Cinematic sound-design synths

Spectrasonics Omnisphere

Since its introduction in 2009, Omnisphere has made its way into the toolkit of many TV and film composers. Now in its second incarnation, Omnisphere 2 boasts more presets than ever before, but that doesn’t mean it’s a preset machine – it’s one of the most powerful synths ever made! www.spectrasonics.com

NI Absynth 5

A veteran of the scene, Absynth has been around for nearly 15 years. It’s an immensely powerful sound-design tool, giving the user a semimodular kit to create some of the most otherworldly sounds imaginable. It provides some expertly crafted presets but also lets you delve deep into creating your own. www.native-instruments.com

u-he Bazille

Free in Plugins, this monster modular synth can spit out cinematic chords, leads, drones and FX for days. It boasts two oscillators (capable of phase distortion, FM and fractal resonance), six filter types, two ADSR envelopes, ring modulation, a sequencer, a built-in tape delay module and more. Fire it up and get patching!