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s | As
the name of the site says, you will find here a list mainly
devoted to synthesizers, but you will find also virtual instruments of
other types, much fewer...
This
list of freeware is not like the others that pullulate on the web and
has something special : it gives to you links for only the best free
virtual instruments
(for Windows),
and is the result of many and long
researches, after testing around one thousand intruments.
My purpose is
to avoid you getting stuck with the same job... All
instruments are classified, but in an approximative way... When available, versions for other OS and formats are mentionned.
You
will 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 is
the musical quality, the beauty of sound, and not technical abilities
or specific uses.
Many virtual instruments made by renown developers of free software are
appreciated for their usefulness in specific styles of music, but I did
not put them in this list because they do not sound really good by
themselves... Anyway, this list is the result of my own choice, necessarily subjectice, and open to
criticism, like anyone's list... But it remains a unique list, because I hope that the level of quality is high...
In
the left column of each page, by clicking on vignettes, you can see the
interface of the full-scale instruments.
Sometimes,
in the right column of the page, you will find
links to download sound examples which allow you to get a precise idea
about
qualities and possibilities of these instruments. They are not songs
but sounds made with original presets and patches of the
instruments, without additional effects. These demos were initially made for a rubric on the forum
of the site
Instruments Virtuels, there,
in Ogg
audio format. If you do not know what is needed
to play this format, You can do it easily with the very good free
players (better than Windows'one), Media
Player Classic or VLC.
For
those who begin with vsti : as most of these instruments
are not standalone, but require to be opened in a sequencer or a vst
host, I recommend you to download Minihost,
by TobyBear, a very complete, stable and easy to use vst host... It is
donationware. Cantabile
Lite, the free version of Cantabile, is excellent too...
Attention
: the number of references (more than 170 !) will get you sick,
because
the world of freeware is very rich in musical instruments, especially
good quality synths. So, take your time, and come back to this
list, because it is often updated. |  |
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| Page 1
Mono
synths for leads and bass lines
String
synths for pads
Page 2
Analogue
sounding poly
synths
Page 3
Synths
with techno/trance sounds
Synths
for soundesign/ambient/atmosphere
Page 4
Cold
and metallic sounding synths
FM
synths
Hybrid
synths that are not in other categories
Wavetable
synths
Phase
distorsion synths
Phase modulation synths
Phase morphing synths
Physical
modeling synths
Page 5
Step
sequencers
Synths
for noise
Workstations | Absurd
machines
Page 6
Emulations
of 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
Commercial
virtual instrument bargains
-
Synthesizers
- Soundbanks
- Virtual drummers and
bassists
Magazineware
- The CM studio |
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| Synthesizers
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| Mono synths for leads and bass
lines |
|  |
Minimogue LUXUS, by Gunnar Ekornas (Voltkitchen group),
is a rather successful emulation of the famous MiniMoog, made with
synthedit. Though it is not as good as Arturia's Minimoog V, nor the
almost perfect GForce Minimonsta, it has an analogical
sound quality that gives big, swinging and juicy leads. With a nice
close-to-the-original instrument interface, it adds to this one a
step sequencer, an
arpeggiator, independent pan adjustment for each
Osc, and...polyphony (!), but I put it there because of the original machine. Indispensable.
http://www.home.no/gunnare/downloads.htm
|  |  | Rez
by Ugo
has been updated and got a much nicer GUI, in two flavours (yellow or black), and it
is an excellent mono synth that sounds beautiful to my ears. With a
simple but very good arpeggiator and nice sounding dual delay, it gives
good
analog
leads and sequences. Easy to use and set, it is one of the very best
sounding free monosynths. Very melodious, it is one of my favourites. A
must-have.
http://www.ugoaudio.com/
| |  | Triangle
I by Rgc
audio,
a mono synth with 2 Osc and an efficient delay, is good for clear and
melodious 70's leads. Good looking interface, easy to use and
intuitive parameters...
http://lesitedeburnie.free.fr/Host/RGCaudio-triangle1.10.rar
| |  | Triangle
II by Rgc
audio
too, better than Triangle I because of its versatility, is a beautiful
mono synth, very good for leads, rich in possibilities and parameters,
able to sound fat and varied. For
this must-have, you will find many presets on the web
:
http://www.cakewalk.com/products/triangle/
| |  | Angular
Momentum's Analog Warfare 3
has a very nice interface, with many components (3 Osc, 3 24 dB VCF, 4
LFO, 2 delays, ADSRL
envelopes and many other things, like an arpeggiator, a step sequencer,
and
a separate chorus for each channel, midi learn)... It sounds very big,
fat,
granular, cheezy or sweepy, but
not varied (the sound possibilities are not large)... A good
synth, especially for techno. The demo sounds were made with the
previous version, Analog Warfare 2.
http://www.amvst.com/node/15
| |  | Pure-Pone by TubeOhm
is the mono version of the commercial Pure-Pten. It is a full fetaured
analogue substractive synth, with 3 Osc and 20 waveforms, a bit of FM,
1 noise generator, 1 LFO, 1
multimode
filter, 1 ring modulator, 2 envelopes, 1 mixer, 1 arpeggiator,
2 modulation busses, 1 chorus and 1 delay, 1 distortion, midi learn
etc... The sounding qualities are rich and various, between some clear
FM sounds, analogue basses and leads, acid and agressive techno
sequences... 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 Audio
Line,
classic vintage analog mono synth, with 3 Osc, a non linear 24dB
lowpass 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 honest
emulation of the famous Juno 6. win / mac
http://www.kunz.corrupt.ch/?Products:VST_Vintager:Download
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|  | Bassline by Togu Audio
Line
too, has the same sound qualities as Vintager and, as its name says, it
is 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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reFX
Claw
is a simple mono synth, with only one Osc,
but it sounds punchy, sharp, incisive, and can be agressive, for
expressive leads and basslines. A very good one in this category. As
it will be replaced by a new and better ReFX
freeware, Scout, it is no more available.
The direct download link still works :
http://www.refx.com/downloads/Claw/Claw_1.0.zip
| | 
| The
NK 1001 is a
versatile 2 oscillators mono
synth
that sounds clean and fine, not punchy, thick or agressive,
but
powerful, varied, nice and elegant. A chorus and a stereo delay make it
complete.
And, like almost GTG products, it has a nice interface. http://www.gtgsynths.com/plugins.htm | | 
| Maestro by Istvan Kaldor
will not please everyone, because of its dirty sound (Kaldor like it,
see "Dirtbag"), and its GUI is something special, but it is a very good
mono synth
made with synthedit. With its 2 Osc, its modulation matrix,
and
its added effects (delay and autopan), it produces expressive, juicy,
fat analogical leads, as good as Minimogue or Claw ones. A very good
instrument.
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 by
Moog. Simple but good sounding, efficient, it gives deep, fat, analogue
basses. On the same page than the excellent ASynth.
Donationware but without limitations...
http://antti.smartelectronix.com/
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| 
| Iblit by Andreas Ersson
is a very good free synth too, which is one of the most renowned
analogical mono synths. With 3 Osc, 2
Lfo and 2 ADSR envelopes, but without added effects, it comes raw. So
you must imagine its sounds in a mix and with external
effects.
There are better free raw analogical synths (Antti's Asynth or JX10)
that have a more granular and analogical texture, but this one is
really good.
PolyIblit
is 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, as
they say on the site : "raspy, fried transistor, dropped on the ground
a couple of times". Nice.
http://www.noslogan.com/VST/Rogue/Rogue.html
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|  | BB303i by Buzzroom
is a simple mono synth that is good for clean thick leads and bass
lines. Its name reminds the famous TB-303, of course... It is rather
basic, and is not supposed to produce complex and composite sounds, but
it 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
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|  | Alieno by Acrobatics Software
is a Sci-Fi look-like engine, but this mono synth is not a toy. It
sounds well for leads and sequences with its 16 step pattern Lfo. It
has 6 Osc divided in 3 modules, 1 multimode filter, effects like
reverb,
delay, vibrato and pan/tremolo. Last three effects and the Lfo are
tempo sync, and all paramaters can be automated. Several useless colors
of skins are available...
http://www.blank-media.it/acrobatics/ |
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| String synths for pads |
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| Crazy
Diamonds by Rumpelrausch
Taïps,
is a stringsynth that produces string ensemble pads, not varied but
efficient and good sounding. To understand why it is called "Crazy
Diamonds", click on the "warranty void" label and listen the
intro pad of "Shine on you crazy diamond" in
"Wish
you were here" (Pink Floyd of course) that this instrument emulates
perfectly.
Search by yourself and find better sounds than the factory presets. win / mac
http://untermkittel.de/rumpelrausch/?PLUGINS
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|  | Stringsynth by Algomusic
is a rare emulation of Solina-like string synths. It is an old thing
and does not sound the best, but, although its sound is a bit close and
thin, it is useful and fine.
http://www.algomusic.net/freeware.htm
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|  | Orchestral Strings
by Uncut
has not a nice UI, but it is a good stringsynth that sounds rather like
old 70's renowned machines, with its 6 saw Osc, fine
tuning for 4 of them, mix 1&2, mix 3&4 vol for each pair, 2 12/24 dB multimode filters, 1
envelope, and useful effects for phased string pads : a 2 voices
chorus, 1 reverb and a welcome stereo width adjustement. Not versatile
but efficient. The site is down, so take it there :
http://lesitedeburnie.free.fr/Host/Uncut-Orch-Strings.zip
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|  | S3B by Krakli
is my prefered of the S3 series, because of its original sounds and its
ability to produce rythmic effects with its pulse module and its
arpeggiator. 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 efficient
for that sort of sounds), 1 "ensemble", 1 echo, 1 EQ... Its sounds are
interesting, not the fatest nor the brightest, a bit nasal, but they
have a special nice colour...
http://krakli.wordpress.com/krakli-free-synths/ |
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