Free Alpha by LinPlug

Free Alpha has an average user rating of 4.30 from 10 reviews

User Reviews by KVR Members for Free Alpha

Reviewed By kritikon [all]
February 28th, 2003
Version reviewed: 2.0 on Windows

I won't go into all the features on this little beauty, as it's already been said, so I'll say why I use it so much as a solid workhorse for stock analogue synth sounds.

a) it has an accuracy feature - turn it down from 100% and you get progressively more subtle instabilities in the sound - which gives a very analogue feel to it - it becomes far less sterile than many VSTi's out there.

b) it's warm sounding - no nasty bright high end (which many people like) but nevertheless wasn't a feature on most analogue synths. The blurb says they tried to get that warmth, and Linplug got this right. The filters lose some of their effectiveness on high notes, but I like that - so do most genuine analogue synths.

c) very easy to programme - it's laid out simply and sensibly - no menus and switching between pages.

d)The mod matrix - excellent for a freebie. Not as many options as I'd like, but it's free, so you can't expect the world. And it often surprises with it's gritty edge if you modulate the oscillator symmetry - sounds like a kind of oscillator sync (very useful) for leads.

e) the filters - maybe it's just me, but I actually prefer the Freealpha filters to the ones on their DeltaIII which is alot posher. DeltaIII filters sound a but white-noisey in high resonance to me, but the Freealpha ones self-oscillate comfortably and musically.

f) it's a workhorse - you can get all the standard analogue sounds you need and know that it will sit in a mix properly. The Roland Junos were popular for this - thay weren't amazing, but you can find a use in any track for it. Same with Freealpha - it maybe won't have your jaw dropping, but you come back to it again and again, for basses, pads, e-pianos, brasses etc.

It's one of my most used VSTi's. It won't sound like Darth Vader, no arp, no amazing character, but it's very well programmed and very musical and warm which is what makes a useable synth.

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Comments & Discussion for LinPlug Free Alpha

Discussion: Active

bruhmannbd
27 September 2012 at 9:36pm

Hello Forum I'm newbie, I installed free alpha on my MacBook Pro and now Pro Tools wont work> Is there some setting I missed?

BlackWinny
1 November 2013 at 4:23pm

The new page for Alpha and Free Alpha is this one :

http://www.linplug.com/alpha.html

The choice among both is made using the tabs at the bottom of the page.

skotterz
3 November 2013 at 7:02pm

does anyone know if the alpha can work with other DAWs? So far in my research it appears Pro Tools is a requirement, but why would they limit it? I'm using Ableton Live 9.

BlackWinny
3 November 2013 at 10:20pm

Here at home:

with Cantabile Lite: no problem.
With Band-In-A-Box 2013: no problem.
With Magix Samplitude Music Studio 17: no problem.
With Mutools Mulab: No problem.
With SAVIHost: no problem.
With VSTHost: No problem.
With BigTick Zen: No problem.

Beware! Like many VST's Free Alpha is provided to be installed as 32-bit but also to be installed as 64-bit (in the case of FreeAlpha you must launch the same installer twice and make your choice each time).

32-bit VSTs must be used only with 32-bit DAWs.
64-bit VSTs must be used only with 64-bit SAWs.

So... always the same recurrent question which in 95% of the cases resolve the problem: are you sure that you try to use FreeAlpha 32-bit (named "freealpha.dll") with Ableton Live Lite 32-bit and that you try to use FreeAlpha 64-bit (named "freealpha 64.dll") with Ableton Live Lite 64-bit?

THIS POST HAS BEEN REMOVED

skotterz
3 November 2013 at 10:57pm

blackwinny, thanks very much for the reply. (I use Ableton Live 9 Suite, 32-bit, by the way.) I read the 'Read Me' system requirements for Alpha too quickly, misreading that ProTools was required for it to work. .. my bad - it works just fine. i'm trying out the free version as I'm keen to use its microtuning capabilities.

BlackWinny
17 April 2014 at 4:33pm

I've just found an old (2007) but good review here, with a rather deep description of this free edition (with even audiogram curves of the filters).

chris 444
4 September 2016 at 8:35am

unfortunately no recent link for download ?

ace89tony
19 September 2016 at 3:06pm

No So the company themselves are giving the plugin for free @.

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/free-alpha-by-linplug.

for now...................

NWSM
14 September 2017 at 3:18am

How to scroll the next Presets after "LD intrusive Lead 2 vv".

There is no scrollbar, cant drag and pull, mousewheel no function...

If i click the browser-button, in the wrapped alpha panel, in bitwig 2.1, i have more presets available...if i choose one of the not visible presets, the preset view in alpha itself jump to the first preset (Alpha !!! BT), but play sometimes the choosed preset not always. Its confusing.

dr0ppa
29 November 2018 at 11:11pm

I accidentally deleted my set of original presets that come with this plug-in... could someone re-upload the original stock presets that come with this?

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