Which free synth of the 4 is your fav?

[layzer]

synth1 is the all around workhorse for pads and leads, but charlatan comes in a close second for its basses, team them both together and you have one hell of a dynamic duo

Ok but you can make all the basses u need from synth1 itself. Talkin about dynamic duos mine consists of synth1 and T-Force Alpha Plus.

sure, you can make bass sounds with onepingonly as well, but it won't have the fat bottom end charlatan's oscillators have, or the snappy filter.

Hmmm sounds good. Thnx for the tip. Maybe I'll give it a try !

give it a spin, i like to run charltan through TAL's chorus LX to thicken it even more

[chk071]

Oh, and i thought he wanted to give OnePingOnly a try.

[DubLifeSD]

As for free synths, I highly recommend Tone2 Firebird2.

[mridlen]

As for free synths, I highly recommend Tone2 Firebird2.

It's a deep little synth. The oscillator modifiers are really cool, and there are a ton of filter models to experiment with. It's a great "swiss army knife" for those hard to get sounds when you need something unique. I've used it on a few songs recently, and had great results each time.

[dark_virus]

Ok but you can make all the basses u need from synth1 itself. .

Exactly! That's my main question about Charlatan: what does it have that other well known and established free options doesn't? Is it the C programming?

I must say, however, that I'm not a synth expert, so I may be missing something about Charlatan. But, at my current synth-programming stage, I really can't put it to productive use.

My free choices would be: Synth1, iloSynth, Evol and String Synth.

[Armadillosound]

Charlatan - too much hype for too little versatility.

True, it is not very versatile, but sounds so sweet.

I agree

[chk071]

Exactly! That's my main question about Charlatan: what does it have that other well known and established free options doesn't? Is it the C programming?

I must say, however, that I'm not a synth expert, so I may be missing something about Charlatan. But, at my current synth-programming stage, I really can't put it to productive use.

For me, it just sounds good. The filter behaves nicely, the oscillators sound very rich, it just feels round. If you compare it to Synth1, you will quickly realize, that the filter response of Synth1 on higher resonance settings will be kind of lame. Just try a filter sweep, and you see what i mean. Also, on high resonance setting, the filter will rather scream. A good filter stays "clean" also on higher resonance settings, actually it is with these high settings where the real fun begins with good filters. Also turn down the cutoff on Charlatan's filter, and it will literally "boom". Synth1's filter will get very quiet with these settings...

Unfortunately, in most cases with the magware and freeware synths, it's the same scenario: The high spec'd ones like Synth1, Helix beta, z3ta, Dune BE with much functionality have a rather "digital" filter, while the low spec'd ones like Charlatan, Noisemaker, Tyrell have a more analog modelled one. Of course, sometimes, it's nice to play with a more digital sounding filter too. It's just another characteristic.

[spirit]

Without a "fish" option the poll is irrelevant

[Bronto Scorpio]

If I had to choose one of the four I'd choose Tyrell. Why? Because Tyrell can do things I can't replicate with my other synths.

It has a few quite unique features like the loopable envelopes, feedback, the envelopes can be triggered by the LFOs etc.

But the main reason I actually use Tyrell in a lot of my music is the weird resonance! There is a beautiful "scratching" sound at certain settings which I haven't heard anywhere else.
I love to use that "feature" for certain sounds like these:

Some keyboard soundSomething music box-ishA synth choir or something

Also, hoovers
Bweeeeeoooooow, Bweeeowowowowow


Cheers
Dennis

[chk071]

Wow, nice sounds. You really have a good hand for these, already noticed that in that u-he sound demos thread.

[planetearth]

If I had to choose one of the four I'd choose Tyrell. Why? Because Tyrell can do things I can't replicate with my other synths.

It has a few quite unique features like the loopable envelopes, feedback, the envelopes can be triggered by the LFOs etc.

But the main reason I actually use Tyrell in a lot of my music is the weird resonance! There is a beautiful "scratching" sound at certain settings which I haven't heard anywhere else.
I love to use that "feature" for certain sounds like these:

Some keyboard soundSomething music box-ishA synth choir or something

Also, hoovers
Bweeeeeoooooow, Bweeeowowowowow

Cheers
Dennis

You got those from Tyrell? Interesting! I may have to re-install that bad boy. It was just such a hog on my PC that it wasn't much fun to try to coax anything out of it. I did find your sounds interesting, though. Thanks for sharing!

Steve

[EnGee]

Thanks all for the nice tips. Indeed layering is an essential technique to get some complex sounds. I read very useful info and it filled me with this eagerness to open my host and start tweaking the synths for hours

@Bronto Scorpio:
I know now why you have chosen Tyrell! Thanks for sharing those wonderful clips

[dark_virus]

For me, it just sounds good. The filter behaves nicely, the oscillators sound very rich, it just feels round. If you compare it to Synth1, you will quickly realize, that the filter response of Synth1 on higher resonance settings will be kind of lame. Just try a filter sweep, and you see what i mean. Also, on high resonance setting, the filter will rather scream. A good filter stays "clean" also on higher resonance settings, actually it is with these high settings where the real fun begins with good filters. Also turn down the cutoff on Charlatan's filter, and it will literally "boom". Synth1's filter will get very quiet with these settings...

Unfortunately, in most cases with the magware and freeware synths, it's the same scenario: The high spec'd ones like Synth1, Helix beta, z3ta, Dune BE with much functionality have a rather "digital" filter, while the low spec'd ones like Charlatan, Noisemaker, Tyrell have a more analog modelled one. Of course, sometimes, it's nice to play with a more digital sounding filter too. It's just another characteristic.

Interesting. As I said, I'm far from being a synth-programming freak. I only make simple patches like basses and pads, that's nothing special, but useful for my needs. I spent some time trying to make something beyond the usual moog-like bass sound in Charlatan, to no result. Also, the presets I've downloaded didn't impress me.

I'll pay attention to these Synth1 filter issues altough I must confess I don't care about certain technical/quality specs.

[Bronto Scorpio]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone!

You got those from Tyrell?

Yep! That's just Tyrell without any effects or anything else!

Cheers
Dennis

[BBFG#]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone!

You got those from Tyrell?

Yep! That's just Tyrell without any effects or anything else!

Cheers
Dennis

Heheh, I think it's my lazy attitude of not having the effects immediately built into it that caused me to uninstall it! Its 'raw' state is what makes me want to keep it though!