Discover a world of possibility with these incredible, diverse and awesome synthesizers that are free to download.

Now as many of you will know, there are a huge range of plugins free and paid for out there. These are the 5 top ones that we love and are available for free but that doesn’t mean there aren’t many more amazing free plugins out there that you may love more.

If you have some, share them with us all in the comments below!

For each plugin I’ve recorded 4 different clips of the plugin in action with wildly different presets or parameters so you can hear the range of possibility with each one. Below is the same MIDI pattern I’ve used with each plugin using FL Studio’s basic ‘Close Grand’ instrument so you can really hear the effects of the plugins on the same pattern.

Cherry Voltage Modular Nucleus

Cherry Audio’s Voltage Modular Nucleus is a huge modular synth VST/AU plugin that is normally worth $150. It offers 22 modules with over 130 presets with an authentic build that recreates the essence of creating a modular synth build.

The phenomenal amount of wicked sounding presets give you a taste of exactly how this plugin was worth so much. Once you get into making your own unique sounds with it you won’t believe it’s now available for free.

Voltage Modular is cross-platform for Windows and OSX in AU, VST, VST3, and Pro Tools AAX formats, and also runs standalone on both platforms. User patches and cabinets are freely exchangeable across platforms.

Fury-800

The Fury-800 is a software instrument for Microsoft Windows (VST) and Apple macOS (VST/AU) simulating the KORG Poly-800 polyphonic synthesizer from 1983.

Like the Roland Juno, the Poly-800 had one DCO per voice, although it did feature a Double mode in which the oscillators could be stacked up for a fuller sound and only four voices of polyphony. The analog filter is a 24dB/oct low-pass which is shared by all voices (the Juno has separate filter chips for each voice).

There’s also a stereo chorus effect, chord memory, a simple built-in sequencer, three digital envelope generators (for the oscillators, the noise generator and the filter), and a funky joystick used to adjust the pitch, modulation and the filter.

Cheeze Machine

An extra cheesy, extra saucy string box in the style of the original vintage string machines. Cheeze Machine 2 includes an expanded oscillator section, convolution reverb, a vintage ensemble chorus, and 64 bit compatibility for VST, AU, AAX and Standalone applications.

Also included, bonus preview presets for Cheeze Machine Pro, an upcoming release with additional filters, pitch envelopes and performance controls.

Surge Synthesizer

Surge is a digital synth full of customisation and possibility. Whilst it may look overwhelming to start with it is full of incredible presets that offer a variety of great sound without even having to manually consider the open-source synth.

If you are knowledgeable about synths, read the manual, or just decide to give it all a go you will be pleasantly surprised with how intuitive and easy it is to customise and create an astonishing range of sounds that are both pleasing and unique.