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s | Asthe name of the site says, you will find here a list mainlydevoted to synthesizers, but you will find also virtual instruments ofother types, much fewer...
Thislist of freeware is not like the others that pullulate on the web andhas something special : it gives to you links for only the best freevirtual instruments(for Windows),and is the result of many and longresearches, after testing around one thousand intruments.My purpose isto avoid you getting stuck with the same job... Allinstruments are classified, but in an approximative way... When available, versions for other OS and formats are mentionned.
Youwill probably think that some instruments, that you like to use in your music, are missing, but there is a reason for that: the only criterion of this list isthe musical quality, the beauty of sound, and not technical abilitiesor specific uses.Many virtual instruments made by renown developers of free software areappreciated for their usefulness in specific styles of music, but I didnot put them in this list because they do not sound really good bythemselves... Anyway, this list is the result of my own choice, necessarily subjectice, and open tocriticism, like anyone's list... But it remains a unique list, because I hope that the level of quality is high...
Inthe left column of each page, by clicking on vignettes, you can see theinterface of the full-scale instruments. Sometimes,in the right column of the page, you will findlinks to download sound examples which allow you to get a precise ideaaboutqualities and possibilities of these instruments. They are not songsbut sounds made with original presets and patches of theinstruments, without additional effects. These demos were initially made for a rubric on the forumof the siteInstruments Virtuels, there,in Oggaudio format. If you do not know what is neededto play this format, You can do it easily with the very good freeplayers (better than Windows'one), MediaPlayer Classic or VLC.
Forthose who begin with vsti : as most of these instrumentsare not standalone, but require to be opened in a sequencer or a vsthost, I recommend you to download Minihost,by TobyBear, a very complete, stable and easy to use vst host... It isdonationware. CantabileLite, the free version of Cantabile, is excellent too...
Attention: the number of references (more than 170 !) will get you sick,becausethe world of freeware is very rich in musical instruments, especiallygood quality synths. So, take your time, and come back to thislist, because it is often updated. |
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Monosynths for leads and bass lines
Stringsynths for pads
Page 2
Analoguesounding polysynths
Page 3
Synthswith techno/trance sounds
Synthsfor soundesign/ambient/atmosphere
Coldand metallic sounding synths
FMsynths
Hybridsynths that are not in other categories
Wavetablesynths
Phasedistorsion synths
Phase modulation synths
Phase morphing synths
Physicalmodeling synths
Page 5
Stepsequencers
Synthsfor noise
Workstations | Absurdmachines
Page 6
Emulationsof acoustic and electric instruments :
- Electronic organ
-Electric piano
- Theremin
Sample based emulations :
-Acoustic piano
- Mellotron
- Traditional instruments
-Various intruments
Page 7
Bundles
- Elektrostudio
Page 8
Commercialvirtual instrument bargains
-Synthesizers
- Soundbanks
- Virtual drummers andbassists
Magazineware
- The CM studio |
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| Synthesizers
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| Mono synths for leads and basslines |
| MinimogueLUXUS, by Gunnar Ekornas(Voltkitchen group),is a rather successful emulation of the famous MiniMoog, made withsynthedit. Though it is not as good as Arturia's Minimoog V, nor thealmost perfect GForce Minimonsta, it has an analogicalsound quality that gives big, swinging and juicy leads. With a niceclose-to-the-original instrument interface, it adds to this one astep sequencer, anarpeggiator, independent pan adjustment for eachOsc, and...polyphony (!), but I put it there because of the original machine. Indispensable.
http://www.home.no/gunnare/downloads.htm | Rezby Ugohas been updated and got a much nicer GUI, in two flavours (yellow or black), and itis an excellent mono synth that sounds beautiful to my ears. With asimple but very good arpeggiator and nice sounding dual delay, it givesgoodanalogleads and sequences. Easy to use and set, it is one of the very bestsounding free monosynths. Very melodious, it is one of my favourites. Amust-have.
http://www.ugoaudio.com/ | TriangleI by Rgcaudio,a mono synth with 2 Osc and an efficient delay, is good for clear andmelodious 70's leads. Good looking interface, easy to use andintuitive parameters...
http://lesitedeburnie.free.fr/Host/RGCaudio-triangle1.10.rar
| TriangleII by Rgcaudiotoo, better than Triangle I because of its versatility, is a beautifulmono synth, very good for leads, rich in possibilities and parameters,able to sound fat and varied. Forthis must-have, you will find many presets on the web:
http://www.cakewalk.com/products/triangle/
| AngularMomentum's Analog Warfare 3has a very nice interface, with many components (3 Osc, 3 24 dB VCF, 4LFO, 2 delays, ADSRLenvelopes and many other things, like an arpeggiator, a step sequencer,anda separate chorus for each channel, midi learn)... It sounds very big,fat,granular, cheezy or sweepy, butnot varied (the sound possibilities are not large)... A goodsynth, especially for techno. The demo sounds were made with theprevious version, Analog Warfare 2.
http://www.amvst.com/node/15 | Pure-Pone by TubeOhmis the mono version of the commercial Pure-Pten. It is a full fetauredanalogue substractive synth, with 3 Osc and 20 waveforms, a bit of FM,1 noise generator, 1 LFO, 1multimodefilter, 1 ring modulator, 2 envelopes, 1 mixer, 1 arpeggiator,2 modulation busses, 1 chorus and 1 delay, 1 distortion, midi learnetc... The sounding qualities are rich and various, between some clearFM sounds, analogue basses and leads, acid and agressive technosequences... A very good synth. Do not care about 'buy'button nor 'poly' one, unusable here... At Plugindex :
http://www.tubeohm.com/TubeOhm/FREEWARE.html
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| Vintager by Togu AudioLine,classic vintage analog mono synth, with 3 Osc, a non linear 24dBlowpass filter (after a moog one), 2 Lfo, 2 envelopes, and midilearn,which is useful for controling the synth with hardware. It sounds good,rather deep, dense, thick. You can try also U-NO-60, an honestemulation of the famous Juno 6. win / mac
http://www.kunz.corrupt.ch/?Products:VST_Vintager:Download
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| Bassline by Togu AudioLinetoo, has the same sound qualities as Vintager and, as its name says, itis made for basses. Simple but efficient, it sounds solid, fat, thick,deep and warm, typically analogue substractive. The interface is clearly inspired by the Roland SH-101. win / mac
http://kunz.corrupt.ch/products/tal-bassline
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| reFXClawis a simple mono synth, with only one Osc,but it sounds punchy, sharp, incisive, and can be agressive, forexpressive leads and basslines. A very good one in this category. Asit will be replaced by a new and better ReFXfreeware, Scout, it is no more available.The direct download link still works :
http://www.refx.com/downloads/Claw/Claw_1.0.zip
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| TheNK 1001 is aversatile 2 oscillators monosynththat sounds clean and fine, not punchy, thick or agressive,butpowerful, varied, nice and elegant. A chorus and a stereo delay make itcomplete.And, like almost GTG products, it has a nice interface. http://www.gtgsynths.com/plugins.htm |
| Maestro by Istvan Kaldorwill not please everyone, because of its dirty sound (Kaldor like it,see 'Dirtbag'), and its GUI is something special, but it is a very goodmono synthmade with synthedit. With its 2 Osc, its modulation matrix,andits added effects (delay and autopan), it produces expressive, juicy,fat analogical leads, as good as Minimogue or Claw ones. A very goodinstrument.
http://www.ianweb.dial.pipex.com/ikaldor/maestro.htm |
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| Taurus,by Antti for Smartelectronics,is a good bass synth, an emulation of the 'Taurus' bass pedals made byMoog. Simple but good sounding, efficient, it gives deep, fat, analoguebasses. On the same page than the excellent ASynth.Donationware but without limitations...
http://antti.smartelectronix.com/
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| Iblit by Andreas Erssonis a very good free synth too, which is one of the most renownedanalogical mono synths. With 3 Osc, 2Lfo and 2 ADSR envelopes, but without added effects, it comes raw. Soyou must imagine its sounds in a mix and with externaleffects.There are better free raw analogical synths (Antti's Asynth or JX10)that have a more granular and analogical texture, but this one isreally good.
PolyIblitis of course the polyphonic version, and it has more features...
http://www.bostreammail.net/ers/iblit.html
| Rogue by Noslogan,is a classic analog mono synth with a rather dirty and nasal sound, asthey say on the site : 'raspy, fried transistor, dropped on the grounda couple of times'. Nice.
http://www.noslogan.com/VST/Rogue/Rogue.html |
| BB303i by Buzzroomis a simple mono synth that is good for clean thick leads and basslines. Its name reminds the famous TB-303, of course... It is ratherbasic, and is not supposed to produce complex and composite sounds, butit is efficient, and sounds analogical, fat and deep. Easy to use. See 'Download OLD buzzroom VST Plugins Pack' at the bottom of the page :
http://www.x-buz.com/Products.html |
| Alieno by Acrobatics Softwareis a Sci-Fi look-like engine, but this mono synth is not a toy. Itsounds well for leads and sequences with its 16 step pattern Lfo. Ithas 6 Osc divided in 3 modules, 1 multimode filter, effects likereverb,delay, vibrato and pan/tremolo. Last three effects and the Lfo aretempo sync, and all paramaters can be automated. Several useless colorsof skins are available...
http://www.blank-media.it/acrobatics/ |
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| String synths for pads |
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| CrazyDiamonds by RumpelrauschTaïps,is a stringsynth that produces string ensemble pads, not varied butefficient and good sounding. To understand why it is called 'CrazyDiamonds', click on the 'warranty void' label and listen theintro pad of 'Shine on you crazy diamond' in'Wishyou were here' (Pink Floyd of course) that this instrument emulatesperfectly.
Search by yourself and find better sounds than the factory presets. win / mac
http://untermkittel.de/rumpelrausch/?PLUGINS
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| Stringsynth by Algomusicis a rare emulation of Solina-like string synths. It is an old thingand does not sound the best, but, although its sound is a bit close andthin, it is useful and fine.
http://www.algomusic.net/freeware.htm
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| Orchestral Stringsby Uncuthas not a nice UI, but it is a good stringsynth that sounds rather likeold 70's renowned machines, with its 6 saw Osc, finetuning for 4 of them, mix 1&2, mix 3&4 vol for each pair, 2 12/24 dB multimode filters, 1envelope, and useful effects for phased string pads : a 2 voiceschorus, 1 reverb and a welcome stereo width adjustement. Not versatilebut efficient. The site is down, so take it there :
http://lesitedeburnie.free.fr/Host/Uncut-Orch-Strings.zip
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| S3B by Krakliis my prefered of the S3 series, because of its original sounds and itsability to produce rythmic effects with its pulse module and itsarpeggiator. Good looking, it has one osc with many waveforms (sine, square, triangle, saw, soft ramp, peak ramp, ramp, peak, octava, cluster 1, cluster 2),1 noise, 1 envelope,1 vibrato with delay, 1 phazer (which is necessary and efficientfor that sort of sounds), 1 'ensemble', 1 echo, 1 EQ... Its sounds areinteresting, not the fatest nor the brightest, a bit nasal, but theyhave a special nice colour...
http://krakli.wordpress.com/krakli-free-synths/ |
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