Charlatan³ Free VA synth updated to v3.3.2 (Win/Linux)

[karrikuh]

I can't load the presets. I've tried 4 different ways ( open @ top of instrument, right click preset box opens blank window, can't copy & paste, can't dragndrop,). Running in Cakewalk. The V3.3 loads and opens wonderfully, and looks and sounds very nice! I've loved V1 since 2014 or so, and was excited that this V3.3 boasts "Preset Browser". But no luck with the loading. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Me either. And I'm not using Cakewalk. It acts like it doesn't see them even though they're there.

Does the preset folder exist?
Can you please try to open %APPDATA%\charlatan\presets in the File Explorer (paste into address bar) or Command line (cmd, "dir %APPDATA%\charlatan\presets").
If it does not exist, can you create it and copy the factory presets into it, then click "Rescan" in the Preset browser. If the problem persists, maybe a screenshot would help me to understand what is going on (PM me if you like)

[karrikuh]

Ok - this is the second time i feel stupid because the problem kinda partly vanished. It now works both in reaper and studio one when i swear it didn't a few weeks ago, when i wrote the "bug report".
However - it works when played back quantized from the host. It doesn't work when played live. When i just play on my keyboard and hold the note, the lfos run out of timing. At least i have tried right now and can confirm this - both in Reaper and Studio one.
i have attached the preset where you can clearly (hopefully) hear that when you just play the note from your keyboard and hold it for a longer period of time.
Please let me know if you can verify that. Otherwise i feel even more stupid.

Thanks, I see the problem now. The drift occurs if LFOs are polyphonic (Mono off) and use different time bases (e.g. 1/4 vs 1/4 dot). I have some ideas how to improve the situation. For now, I suggest that if you need perfectly in-sync LFOs, you can use the Xforms to emulate multiple LFOs derived from a single master. That is, pick a sawtooth LFO as the common source for two (or more) Xforms. Then, you can draw the waveforms in each Xform. By drawing n cycles, you get an LFO with n-times the frequency of the master.

[mixyguy2]

Me either. And I'm not using Cakewalk. It acts like it doesn't see them even though they're there.

Does the preset folder exist?
Can you please try to open %APPDATA%\charlatan\presets in the File Explorer (paste into address bar) or Command line (cmd, "dir %APPDATA%\charlatan\presets").
If it does not exist, can you create it and copy the factory presets into it, then click "Rescan" in the Preset browser. If the problem persists, maybe a screenshot would help me to understand what is going on (PM me if you like)

It does. I uninstalled it, but I'll try a reinstall and if it does it again, show you a screenshot. Thanks

[NWSM]

On Bitwig 5.12 in Linux (Debian 12, MX Linux, KDE, Pipwire Alsa) here:
Still Buggy...
- No presets in the preset folder,
- Audio crash playin with Ratios to 0.0000 and 4 OSC
- Want to Save a Presets it crashed everytime (but i can save it in Bitwig as a Preset)
- Open File Folder to set a Preset Folder Crash also.

But i got some nice sounds out of it, so thanks for its free and i hope it will run in the future

[karrikuh]

Still Buggy...
- No presets in the preset folder,
- Want to Save a Presets it crashed everytime (but i can save it in Bitwig as a Preset)
- Open File Folder to set a Preset Folder Crash also.

Can you please run the check_compatibility.sh script and report back if there are any problems found?

- Audio crash playin with Ratios to 0.0000 and 4 OSC

I think someone mentioned a similar issue in the past. What CPU is your setup based on?

[NWSM]

CPU: i5_14600K
Check: SUCCESS: No compatibility issues found

[Aloysius]

This synth sounds great. Been a long tme since I've had it installed. Thank you.

[bobobo]

hi,

i installed charlatan3 in a very fresh debian xfce today
charlatan3 Version 3.30
this won't be recognized in REAPER . the scanning left it unloaded.
(yes . the checkcompatibility script shows that all should be ok)

i installed the charlatan3 V 3.0 and this runs perfect in REAPER.

[skolskoly]

I've been using Charlatan3 for a month or so now. Here's a few thoughts that I've had:

Minor Issues:

• Clicking 1px to the right of "FX" opens up a secret blank page. (This hasn't caused any crash for me) Windows 10, AMD, VST3 - if that matters.
• The prev/next preset buttons are too close to the save button. It's a "dangerous" design. I've accidentally clobbered my work at least once. Consider putting them on opposite sides of the patch name?
• Note-on phase reset (and lack thereof.) If a voice ADSR is in the release stage, the phase of the oscillators is never reset. The behaviour makes perfect sense for legato or free-running oscillators, but it's not what I expect for retrigger and poly mode. It's especially jarring with low-detune supersaw plucks. I can understand why this is done to prevent clicks... but it would really be nice turn it off for patches that don't need it.

Suggestions:

• Bring back LFO fade-in! I used this feature a lot in Charlatan2 and it would be nice to free up a modulation slot.
• Unison detune modulation would be nice.
• Stereo filter topology. Make an L/R parallel mode allowing us to route osc 1&2 to the L/R channels. Maybe the center fader can control width. This would open tons of new options for stereo patches. The filters go directly to the stereo FX, right? I would think that should be free, performance-wise.

Overall, the synth sounds excellent and is extremely versatile. The oscillators are very user-friendly and clean sounding. Every time I try something new they sound good. Honestly, I've spent some time learning Serum 2 and I think I wouldn't have bothered if I knew this existed.

[karrikuh]

On Bitwig 5.12 in Linux (Debian 12, MX Linux, KDE, Pipwire Alsa) here:
Still Buggy...
- No presets in the preset folder,
- Want to Save a Presets it crashed everytime (but i can save it in Bitwig as a Preset)
- Open File Folder to set a Preset Folder Crash also.

I am able to reproduce it by running Bitwig via Flatpak. In fact, I get the same crash in Ardour if run via Flatpak.
Are you using Flatpak as well?
I believe the problems are due to the sandboxing imposed by Flatpak.
Update:
Try

Code: Select all

flatpak override -u --socket=session-bus com.bitwig.BitwigStudio

to give the required permissions and let me know if it helps.

[karrikuh]

hi,

i installed charlatan3 in a very fresh debian xfce today
charlatan3 Version 3.30
this won't be recognized in REAPER . the scanning left it unloaded.
(yes . the checkcompatibility script shows that all should be ok)

i installed the charlatan3 V 3.0 and this runs perfect in REAPER.

Thanks for the report. From a quick check I found that 3.3.0 has an additional dependency on libxcb-keysyms.so.1 which I forgot to check in the compatibility script (will be included in the forthcoming release). Could this be the problem in your setup?

You can verify this by running "ldd Charlatan3.so" and see if it reports any missing dependencies.

If not, can you please tell me which Debian release are you using?

[bobobo]

hi there,
thanks for the reply ..
i reinstalled the last charlatan3 again and now vst3 and clap are running flawless. maybe i was a bit to hasty in shouting out an issue here ... thanks for the the synth and all you do for the community.

for completeness

my info
Linux version 6.1.0-38-amd64 (debian-kernel@lists.debian.org) (gcc-12 (Debian 12.2.0-14+deb12u1) 12.2.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Debian) 2.40) #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.147-1 (2025-08-02)

and the ldd thing spit out
linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007ffe29ff5000)
libxcb.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1 (0x00007f6af25b6000)
libxcb-shm.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxcb-shm.so.0 (0x00007f6af25b1000)
libsystemd.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsystemd.so.0 (0x00007f6af24e1000)
libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007f6af2120000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007f6af1f3f000)
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f6af25f1000)
libXau.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXau.so.6 (0x00007f6af24da000)
libXdmcp.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXdmcp.so.6 (0x00007f6af1c00000)
libcap.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcap.so.2 (0x00007f6af1f33000)
libgcrypt.so.20 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgcrypt.so.20 (0x00007f6af1ab9000)
liblzma.so.5 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/liblzma.so.5 (0x00007f6af1f04000)
libzstd.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libzstd.so.1 (0x00007f6af1e48000)
liblz4.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/liblz4.so.1 (0x00007f6af1e22000)
libbsd.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libbsd.so.0 (0x00007f6af1e0c000)
libgpg-error.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgpg-error.so.0 (0x00007f6af1a91000)
libmd.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmd.so.0 (0x00007f6af1a84000)


greetings

--

and it runs in trixie (i updated in the meantime the system to debian 13) as well

[karrikuh]

New release 3.3.1 !

• Support mouse wheel adjustment for all parameters
• BUGFIX: Reduce drift of per-voice LFOs
• Minor UI improvements and fixes
• Linux: Installer will now assist with compatibility adjustments for host applications running in a Flatpak sandbox

[Nug Wrangler]

Mouse wheel support! Thank you

[yzcoruhT]

Mouse wheel support! Thank you

Big thumb up!