Best free VSTs for techno and the like

So, what are the best free VSTs out there for free for techno and electronic music… Here’s a few we use in the studio, including a very good analogue clone, two excellent FM synths, a Juno 60 VST, plus some very good effects. I’ve split it into an top ten list, the internet seems to love that format for some reason.

See also: Studio Brootle 909 Sample Pack. You can find all of our VST presets here. And ourValhalla Supermassive Tutorial (with presets).

Here’s a quick rundown of them…

Best Free FM and ‘Analogue’ synth VSTs

I’ve split this into two sections, synths and effects. Here are the synths…

TyrellN6

The TyrellN6 is a virtual analogue clone, looks like a classic synth that was never made, has all the basics… 2 oscillators, 2 envelopes, 2 LFOs, ringmod too.
Made by U-He the maker of Bazille, Zebra and Diva – this is free analogue modelling synth.

It makes great classic monosynth style basses.

Dexed

Dexed is a really f’ing good FM synth, modelled on the original 80s Yamaha DX7 way of doing FM.
The great thing about this is that is can load patches from the original Yamaha DX7 and Yamaha TX7, there are tons of these online which you can load up and get using. You can even use it as a patch editor for the DX7 and TX7! If you’re looking for 80s digital FM synthesis – this is the one! A brilliant free project that gives any paid-for FM plugin a run for it’s money!

The original DX7 was used by everyone from Brian Eno to Whitney Houston. It (along with the DX100 and others) was used extensively in early techno and since. The ‘solid/lately bass’ preset was famously used by Kevin Saunderson in his Innercity Project. The internet is a goldmine for presets like this from the old Yamaha synths that can be loaded into Dexed, making it one of the best VSTs for techno.

Mini versions of Bazille (BazilleCM and Beatzille)

Mini versions of Bazille (BazilleCM and Beatzille)
2 versions: BazilleCM and Beatzille

The main Bazille vst costs over 100 euros, but these 2 smaller versions are free with a copy of the respective magazines from the links above.
Bazille is a brilliant FM synth made by U-He. It is definitely worth getting one of these as the synth is amazingly powerful FM synth, with some analogue style filters, and eurorack style patching making it a unique and powerful vst.

TAL-U-No-62 Juno 60 clone

The Tal-U-No-62 is their free one (there is a bigger version that is paid for) but this is great on it’s own. The filter sounds great and you can get some nice Juno-ish self osc sounds out of it. I love the Sheffield bleep sounds you can get out of it. The original Juno 60 was used by LFO and countless others.

Best Free VST Effects

Glitch Machines Fracture

Glitch Machines Fracture
It has a glitch buffer effect, a filter and delay, which can all be tweaked, and the order or the fx changed too. It is simple but you can be very creative with it.
I like to record it’s output on various sounds (especially drums) while controlling the knobs with my midi controller. They also make Hysteresis https://glitchmachines.com/products/hysteresis/ which has more Beat-Repeat style glitching and stutter fx.

Parametric EQ from Tokyo Dawn

Parametric EQ from Tokyo Dawn
some DAWs come with Parametric EQs but I know the basic version of Ableton does not include EQ8 and this is a good replacement. These are essential for sculpting nearly all my sounds.

Valhalla FreqEcho

The Valhalla FreqEcho
Valhalla made one of thier first plug-ins available for free. This is an echo-delay with pitch shifting added. It is great for weird dub delays and stutter fx (with added pitch shifting). Really simple but interesting background effect.

TAL Reverb 4

Tal Reverb 4
80s plate verb style effect, with some basic but good modulation options. Great for snare and hi-end percussion sends and builds.

TAL Filter 2

Tal Filter 2 Great filter where you can draw in the envelopes. They can have multiple peaks an so you can use it like and LFO’s early Warp releases or even a gate too by drawing in the shapes to sculpt the sound.

VCV Rack gets a mention too!

VCV Rack
ok so this is not a plug-in, but you can use in conjunction with your DAW so it makes the cut for this list. VCV Rack is a virtual modular synth environment. It is an excellent piece of software and the fact that it is free is unbelievable. There are some paid for modules if you want too, but there are a huge amount of high quality free ones you will probably never need to spend anything.

Summary

Hope you found this useful – let us know if there is anything you think we should add to this.

You might also like our Bazille Tutorial and our post on Best Free Drum Machine Samples

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