Top ten best free VST Synthesizers?

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Please name yours. I'm a drummer and a guitar player- so I don't trust my ears as much when it comes to synthesizers- I generally rate them on how much they creep me out or how much they remind of Blade Runner and Flashdance- and with that criteria a lot of them seem pretty darn good- Im not a hardcore audiophile at all, nor have I ever owned an actual piece of synth hardware (although there was a friend's Roland Juno at my apt for a few months back in 2003 ish that I thought was retro awesome). - But if some of you are I would love to know if any free VST synths pass the audiophile's standards - and non audiophiles too- please list your top ten- and if you have time why as well- thank you in advance!

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Don't have ten, but Zebralette and Reaktor Players are pretty good.
Nobody, Ever wrote:I have enough plugins.

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Of the hundreds of free VSTs that I've downloaded, these are the only ones I kept.

OBXD
Podolski
Ragnarok
Rez 3
Scrooo
Six
Sonigen Modular
Synth1
TAL Bassline
TAL Elek7ro II
TAL Noisemaker
TAL U No 62
TCM II
TDM 3
Tyrell N6
X-WoF 6

From these, my top 10 would be...

1) Sonigen Modular - Great modular synth. Was supposed to actually be a paid synth but developer never finished it completely last I heard. Not even sure it's still free but if it is, grab it. Great sound and very flexible. Comes with enough presets to get you started.

2) Synth1 - Supposed to be a Nord Lead. Great sounding synth and 10s of thousands of presets online available for download. Probably one of the most popular free synths out there and with good reason.

3) Scroo - One of the most unusual sounding synths I've ever heard. It's a little bit odd to program but once you get used to it, you can make sounds with this thing that I've yet to find a synth that can duplicate it.

4) Tyrell N6 - All U-he synths are great and this one is no exception. Could easily be a paid for synth as the quality is excellent. Also comes with tons of presets.

5 - 9)

TAL Bassline
TAL Elek7ro II
TAL Noisemaker
TAL U No 62

TAL synths are rock solid. Easy to program and sound great. There isn't a ton of difference between these 4 but they're all worth having.

10) X-WoF 6 - My favorite HG Fortune synth. This one simply needs to be experienced. Nothing I say can do it justice. It is my go to synth when i want to create a moving soundscape literally on the fly.

There you have it. My top 10. But any of those 15 synths I listed are worth getting.

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In random order:

Carbon 2
Synth1
Tyrell N6
Xhip
OBXD
Dexed

No sure if they are still free (from free magazine subscription or whatever):
Dune BE
Firebird
Z3ta+

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zenophilix wrote:Don't have ten, but Zebralette and Reaktor Players are pretty good.
Cool- I will check those out- thanks

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wagtunes wrote:Of the hundreds of free VSTs that I've downloaded, these are the only ones I kept.

OBXD
Podolski
Ragnarok
Rez 3
Scrooo
Six
Sonigen Modular
Synth1
TAL Bassline
TAL Elek7ro II
TAL Noisemaker
TAL U No 62
TCM II
TDM 3
Tyrell N6
X-WoF 6

From these, my top 10 would be...

1) Sonigen Modular - Great modular synth. Was supposed to actually be a paid synth but developer never finished it completely last I heard. Not even sure it's still free but if it is, grab it. Great sound and very flexible. Comes with enough presets to get you started.

2) Synth1 - Supposed to be a Nord Lead. Great sounding synth and 10s of thousands of presets online available for download. Probably one of the most popular free synths out there and with good reason.

3) Scroo - One of the most unusual sounding synths I've ever heard. It's a little bit odd to program but once you get used to it, you can make sounds with this thing that I've yet to find a synth that can duplicate it.

4) Tyrell N6 - All U-he synths are great and this one is no exception. Could easily be a paid for synth as the quality is excellent. Also comes with tons of presets.

5 - 9)

TAL Bassline
TAL Elek7ro II
TAL Noisemaker
TAL U No 62

TAL synths are rock solid. Easy to program and sound great. There isn't a ton of difference between these 4 but they're all worth having.

10) X-WoF 6 - My favorite HG Fortune synth. This one simply needs to be experienced. Nothing I say can do it justice. It is my go to synth when i want to create a moving soundscape literally on the fly.

There you have it. My top 10. But any of those 15 synths I listed are worth getting.
Wow- thanks for all the info! I will check those out

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EnGee wrote:In random order:

Carbon 2
Synth1
Tyrell N6
Xhip
OBXD
Dexed

No sure if they are still free (from free magazine subscription or whatever):
Dune BE
Firebird
Z3ta+
Cool thanks!- Im starting to see some repeat names- Ill check those out first

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Dune BE/LE you can still get via Studiodrive: Click Make sure you register with a 10 minute mail adress though, as they will send you ad stuff to the registered mail adress... you can get Firebird from Tone2's website: Click Note that both synths are 32-bit only though, so, if you use a 64-bit DAW which doesn't have a bit bridge, you won't be able to use them.
Last edited by chk071 on Mon May 02, 2016 1:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

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There are some good ones on these lists, but I'd also suggest you grab Native Instruments' Kontakt Player (and the sounds that come with it) and SampleTank 3 CS (which also comes with quite a few sounds).

After that, it'll depend upon which sounds you want to explore. If you're looking for "classic FM" (like the Yamaha DX-7), grab Dexed; if you want the sounds of the Ensoniq synths of the late '80s and early '90s, get SQ8L. And PG-8X is a cool Roland JX-8P emulation from that same era.

Steve
Here's some of my stuff: https://soundcloud.com/shadowsoflife. If you hear something you like, I'm looking for collaborators.

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Yeah, Tyrell and Dexed are great. It's sad that Synth1 isn't available for Mac (correct me if I'm wrong).

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braindistortion wrote:Yeah, Tyrell and Dexed are great. It's sad that Synth1 isn't available for Mac (correct me if I'm wrong).
You're wrong. :D http://www.kvraudio.com/product/synth1-by-ichiro-toda It's a beta, but it's available.

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SYNTH1
CHARLATAN
OBXD
PG8X
ELEKTRO
SQ8L
OXE
DEXED
DIGITS
ECLIPSIS
Last edited by layzer on Mon May 02, 2016 3:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
HW SYNTHS [KORG T2EX - AKAI AX80 - YAMAHA SY77 - ENSONIQ VFX]
HW MODULES [OBi M1000 - ROLAND MKS-50 - ROLAND JV880 - KURZ 1000PX]
SW [CHARLATAN - OBXD - OXE - ELEKTRO - MICROTERA - M1 - SURGE - RMiV]
DAW [ENERGY XT2/1U RACK WINXP / MAUDIO 1010LT PCI]

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Synth1
Charlatan
SQ8L
Noisemaker
Tyrell N6
PG8X
Oatmeal
Atlantis
Voyager
Free Alpha
I read more than post = I listen more than I talk

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Get synthmaster player that is free and you can buy all the great presets for it later on.
Ikmm Sampletank Free
Native instruments freebies
Prodigious
OBXD
Voyager (with good bridging DAWS)
Tube Ohm Freebies mostly: Antitranspirant and phasewave mono versions good for leads
Uhe freebies are cool: Tyrell Podolski Zebralette rePro
PG8X
SQ8L
Full Bucket freebies: nabla, deputy, ragnarok, monofury etc...
M Theory
EMU Proteus VX
Dexxed
Charlatan
Max Synths: Latte, Cryologic, Nero and Crysalis
Synth 1
Oatmeal
Poly2106
Sonigen
Firebird
T Force Alpha
GSI that free b3 organ of theirs is cool
go to bedroom producers blog and keep up with the news there to find out when people are giving away limited time freebies. Uncle Sam I got free from WOK not sure if it is free anymore.

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chk071 wrote:
braindistortion wrote:Yeah, Tyrell and Dexed are great. It's sad that Synth1 isn't available for Mac (correct me if I'm wrong).
You're wrong. :D http://www.kvraudio.com/product/synth1-by-ichiro-toda It's a beta, but it's available.
Cool to hear that I'm wrong! :wink: it seems to be in beta since.... a long time!?

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