Neon

According to Wikipedia, Neon was literally the very first VST synthesizer, not the first software synthesizer but the first one made using the Steinberg VST standard. I don't know how well it compared to the competition in '98 or '99 but the synth is now freeware as part of the Steinberg Classics Pack Vol. 2.

Sound-wise, it's a thick and bland sound, not necessarily bad-- in fact, I'm sure you could imagine places to use it but with such a wide variety of free synths out there, why would you? The timbral variety offered by the Neon is paltry, mostly due to a filter that doesn't filter very much and a hard-to-hear LFO.

PROS:

• Historical curiosity.
• Capable of a count-them-on-one-hand number of appealing sounds.
• Unbelievably low CPU usage. On my laptop which is from 2008, it used 0.1% of my CPU.

CONS:

• Badly implemented skeuomorphic knobs require you to point your mouse in the actual direction you want to turn your knob.
• Filter and LFO are both difficult to hear.
• Extremely low timbral variety.

If you're actively looking for an uninspiring synth, you've found one. Otherwise, the value of this VST is extremely limited.