I am convinced that it makes total sense to spend a certain amount of your (spare) time on this planet tinkering around and exploring stuff that seems totally useless or silly compared to what you normally do. And without having a real explanation for why it happened, I’ve been starting to get interested in software synthesizers lately. I can barely play proper melodies on my Arturia MiniLab – seems like 10 years of playing the piano as a kid somehow mostly vanished from my brain cells – and I haven’t recorded anything that would be remotely useful or even worth sharing yet. But it is still just a lot of fun to play around with the different presets and to turn the knobs and faders of the synths, seeing and hearing what different kind of sounds you can get out of those magical devices.
Especially when you’re just amateurishly dabbling or are just getting started, investing a lot of money into monsters like Arturia Pigments (currently on sale!), Serum 2, or u-he’s Diva might be a bit unreasonable. But luckily, there are a lot of free but still amazing synthesizers out there. It is actually astonishing what great sound quality and endless hours of fun you can get out of free plugins today.
So, for anyone interested, and as a post to which my future self will definitely come back to over and over again, I wrote down a list of free synthesizers I recently downloaded and tried. Of course, this list is just a small personal selection of a truckload of free synths out there. Also keep in mind that I’m a total noob when it comes to software synthesizers – so your mileage may vary…
Surge used to be a paid plugin but is now open source. It is consistently ranked as the best free synthesizer VST plugin available at the moment, featuring a powerful hybrid subtractive digital synth with dual synthesis engine. It offers multiple synthesis techniques, excellent filters, flexible modulation, built-in effects, and modern features like MPE and microtuning support. Just playing around with the presets shows what an incredible beast of an instrument this synth is.
https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
Vital is a free advanced wavetable synthesizer that comes with tons of keys, pianos, leads, and free presets. It is known for its professional-quality wavetable synthesis capabilities and intuitive interface.
Tyrell N6 is a virtual analog synthesizer by Urs Heckmann, also known as u-he, the synth engineer from Berlin responsible for many legendary synths like Diva or Zebra, the favorite synth of Hollywood composer and synth-nerd Hans Zimmer. Tyrell N6 is originally based on ideas for a hardware instrument by the online community Amazona.de that never came to fruition. It comes with warm tones and flexible modulation options ideal for genres like synth-wave and techno.
https://u-he.com/products/tyrelln6/
Zebralette is yet another free synth by u-he. It basically is a simplified version of the acclaimed Zebra 2 synthesizer used by Hans Zimmer. While the real Zebra has four oscillators, Zebralette has only one. But it is still an incredible sounding 16-voice polyphonic synth packed with features, including 300 factory presets to play around with – perfect for beginners like me.
Also make sure to have a look at the u-he website. They offer even more free synths like Triple Cheese, Podolski, and BazilleCM – and a bunch of fantastic effect plugins, like the tape machine emulation u-he Satin or the Presswerk compressor. But I’m digressing…
https://u-he.com/products/zebralette/
Pendulate is a free monophonic synthesizer by Newfangled Audio that stands out for its revolutionary “chaos” oscillator, which generates sounds based on chaotic physics principles rather than traditional waveforms. The synth can smoothly fade from a simple sine wave to total chaos, creating “previously unheard sounds – biting basses, searing leads, and gritty textures.”
https://www.eventideaudio.com/plug-ins/pendulate/
Odin 2 is a 24-voice polyphonic synth developed by TheWaveWarden. It is an open-source plugin that offers a lot of different synthesis types including analog, phase modulation, chiptune, frequency modulation (FM), and wavetable oscillators. And it even lets you draw your own custom oscillator waveforms. It also comes with 13 high-quality emulations of legendary analog filters, like the Moog Ladder, the Korg 35 and many more to shape your sound, plus built-in effects like distortion, delay, and reverb.
https://thewavewarden.com/pages/odin-2
Dexed is a powerful freeware FM synthesizer that faithfully recreates the sound and functionality of the legendary Yamaha DX7, one of the most influential synthesizers in music history. Originally released in 1983, the DX7 revolutionized electronic pop music in the 1980s with its distinctive frequency modulation synthesis, producing everything from iconic electric piano sounds to digital bells and metallic textures – and the bass line in “Fresh” by Kool & the Gang. Dexed combines this classic FM synthesis character with modern features like an improved user interface design and can even load authentic DX7 patches.
https://asb2m10.github.io/dexed/
The PG-8X is a virtual analog synthesizer from developer Martin Lüders inspired by the classic Roland JX-8P. The Roland JX-8P polysynth was one of the most popular analog synthesizers in the 1980s and among the last true analog synthesizers produced by Roland. Its classic presets made it onto hundreds of recordings from the golden age of synth pop, shaping the sound of artists like Depeche Mode, The Cure, or – maybe most famously – Europa‘s “The Final Countdown.”
The ML PG-8X plugin version gives you all the vintage mojo of the original for free. It’s a nice analog-style polysynth with a unique retro character.
Important: In order to install and use the VST plugin version of the synth on newer ARM-based (M1, M2, M3, etc.) Macs, you need to move the VST of the plugin into /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/, open the Terminal or any other CLI of your liking and sign the VST, so that macOS lets you open it:
sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/PG-8X.vst
sudo codesign --force --sign - /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/PG-8X.vst
https://sites.google.com/site/mlvst0/
OB-Xd is another plugin modelled after classic analog hardware. It emulates the Oberheim OB-X, OB-Xa, and OB-8 synths and although it doesn't try to be a perfect clone of the original Oberheim hardware, it still captures the essence of what made those synths so beloved in the first place: a warm, slightly unpredictable analog character that digital recreations often struggle to nail.
You get two detunable oscillators with unison, a noise generator, envelopes, an LFO, and a great-sounding filter – all wrapped in an interface that is fun to use and comes with a vast collection of presets. A fantastic starting point if you are new to subtractive synthesis – like me.
https://www.discodsp.com/obxd/
Tunefish is a compact virtual analog synthesizer that fits into just 10kb of compressed code while delivering commercial-quality audio. Created by demoscene group Brain Control, it was originally designed to provide music for real-time 3D animations at demoparties.
If you install the VSTs, make sure to also sign them as described above for the PG-8X. For example the VST3 versions:
sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Tunefish4.vst3
sudo codesign --force --sign - /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Tunefish4.vst3
VK-1 Viking Synthesizer by Blamsoft is an authentic emulation of a classic monophonic analog synthesizer which comes three wave oscillators that allow smooth transitions from sine to sawtooth, square wave and pulse waveforms. It offers 228 presets, two modulation busses, an LFO, and various filters.
https://blamsoft.com/vst/vk-1-viking-synthesizer/
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And that’s about it.
Let me know via email, social, or Webmention, if there is a great synth I missed or that you love yourself.
After I published this post, Patrick reached out to me via Mastodon, suggesting two more free synthesizers that both look really good. And on top of that, Native Instruments just published a free “light version” of their Massive X synth. So here are a few more free synthesizers, in case you just can’t get enough. 😉
RipplerX is a tiny, focused physical modeling synthesizer that started as research into drum modeling and evolved into something surprisingly powerful. The open source synth features dual resonators with 9 acoustic models including string, beam, membrane, and marimba, all packed into a small 3MB plugin. No LFOs, no sequencers – just pure resonator-based synthesis that delivers a distinct sound without the bloat.
https://github.com/tiagolr/ripplerx
Cardinal is a fully free and self-contained modular synthesizer based on the popular VCV Rack. With 1,305 modules from 83 different authors all built-in, it is a real playground to build a huge variety of sounds by combining and patching a vast amount of modules – although it might not be the easiest to learn and use.
Native Instruments’ Massive X Player is a streamlined, free version of their flagship synthesizer Massive X that prioritizes immediate playability over deep sound design. The plugin features a simplified interface centered around the new Morpher control — an XY pad that lets you animate sounds by shifting between parameters in real time. The Animator feature introduces evolving movement and rhythmic modulation with just a few clicks. Massive X Player comes with 60 presets and the Bass Music Essentials Expansion and essentially is an accessible package for beginners as part of the free Komplete Start bundle – which includes a lot of other useful plugins and tools as well, by the way.
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/massive-x-player/
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