4 Free Synth Plugins For Beginners 🔊

Howdy! Today we're here to talk about what I think are some of the best free synth plugins to learn sound design on from beginner to more advanced levels!

Plugins in this video:

My Awesome Partners:

Gear I Use:

▼▼▼TIMESTAMPZ:▼▼▼
0:00 GPU Audio
0:41 Howdy
1:29 Beginner Level
4:17 Intermediate Level
7:34 Advanced Options
8:19 Advanced Option 1
9:54 Advanced Option 2
12:24 Closing Thoughts

Stay classy!

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#synthesizers #musicproduction #sounddesign

[VenusTheory]

What was your first synth plugin? I got FM8 and...that was a really stupid choice in hindsight 😅

▼Plugins in this video▼

▼Gear In This Video▼

[baconpaul]

Thanks as always for all your support of Surge!

[krysidian]

My first synth was HELM, Vital's little but also older brother.
It really helped me grasp the basics fo substractive synths and has so much to offer. It also helped me get into Vital really quickly! Still incredible that those two are one-man projects

[edbrito-swdev]

Damn, I wasn't expecting that shark attack.

[BrofUJu]

I actually found Vital to be insanely helpful in teaching me synths too, since you can see the LFOs and OSC or wavetables, and then see and hear them move in real time. The simplicity of dragging and dropping rules too.

[bobdevore]

Thanks for the intro to Noisemaker and Odin. Being new to software synths I’ve struggled with Surge and Vital. This helps a lot

[ominoxe]

Vital and Surge XT are truly amazing synthesizers.

[virtuallifeform]

It's quite amazing how generous the creators of these powerful plugins are! 👍

[Death_By_Media]

It’s truly ridiculous how good Surge XT, Vital and Odin II are and all free ( though I got the middle Vital option early ) and open source !
I have The big packages from Korg, Roland, Arturia and many many others and find myself using Surge and Vital more often ....could of saved some money in reality. Newbies are very fortunate to have these options.
One not mentioned in this video ( but in others Venus has done ) for thouse starting out is OB-Xd ( free personal/ paid pro ) though oden and Surge have it’s filter dsp .

Now if the Surge team ever takes the Wavetable and its mutations OSC from Vital and adds it in to XT ... game over probably never use another plugin synth .

Oden is pretty decent too not hating on it at all . Cheers.

[philipsnettleton]

Not wanting to sound like a fanboy, but you are my favourite synth goto guy. Please keep doing this. I would be lost without you.

[digitalsketchguy]

I've downloaded all these synths apart from Vital. And I've been using only presets only so far. This video has inspired me to actually start learning the basics of synth sound design. I play guitar but have always loved progrock & people like Walter Carlos, Vangelis & Tomita. So thank you bro.

[frankneumann]

Thanks for always mentioning Linux variants where they are available. Highly appreciated by a long-term hobbyist🐧:-).

[JeffHendricks]

I really started learning sound design with Caustic 3 on a tablet, as it was only $10 and has all the major synth types (PCM, Sub, FM, Modular) plus some cool extras, and a great sequencer.
Currently enjoying playing with U-He's Hive 2.

[machfront]

As I’ve been iPadOS/iOS only since 2018, I’m happy.
Having said that, I miss the ancient and awesome Synth1 and would happily pay $200 to have it at my disposal.

[randydean]

Had no idea that you could use an input signal as an oscillator in Surge_ and I have had the plug-in for years at this point. Doh!!

[manu_elle_arg]

imo Vital has the perfect learning curve with its tabs: staring with a “simple” synth first (3 oscillators, 2 filters and envelopes looks manageable), then adding effects, then the matrix/modular stuff (that you discover is available in the first tab), and I never got close to understanding the last one.

Also I’m absolutely gettin Noisemaker and Odin II

[manumistral]

Thanks for regularly promoting/supporting cross-platform free software!

[abelramirez]

I have VPS Avenger. It's a very powerful synth. I love the way it sounds. It has many built in effects and the ways in which you can modulate it's parameters are almost endless. But wow, ever since I downloaded Vital, it's pretty much all I use recently. My 1 year old son lit up when he heard baby shark

[nocturnaloop]

I would love a series on building portfolios, getting gigs, price setting, etc.

[sevenfifteen]

On the beginner side (reaching a bit into intermediate, but mostly beginner) I like to recommend Quilcom RazorBlade. It is totally embracing the 1980s, using 3 oscillators that offer the 80 original rom waveforms/samples of the SQ 80 by Ensoniq (true down to bit level, so you get the original "quality"). 3 OSCs (with modulatable VCA per OSC), 3 LFOs, 4 ENVs, 1 multi-filter, master VCA, PAN, Chorus and Reverb. The modulation options go very deep, so this is more of an intermediate subject, but the clear layout of the flow from the oscillators to the final output is really a playing field for beginners. Three soundbanks show the enormous range of (80s) sounds, it can produce. Free and open source.