I'm giving it four stars only because it's been exactly 6 years since it was updated, and it desperately needs quality of life and bug fixes. Otherwise I'd give it a 5.
At first glance, Charlatan presents as a very simple and limited virtual analog synth, but what sets it apart is its quality analog oscillators and filter. It's oscillators and filters sound excellent and lively, made better by the subtle (almost unnoticeable) analog 'drift' effect employed under the hood, which is uncommon in free plugins. Also, it's kind to your CPU meter, so don't be afraid to use more than one instance.
In essence, Charlatan is somewhat comparable to Roland's Juno-60 or Korg Polysix in terms of capabilities and philosophy. But it actually has more features, such as a proper second oscillator, oscillator sync, ringmod and true polyphonic unison. It could also be considered a stripped down Jupiter-8 (or Prophet-5) with a touch of JP-8000, but in general, it's its own take on the classic poly synth.
Because of its limitations and wanting to keep things simple, you likely will not stray too far from typical 80s sounds like basses, pads and poly sounds. It's just not as versatile as your typical semi-modular hybrid soft synth. Though with the unison feature, it can very useful for Trance, Techno, House, and other surprising areas. Charlatan is particularly great for basses; some of the best 80s style basses I've heard in a free plugin! It holds up even for synth brass, stabs and 90s trance sounds. It can do string machines, transistor organs, and all sorts of other keyboard sounds as well. With its noise oscillator, it makes surprisingly useful filler FX. It's even possible to squeeze out dissonant drones and usable drum sounds.
So in essence, it's dead simple and limited, but that's not a bad thing. Limitations breed creativity as they say. It sounds good enough to easily fill the 80s polysynth role, but is versatile enough that you can still find new and interesting timbres by experimenting. Also, don't neglect on the Unison and Stereo modes. Older versions of Charlatan did not have this, but they can really add a lot to the sound.
That said, it's not perfect. Osc 2 can only be detuned up to 6 semitones, which means... no perfect fifths. Does the creator have a vendetta against fifths, to stop at exactly 6?! There are also bugs. Sometimes I found patches don't load properly, glitches out, or don't sound right, particularly if in POLY mode. And it doesn't seem to honor initial pitch bend messages for fine tuning, though this may not be exclusive to Charlatan. An additional way to alter the drift amount would also have been huge in a free plugin. But these are not deal breakers.
Using it with a chorus greatly augments the synth (this goes for any poly synth really): The free TAL Chorus LX is a great load-once-and-forget chorus, but any decent BBD or multi-voice chorus will do, but that's a whole other topic. Also you'll want a good reverb. TAL's free reverb plugins are well-suited for the job (I personally like the older TAL-Reverb-2 for its tone) Then there's also Supermassive (free), which can be warm and spacey.
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 ;) )
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.
I actually have grown to love this VST. The Organ 1 sound preset is so phat it's just awesome!
Great VST!
sweet but solid sound. filter sounds great, would love to LFO and envelope modulation
thank you very much!
I hope for more...
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?
Just discovered the Charlatan synth, and I must say that for a free VST I am very impressed.
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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Great sounds from a neat synth.
Will their be a better preset browser in future?
https://soundcloud.com/oscillian/dark-dawn.
Track made with 12 instances goes to show the scope of a lovely plugin.
A beautiful demo! Great.
Hello dominic I downloaded the 2.0 b file, except that it is version 1.4.1.
someday we will have a Linux version?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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? :).
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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Thx! Looks great.
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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.
Great sound quality.-
And remember, Both Charlatan V3 & Charlatan V2 are different enough to keep both in use.
Sounds incredibly nice, but the new version needs a detailed manual. It's kinda confusing to use.
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