What are /r/softsynths' favorite Products & Services?

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Jeskola Buzz.

It's missing a some features present in other DAWs (audio editing is not built in) but it does everything I need it to. It is built with a tracker interface as opposed to a piano roll. The program is fairly stable and can do some things a lot better than other DAWs like 303 sequencing for example, and sidechaining and aux sends are the easiest of any DAW I've used. The support forum is active and new machines and features are being actively developed.

Edit: http://bedroomproducersblog.com/2011/05/16/bpb-freeware-studio-best-free-vst-host-applications/

If looking for new ones to play with. I like a free one called Helm. That said, I know your poll is about paid software. I am a big fan of the Komplete bundle. I use Reaktor and Massive both. Also a lot of very high quality samples instruments.

I can speak in general, not specifically about Pigments 3.5. Windows uses inefficent algorithms. I use a MiniDSP connected to an external DAC. https://www.amazon.ca/miniDSP-2x4/dp/B014SJ420M

There are many different ways that software can alter the pitch of an audio clip without changing anything else about it. That's actually how a lot of old digital keyboards would make sounds like a piano or a guitar or a trumpet. They would have a small set of samples (or maybe even just one sample) that they would pitch up or down depending on the keys being played.

There are VST plugins that can take samples that you provide and map them across the keyboard. You could burp into a microphone and play that burp like an instrument. Or if you find a good clean sample of a barrel organ you could chop one note out of it and load that into the sampler, and the plugin will handle pitching it up and down for you.

Grace is a free sampler VST plugin that will work with Ableton.

I think Ableton's 'Sampler' plugin will also do this, but I don't have experience with it.

A more direct route would be to find a plugin that has samples for a barrel organ already setup and packaged into a simple instrument plugin.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=free+barrel+organ+vst

If you have an iPad or something you like to read on and have the Kindle app, there is a really cheap ($2.99) ebook on Amazon. I haven't read it in a while, but I remember it being a pretty good introduction and exploration on the topic.