Charlatan
by BlauKraut Engineering
by BlauKraut Engineering
4.8 / 5
(49 votes)
Charlatan is a polyphonic subtractive synthesizer with focus on sound quality and easy usability.
It comes with a flexible, yet not overwhelming feature set which encourages artists to start tweaking instead of just relying on presets. Inspite of it's simplicity, Charlatan's architecture is flexible enough to create both classic sounds and rather experimental noises. While making no compromise about sound quality, the sound engine has been highly optimized for efficient CPU usage making Charlatan well suited as a "bread and butter" synth even in projects with a large number of plugin instances.
It comes with a flexible, yet not overwhelming feature set which encourages artists to start tweaking instead of just relying on presets. Inspite of it's simplicity, Charlatan's architecture is flexible enough to create both classic sounds and rather experimental noises. While making no compromise about sound quality, the sound engine has been highly optimized for efficient CPU usage making Charlatan well suited as a "bread and butter" synth even in projects with a large number of plugin instances.
- 2 oscillators with shape modulation.
- Oscillator hard synchronization and ring modulation.
- Unison mode with upto 7 voices and stereo spread.
- Stereo noise generator.
- 2 ADSR envelope generators.
- LFO with host tempo synchronization.
- 3 filter types modeled after classic analog hardware: 4-pole (24 db/oct) and 2-pole (12 db/oct) lowpass, bandpass.
- 3 voice modes: Monophonic, Monophonic Legato and 8-voice Polyphonic.
- Ultra-low CPU usage.
Downloads
Win 32 VST
(0.7 Mb)
Win 64 VST
(0.7 Mb)
(5 / 5)
Hi. Sometimes you download something and only at second glance do you realize how ingenious and brilliant the work is. This is what happened to me when I was hunting for free plugins. CHARLATAN is simply AWESOME. And all of this for free. I wish you a happy Easter, good luck and STAY HEALTHY
(5 / 5)
THIS IS SO NICE, with some reverb and eq its all perfect the filter does so much make sure to play with it
(5 / 5)
This synth is fantastic. Truly low on CPU with many essential features and even a few more! Fantastic sound too. I've used it a lot, even though I have soft synths which cost money.
(5 / 5)
Чуть бы допилить и красота)
(5 / 5)
Best synth ever. Just put a reverb on it!
(5 / 5)
My go-to synth. For bread and butter sounds I always reach for this synth despite owning more sophisticated paid-for synths. There's something about the layout and design that allows me to dial in a sound quickly and without fuss. And this sounds fantastic. It's killer for bass, pads and leads. It's very gentle on CPU and has never crashed on me.
(5 / 5)
Amazing synth. Easy to edit sounds, and what you make ends up so usable. Doesn't even make the CPU sweat at all, super efficient. This synth is what made me develop a love for sound design, I learned all about making good pads, basses, leads, brasses etc. Definitely a bread and butter freebie, deserving of being beside classics like Synth1.
Excellent and very handy
(5 / 5)
Nice Synth, nice sound
(5 / 5)
Really great synth!
Thank you to the developer for the free synth which made me finally give up a magazineware one. Even better was when the "vel" sliders for the envelopes were added! Otherwise I would have complained there aren't enough patches and not a good excuse to make any more. Some polyphonic sounds are just alive, cannot get that from any synth created in decade-2000. Just use it.
(4 / 5)
New skin for charlatan on this link: http://goa.in.rs/charlatan_vsti_skin
(5 / 5)
Великолепный синтезатор. Всё очень просто крутится, топовые фильтры. Действительно напоминает "то самое" звучание. Рекомендую.
(4 / 5)
Good option if you just want to use 1 really easy synth and you aren't too fussy about the tones. Nice layout. It's not as warm or as fat or as edgy as some other synths. It's got a very non-descript, "vanilla" vibe to it. It's an analog style synth but it won't remind you of any classic synth tones. I like the filter. I like the noise section. The waves don't sound that good to me. It sounds pretty mellow. It's hard to get a really thin, cutting sound out of it if that's what you want. I like it generally but it just doesn't impress me much. Highly recommended as a beginner synth though or if you just want a small synth part in the track and don't have a really specific tone in mind.
This is the best I've found. First, it is simple and second, it is easy to learn.
(3 / 5)
It's oscillator and filter is high quality. Decent analog feel (but don't expect Diva/Obsession level analog). So it's good. However, it has some bugs that bother me. Noise/glitch when switching to POLY, and the detune knob stops at 6 semitones when I want 7ths... A workaround is possible by combining TUNE (Osc2) and DETUNE (Pitch), but it doesn't work well. Also, when loading project files, Charlatan seems to ignore my Pitch Wheel settings at first. And it seems this synth will never be updated again.
(5 / 5)
This is paid-plugin quality!!! First thought its a mono synth only but then I discovered that it has poliphony! And the filter is just synth p*rn!! I only can recommend it!
(5 / 5)
Charlatan is a top quality VA softsynth, up there with the best freebies PG-8X, Obxd, Tyrell N6, Mausynth, Xhip. <3 <3 <3
(5 / 5)
I love it!!!
(5 / 5)
I like this vst a lot. I can make a lead or chord sound like some nexus presets without nexus.
(5 / 5)
I love this synth. I'm very much a preset guy, any sound I can create has already been created only 100 times better, and on the BlauKraut website you can find more preset banks that just sound really awesome. Thank you BlauKraut. You've brought happiness to my normally jaded heart :-)
(4 / 5)
Very impressive little synth! I'm not a synthesis Pro by any stretch of the imagination, so the simplicity of this plugin is absolutely right up my alley, as I'm able to create really cool sounds with relative ease. Congrats to BlauKraut!
(5 / 5)
Fantastic, tidy and simple GUI. Great and clear in Sound. The only thing I miss is a small Effect-Section.
(5 / 5)
Impressive synth! <3
A great sounding synth with a pleasing interface.
(5 / 5)
What a perfect tool !!! The only plugin in my computer, I use it for everything: Basslines, Leads, Chords, Drums, Glitchs, FX ... Thousand thanks <3
(5 / 5)
I like this plugin. It's easy to understand easy handling, stable and superlow CPU usage. Good Sound. much thank's to blaukraut
(5 / 5)
A bit basic in architecture but certainly awesome in sound!
(5 / 5)
Good job BlauKraut Engineering!
(5 / 5)
This is great! It has a very thick analogue sound. 5/5 I so hope BlauKraut Engineering will bring us more synths, a bigger brother of Charlatan would be killer!!
(5 / 5)
Very nice tones coming out of this! For free this is stunning!
(5 / 5)
I love the simplicity of this plugin.
(5 / 5)
Excellent quality sound engine in this softsynth.
(5 / 5)
One of the best free Soft synths. High quality analog sound.
(5 / 5)
muy bueno me encanto
(5 / 5)
One of the best Free Soft-Synths. Good job and thanks!
(5 / 5)
Easy to use and well designed interface.
(5 / 5)
Of the simplest substractive-synths there are in this site. This one is the best.
(5 / 5)
Great sound, easy to program, lots of presets available.
(5 / 5)
Simple and clean for beginners and experts .
(5 / 5)
Good for Basses,leads and very usable.
(5 / 5)
Efficient, low CPU usage and simple interface. Good job.
(5 / 5)
Good sounds and easy to use... Gracias.
(5 / 5)
Superb!!!
(4 / 5)
Sounds good. Miss a sub
(2 / 5)
Just good.-