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Charlatan

Synth (Analogue / Subtractive) Plugin by BlauKraut Engineering
MyKVRFAVORITE166WANT41

Charlatan has an average user rating of 4.40 from 10 reviews

Rate & Review Charlatan

User Reviews by KVR Members for Charlatan

Charlatan

Reviewed By lolilol1975 [all]
November 21st, 2020
Version reviewed: 2.0 on Windows

Don't be fooled by its basic interface. This synth is very capable and has a great sound that will sit perfectly in any production. Because it's so lightweight on your CPU, you can use as many synth layers as you want without taxing your computer. Charlatan does exactly what every subtractive synth should do but nothing more. There is no arpeggiator or no effect included. Just add your favorite delay, chorus, and/or reverb to it and you are set for any real world production. Soundwise, you will get the same kind of sound as the old synths like the Juno, but you'd be hard pressed to distinguish it from one of the big boys.

Because it is so basic, Charlatan invites you to tweak your sound instead of browsing through hundreds or thousands of presets. I consider it the best synth to learn out there.

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Click here to read all 10 reviews

Comments & Discussion for BlauKraut Engineering Charlatan

Discussion
Discussion: Active
mztk
mztk
25 December 2011 at 11:27am

excellent synth, sounds great. perfect for all sequencer lines, with multiple

instances running. would like to see more from this dev in the future, taking

the concept a bit further. top-notch go-to machine. (would be nice to set different

background colour, too, next time ;) )

solidtrax
solidtrax
28 December 2011 at 1:28pm

That's also what we think and hope for (and more). Would be awesome to have a highpass filter and some more osc-options/waves f.e.

Gernburgs
Gernburgs
24 January 2012 at 6:16pm

I actually have grown to love this VST. The Organ 1 sound preset is so phat it's just awesome!

Great VST!

rayola1
rayola1
24 January 2012 at 9:30pm

sweet but solid sound. filter sounds great, would love to LFO and envelope modulation

thank you very much!

I hope for more...

jcs.sts
jcs.sts
12 June 2012 at 4:38am

Sounds great, especially the demo track on y'alls site. any chance of an OS X version for when I'm away from my Windows rig?

TEKing66
TEKing66
7 January 2013 at 12:16am

Just discovered the Charlatan synth, and I must say that for a free VST I am very impressed.

ZenSound
ZenSound
6 June 2013 at 9:43am

The best characteristic of this synth is that it is extremely simple and easy to use.

I like the sound especially playing keys and basses in poliphonic mode.

Would be fine add modulation to the LFO with the Mod. Envelope.

Cheers.

Complex.

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Elffin
Elffin
7 August 2014 at 9:54pm

Great sounds from a neat synth.

Will their be a better preset browser in future?

oscillian
oscillian
8 March 2015 at 9:40pm

https://soundcloud.com/oscillian/dark-dawn.

Track made with 12 instances goes to show the scope of a lovely plugin.

BlackWinny
BlackWinny
10 March 2015 at 5:36pm

A beautiful demo! Great.

mars974
mars974
5 May 2015 at 5:02pm

Hello dominic I downloaded the 2.0 b file, except that it is version 1.4.1.

kobraaji
kobraaji
21 May 2015 at 1:56am

someday we will have a Linux version?

muausucua
muausucua
1 June 2015 at 1:15am

Im having trouble loading preset banks... I wanna use Charlatan in a DAW called Stagelight, but there is no button in the host to open complimentary files, like these preset files.

In Ableton it was easy to do because it offers a button to open preset files, but still, the presets won't show up in Stagelight. Is there another way to add presets?? I just don't see how within the GUI in Charlatan?

arseniy2
arseniy2
9 February 2016 at 8:36am

Please add the key tracking for the volume. I mean the key tracking that makes the volume for the notes different. Like the higher the note the lower the volume and vice versa.

Similar to the key tracking for the filter.

overhishead
overhishead
16 January 2017 at 10:16am

it ought to be possible to set up a multitimbral charlatan array with some sort of MIDI filtering and routing. i'll bet Reaper could handle that.

musicalmemoriesuk
musicalmemoriesuk
15 June 2016 at 4:13pm

Have just downloaded and instaled charlatan as i was its a good synth for a beginner so looking for a tutorial or help with using it.

overhishead
overhishead
16 January 2017 at 10:11am

this is an incredible instrument that has replaced (the previous king of freeware synths) for me. Charlatan is so ergonomic, easy to navigate, almost too simple, and it is almost impossible to make it sound bad. It is refreshing that it is not yet another clone of some other synth, and that it is a sincere attempt to deliver the goods without getting ahead of itself in terms of usability and expected behavior.

Mat-tvank
Mat-tvank
7 August 2018 at 6:01am

Very good filter sound. Quick GUI edit and a nice unisono option. Still state of the art and placed on one track in the mix.

Rack Extension?

Ivannn
Ivannn
1 February 2019 at 7:42am

I don't know do you still read that or not but we're looking forward Charlatan 3.0 :).

I'm kidding but if you have time it'd be really lovely.

Anyway Thank you a lot! It's great synth.

btw What's the trick? :).

BBM85
BBM85
28 May 2020 at 8:33pm

Great synth that I use to make some retro beats. Wrote a blog about it to support the developers that you can read from here: https://beatsbymirakle.beatstars.com/blog/the-best-things-in-music-happen-by-accident-charlatan-synth-8247

Also made a beat with it that you can listen here: https://bsta.rs/1f580ff9

Had fun with this synth, so I hope the developer get to see that.

BBM85.

beatsbymirakle.beatstars.com.

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dJpOlluX
dJpOlluX
21 April 2022 at 4:13pm

Thx! Looks great.

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porcytree
porcytree
26 October 2022 at 12:12am

Great little synth.

One tiny problem which hopefully someone here can help with.(not a huge issue just confusing and frustrating).

Whenever I create a patch (or edit an exsisting patch) then name and save it, the name shown in the folder is correctly (ie - the name i have given the patch).

However, when i later re-load the patch, it reverts to it's previous name or <empty> in the patch name display.

Any one know how to get named (or re-named) patches to retain their new names?

Thanks (and fingers crossed).

p.s - also have the same issue with Deducktion and Lokomotiv vsts.

dr_epf
dr_epf
14 March 2024 at 7:16am

Great sound quality.-

wikter
wikter
6 April 2024 at 11:59pm

And remember, Both Charlatan V3 & Charlatan V2 are different enough to keep both in use.

Eva Redwood
Eva Redwood
25 May 2024 at 11:56pm

Sounds incredibly nice, but the new version needs a detailed manual. It's kinda confusing to use.

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