Sylenth primarily for lead synths and gritty electro basslines because I find that it has the ability to give you a very crisp and clear sound, but using LFO and envelope modulations aren’t as intuitive as they are on other synthesizers. Sylenth will be around for a long time to come and, if anything, the only change it needs is an overhaul to the appearance.

I'd give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

A classic plugin with classic sound!

Lennar Digital have not made any big changes to Sylenth1 other than keeping it compatible with current OS's and hardware. Yet it is still very popular, it is probably the closest a plugin has come to becoming a classic.

Pros:

• It sounds immediately familiar: like all the classic Roland stuff, the Juno's, The 303's, the 101's and what have you. It's not a clone, but it has the same punch and clarity to make your own classic dance record.

• The sound of trance is defined thick, heavily detuned unison patches. Sylenth1 has 4 osc. and each can have have up to 8 voices with ajustable detune and stereo with!

• It is simple and fun to program; other than the 2 "B" oscillators being on another page, everything is right where you can see it, so it is easy to figure out how a patch works and to change it.

I could name a lot of features that Sylenth1 hasn't, but that is beside the point. It's simplicity is also it's greatest strength. But the most obvious one has to be pointed out:

• The is NO PWM. I guess they thought you don't need it because of the unison voices and maybe they're right!

Obvious alternative:

Serum is just as easy to program and has the same punch and clarity that makes it so suitable for any EDM genre. However, the sound of Serum is much more modern; clean and less analog like.

Evergreen

This synth is a recurring favorite of mine. I cannot overstate how great the analog sound of it is. It takes very little CPU for the amount of great sound it gives out. The front panel is straightforward and requires very little getting used to, so I would say it is great for beginners.

i absolutely love it!

Been Using LennarDigital Sylenth1 for about a month at this point and I couldnt be happier with how it sounds and how many different presets it has. will definitely come in handy for my Ambience, Trance, EDM, , ETC.

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The one and only...

Sylenth1. I don't think this is being actively updated any longer but I don't mind. A great Synth with a soul. It sounds great and works perfect. Tons of presets as well. Deffo worth the purchase.

Would have been perfect for old-school Electro and sh*tty computers.

It's one of those plugins which looks scary at first, but with it's neat arrangement and a few video tutorials later, it's not that hard to understand really.

It combines both uses for producers who haven't a clue how to make their own sounds, and for those who are experts in oscillators and modulation. Its factory banks suit those who are just starting out, including the thousands of extra banks created by people like Vandalism and Adam Van Baker meaning you can't run out of sounds! And its basic 'Init' function means an endless journey of modulating between 1-4 different oscillators to suit your needs!

In terms of the hardware needed though, the interface is so simple that despite it's recent release date, it could be run on computers dating back 15 years! There is also virtually no limit on modulation, as pretty much all the basic effects knobs and dials can be added to the mod envelopes and changed as you please.

Now, you may be thinking that because it comes with it's own compressor it requires a skilled brain to get any sound right before use, how wrong you are. The compressor isn't just there for you, but also there for other bank-makers! They are the ones who'll do the compression for you, all you have to do is choose the sound and start changing it around! But of course, those with skilled-brains will find it easier to use, as it does contain all your basic knobs for compression: attack, release, threshold, and your types of compression.

Big Flag from all Studio lvl PRO.

Sylenth is massive combo synth HQ plugin for your music workstation.

That´s Sylenth :)

its okay, I will sometimes use this when composing

For a soft-synth with so much good press I was underwhelmed by Sylenth. It has a bevvy of features, but I always end up making patches that could have been generated by something a lot less complex. Not that its hard to program, its not. It really lends itself to modern dance music. The sound quality is outstanding though. I get it. But you can keep half the features as they are not that inspiring or useful in the mix (though the built in phaser sounds pretty nice and saves you the trouble of breaking out the waves plugins on an insert if you wanna phase sylenth)... if I hadn't already owned a bunch of real synthesizers and carefully chosen plugins Sylenth would have been a good early purchase, but I pre-date this plugin by many years. I guess I highly recommend Sylenth1 for newbies. And points for great sound quality (though sometimes shitty sound is cooler than great sound, really)... I take away 1 star because Sylenth1 is "Boring, Sidney... BOOOOOOORING!"

it;s okay

i feel like it's overpriced, and relys too much on it's massive preset library over having a more visual ui. an okay starter if you're a person who hits next on the presets instead of makign your own

Perfect for an old school or modern synth.

Great for any type of sound design with a large range of knobs to adjust the sound. Excellent array of ready-to-go presets.

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