| Synthesizers
|  |
| Analogue
sounding poly
synths |
| 
| Majken's Subduer
is a versatile poly/mono synth with an
unusual but very nice GUI. With 3
Osc, 3 Lfo, 1 chorus/flanger, 1 arpeggiator and many more components,
its sound is not the best nor the fattest, but it is nice. Majken made
also Chimera,
interesting for pads and atmospheres.
http://www.majken.se/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&catid=3&Itemid=23
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|  | Voyager by Arguru,
at first sight, is an enormous unusable thing : it is larger than a
1024X768 17" display ! And it would be necessary to make a smaller and
nicer GUI for it... But the thing is really
good and, with 4 Osc, 2 Lfo, 2 filters, 1 pitch envelope, a 32 band
stereo vocoder, stereo chorus and echo, it can produce huge and
agressive leads, as well as smooth keys and sweet pads, or
clean
percussive sounds. Very good.
http://www.aodix.com/products.html
|  |  | V2 by Farbrausch is a polyphonic substractive
synth
with something special, because it is probably the only free one that
has a speech synth and is 16 parts multi-timbral. It comes with 3 osc,
2 filters, 2
envelopes, 2 lfo, a modulation matrix, effecs like 1 disto, 1
chorus/flanger, 1 compressor, 1
reverb, 1 stereo delay. It is a melodious good sounding
synth, but with a non intuitive and rudimentary GUI. The
scrolling
section is not a good thing (many parameters are hidden, and you can
not see them all at the same time), and the multi-timbral version needs
midi messsages to change presets, but the single version has not this
problem. A really misappreciated good synth. Discover it.
http://www.1337haxorz.de/products.html#v2 | | 
| EVOL by Michael Karstrup,
made with synthedit, is not developed anymore but is still available
for download. It works fine, with its 3 Osc, 5 Lfo, 3 envelopes and
some added effects like 1 arpeggiator, 1 chorus/flanger, 1 reverb among
other components, and it sounds sweet but fat and rather cold, a bit
like Vangelis sounds... A good misappreciated polyphonic synth.
http://www.xsynth.com/evol/
| |  | NutronXB by J.V.Pearl
is a pretty good first attempt with Synthmaker. Although it is simple
(2 VCO with 5 waveforms, 1 filter and an amp with one envelope each,
plus 1
delay), it sounds good, with a large stereo space, dense and powerful.
There is much better than this one, and it is not the bread and butter
synth, but I like it as it is.
http://lesitedeburnie.free.fr/Host/NutronXB.zip |
|  | Stelsi Virtual Synth,
first ukranian soft synth, is a good VA (virtual analogue)
polyphonic one, with 3 osc, 1 step lfo, 1
envelope, 1 filter, 1 graphic EQ, 1 chorus, 1 delay et 1
distorsion... The result is thick, dense, fat but cold. Méconnu, mais
vraiment il sonne.
http://www.stelsi.com/Synth01Eng.html
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|  |
Ant
1, made with synthedit by Antonio de Bragança,
comes with a rather bad interface and only 15 presets,
but, with its 2 Osc, 2 lfo, 3 envelopes, its filter, ring modulator and
so on, it sounds very nice, sweet and delicate to my ears, with an
original specific character... Try it, you will be surprised. It needs
to be
improved and developed further... Take the presets I made for myself...
http://vst01synth.no.sapo.pt/
http://lesitedeburnie.free.fr/Varia/Burnie-Ant1-presets.zip
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EVM's Ultrasonique,
previously commercial and free now, is an interesting synth. With a
nice and commercial like GUI,
this polyphonic synthesizer is also a wavesample player and has a
multi-function step sequencer, and added effects like
1 delay, 1 chorus, 1 phaser... Good for cheezy and sweepy pads, it can
produce unusual pulsating and hypnotic sequences too. But it sounds
like all EVM products : a bit closed and metallic.
http://evm.110mb.com/free.htm
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 |
Novakill (Bones for KvR users)
made many rather good synths, all of the same
sounding family : agressive, rather violent, rocky, punchy, fat
and
dry, like his music. The GUI could be clearer and easier to use. NeoKiller III
is one of the most appreciated. It is not my taste, but if you like rough sounds..
http://www.novakill.com/killerz.htm
http://www.kara-moon.com/index.php?modid=mod02&l_submenu_id=m001_02_05
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|  | SCP5 by EFM is an old emulation of the famous Sequential
Circuit's Prophet 5, a standard of 80's. The soft synth has 2 Osc, 1 Lfo, 1 filter, 1 Poly-mod
section, 1 wheel-mod
section, 1 arpeggiator, and 2 effects :
chorus and delay. It is far from Pro-53 by Native Instruments, and more
from Prophet V by Arturia, but it sounds clean, thick, clear, and
has a rather good quality.
http://lesitedeburnie.free.fr/Host/EFM-SCP5.zip
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| Synths
with techno/trance sounds |
|  | Uniretro, made by Christoph Bielen
with SynthMaker and not Synthedit, has a too big and not
pretty
GUI, but it sounds good, with its 4 voices, 3 multi-mode oscillators
with PM and FM capabilities, 2 envelopes, 2 lfo, 1 multimode filter, polyphony,
pitch, trigger, hold and modulation sequencers, distortion, decimator,
chorus and delay effects. I like it very much although it is made for
Techno/trance, because it sounds fat, mellow, thick.
http://synthmaker.co.uk/uniretro.html | |  | GrooveBox II is
probably the best synth made by C.Hackl.
It has 2 Osc with 9 wavetables and their envelope, 1 filter, a
32 step sequencer, and effects like 1 multi-delay, 1 chorus, 1
reverb and 1 distorsion, plus a randomize button for lazy people. It is
a fat, juicy sounding polysynth. Not the most elegant and delicate one,
but good for techno/trance, I guess, and it gives instant pleasure.
Midi learn inside...
http://saufboy.sa.funpic.de/chackl/VST/DrumBoxLM/ |
|  | The last free beta version of Helix, by Audjoo,
before the final commercial version, has surprising specifications : it is an hybrid synth that combines
substractive synthesis and
wave shaping, with 4 osc, 16 voices unison per osc, and can totalize
64 osc per voice, spectral morphing, 3 lfo, 3
enveloppes, 2 step sequencers, modulation matrix, and effects like
stereo reverb and delay... It sounds good, 80's, fat, techno, dance...
Not easy to use, but powerful. http://lesitedeburnie.free.fr/Host/Audjoo-Helix-2008-04-13.zip | |  | Ensembler, by Concrete FX,
is a rather unusual poly synth, because it comes with 4 different
GUis, but I recommend you to use "Ensembler soft" (on the
picture beside). With many components (6 Osc for example) and added
effects like 1 delay, 1 chorus, 1
phaser, 1 reverb, 1 disto and 1 arpeggiator, it is very interesting and
sounds rather agressive, varied, for leads, pads or fx. Not very
elegant nor delicate. Direct download (no more page
for it on Concretefx's site) :
http://www.concretefx.com/Ensembler.zip
| |  | Microtrance by Dream Vortex studio,
is a very good little synth, with just a few visible parameters, but
many detuned OSC (number not precised) that give thick analogue sounds,
with low pass filters, and a host sync echo. There is an arpeggiator,
but not visible (!)... A bit mysterious, this synth sounds very
good for trance style music, and much more, of course... (no more available)
|
|  | Transcender SE, by Dream
Vortex
Studio
too, is a polyphonic synth that features 10
oscillators (with 2 waveforms), adjusted and detuned by a single slider, and a trance gate. With large
stereo and relief, it produces fat, thick, granular sounds that are
good for trance leads.
http://www.dreamvortex.co.uk/instruments/
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|  | Pterosaur by Contralogic
has nothing to do with dinosaurs, but is an unusual specialized
monosynth devoted to techno and trance (as far as i know anything about
that...), with 16 sawtooth Osc. Not versatile, it produces acid, cheezy
and sweepy strings, pads and leads. Very nice.
http://lesitedeburnie.free.fr/Host/Contralogic-Pterosaur.zip
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| Synths for
sound design / ambient / atmosphere |
|  | Glenn Olander's Crystal,
which is the most impressive of all free synths that can be found on
the web, is a kind of Native Instruments' Absynth, not as good as this
one, but less cold, very rich and complex. It is semi-modular, combines
substractive and FM synthesis, can load soundfonts, has many many
components and is
able to produce very composite and evolving sounds. You can find
many presets for it, on KvR or Patcharena, and that is great, because
this
synth is difficult to understand and set. Absolutely original, a
must-have. Pretty interface... vst / au / win / mac
http://www.greenoak.com/crystal/download.html
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H.G. Fortune began to make synths in 2003, with the first version of Wheel of Fortune, and he never stopped developing new astonishing instruments since, sample-based for most of them, made for complex multilayered sounds,
evolving space pads, rich and beautiful soundscapes, like no one else
did. Never satisfied with his work, he made many versions of his
software, always improving them, making more and more complicated new
ones, removing from his site the instruments he did not like anymore,
changing again and again... It is the reason why I decided to stop
writing detailed descriptions of his products, and prefered to give
only this general presentation and the link to the site of H.G.
Fortune, where you will find a lot of good synths, with unique quality
sounds that will necessarily seduce you... You will find there free and
limited (but quite usefull) versions of commercial instruments, like The Tiger synth, Serenity, Scapes wizard, Ultra Swamp, Alionoctis, The Dreammachine etc, and also full versions of previous commercial synths that became freeware, but are ever good, like STS-21 Pro 2011, Protoplasm 2011, Shunji Pro 2011, Laserblade Pro 2011 etc... Do not miss them...
http://www.hgf-synthesizer.de/se/dl/prdl.html
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|  |
Krakli's Cygnus is a very
good surprise in Krakli's production, and sounds great for long
evolving
and fascinating space pads and atmospheres... Not very far from the
H.G.Fortune sound style, it does not use samples (I assume). It comes
with 2 GUIs, and I recommend you to use the OdO's one, much clearer
than Krakli's one, because it can load soundfonts for each of the 3 OSC.
http://krakli.wordpress.com/krakli-cygnus/
| |  | Orgone lite by Astralis is a reduced version of a complex dual sample based synth,
coming with 25 of the 150 samples of the commercial full version, and
only one of its two synths. Among many parameters, there is a 32 steps
polyphonic gate sequencer, a modulation matrix allowing to map 12
sources and 5
destinations from 31, a fully featured arpeggiator with 17 modes, a
complete section of effects, a randomization system to make it
easier to use, a polyphonic BPM based modulation sequencer,
and much more settings... The sounds are interesting, varied, but
rather cold and a bit harsh. They lack of softness, thickness and
suavity... Registration required.
http://www.hgsounds.com/info/orgone/astralis-orgone-lite-download |
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