I agree that Phasex is a better virtual Linux synth, but it still is far
away from analog sound. IIRC another good virtual Linux synth is Calf
Monosynth. I compared the virtual Linux synth outputs using HDSPe AIO
outputs, ADA8000 outputs and EWX 24/96 outputs with an Oberheim
Matrix-1000 connected to the same analog mixer. The same for a virtual
digital synth, my DX7 does sound classes better than Hexter does.
[rocketmouse@archlinux ~]$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: HDSPMx579bcc [RME AIO_579bcc], device 0: RME AIO [RME AIO]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: EWX2496 [TerraTec EWX24/96], device 0: ICE1712 multi [ICE1712 multi]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: EWX2496_1 [TerraTec EWX24/96], device 0: ICE1712 multi [ICE1712 multi]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
I guess Phasex and Yoshimi are the most used virtual Linux synth on my
machine, OTOH in more than 10 years using Linux only at home, I never
really finished an audio production at home, resp. I never released a
production. MIDI jitter, xruns, sound quality, a bad RME driver are
issues you don't experience with good stand alone gear.