Best free vst synths?

[Introspective]

(That *is* actually a pretty good list!)

[martiu]

sq8l
pg8x
Surge XT
Vital
odin 2
pendulate
dexed
Exakt Lite
GTG-FM4
Tal Noisemaker
TAL-BassLine
U he triple cheese
OB-Xd
whispair
Soningen Modular
VK-1 Viking Synthesizer
HY-Mono
HY-POLY free
prophanityFE
Charlatan
2RuleSynth
XSRDO Analogy
eclipsis
WOK BASSIMO2
Solcito Musica SuperTron
gr-8

[BONES]

When you've spent as embarrassingly much money as I have over the last 20+ years on software, it becomes hard to justify using freeware...

I do think there are several free synths out there that are really quite good, though, again: they just aren't necessary if you have a large collection of commercial software. Alas.

I don't find that at all. I'd rather use MonoFury or GR-8 for dozens of things I could use almost any synth for. The problem with expensive synths is they tend to be more complicated so when you want to do something simple, a freeware synth is often the perfect choice.

Anyway, rather than list every freebie I can think of, there are really only a few that I use on a regular basis -

GR-8 is a fantastic synth, It sounds great, it is quite capable of producing a range of sounds and it is both easy and enjoyable to work with. If there is a problem with it, it's that it can be a bit CPU-intensive but it's definitely worth it. It is my go-to lead synth.

MonoFury from Full Bucket Music (FBM) is another one that I really enjoy using. Again, it sounds good (although probably not much like the instrument it is meant to emulate) and is easy to use. I've tried a few of their synths but this is the only one I ever use (and I use it a lot).

TRK-01 Bass is part of the free tier of NI Komplete. It runs inside Reaktor and it's a clever little beast that hides it's complexity and power behind a deceptively simple interface. It sounds really, really good and is capable of a lot more than just basslines. It's probably just about my favourite synth to work with, too. The GUI is a bit different but very well thought-out, which makes it a joy to use. In fact, you should download the whole free tier of Komplete, you'll be surprised how much you get for nothing.

Vital has to get a mention because it is stupidly good for what they ask for it, especially the free version, even though it doesn't interest me at all.

I quite like U-He's Tyrell N6 although I haven't used it in ages. It is perhaps just a little bit too simple to hold your attention for long.

If you want to spend a small amount of money, there are a couple more synths I would highly recommend -

Invader is pay what you like ($5 minimum) and it is a great sounding instrument that's easy to use and more versatile than you might think. It always manages to sound good whenever I use it.

JP6K is 25 Euros, I think, and it's worth every cent. It is without a doubt my most used synth. It does big, fat basslines and beautiful lush strings effortlessly.

[mixyguy2]

try them all and find out what we all have that several are indeed worthy but the majority are not

Just say no to free

I'm sorry but that's incredibly bad advice and just plain wrong IMO. The old "you get what you pay for" mantra simply is not true in today's music world. A LOT of really great free synths out there...many which, ironically, you mentioned (?). I know as I've tried many...and some I liked better than others, but few I considered totally unusable or not worth considering. Many I dismissed simply because I already had something that did what it did more or less and just needed to pare down to a few vs a billion.

Shorter answer: check stuff by u-he and Full Bucket. And Vital. Those alone will give you numerous excellent free synths to spend many hours with to the point where you may not need anything else.

[empphryio]

Go through the paat results of the OSC. 90% are free vsts.
https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/