Crystal

One of the most impressive VST synths around. Powerful, free, and unique.

3 voices (+ more envelopes than you can shake a stick at) allow for all sorts of useful weirdness. Suited to rhythmic textures, evolving sounds and much else besides.

GUI - Not everyone's cup of tea, but doesn't bother me. Sensible layout, nice clear sliders, doesn't sacrifice functionality in some misguided attempt to mimic the hardware look. (No fiddly knobs!)

Sounds - As others have said, the natural inclination is towards thinner, more metallic sounds. Warmer stuff requires more coaxing. Great for beautiful, impersonal sounds, capable of real melancholy also. Each voice offers 6 osc types, 20+ wave samples and now wave sequencing. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Soundfont import means that the range of sounds is now pretty much infinite.

Features - Too many to mention, growing all the time. Worth noting: entensive modulation routing, detailed syncable envelopes, multiple delays. Don't be put off by talk of Crystal's complexity. Deep, yes, but not daunting. Even for a synth novice like myself.

Docs - Good documentation at website, but Crystal is evolving so fast that the manual tends to lag behind a bit.

Presets - Quite varied and give an indication of Crystal's range, but haven't found too much use for them myself. Crystal really comes into its own when you start brewing your own sounds. Extra patches on website.

Support - Outstanding. Glenn is friendly, very helpful and open to suggestions.

VFM - Glenn has so far resisted attempts to pay him for his labour, but we'll wear him down eventually.

Stability - Fairly rock-solid. Occasional CPU overload on slower PCs.

No real negatives, alas. Every time I think of a lack, the next update seems to have anticipated it. Extension of Crystal's granular capabilities would be welcome, but that's just getting greedy.

So yes, it's bloody good. You're probably already using it. If not, you need a damn good talking to.Read Review