This never-released-still-in-beta FM synth has stoped since 2003, but it can produces FM sounds, had 6 operators, and can import DX7 patch, it can also import SY77 data. This entry was posted in VST plugins on 12 October 2014 by Wavosaur. I am recently had downloaded the synth1 vst 64 bits, and i begun the process of instalation. But the issue begins when i open the vst on ableton 9.7.5 64 bits, and the vst appears whitout a preset sound, even when i loaded the complete information from the folder vst, including the factory banks. If you make music of any kind, you need to know about the best synth VST plugins available in 2020. Every year more bedroom producers are making great records using no more than a laptop, DAW, and soft synths. You don’t need a major label budget to create amazing music, and we are here to help you get on track. The best free VST synth plugins 2020: wavetable, FM, virtual analogue and more musicradar.com - Si Truss. For computer musicians, a good synth plugin is likely to be the beating heart of any software-based studio setup.
Although we have all the tools we need to produce extremely clean and precise music without any unwanted artefacts there’s something about the imperfections of analog recording equipment that triggers certain emotions in us.
So if you want to produce lofi music it’s important to pick the right sounds and samples from the start. You could, for example, sample old vinyl records or buy an old drum machine. It would however be easier to just get your hands on a decent LoFi House or Hip Hop sample pack.
Once you have a selection of cool sounds & samples you can further refine your music to sound like it was recorded a few decades ago. Luckily there are plenty of cool lofi plugins available so you don’t have to actually own an old tape machine. Here are some of the best options:
Free LoFi Plugins
I want to start this list with a bunch of free lofi VSTs, because I know that a lot of producers are one a budget, especially when they’re still going to school (or music is their only income lol). That said, you don’t always have to spend money to get some quality software. The freeware in this list can easily compete with some of the paid stuff I’ll mention later on.
BVKER LoFi Rack
The “LoFi Rack” is a free Ableton Rack based on Live’s stock plugins. It comes with 8 macros allowing you to decrease the band width, add vinyl crackles, detune and distort the source sound. Unfortunately it’s only available for Ableton Live users, so if you’re using another DAW you have to pick some of the other options in this list. If you’re using Ableton however, hop on my newsletter and I’ll send you a free download link.
iZotope Vinyl
As the name suggests, iZotope’s “Vinyl” is a plugin emulating the characteristic imperfections of vinyl records. Since the freeware only comes with a handful of parameters it’s easy to use and setting it up won’t take much time. What I love the most is that you can adjust the year of your “recording”. A must have for every lofi producer if you ask me.
Spitfire Audio Labs
Labs is a free software instrument made by the London based sound design company Spitfire Audio. There are several extensions available, including pianos, brass, choirs and synths. Most of these instruments are rather unique and therefore a nice addition to the basic instruments libraries you probably already own. The cool part about Labs is that it comes with only a handful of parameters so you won’t spend 10 years trying to get everything perfect. The sound either fits your production or not.
Tritik Krush
Tritik’s Krush is an effect plugin with 3 different distortion types. A bitcrusher , a downsampler and an analog drive knob. It further comes with 2 filters and an LFO that can be used to modulate every parameter. It’s available for both Windows and Mac in VST, AU and AAX format so really everyone can get their hands on this.
HY-Lofi2
This one is a free bit quantizer, waveshaper & filter plugin made by Tadashi Suginomori from HY-Plugins. It’s meant to process “audio to give it a low fidelity sound”. Just like Krush it combines different distortion modes with high and low-pass filters. More precisely it has one drive knob and a quantizer, which can run in different modes and qualities.
Legowelt Ableton Racks
Legowelt is a dutch producer known for releasing samples from analog hardware units, but you’ll also find some Ableton Racks on his website, including the Smackos Tape Station, the Smackos Lemuria Vintage Sampler Simulator, the Smackos 808 Simulator and the Smackos Amiga 909.
Sound-Base Audio Retro Boy
The Retro Boy is a Windows only VST synth. It comes with one oscillator, 7 waveforms and controls for ADSR, vibrato and decimation, which makes it perfect for Chiptune or 8-bit music. Since there isn’t much processing going on, the synth is quite CPU-friendly.
Best LoFi Plugins
Although you can definitely do some cool stuff with the freeware I mentioned so far there are some paid options no lofi producer should miss out on. A lot of them do more or less the same thing so in the end it’s up to personal preference (and budget), which ones you should get. Luckily most of these plugins aren’t that expensive compared to some of the stuff by other brands.
XLN Audio RC-20 Retro Color
Probably the most hyped plugin of this list is the R-c20 Retro Color by XLN Audio. It combines 6 different effect units, including noise, wobble, distort, digital, space and magnetic. Combining these options basically allows you to recreate any lofi characteristic you could possibly think of. If I could only pick one plugin of this list I’d probably go for this one, since it comes with the most features.
Baby Audio Super VHS
Considering that Baby Audio is a rather new plugin company, their products already gained quite much attention. Super VHS again combines multiple effects, including a distortion unit, a retro sounding VST reverb and detune knob labeled “drift”. All knobs sound surprisingly good and I really dig the design.
D16 Group Decimort 2
Decimort 2 is a bitcrusher on steroids. It offers two optional anti-alias filters, adjustable jitter, two quantization methods and controllable dithering. If you’re looking for a cool bitcrusher, this is definitely the one you should get your hands on. With less than 50 bucks it’s also pretty affordable.
AudioThing Vinyl Strip
The Vinyl Strip is just like RC-20 a multi-effect plugin consisting of 6 different modules: Distortion, Compressor, Bit Crusher, Tilt EQ, Vintage Reverb, and something they call Vinylizer. In contrast to most plugins mentioned in this list, you can change the signal flow simply via drag-n-drop. On their website is stated that you can activate your license without an internet connection, which is pretty cool if you still live in a cave 😉
Devious Machines Texture
Texture is a plugin I just recently found out about watching Virtual Riot’s production workshop he did for Cymatics. It allows you to add noise to any kind of source sound. The cool part is that unlike similar effects you can even load your own noise samples and can adjust the exact frequency range, amount, ADSR and stuff like that.
Cableguys ShaperBox
When it comes to beat making, there’s one plugin every FL Studio user slaps on their melodies: Gross Beat (you’ll find plenty of memes about this). The problem is that it can’t be used in other DAWs (at least on Mac). This is where the Cableguys come into play. Their ShaperBox combines different effects that can all be modulated. The Time one is especially interesting for lofi producers, because it allows you to play back your melodies in halftime, add cool pitching effects and mix everything in with the dry signal.
Initial Audio Analog Pro
Analog Pro is once again a plugin meant to bring your digital audio tracks to live by simulating analog hardware. It comes with a variety of adjustable controls, including Noise Level, Noise Type, Impulse Type, Impulse Mix, Emphasis, Stereo, Lowcut, Highcut, Wow, Flutter and Amount. While I’m writing this the plugin is on sale for €26.10 (which is 64% off) so feel free to check out if this offer is still available.
Aberrant DSP SketchCassette
SketchCassette is a VST inspired by 4-track cassette recorders. It comes with most features the other plugins in this list have. Since it’s however available for only $20 it’s particularly interesting for producers on a tight budget.
Goodhertz Wow Control
Wow Control focuses on the weird and random modulations of analog playback devices. According to their website Goodhertz has carefully studied the essence of three different tape machines to make sure their plugin is the most comprehensive tape model they ever heard. I haven’t tried it out to be honest, but there are some videos about it on YouTube so feel free to check them out if you’d like to learn more about it.
PSPaudioware VintageWarmer2
The PSP Vintage Warmer is a tool simulating the saturation of analog compression / limiting. It comes with classic compression controls, such as knee or release time, and since it can run in multiband mode you can further control the individual bands a bit. In contrast to most usual compressors it comes with a big drive knob. Since it also comes with a mix knob you can drive the compression / saturation quite hard and mix it in just a bit to make your drums or vocals or whatever a bit fatter.
Wavesfactory Cassette
According to Wavesfactory’s website “Cassette is an audio plugin that imparts the unique character and sonic imprint of an often maligned recording medium”. You can also get your hands on their free Cassette Transport plugin, which “simulates the sound of tape speeding up and slowing down”. Or with other words: it’s a pretty cool tape stop plugin.
Psychic Modulation EchoMelt
Echomelt is “designed for adding character, texture and warmth to your sounds”. It doesn’t look that stunning, but it comes with an echo and chorus unit, which sets it apart from the other options in this list.
Aphex Vintage Exciter
The Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter by Waves is modeled on a tube-powered hardware unit. It allows you to increase high frequencies without raising the level too much.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are plenty of lofi plugins available that make your productions sound like they were recorded with a toaster (or something like that). The free offers, especially Vinyl and Labs are no brainers, since . well, they’re free, so make sure to download them straight away if you haven’t done so yet 😉
Synths are one of the most entertaining things to use on your tracks. They sound fantastic, and by using them, you can create ambient chimes, warm chord sounds, weird & psychedelic sounds, & much much stuff like that.
But the issue with analog synths is that they are expensive & too big. And that’s where synth plugins come in. All you’ve to do is load them in your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), and you’re ready to rock.
In the past, it was impossible to imagine that so many quality tools used for mixing could be available at no cost. But now there are many free plugins available on the internet than ever before.
So, how can you know which free VSTs are worth installing? And which VST’s will suit you the most? We’ve got you covered! Here’s the list of the best 10 Free VST Synth Plugins available that sound fantastic!
Autotune evo vst free mac. So Let’s get started.
Synth1
Synth Synth Analogue/Subtractive
Synth1 is one of the most used and most popular long time free choices for aspiring producers to create music with a plugin synthesizer. It’s a very decent synthesis powerhouse with lots of potential on one side, & also a bit of unexpected trouble missed opportunities.
The look of Synth1 is quite rough visually, but it’s a well-organized & functional plugin. Synth1 is resizeable up to 250%, and it’s perfect for modern high-resolution displays. You can also set the color of the text & the panel separately.
Synth1 updates are infrequent ( the last update was back in 2014 for Windows operating system, & it’s still called ‘beta’ today), but the Japanese author keeps adding GUI optimizations & charming new features.
Synth1 has got an astonishing abundance of presets. By searching on the internet, you can easily download tens of thousands of presets in organized preset packs. It’s worth skipping essential factory banks/presets & spent more of your time finding those little inspiring gems.
Features:
- FM modulation, 2 Oscillators, Ring Modulation, Sync, Modulation Envelope.
- 2 LFOs (synchronized with host).
- Four types of filters, distortion.
- Arpeggiator (synchronized with host).
- Tempo delay (synchronized with host), stereo chorus/flanger.
- 16 notes polyphony.
- Legato mode, portamento.
- 128 presets
- Thoroughly optimized for light CPU load using SSE instructions, etc.
Arppe2600va
Synth Synth Analogue/Subtractive
The number 2 in our list of the best 10 VST synth is Arppe2600va. It’s based on ARP’s legendary semi-modular analog monosynth! This multi-functional softsynth sounds very close to the original ARP 2600. Like the original one, its mono synth (no polyphony).
But also like it’s the original version, it has got a multitude of Frequency Modulation options and by which you can create some awe-inspiring sound effects.
Features:
- It has PWM, Sample & Hold, Ring Modulation, virtual Spring Reverb, & a dedicated Noise Generator.
- Filter Color (to adjust LowPass & HiPass filter types).
- Oscillator Sync (Original Arp 2600 didn’t have Oscillator Sync and Filter Color).
- You can get up to 12 patch routings with a very user-friendly (and visible!) drop-down menu interface.
- Arppe2600 started with the version 2.0, but now Arppe2600va is purchasable via a cleverly designed Mod Matrix!
- Instead of messy virtual of cables cluttering up the screen, All controls in the Arppe2600va are mapped to MIDI CC#’s, & you can override the default settings by using the MIDI Learn feature.
- You can use it as a pure stand-alone synth (.exe file included), or you can also copy the DLL into your favorite DAW or sequencer’s plugin folder.
Requirements:
- VSTi Format
- Windows System
SQL8
Synth
The SQ8L (L stands for Light) is a free demo version of the forthcoming SQ8X (X Ffor eXtended) version. It’s a software model of Ensoniq’s classic 1980s synth SQ80. SQ80 contains three digital wavetable oscillators for each of its eight voices fed through analog 4-pole lowpass filters (-24dB gain) with resonance. Sound parameters in SQ80 can be modulated by four envelopes, 3 LFQs & several MIDI sources.
SQ80 has also got a predecessor, and it’s the ESQ1, which can do almost the same things as SQ80. Although the technology may seem obsolete, these synths can gene ate a wide variety of extraordinarily usable & exciting sounds.
Because of the lo-fi oscillators & the analog components, it can sound very digital & dirty, but also, this synth is very analog & warm. And that’s very good because modern synths often lack to sound rather clean.
Limitations:
- Polyphony limited to only eight voices.
- Universal MIDI controllers (Pan, Master Volume,…), by default, do not affect & must be programmed as modulators.
- LFO humanization not implemented.
- No internal sequencer (and there will never be one).
- No Split/Layer to combine several sounds.
The full version SQ8X will get the following additional features.
Features:
- Combinations of up to 4 single sounds.
- Adjustable polyphony (far more than eight voices).
- New Filter algorithms with different modes such as bandpass, lowpass, highpass.
- Improved GUI
- Different routing modes for the filters: parallel, serial, split. & the second FILTER.
Noisemaker
Synth Synth Analogue/Subtractive
The Noisemaker’s name speaks for itself; when it comes to making some noise, this VST can do lots of things for you. Its interface is accessible, clean & to the point & thick. And you will be able to get some beefy sounds from the get-go.
Noisemaker comes in both AU plugin & VST formats. It’s an improved version of TAL-Elek7ro & has an entirely new synth engine with lots of improvements in sound and usability. This synth also has a small effect section with a reverb chorus & a simple bit crusher effect.
You can see slider & Knob values on the display screen of Noisemaker. In this way, you will be able to control this synth more effectively. It also has a ring modulator & a syncable triangle. Some of its features are given below.
Features:
- 3 Oscillators
- Osc 1, +-24 semitones, fine-tune, phase control (saw pulse, noise).
- Osc 2, +-24 semitones, fine-tune, phase control (saw pulse, rectangle, line, triangle).
- Sub Osc (rectangle).
- Osc 1 PM for pulse waveform.
- Osc 2 FM controlled by Osc 1.
- Osc 1 & Osc 2 sync to sub-OSC (pulse, saw, rectangle, triangle (bipolar sync))
- Up to 6 voices/
- Adjustable master tune & transpose.
- Portamento in mono & poly mode (off, auto, on).
- Ring mode modulates Osc 1 with Osc 2.
- Filter ADSR (negative & positive).
- Self resonating 4 X oversampled filters (24 dB LP, 18 dB LP, 12 dB LP, 6 dB LP, 12 dB LP, 12 dB LP, Notch).
- Volume ADSR.
- Routable ADSR, Modulates Filter, Osc 1, Osc 2, PW, FM (negative & positive).
- Adjustable Velocity dependent control over volume filter contour & cutoff.
- One pole HP filter.
- Detune & detune notes randomly.
- A built-in reverb.
- Adjustable Pitch Wheel control over Cutoff & Pitch.
- A built-in delay.
- Adjustable filter drive.
- Panic Button.
- MIDI Learn for all knobs.
- 256 Great Presets.
MiniMogueVA
Synth Synth Analogue/Subtractive
Based on the most popular and one of the most used mono synth of all time! This fantastic and free softsynth sounds very close to the original Minimoog. Yet, it has tons of new features not present on the original Mini (as well as the Minimoog Voyager!).
Features:
- It has got a 5-note polyphony.
- Dedicated Release knobs for the two Contour Generators (envelopes).
- Tuning of Osc 1.
- Arpeggiator & 16-note Step Sequencer.
- Excellent Tuning sliders for Osc2 & Osc3.
- This fantastic VST has got aftertouch control.
- Has an adjustable filter Velocity curve.
- 3 Independent Overdrive sliders (one per oscillator).
- Global Overdrive with hi & lowpass cutoff.
- This VST has Oscillator Sync, Chorus, an independent LFO that includes oscillator drift & stereo panning, & has a fully programmable Digital Delay!
- There is no dedicated Noise Generator as on the original Mini, However white & pink noise are selectable on Osc 3.
- Like the original Mini, you can also turn Osc 3 into an LFO with dedicated modulation for the Osc Pitch & the Filter.
- In this VST, all controls are mapped in MIDI CC#’s, and you can also override the default settings by using the all-important MIDI Learn Feature.
- You can use it as a pure stand-alone synth (.exe file included), or you can also copy the DLL into your favorite DAW or sequencer’s plugin folder.
Requirements:
- Windows System
- VATi Format
Chimera
Synth Synth Analogue/Subtractive
Chimera is a popular noise-driven synth and a free VST synth by Majken. The sounds that Chimera generates are based on white noise filtered into notes by resonant bandpass filters. And as a result, we hear some organic sounds ranging from warm pads to atmospheres with wind & water elements.
This VST is a perfect pick, especially for ambient & chill-out. It’s a very smooth and beautiful sounding synth. It’s an experimental synth that uses subtractive Synthesis in a new way. White noise is sent through a series of few narrow bandpass filters, which are controlled by pitch.
The filtered noise of Chimera is used as resonant sinewaves to create atmosphere organs, pads, and percussive sounds. In simple words, everything we hear from Chimera is white noise filtered into music (in realtime). Some of the features of Chimera VST are as follows.
Features:
- It has more than 50 included presets.
- Has a unique synthesis method.
- It’s built-in soft clipper distortion & has a 2-tap stereo delay.
- It has got a wide range of modulation options with three envelopes & three LFOs.
- This VST has freely assignable MIDI CC controls.
- Chimera has cross-modulation with free routing.
Crystal
Synth Synth Analogue/Subtractive
Crystal VST is a semi-modular software synthesizer featuring both frequency modulation (FM) synthesis & subtractive Synthesis. Some people think that crystal VST is no longer enjoyable, but actually, it’s still trendy. It’s like an old fart trying to survive in the harsh world of modern and popular soft synths.
Crystal VST is still alive with fantastic sound quality & flexibility, and it can beat any of its free rival or any commercial soft synths. The versatility of this VST synth made it popular among music producers & sound designers. And also, preset libraries are readily available on the internet.
Features:
- This VST offers abundant modulation control over with over 90 parameters which may be multi-stage envelopes with graphical editors, modulated, great tempo sync of envelopes/Iforates/delay times, a band splitter for effects processing by frequency band, and built-in effects for flanging/chorus/comb/filtering/echoes.
- Crystal VST also offers wave sequencing, granular synthesis, program morphing, imports sound fonts, MIDI learn. The musical applications for this ultimate crystal VST are boundless.
Chip32
Synth Synth Wavetable
Chip32 is a kind of wavetable softsynth, created by Sam. This virtual synth VST produces old school electronical sounds & features a graphical wavetable editor. This synth responds to realtime midi control, & provides 8-bit wavetables for “Chiptune” sort of music.
In Chip32, there are an ADSR envelope, a bit crusher, and a primary filter. Some of the common waveshapes in Chip32 are sine, saw, triangle and square. To use this synth and its effects, you need to have a plugin host like Renoise, Studio, or others.
There are various synth parameters in Chip32. The first four parameters are the standard amplitude ADSR settings. In Chip32, the ‘B’ slider controls the bit depth (roughness). The ‘F’ slider in it is the filter setting that controls how often the wave is filtered. On the left side of the GUI, there’s a place where waveshape can be drawn.
Features:
- Chip32 has an amazing Filter.
- It’s an 8-bit/32-byte wavetable synth.
- It has a Bitcrusher.
- It supports MIDI CCs.
ZynAddSubFX
Synth Synth Hybrid
The ZynAddSubFX synthesizer project was the first time released nearly 15 years ago by Paul Nasca Octavia with lots of latest features. This synth has analog sound, robust modulation, and a complete set of built-in functions.
ZynAddSubFX is a beautifully designed, fully-featured open-source software synthesizer & its capable of making a countless number of instruments. It can generate all sorts of sounds you want to hear. It can produce some commonly heard sounds from expensive hardware to many other unusual sounds.
Features:
- Polyphonic with support for mono playing modes & legato
- Three synthesizer engines:
- Additive Synthesis for classic synth sounds composed of a variety of different voices with robust modulation. This exposes modulators ranging from LFOs & envelopes to oscillator modulators for PM, FM, & AM.
- PAD synthesis for creating beautiful pads & other instruments.
- Subtractive Synthesis for creating variable bandwidth harmonics from filtered white noise.
- A variety of filters, including farming filters, analog modeled filters, & state-variable filters.
- It has a powerful waveform generator with up to 128 sines/non-sine harmonics.
- Envelopes in this synth can have ASDR (or ASR, etc.) modes or free modes (with any shape)
- This VST synth has got effects for Reverb, Chorus/Flanger, Echo, Phasing, Wave-shaping, Equalizing, Dynamic Filtering with flexible signal routing.
- In it, instruments can be organized in kits, which allows you to make drum kits or layered instruments; this will enable you to use more than one tool for a single part. It’s also possible to choose what the part’s effects should process items from the kit.
- This synth has Random settings to create subtle differences in each sound to help create that familiar analog warmth.
- It has Microtonal capabilities with any scale, up to 128 notes per octave, & critical mapping.
- Has a built-in Virtual Keyboard which can be used even if you don’t have a physical midi keyboard.
- Has extensive MIDI/Audio driver support, including ALSA, JACK, and
- The graphical user interface in ZynAddSubFX can be completely disabled if the user needs to.
- Plugin Support via DSSI/LV2/VST.
- Session Management Support via LASH/NSM.
- Over 1100 high-quality instruments included.
Podolski
Synth Synth Analogue/Subtractive
Podolski is a very simple and CPU-efficient virtual analog synthesizer. It’s a cut down version of FilterscapeVA with only one oscillator, one envelope, one filter, and two LFOs. It also has a Zebra-style arpeggiator/sequencer, chorus & delay effects.
Some of the Podolski specialties are Click parameter & it’s the ability to morph between three waveforms seamlessly.
Podolski is one of the hidden gems of the freeware world. This synth was first-time released as a gift for the visitors of Musikmesse 2005, And since then, it’s distributed as one of the freebies on the cover of a CD of keyboard magazine until 2009.
This VST synth is extremely CPU friendly on modern-day computers. It was completely offline for a few years; it was re-released as a free download for everyone in 2012. The 2012 version of this VST came with a fully refurbished GUI & a collection of factory presets crafted beautifully by none other than Howard Scarr (a sound designer). Some of its features are given below.
Features:
- Polyphonic (up to 16 voices), arpeggiator, mono sq2 and legato modes.
- Four envelope modes: ASDR or HDSR, linear or exponential.
- Oscillator with variable symmetry (sawtooth to the triangle, PWM) and glide.
- It has a multimode filter: bandpass, lowpass or highpass with FM and drive.
- Combination arpeggiator/ 16-step sequencer with other modulation sources.
- It has over 520 factory presets.
- Skinnable UI.
Conclusion
So those are the ten best free VST synths that you really should get. While these synths may not be the best things in life but my experience, I learned something from every piece of software.
Exploration & experimentation yield many rewards for the adventurous, & freeware can be a great start to your journey. If you are a big fan of video game music, sound design, or even electronic music, then you should try these synths.
As all these VST synths are entirely free, I recommend you try as many as possible, because each one might be a bit better at doing something in particular. You don’t need tons of expensive gear to make great game music.
The free synth has proved that there’s plenty of things you can do by using these tools by making music that sounds good at a low budget.
Free Vst Plugins Download
Whether you are looking for in-depth sound design tools, classic vintage tones, or you are just looking to choose an excellent synth to get started, then you can choose a free VST from the list above. Even if you have paid synths that get your work done, then it’ll still be wise to pick up at least a few of these free ones to experiment with.
Free Vst Plugins Download Windows 10
I hope this list was useful for you & if you feel that we’ve missed a good one, please let us know in the comment section below.