Retro Boy - Free Chiptune VSTi Plugin Released By Sound-Base Audio

Sound-Base Audio has released Retro Boy, a lightweight freeware chiptune synthesizer in VSTi plugin format for Windows.

Retro Boy is a virtual analog chiptune synth/emulator. Chiptune or otherwise known as 8-bit music is music or sounds synthesized by the sound chip of computers, video game systems, and most handled gaming systems.

Retro Boy is available for free download via Sound-Base Audio (2.7 MB downlad size, ZIP archive, 32-bit VSTi plugin format for Windows, made with FlowStone).

The instrument features a single oscillator with seven basic waveform shapes. The oscillator comes with three variations of the pulse waveform, as well as the standard saw, sine, triangle, and noise waveforms.

Retro Boy also offers a vibrato mode and a simple ADSR envelope for controlling the amplitude of the sound. It would be nice to see an arpeggiator included in the list of features. The developer has announced an XL version of the plugin which should be released soon and perhaps the new version will make it possible to generate the classic old school arpeggios with Retro Boy.

If you’re looking for more freeware chiptune instruments, take a look at the fantastic ymVST which was developed by gwEm who we’ve interviewed a while ago. Another great one is Dream 64 V2 by Odo, which was also included in our list of the best 20 freebies from 2013. If you’re looking for chiptune samples, grab our Commodore 64 Synthesizer Sessions DELUXE sample library in WAV, Kontakt, Shortcircuit, and SFZ formats.

Do you make chiptune music? Feel free to post SoundCloud links to your work in the comments section! I’m always on a lookout for good 8-bit tunes.