u-he Diva
€179
What Diva is not is CPU-light so u-he have helpfully included a number of accuracy modes as well as multicore support. With Diva, u-he makes a second appearance on our list with Diva with one of the most famous analogue-sounding soft synths and really the one that set the bar high for analogue emulation. Standing for Dinosaur Impersonating Virtual Analogue, Diva is something of a dream machine synthesizer, comprised of the best bits (oscillators, filter sections, envelopes) from some of the most sought-after synths of the ‘70s and ‘80s, from the Moog Minimoog and Korg MS-20 through the Roland Jupiters and Junos (and even the JP-8000).
Add to this a number of extras such as effects and the ability to individually detune voices plus set overall oscillator drift, and you have some achingly gorgeous analogue muscle happening. It’s astonishing how beautiful-sounding this plugin is, particularly with pads and strings.
Don’t think Diva isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty though. With the right modules (particularly the MS-20 and Minimoog settings) and settings, Diva can get downright nasty, with enough bass to trouble any dance floor. It’s also capable of some useful effects and, with its snappy envelopes, percussion as well.
What Diva is not is CPU-light so u-he have helpfully included a number of accuracy modes as well as multicore support. But to hear Diva in divine mode on a machine that can handle it is to bear witness to the power of analogue emulation to sound, well, truly analogue. To paraphrase Eldon Tyrell, Diva is more analogue than analogue. Absolutely essential.