What Are The Best Synths For Trance?
Trance can be such a varied genre, and can include everything from the nuanced and minimal to the massively euphoric.
Whatever your take on it and whatever styles you produce, we take you through the top 5 software synths for Trance music available today.
Reveal Sound Spire
Spire is a 4-oscillator power synth with a slew of options, including unison stacks per oscillator, limited wavetable ability, a dual filter design with 6 different modes, onboard FX, 4 LFOs, a step sequencer, arpeggiator, comprehensive mod matrix and built-in EQ. Have we missed anything?
Its sound is unique, with incredibly fast envelopes when required and an oscillator and filter setup with a spiky character all of its own. Analogue emulation is not its strong point, but then we're not trying to recreate Mike Oldfield here, are we...
It sits in the mix well, its sound won't overwhelm, and it has a unique ability to cut through the midrange quite nicely. Just the ticket for Trance.
Get the sound: Spire comes with free SOUND7 packs when you buy it from us. For more, Spire - Trance Zero Vol.1 is 64 trance presets and Spire - Progressive Moments Vol.1 covers the deeper, progressive end.
Xfer Serum
Xfer was co-founded by deadmau5. Enough said?
Serum is a wavetable synth (two main oscillators in the original, three in Serum 2, which is a free upgrade for owners) with a built-in wavetable editor, the ability to load custom wavetables, more filters than we want to list, customisable multi-stage envelopes, and the ability to quickly modulate almost every parameter with its intuitive click and drag.
It also carries more unusual parameters, such as a filter drive knob, fat options and a multitude of ways to sync the oscillators together.
Other noteworthy features include built-in FX modules, a dedicated sub oscillator and a noise source.
Its sound is crystal clear and cutting, with the quality, clarity and definition other synths aspire to.
Here's an example of Serum's Trance prowess from our own 64-strong Trance Serum preset pack.
Get the sound: Serum - Future Trance Vol.1 and Serum - Future Trance Vol.2 give you 128 trance presets between them, and both work in Serum 1 and 2.
VPS Avenger
You could produce a whole trance track in one instance of Avenger. Its scope is that wide.
Designed in an onscreen modular fashion, it's a mix of subtractive, wavetable and sample-based synthesis, with some FM and AM options and a feature set you could fill a book with.
Stand-out features include 8 oscillator modules (each with its own supersaw and stack functions), 4 filter modules (with over 47 different filter modes!), 4 amp modules, a dedicated drum synth, insert FX, send FX, macros, shapers and oscillator transform functions. Honestly, I got tired trying to list them all. Suffice to say no synth offers so much in one package for such a fair price.
Its sound is rich and bold, especially suited to EDM and other in-your-face genres. It makes our Top 5 Trance list because of its sheer versatility: it can handle almost any sound duty you throw at it. If you only want to buy one synth for electronic music production, Avenger represents the best bang for buck.
Dmitry Sches Thorn
Thorn has been around for a few years now but still flies under the radar, and it offers something similar to, but also quite different from, the usual crop.
Essentially it's a 3-oscillator, twin-filter hybrid subtractive synth with the usual mod matrix and envelope features, plus some quirky additions such as the harmonic filter, which sits between the oscillators and the traditional filter section.
It also comes with a slew of good quality and often unique takes on standard FX, as well as some interesting functions like the Glitch Seq, an easy way to create rhythmic glitches.
It's snappy, and easy to program thanks to a clean, intuitive UI.
The synth punches out a distinctly rich and chunky sound suitable for all trance and electronic styles. We think this one is brimming with potential and is set to become more and more popular. Mark our words.
Get the sound: Thorn - Trance Euphoria Vol.1 is a full-blown Thorn trance pack: punchy leads, unorthodox harmonics, crispy bass and silky uplifting pads.
Lennar Digital Sylenth1
No other software synthesiser has had such an impact on Trance music, perhaps going as far as being an integral part of the genre revival known as Trance 2.0.
Listen to any trance compilation from the Trance 2.0 years and chances are you'll hear Sylenth1 in action. Yet it's still as relevant today as it was at its inception.
It takes a more traditional approach to synthesis, being of straight subtractive design with 4 oscillators, 2 filters, 2 amps, 7 FX, an arpeggiator and a somewhat limited modulation matrix.
It won't win any feature awards against its peers on this list, and even loses out slightly in the sound quality stakes.
Yet, in defiance of the modern mentality that newer must be better, Sylenth1 has a much more laid-back, almost gritty sound which lends itself to progressive house and progressive trance.
That, with its no-frills approach to programming, low CPU hit and flexible functions, means Sylenth1 is still a relevant, capable synth today, with a huge back catalogue of thousands of free and commercial sounds.
Get the sound: Sylenth1 - Trance Essentials Vol.1 covers atmospheric pads, snappy 2.0-style leads, uplifting and progressive plucks and rolling trance bass.
Trance sounds for these synths
Every SOUND7 pack is royalty free and an instant download.
Reveal Sound Spire bundle: Spire plus free SOUND7 Spire packs (Spire licence code by email, packs instant)
Serum - Future Trance Vol.1: 64 modern trance presets for Serum 1 and 2
Spire - Trance Zero Vol.1: 64 trance presets for Spire
Thorn - Trance Euphoria Vol.1: trance leads, harmonics, bass and pads for Thorn
Sylenth1 - Trance Essentials Vol.1: progressive and uplifting trance for Sylenth1
Above Trance Vol.1: progressive and uplifting trance samples, key and BPM labelled