Synth VST for Live Performance

[runbirdman]

I put together an 80s cover band to do some local bars/ clubs and am needing to source some VSTs for the synth parts. Our keyboard player is a classically trained pianist but doesn't know anything about twiddling knobs on a synth. His signal path is a Nektar Impact LX88+ into my gaming laptop running Ableton Live and out to FOH.

What I'm looking for are recommendations for a synth VST that has either built in presets for popular 80s songs (i.e. Tainted Love and (Don't You) Forget About Me) or they are otherwise easily attainable. I've been scouring looking for free VSTs and right now a majority of his presets are loaded into u-he TyrellN6.

We were looking at Serum and the Korg bundle but I want to make sure we get the most user friendly setup as possible before I drop any cash.

 

[Velokki]

I love Omnisphere 2. Can't comment on live usability though. It's super versatile and sounds great.

 

[GunpointMetal]

Dexxed is a cool free one that emulates an old Yamaha synth, but I don't think there are song-specific presets. Lots of 80's type presets built-in, though.

 

[runbirdman]

I had already downloaded Dexed but had no idea the sysex presets could be loaded into it. I'll start combing through the 3000 presets from FL Studios to see if this is the solution I was looking for.

 

[JohnIce]

It's a rabbit hole for sure, it took a lot of gear to get all those sounds. Playing them convincingly with zero effort into learning about synths is probably not gonna go very well.

But to keep it simple, I think you need some kind of FM synth. The Yamaha DX7 was huge in the 80's, a lot of basses, piano sounds and plucked sounds came from there. In modern VSTs, presets labelled something with "FM" or "DX" are usually based on that synth.

You also need a poly synth, for pads, brasses etc. Synths like the Roland Jupiter and Juno, the Prophet 5 and Oberheim OBX etc. were really popular and used everywhere.

A big part of the overall 80's sound was in chorus and reverb too. TAL makes a free chorus plugin based on the Roland chorus from the Juno-60 synth (also used in the Jazz Chorus amp) which is amazing They also make free emulations of some digital rack reverbs that were very popular back then which maybe aren't super great sounding but they have that 80's character which your run-of-the-mill IR reverb won't give you.