Hi all!

I'm new to the VST scene and just looking at the vst instrument plugin listings looks intimidating. I wish there was a way of categorizing the top rated synths for download. Can anyone recommend any free windows vst synths for making trance? Fat leads, good pads, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Best,

Gabe
[A S M]

go with ReFx Vanguard

www.refx.net

cheers bastian

Reason

First of all welcome.
Free vsti for trance...
Superwave P8, Crystal, Synth1, Triangle 2

Not free...
Z3ta+, Vanguard

That will be a very good start. Good Luck.

Welcome to the VST Airlines!
- Please fasten your seatbelts and have a good fly! -

* Vanguard
* AudioRealism BassLine
* V-Station
* Vaz 2010

Z3ta, Vanguard, A1, the 3 commercial Superwave synths (does JP80x0-ish sounds nicely), V-Station

edit: On some of these you need particular fx processing to get the desired sound.

Quote:

Can anyone recommend any free windows vst synths for making trance?

Superwave P8 and Synth1. That should keep you going for a bit

random seed:

Tau2, Unknown Synth2, Vanguard, Pentagon I, REAKTOR 4, the SuperWave synths, Crystal, M42 (can't believe you guys didn't mention that one), Big Tick Angelina/Rhino, Exciton2, Albino2, Absynth2, any of Ugo's SynthEdit synths, Synapse Hydra..

*need to pause to draw breath..*

Hi gapaga!

Like all the others let me say welcome to KVR! I have been here a while and I believe that you are in good company here! You can find the answer to pretty much anything you need to know here and everyone here is really friendly (most of the time!! hehehe) and co-operative!

Anyway, for my two penny's worth...there are plenty of VSTi's you could use and I would agree with most of what has already been written above. My personal top 3 would be Albino, V-Station and Superwave Trance Pro.

But I also found a while ago some very useful samples of a JP8080. They are totally free and I use them on virtually everything I do now! Here is the link:

http://www.first-wave-music.de/downloads/FWJP8080SuperSaw.zip

There is also a preset/patch in there for the EXS24 if you are a Logic user. If not then send me a message and I can let you know loop points etc. One strange thing though...for some reason the patch needs tuning to -30 (fine tuning) to make it in tune!!! Bit of a strange thing but don't let that put you off!!! I guess you could use the basic wavs in any sampler and just treat it as a raw waveform. I have managed to get everything from leads to pads to basses out of this and they all sound huge!!!

But just remember that it is not so much what you have got...more how you use it!

Don't forget the sound you're after can be achieved by FX as much as synths themselves. Check out Skuzzphut6 for a good trance gate & grab a good tempo-synced delay like RetroDelay. Both of those are free.

If you wanna throw down some cash, check out Antares Filter, PSP 84, & again, the Reaktor library has a HUGE selection of Trance oriented synths/fx, with the bonus of having a large collection of autonomous ambient generators.

there's been alotta threads asking these questions lately, or is it me?

get a virus

gapaga wrote:

Hi all! I'm new to the VST scene and just looking at the vst instrument plugin listings looks intimidating. I wish there was a way of categorizing the top rated synths for download. Can anyone recommend any free windows vst synths for making trance? Fat leads, good pads, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you! Best, Gabe [A S M]

My recommendation to you would be to NOT start at the trance scene...to many Joe Blow acts and to little invention and originality...
Be more esoteric and possibly start a new style, Trance is becomming bloated to silly extremes.

If your goal is to make commersial trance and to get lot´s of money from it you will need:

1 supermodel to act in your music video
1 singer with the voice of angels or the abillty to run 50 instances of Autotune in your DAW.
1 major label record deal.
1 posse of club kids and radio jocks.


so, much nicer to try and be innovative and fresh, especially as you are starting out...It will pay of, trust me

(In the case of you actually liking the trance sound, forget all that I said)

Good Luck!

Corr! Just have fun and experiment – the more you play with these instruments the more you will be able to do and know what you want.

As a quick guide to free,

Start simple,

Claw by re-fx

Free alpha by linplug

Synth 1

Tringle 2 by rgc audio

Also while you are at the rgc audio site, don’t for get to pick up the sfz soundfont player – this a simple high quality way to getting loads of sounds – free


FX – there are loads and loads of them about – pick up the mda filter pack for windows to get going with


Once you have messed around and understood those products – then go Crystal, then consider what other options are around that you may want to buy – at least by then you will know what to look for – for your type of sound.

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)

sickle666 wrote:

Don't forget the sound you're after can be achieved by FX as much as synths themselves. Check out Skuzzphut6 for a good trance gate & grab a good tempo-synced delay like RetroDelay. Both of those are free. If you wanna throw down some cash, check out Antares Filter, PSP 84, & again, the Reaktor library has a HUGE selection of Trance oriented synths/fx, with the bonus of having a large collection of autonomous ambient generators. there's been alotta threads asking these questions lately, or is it me?

thanks, sickecell666

(it's scuzzphut, btw )

top advice from Sp3ed, there. Couldn't have put it better myself.

scuzzphut wrote:

top advice from Sp3ed, there. Couldn't have put it better myself.

Cheers scuzzphut

(it's Spe3d btw )

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)

I'll release a new drum synth pretty soon that will always come in handy while making trance.
A short mp3

But for now, Drumatic 2

PJ

You got me


Back on topic - I wonder if we should have sticky threads or FAQ threads or something.
This question seems to come up all the time.

Some suggestions.

I'm new to VST - where do I start.
What are the best synths for Trance (this is asked once a week, it seems)
What's the best 303
What's the best Virus
Where can I download warez (kidding!)
Where can I get web hosting for my tunes.
Where can I get a trance-gate (ermmm, lemme think )

how about a sticky thread entitled

"How do i use the search function"

gapaga wrote:

Hi all! I'm new to the VST scene and just looking at the vst instrument plugin listings looks intimidating. I wish there was a way of categorizing the top rated synths for download. Can anyone recommend any free windows vst synths for making trance? Fat leads, good pads, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you! Best, Gabe [A S M]

Exciton,z3ta+,oddity,Reaktor,Superwave(?),Vaz 2010,Vanguard ... for leads.
Synth1,FabFilterOne,Discovery,Albino,PlastiCZ... for bass (too many)
Rhino,Crystal,Absynth,Angelina,CheezMachine,FM7 -for pad
There are too many, to mention all of them. My favourite is Exciton,Vanguard,Vaz2010,Reaktor,Synth1,Absynth,XPhrase...,...,... zzzz sssssssss zzzzzzzzzzz

Vanguard does it all in One VSTi. it has all the ingredients.

Programmable Filter Trance gate.
Fat OSCs with detune.(absolutely rich saws).3 noisy monsters .
Arpeggiator.
Lots of LFO's.
Selectable triggering.

And it sounds the bizz. And you won't believe it is just a bit of software.

Welcome to kvr.
Superwave is good, synth1 is good, both triangles are good, what else for free??
Vanguard, Z3ta, and albino 2 for trance I would say.
I am currently (and almost finished ) making a bank for release for vanguard, and I think it will make alot of people happy!!!!

scuzzphut wrote:

sickle666 wrote: Don't forget the sound you're after can be achieved by FX as much as synths themselves. Check out Skuzzphut6 for a good trance gate & grab a good tempo-synced delay like RetroDelay. Both of those are free. If you wanna throw down some cash, check out Antares Filter, PSP 84, & again, the Reaktor library has a HUGE selection of Trance oriented synths/fx, with the bonus of having a large collection of autonomous ambient generators. there's been alotta threads asking these questions lately, or is it me? thanks, sickecell666 (it's scuzzphut, btw )

I was gonna respond but I've been laughin too hard at sickle's new handle...

Go to scuzzphut's place for some good free stuff - especially Trance Gate - and don't let no one tell you what to write. If you like trance - go for it

Wow, you guys are fantastic, thanks for the fast response! I'm going to download these recommendations tonight and start playing around. I have to partially agree with Mindless that the trance scene is getting pretty bloated lately, but what can I say, I'm an addict. At the same time, I'm actually starting to branch out into IDM and more experimental electronic flavors. My goal is to eventually create my own sound. Thanks again guys for the start, I'm glad to be part of the KVR community!

Best,

Gabe
[A S M]

i do this bit a lot, and it's still good.. :p

what oils for impressionism? mine only say post-modernism on the tin.

as for your question, "Can anyone recommend the best vst synths for making trance?" the answer is a flat No. following kvr-1953a legislation 3rd quarter 2002, you need license mm04-5q in order to recommend the best synths. however, anyone in possession of an mm4-5b may recommend synths, but not the best. recommendations may be false or misleading.

Quote:

i do this bit a lot, and it's still good.. :p what oils for impressionism? mine only say post-modernism on the tin.

you are right, it is still very good

hoffy wrote:

how about a sticky thread entitled "How do i use the search function"

Superwave and Vanguard all the way baby!

Then don't forget Pro-53

Getting back to freeware options:

* ConcreteFX' Ensembler Lite has thick unison saws with a trancegate.

* Mik Sybrandt's GTG13 or 14 use dual pulse width modulation square waves + chorus for really warm leads.

* Synth1 works too and has a nice arp.

As for CheapButKickAssWare:
Algomusic's M42 is PERFECT for spacey trance bridge sections before the song builds again.

xoxos wrote:

following kvr-1953a legislation 3rd quarter 2002, you need license mm04-5q in order to recommend the best synths. however, anyone in possession of an mm4-5b may recommend synths, but not the best

You've seen the movie Brasil, I think.

Time for the excel Trancefinder again?

And todays winning synth on the excel trancefinder function ="http://www.kvr-vst.com/get/" & INT(RAND()*1051) &".html" is...

Psychic Modulation ph0ne

Nope, I just confirmed it. The correct formula is
"http://www.kvr-vst.com/get/928.html"

It has dual PWM squares, unison modes, trancegate, delay. Just add a big kick drum and you're there...

Thanks for the advice JZERO. Ensemble Lite is a pretty good string synth. As to the other synths, I took a little bit of everyone's advice and I've been surfing on happy sinewaves the last couple days. My favorites that have been recommended so far are Synth 1, Superwave P8 and Crystal. It blows my mind that these freeware synths are this good, makes me wonder what the pay synths sound like... Anyhows, this is great because I have a new palette of sounds to work with. If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to share them with the group.

Best,

Gabe
[A S M]
My Trance Music:
Some of my mp3s for free download online

Ensembler's more than a string synth... It's really a decent VA that shares a lot in common with Vanguard: trancegate, unison feature, pwm, delay. Vanguard does have its excellent GUI, a few more waveforms, a better sounding reverb, more envelopes and LFOs.

Crystal's deep... I just get overwhelmed by it, especially the FX page. I have much better luck with M42 Nebula for those complex patches.

I like Synth1 too.