10 EPIC Free Synth Plugins You Need for Sound Design 🎹 

thank you you fucking nerd

Your voice should be a free synth plugin.

1:54 - Surge 3:54 - Dexed 5:36 - Pendulate 7:33 - Exakt Lite 10:01 - OB-Xd 12:36 - Tyrell N6 15:00 - Tunefish 17:12 - Synth1 19:25 - TAL Bassline 20:43 - TAL Noisemaker 22:28 - PG-8X 24:05 - Zebralette 26:27 - Odin 2 29:28 - Voltage Modular Nucleus 30:50 - AAS player

This Guy has a great voice for late Night Radio Shows - Smooth House, Smooth Jazz - I can hear him doing a Midnight Show.

Damn this guy's voice can really get him a serious movie deal.

Sound design tip => The Venus Theory guy voice as wavetable: best growl dubstep ever.

You do these reviews better than any other reviewers on youtube. No bullshit, No wasted time just a straight to the point overview and a few sound examples. More than enough time for a person to decide if they want to give it a go. Excellent job! many thanks.

Bit of a long comment, but I just wanted to say how helpful your videos (especially these free plugin ones) have been for me the past few months. I attended Berklee from 2007-2010, where I was a double major in Guitar Performance and Electronic Production & Design (back then, the program was Music Synthesis). I had to leave for medical reasons with just ONE part-time semester left. After which I spent OVER A DECADE trying to get back to my studies to complete my degree, only to be continually ignored by the college every time I reached out. It was a clerical error or something like that which resulted in every request I sent to the degree completion office never actually landing in front of a person (despite multiple calls, emails, requests, etc). FINALLY somebody actually paid attention to me and figured out what the hell was going on (even then it still took 6 months to figure out the problem) and I was able to enroll in classes again this summer to finish up. But there was another problem: I'd spent the 12 years prior working as a private music teacher and performing musician, and much of that time was spent without me owning a computer or having access to any of my old gear (which remained in storage, in Boston, while I was in California, for that time). I had done NOTHING even remotely related to the stuff from the EPD program. If a band I was in was recording, we paid someone and did it in a professional studio (often to tape!) So now I found myself enrolled in my capstone class for the program with my skills in this area rustier than the Titanic and ZERO knowledge or ownership of modern plugins that could do what I needed to do what I wanted to do for my big final project (which is a John Carpenter/neon-slasher esque EP). Those 12 years had also not been kind on me financially and I didn't have the resources to purchase a bunch of plugins (not that I'd know which ones I would actually use). These videos not only gave me a look at some great free plugins I could get, saving me countless hours of searching, but helped me brush up on some long dormant skills and knowledge. The summer semester is just about over and I have three tracks that I'm about to start my final mixing on. Vital and the Tyrell N6 rose to the occasion and they're all over those tracks, as well as Valhalla Supermassive and a number of others you've mentioned on this channel. So I felt I owed you a massive (or SUPERmassive?) thank you, Cameron. Your content has made the incredibly steep uphill battle I've had coming back to this after such a long time, and with such high standards as the final course at Berklee in a program dedicated to this sort of thing would be expected to have, so much more manageable. I still have a lot of rust to shake off when it comes to this stuff, but without the time I saved because of your videos, I don't know that I would have been able to get any of my work to the point it was even close to where it needs to be for this. Thank you

i like that you're actually looking towards the synths in the bubble thing. nice touch!

Nice overview of the free softsynths out there. A couple of thoughts: Surge: I absolutely agree this is an astonishing synth. One thing I think they've done really well is the mod-matrix, where the available modulation targets are an overlay of controls over the normal sliders. Fantastic. I consider it a spiritual sibling to the Waldorf Blofeld, though with a bit more flexibility, as all 3 oscillators in Surge can be configured with any of the available waveforms. Dexed vs. ExaktLite: as I'm somewhat of a fiend for FM, it's important to point out that these two synths cannot be directly compared, in the same way a TX81Z is not a DX7. ExaktLite is a 4-op FM synth, whereas Dexed is a 6-op. From what I can see, ExaktLite is essentially an emulation of the TX81Z. Odin II: I think it's a little misleading to present Odin II as some kind of beta-quality project. It's actually the evolution of the same developer's earlier Odin synth, which has been in development for going on 5 years. I find it to be very solid and mature.

Surge changed my life. I have Serum, Massive and many other must-have synths, but something always draws me to it. It's incredibly powerful, not the most intuitive UI but man, once you learn how to tweak it you can do pretty much anything! A friend challenged me to do a whole EP just with it, and two months later I was 50€ richer.

Absolutely perfect presentation Cameron, no unnecessary BS, great information, and fun too. Well done Sir, and yes I am gonna try out a few of these.

Got the OB-Xd, the Arturia Matrix-12 and OB-Xa, and a Dave Smith OB-6. I love to mix and match them all! 😍 Oberheim is my fav!

I've been diving into all things digital after decades of being an analog multi instrumentalist and recording guy. You're channel is more than helpful, and even if it wasn't I'd stay for the voice. Seriously, you should do voice over/acting, or radio! Thanks!

Agreed! Great list. I was unaware that Surge is free now. That's insane! I find your take on these plugs very inspiring. Thanks always for making and sharing these videos. Happy music-making :)

Wow, I'm blown away with just the first 4 synths in this video and I am only halfway through - nearly. Thank you!!! I'm a professional soundtrack composer and I am always looking for new sounds - I am now subscribed to your channel and am very much looking forward to more content!

Several of those were new to me and are now on my list to check out. Thanks also for mentioning the Tunefish backstory and "Turtles all the way down"... I'd never heard of the 64k-intro project and enjoyed reading about it.

I'd add Vital to this list - thing is literally the most powerful and easy to understand Synth I've ever used and it's also completely free!

This is the best video I have seen on free VST synths in my life! Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for making this video and for all your work that went into it. I'm grateful to learn about these synths and really looking forward to playing them. Wishing you all the best!

im honestly glad for this video, rarely do i see people who actually make good videos for this and just do the stuff that is always recommended

Excellent job compiling some great instruments and thank you to the authors that have provided these synths for free!!

I can vouch for Dexed. I've been using it to stack 8 instances to try and recreate the TX-816 and it's spot on. I'm a huge Casiopea nut so I'm in heaven

1:54 - Surge 3:54 - Dexed 5:36 - Pendulate 7:33 - Exakt Lite 10:01 - OB-Xd 12:36 - Tyrell N6 15:00 - Tunefish 17:12 - Synth1 19:25 - TAL Bassline 20:43 - TAL Noisemaker 22:28 - PG-8X 24:05 - Zebralette 26:27 - Odin 2 29:28 - Voltage Modular Nucleus 30:50 - AAS player (copy pasted from a top comment, i made this so i dont need to scroll down)

Dude, you're the best at reviewing plugins! You sample them, you got good audio, and a great voice! Subbed abd liked

When your voice is so suprising that everyone in the comments talks about it instead of talking about how fucking amazing Surge is

Gotta say, that OB-Xd emulation is pretty decent. Love that it has individual voice split out, very nice feature.

Love these videos, you always dig up something I missed!

holy shit i was not expecting you to sound like that

Ah, Synth1... the one synth I have used for over a decade, and still use to this day.

My favourite is Surge, I adore that plugin.

I've been messin' with "free synths" for a few years now and you landed on some of the best ones for sure. The people at U-he have some incredible stuff and I love the full bucket plugs tho I don't see any on your list. But yours are definitely great choices! Speaking of U-he, I never thought I'd buy a software synth since there are so many great free ones, but I'm about to pay the license fee for Diva. Analogue heaven. At 77 I go back to when the hardware versions were all we had. Diva does all of them and you can mix and match components so to speak. Just thought I'd mention that. Good vid by the way. Good job picking the top 10. I'm sure all of us have another pick or two, but then that's the nature of being individuals. Uncanny tho how yours is almost the same as I would pick. A good synth is a good synth no matter how old it is.

this is a great video man only thing missing was maybe Labs but outside of that you got damn near everything worth it. this channel is doings great things man salute and much continued success

Oh man you're so right about Surge, this thing's insane!

Tyrell N6 has an AMAZING chorus effect. I like it because it's very simple to mess with and it has a very Buzzy sound. When chorused, it's big and scary sounding.

You got my subscription man, clear explanation, nice and simple editing and no wild zoomer style flashing bs , and your voice is nice and calm

Thanks, Cameron. This is a perfect fit with my Labor-Day-Sale-exhausted synth budget.

Omg synth1 is the Best synth ever for me!!!!!!!!! I reaalllyy love it😍😍😍

Whoever hasnt used surge for their first "advanced" synth VST probably cracked Serum

Wow! Your expose really has me stoked! Once I get a keytar, I'll be seriously looking at tasks to do on my laptop. Thank you!😊☺️

I was just recommended the sound design vst video! large thanks for the lovely content.

Another free synth I'd highly recommend if you're into analog-ish synthesizers is Sq8L. Free, open source and it has some great factory presets.

First of all, man I envy your deep voice! Perfect timbre! 👌 Second, how can the Synth1 be not exciting? It has been with us for 18 years and its still kicking @ss by being worthy on this list! As you properly memtioned its got gazillions of sound patches...well, a bit too overwhelming actually... I myself collected about 15,000 + 28,000 of them zipped in my Hard drive (phew)...and never got to review all of them even until now.

The Zebralette dream poly preset is one of my favorite go-to synth sounds. Just feels like sunshine pouring into your ears 😊

Your voice is so deep and warm. I can't stop listening to it!

What's your favorite free synth? 🤔 Edit: OB-Xd has now been made into a paid plugin - must have happened right as I was making this video. Sorry about that! :(

Seriously put yourself up for doing TV ad voiceovers. You'll definitely get work.

That good video. It is what I was looking for for my works. Thank you

Excellent video, as always. Some synth VSTs I hadn't come across before. Thank you!

Synth1 is so amazing -- truly amazing. I've used it for years and years

Every producer video starts with them making coffee, how is this not a meme yet

Zebralette to this day is still one of my all time favourite synths. It's ridiculously powerful and absolutely unique and the fact that U-HE offer this for free with tons of awesome presets is nothing but awesome. It's a treasure for incredible pads and plucks!

I absolutely love Voltage Modular. The modules that come with the free version are plenty to build decent patches with, nothing fancy but, a great starting place. They also sell recreations of all of the Arp 2500's modules (including 2 planned but never released), the Arp 2600 as both a synth and broken out into modules, and the complete set of the Moog modular modules. And the prices for each are quite reasonable. All three are sold as a bundle too.

28:10 Playstation One Opening ^_^'

I've just brewed my morning coffee and thinking "Only if I can wach a new episode of Cameron's morning coffee..." ... and found one!

So glad you got synth1 in there. Still gets used by me now for certain things.

I was not ready for your voice holy shit xD The amount of bass and everything makes the video so enjoyable, you'd be great at doing podcasts !

Also let me say this , If you don't like the u-he gui of Tyrell or the Zebralette or other free synths that u-he offer , you can download easily other skins made by other users (in their site) and I remember that it's pretty easy to add a skin for whatever synth you choose from u-he

i love TAL Noisemaker and the Tyrell N6! but what's missing on the list for me is Helm. I love it's simplicity and the "chrunchy" sound.

Nice selection. Thank you!

Discovered your channel last night. Pure quality. Cheers

Thanks for the very flattering review of Exakt Lite! -Kay (Sonicbits)

"this synth is all the terrible things about 80s music in one box" downloaded

From what i've read Synth1 is an emulation of the Clavia NORDLEAD . It is indeed extremely light on the CPU (tested on an average power PC in 2003, with multiple instances : it was hardly noticable on the CPU performance meter). Thanx for your those great tips . As usual this was a great video.

When i saw synth1 and the Tal plugins i instantly got nostalgia from when i first started making music back in high school. i relied HEAVILY on those 3 synths omg. thank you for this video cuz now i'm gonna go redownload them lol

13:32 I was waiting to hear the opening guitar riff of Wall of Voodoo's _Mexican Radio_ there.

This guys voice is pure gold!

This video is very well made and the showcases are well rounded, overall your channel is great and I hope you keep creating like this! 👍

I am legit having my morning coffee as we speak. You just got a sub, my friend.

Good to see you back, and awesome content as always

Tunefish is my to go synth in any genre.

Extremely good format and very clear. Cheers!

Thank you so much, this has been very helpful.

Odin II looks like it took some HEAVY inspiration from Reason's Thor synth! 😆 Looks very cool though, I might check it out!

Number 11 - Vital. This synth is basically Serum and Phase Plant's baby.

TAL Bassline is a Roland SH-101 emulation. The Roland manual includes patch to it that taught me a lot about basic analog subtractive synth. If only it two ADSR instead of one and a couple more oscillators. I ran in a Chorus and Reverb which improve the sound all lot!

Had to come back to your video and say thank you for Surge! Wow. It sounds amazing and I was ready to drop some money on a synth plugin. You saved me some serious dough!

I've been using pendulate a lot and there is a lot under the hood to manipulate sounds. Plan on buying the big brother version. Surge is great. There's also Synthmaster. Great synth and I ended up upgrading to the full version. I think the free version is Synthmaster Player.

What is the signal chain on your voice? It's like a warm bath for the ears.

Thank you for the video!Surge was exactly what I was looking for!Will check the other ones also!

What a quality of the voicing/telling! As the English isn`t my native language, I really enjoy listening this guy. Thanks for the list. My favorites are Synth1, PG-8x, Tal Noize, KX77Free and Dexed. Also I very like some of GTG Synths and Full Bucket plugins. In right hands all of them can sounding really nice, rich and deep and not bad even compare to hardware synths.

28:09 I thought for a split second that was gonna be the PlayStation's startup sound.

27:53 had me going “I walk a lonely road...”

I'm a country musician just dabbling in electronic music. All I can say wow! Surge just made a believer out of me. I won't put my Telecaster away or anything, but I feel that this is the tool I need to start on my new adventure. Thanks for this vid, you rock!

OK, you were not kidding with the Surge synth. This thing is AWESOME!

Trailer Trash Music ?? Zebralette sounds better now than when I first tried it a long time ago. Very good in fact. Maybe I was doing something wrong before ... Thanks for the heads up on Exakt and Odin2. They were both completely new to me.

He has the voice of someone narrating the end of the universe

Hey, duderooney, thanx for mentioning the OB-Xd; i really like it, also nice is the CC learn function!

BROTHER, YOU ARE THE BEST!!! You oooh really helped me!! THANK

Thanks, this was great. Dexed and the pdf 'FM Synthesis of Real Instruments' by Thor Zollinger go well together. This is good experience before moving on to Sytrus by Image-line. Generate is going to be epic I'm sure. OB-Xd sounds remind me of 'Voiage - A Journey Into Discoid Funk' by Brian Bennet from 1978. Stay safe.

Surge is now handled by the "Surge Synth Team" a new team of Dev's NOT Vember. Just FYI :)

Thanks for demo'ing all the synths. Great like all your videos. This does remind me why I don't like working in the box, though.

Man thank you a lot for your video, i was not aware of the existance of Exakt plugin, excelent FM synth, indeed very modern and flexible to use... great find!

1:54 surge 3:54 dexed 5:36 pendulate 7:33 exakt lite 10:01 ob-xd 12:36 tyrell n6

How do you get the Dark Skin for Surge? I downloaded Surgeand there wasn't a Skin option.

Man, I remember Synth1 when it first came out around 2002. I think it originally was from Japan? I might have downloaded from Musicrader back then it's hard to remember. I experimented so much trying to figure out synthesis a little so I can get the basics to make some of my own sounds. It was pretty fun and helped make the experience of learning not so intimidating. Great plugin!

Surge é sensacional! Valeu Venus!

Odin2 is just a remake of Reason's Thor synth, and for veteran Reason users like myself, it's nothing new

There`s a free preset pack for dexed, which stocks up the synth`s patches to nearly 1000.

Thank you for these tips! I started making music back in the 80s when I was a brat. Back then it was "modules" made with Pro Tracker on Amiga 500 and Atari 1040 STE. Then in the 90s moved on to midi and external synthesizers. I sadly stopped doing music in the early 2000 but now Im back again. Still have my Korg Wavestation EX synth and oh my now there are so many programs so I dont need to buy external stuff!