reverendentity

Why do I use it? Who doesn't?

It's almost terrifying how versatile this VST is...and there are banks and banks of patches available...and it's free. Leads, pads, FX, arpeggiation, trance gates, LFO...

This is going to be a lot of fun, and I love that the interface is large and readable.

Obscurium has 8-voice saw, pulse, supersaw and FM synthesis capabilities. It has a motion sequencer and automation abilities. You can create sequences by drawing, using modifiers, or employing the Super Obscure mode (which lets the software conjure something for you). OK, enough basic feature description. This thing will make your brain leak out of your ears. It says a lot about Obscurium that the most challenging thing to do is get it to play the melody you gave it. If you're not using a keyboard to play notes in real time, I would suggest creating a MIDI sequence with another synth and then giving the sequence to Obscurium to see what happens. And I assure you, it WILL be transformed. I still haven't gone through all 400 presets, mainly because what it does is both audibly and visually fascinating. Fans of Imogen Heap, Autechre and Tangerine Dream will feel right at home - you will experience otherworldly pads, fidgeting arpeggiations and unique percussive sequences. When you feel ready to explore further, you can design your own sequences on the tapestry-like interface, modifying 16 different aspects of the sound, confining it to specific modalities and morphing through variations of your creation via sequencing or real time manipulation. YOU CAN LOAD OTHER VST SYNTHS INTO IT AND USE IT ON THEM. Summary/TL; DR - If you purchase this (and you should), give yourself a couple of hours to explore it. You will be fascinated, transfixed, and filled with a childlike wonder you haven't known in years.

Holy cats. That late 70s/early 80s public television incidental music analog synth sound is all over this VST, and it's every bit as warm and melancholic as you're hoping. It has dual oscillators, and also "analog-style oscillator drifting" for that authentic wavering sound. It also has an accent sequencer, 3 LFOs and an arpeggiator. AND it has a "Melt" control to add that extra degree of unsteadiness to your sounds. Everything I have used this synth in benefits from the extra warmth and strangeness of the sound!

I still haven't gone through all the presets, let alone really settled down to build sounds from scratch, but this is really an impressive piece of software. However, a couple of times when I was auditioning patches for tracks I would get this horrible deafening blast of static. I emailed the creators and they explained that this could be resolved by deleting a certain directory created during the install. I don't know if the issue has been fully resolved yet...

Once you accustom yourself to the compact interface (which is provided in black on yellow and yellow on black), you will eventually find yourself wondering how you went so long without it. A series of multi-chained filters acting in unison, REZ comes armed with distortion, phaser, delay, arpeggiation and step sequencing capabilities. You can use it for impressive leads, nasty bass, ethereal pads or (personal favorite) groove-enhancing arpeggio sequences. It's always great to have for that extra layer of oomph!

Great trance and progressive sounds!

Straight from the developer's website: "Charlatan is a polyphonic, subtractive virtual analog (VA) synthesizer plugin with focus on sound quality and easy usability." There it is, pure and simple. You have 2 oscillators, hard sync, ring mod, unison, noise generator, LFO, a filter section with 4p/2p LP and BP, and 2 ADSR envelopes. All of this is in an easy to understand, easy to use, low CPU package. Leads, pads, sweeps, basses, you name it - you can create them all. So go get it.