Top 5 Free Soft Synths and links to Download...

[AlexHall74]

Hey all,

I just repsonded to this post in another forum.

The soft synths are the picks of Synthologist at the Tweakheadz.com forum.

I did the research on where to find them as I have been bored bloody at work this afternoon.

Please respond with any FREE soft synths/VSTis that you think are cool or amusing if you have time.

Cheers!

TOP 5 FREE SOFT SYNTHS
*********************

#1) Crystal- Yes, it's a CPU hog, but the sounds! Plus--it offers so many waves and modulation settings. I'm a big fan of dreamy pads and ambient stuff. This synth is a never-ending source of unique sounds.

http://www.greenoak.com/crystal/download.html

#2) Triangle II- What can I say....this is a FAT sounding beast. Instant vintage analog. Room-shaking bass, nasty leads, warmth!

http://www.rgcaudio.com/triangle_II.htm

#3) Synth1- Didn't get this right away, and have only had it a short while. Absolutely amazing....and lots of sound banks out there to download. With the exception of the rather bland interface, this synth offers more than I was expecting.

DOWNLOAD SYNTH1 AT: http://www.geocities.jp/daichi1969/softsynth/

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SYNTH1: http://www.geocities.jp/daichi1969/synmanu/readmeeng.html#inst

#4) EZ Poly- Nice polyphonic stuff here. Maybe there are some better freebies out there, but I've enjoyed working with this one. Very easy to program.

http://216.239.37.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.krakli.co.uk/freesynths.asp&prev=/search%3Fq%3DEZ%2BPoly%2BVST%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

#5) VX7- Finally found a great DX7/SY77 emulator. And this gem is a breeze to program (thoughtful GUI) compared to its hardware equivalents. I'm still not a huge fan of FM, but I'm having lots of fun with this. Incredibly nasty leads, warm bells, and everything else you can remember from the DX7 days, but much fatter and warmer! (Apparently this is a beta version--no idea when and if it will be released for sale.)

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/printview.php?t=73761&start=60

And I can't leave out....

Microgram M1- No, it's not a Korg M1 equivalent; this rack style synth offers some fascinating pops and bangs with its unique micro sequencer. Still learning this one--lots of knobs, sliders and other somewhat confusing adjustments! Great sounds and lots of creative ground to cover, plus a colorful, professional looking interface.

http://www.numerisson.com/novaflash/

+++

Also mentioned in responses:

The Delay Llama: ~Not only do you get a cool voice that can morph vowels and depth, but you get a cool computer graphic monk that sings when you're playing notes!

http://www.audionerdz.com/index2.htm

Gibong wrote:

Here's a nice "top" list of freebies on KVRAudio.

http://www.kvraudio.com/ratings/9.html

*******************************************************
PLEASE NOTE ADDITIONAL FREE SOFT SYNTHS CAN BE FOUND ON THESE PAGES:

http://216.239.37.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.krakli.co.uk/freesynths.asp&prev=/search%3Fq%3DEZ%2BPoly%2BVST%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

AND

http://www.noolmusic.com/links.html

********************************************************

Happy downloading! :wink:

[MADSTATION]

Great post!

I will give Crystal a try :)

[Merlot]

no, AU's except for crystal. :cry: :cry:

[Wandering Kid]

agreed on crystal. its sick.

superwave p8. you can grab it at kvraudio.com. especially if you like a jp'esque sort of sound - it doesnt actually do very good supersaws but you can get some nice underworld type fuzz out of it. all the better that it costs nowt.

muon tau. another freebie, this time a 303 clone. because everyone should have a 303 sound in their arsenal. it can get pretty fat too but without a little EQ/compression work right from the word go, the bass on it can be blurry as hell.

reFX claw. freebie cut down version of reFX beast which is a 4 oscillator monster. claw rips (painfully so at times) so keep the level down or risk tinitus.

karnage. you'll need to search the kvr forums for this i think. one of their forum members (kriminal) knocked up this plugin for gratis. watch out - its fairly brutal and some of the patches will make your head ring. suitable for noisy drum and bass/hard house/hardcore.

[MADSTATION]

Crystal is actually quite good!

Very CPU hungry but worth it!

[harrystainer]

AH synth1 - its awful its basically sounds like MIDI IMO. But for free what do you expect

[MADSTATION]

harrystainer: I guess you're kidding!?!

Synth1 is GREAT!
Wicked for pads too

[AlexHall74]

Madstation wrote:
AH synth1 - its awful its basically sounds like MIDI IMO. But for free what do you expect

I have never messed with SYnth1 but have heard that there are apparently banks available for it that determine it's utility to a degree.

Somewhere I heard there is a Nord Lead Bank available that was highly recommended.

I noticed there is a 128 Bank available on the Synth1 download page that I posted a link to.

If I can dig up any bettter info I will post it later.

[diskonext]

Karnage (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kriminal68/Karnage.html)

Wicked sounds!

-diskonext

[AlexHall74]

Karnage and Tau (mentioned by WK) can be downloaded here:

http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~thman/VST/vst-allinstr.htm

Superwave P8:
http://home.btconnect.com/christopherg/main.htm

reFX Claw:
http://www.refx.net/products.htm?lang=eng

Voila!

[harrystainer]

No im not kidding about the sounds of Synth1, I used it with fruity loops a long time ago and only dabbled with the presets and I wasn't too impressed but I'll download it and try it again and give an updated opinion

[MADSTATION]

harrystainer: Well I believe there is another synth that is named very similar to SYNTH1(Was is Synth One?) and this one really sounded midi..

But the one posted here is quite good! Give it a try ;)

[AlexHall74]

More free VSTs and FX from Cornieleous of the Tweakheadz.com forum:

A good list!

Cornieleous wrote:
I like this thread. Great way for people to get info on good free plugins. People can get adequate music tools without having to pay large sums of money, and feel good that they obtained them legitimately. Here is my contribution, on that note, of completely free VST plugins. All those that I list I have thoroughly tested for quality, stability (stablility may vary by host), and general usefulness. Most of these I use regularly.

FREE VST SYNTHS:

1> Agonyx (I paid 7$ US, it is donation-ware, practically free)
- Agonyx literally sounds equal to or better than many commercial VST on the market. If you like to make your own patches with an easy to use but deep interface, this is it. You can load .wav files into the oscillators!!! and there is a 36 destination modulation matrix!! What more could you want?! I like Agonyx and use it so much that I recently donated another $6.50 US to encourage future development. Dennis, the developer, is a very friendly fellow as well. To check it out. http://www.project-hurricane.de/start.html

2.> Synth1 - A workhorse for backing sounds and subtle sweeps in my projects.

3.> Rez - Found Rez on KVR a while back. Good at a variety of sounds. This is an effort by developer Ugo.

4.> Texture - Does what its name implies. Another VST by Ugo.

5.> SuperwaveP8 - Capable of some rich sounds for electronic music.

6.> String Theory - one of the better string emulator VST I have heard. Almost approximates several stringed instruments and always sits in the mix. Ugo's work again.

7.> Osiris - Makes good pads of a particular quality. The developer, Neko, is another friendly fellow and has a few other decent efforts.

8.> Drumatic 3 - E-phonic's Drumatic 2 was not very good but I find this to be excellent for a free drum softsynth. Can do most of what the commercial software drumsynths can if you work at it, and with excellent sonic quality along the way.

9.> Tapeworm - very basic Mellotron emulator. Not a serious tool as there are merely five voices in its 'ROM', but it does have 13MB of genuine Mellotron samples controllable with an ADSR envelope plus pitch control.

10.> sfz - soundfonts without a soundbuster card and without spending money. Cool.

_____________________________________________________________

FREE VST EFFECTS:

1.> Buzzroom offers excellent compressors and a maximizer. For free effects plugs these are outstanding. They give some commercial plugs a run for their money.

2.> ParisEQ - this 4 band parametric can warm up a mix like no other free VST I have tried. Worth the download.

3.> Deelay and P Deelay are two excellent delay plugs. P Deelay is a pattern delay. Tons of features on each.

4.> SIR Reverb - Simulated Impulse Response Reverb. Accepts wave files as a model source, and also has a complex reverb model engine.

5.> LOFI - excellent distortion plug by E-Phonic.

6.> TriDirt - another excellent distortion type plug. 3 separate frequency bands.

7.> Kjaerhus Audio Classic Series - an entire package of decent sounding plugs that are free. Reverb, chorus, flanger, delay, compressor, limiter, phaser, EQ.

Thats my list of free plugins which I have tried and thoroughly tested. Many I have in use in my home studio, although I generally favor my hardware synths and effects when possible. None of these on the list are poor quality ( because I dont use junk ) and all are still in existence in my VST folder and many of these get regular use in my projects. No ugly GUI's either in these VSTs for the most part, because I am vain and throw out synths and effects with ugly graphics.

I hope my list helps someone out there find some useful FREE tools that they can legitimately obtain to make music.

-Dave

I'll research the links and post them soon...

Ciao!

[udenjoe]

http://www.smartelectronix.com/

Be sure to try the supatrigga if you haven't already.

[Nigel Harkness]

http://www.smartelectronix.com/

Be sure to try the supatrigga if you haven't already.

I can't seem to find the link to it.

[diskonext]

Google is your friend ;)

http://bram.smartelectronix.com/plugins.php?id=6 <- Clickie!

SupaTrigga is your soulmate!

-diskonext

[Merlot]

http://www.nicksildesigns.com/forumpics/Google.gif

[diskonext]

Haha,

classic!

**Saving as...**

-diskonext