The 5 Most Popular Freeware VST Plugins

Free effect plugins and synth are one of the most helpful resources for music producers with limited studio budgets. In this article, I will share the 10 Most Popular Freeware vst Plugins. We will look into virtual instruments, drum machines, virtual analog synths, sound effects, transient shaper, wavetable synths, free instruments, reverb plugins, and many more.

Hopefully, this list will help you update your music production resources.   

1. Vital by Matt Tytel

Vital VST Features

• 3 High-Quality wavetable oscillator

• Advance wavetable generator and editor.

• 8 Lfo, 6 Envelope, and 4 Random Modulation Sources capable of modulating almost everything.

• High-quality FX Modules.

• Various wrap and modes(FM, RM, Sync etc)

• Text to wavetable

• Dual filter with possibilities to work in Series as well as parallel.

• Fast workflow with quality results.

2. Acoustica Nightlife (32 bit Windows only)

Nightlife is the best plugin for Electronic Dance Music Producers. The hybrid additive subtractive synth gives even the premium synths a run for their money.

Nightlife VST Features

• 3 Oscillators with lots of waveshapes as well as the option to free draw custom shapes.

• Pulse width Modulation(PMW), FM, and RM.

• Dual filters with additional vowel filter.

• Outstanding Mod Matrix with 4 LFOs and 3 dedicated modulation envelopes.

• Decimator, Distortion, and HQ effect module.

• Built-in sequencer.

3. Eclipsis VST

I always like plugins with a unique approach towards sound generation. Eclipsis is one of the few freeware that I really respect, the approach to its sound design process is really profound and helps sound designers attain a unique result every single time.

The secret sauce of Eclipsis vst is its powerful modulation engine. The waveshapes are the source of modulation and each oscillator has its own modulation rack and FX routing.

Eclipsis VST Features

• Randomization using a complex setup.

• Subpresets may be saved and loaded for quick preset generation and modification.

• Each of the three separate oscillators has a route output, detune, phase offset, scope, ADSR, smoothing control (1 pole LP filter), pan, and amplitude control.

• There are 118 Waveshapes to choose from, as well as three extra tools to tweak the underlying Waveshape (increase total number of final shapes to 1888).

• FM modulation includes detuning, waveshaper, scope, smoothing (1 pole LP filter), and amplitude control, as well as a configurable input signal source (Frequency, Pitch, Velocity).

• Cutoff modulation with configurable input signal source (Frequency, Pitch, Velocity), detune, waveshaper, ADSR, scope, smoothing (1 pole LP filter), and amplitude control are some of the subtractive modulation options.

• 9 input sources and 39 mod targets make up a modulation matrix with amplitude settings.

• There are six LFOs in all.

• Reverb, Chorus/Flanger, and Delay (syncable to host) effects are available in two effect racks.

• Arp/Gate module with 8 configurable targets, variable Steps (4-32), frequency control and divider (for example, split one 32 step pattern into two 16 step patterns), and playback control (Forward, Forward and hold, Backward, Backward and hold, Ping Pong /Forward-Backward/).

• Pattern randomization, shift, load, and save are all available in the Arp module section for semitones (+/-1 octave range) and octaves (+/- 5 octave range).

• Randomization and smoothing controls are included in the gate module.

• The next version will have MIDI CC and MIDI learn.

4 Dexed DX7 Synth

How about some classic FM Madness? Although I personally like using FMMF as a free FM Synth, I didn't include it in the list because it is only available for Windows in 32bit format. To make up for it, Dexed is the best choice. This plugin is an emulation of classic Yamaha DX7

Dexed DX7 VST Features:

• Multi-platform (OS X, Windows, Linux) and multi-format (VST, could build a AU also); by using JUCE.

• The sound engine music-synthesizer-for-android is closely modeled on the original DX7 characteristics.

• 144 DAW automatable DX7 parameters available from one single panel.

• Fully supports DX7 input and output Sysex messages; including controller change. This means that you can use this with a native DX7/TX7 as a patch editor.

• Each operator has a real-time VU meter to know which one is active.

• Can load/save any DX7/TX7 sysex programs. It is also possible to save a single program into a different SysEx file.

• Comes with a 1024 programs compilation.

5. TAL Noisemaker

FEATURES

• 3 Oscillators Osc 1, +- 24 semitones, fine-tune, phase control (saw, pulse, noise). Osc 2, +- 24 semitones, fine-tune, phase control (saw, rectangle, triangle, sine). Sub Osc (rectangle).

• Osc 1 PM for pulse waveform.

• Osc 2 FM is controlled by Osc 1.

• Osc 1 & Osc 2 sync to sub OSC (saw, pulse, rectangle, triangle(bipolar sync)).

• Adjustable master tune and transpose.

• Up to 6 voices.

• Portamento in mono and poly mode (off, auto, on).

• Ringmod modulates Osc 1 with Osc 2

• Filter ADSR (negative and positive)

• Volume ADSR

• Routable ADSR, modulates Filter, Osc 1, Osc 2, PW, FM (negative and positive)

• 2 LFO's with different running modes: free, sync to host, triggered by the note. Modulates filter, OSC 1, OSC 2, FM, PW, lfo rate, panorama, and volume. Sine, triangle, saw, square, s&h, noise. Positive and negative modulation. Phase control.

• Adjustable Velocity dependent control over volume filter contour and cutoff.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading! We hope that you will find this list of free synth VST plugin helpful. Make sure to check out our free Car Test VST.