Wusik is offering the Wusik ZR ($99 value) virtual synthesizer as a free download. The software is available in VST, VST3, and AU plugin formats for digital audio workstations on PC and Mac.
Wusik ZR is a sample-based virtual synthesizer. It uses sampled single-cycle waveforms as the sound source for the oscillators. Wusik describes the instrument as “a single-cycle wave playback engine with Hyper Oversampling Code using SSE2/AVX.”
See also: Free Synthesizer VST PluginsThe synthesis engine is based on a Wave Engine with four Wave Zones. The zones essentially work as sound layers that are stack on top of each other.
Each zone has 48 selectable waveforms that can be assigned to any of the four available wave slots. Also, a zone can generate up to sixteen sound layers, which can be static or sequenced. The sequenced layers use a different wave on each step, and the user can manually set the length of each sequence. The synthesizer is 32-voice polyphonic with unison.
Apart from the impressive Wave Engine, the plugin offers most of the features one would expect to find in a subtractive synthesizer. There’s one loopable ADSR envelope, multiple standard ADSRs, and a multi-mode filter module with the standard lop-pass, band-pass, high-pass, and notch filter shapes.
The FX section consists of a master limiter and over a dozen additional effects that are based on the old mda FX bundle. The mda effects are proper old-school stuff, but they still sound surprisingly good.
The user interface isn’t the most modern-looking. That said, it’s well-organized and gets the job done. The GUI isn’t fully scalable, but the user can change the height by clicking and dragging the bottom-right corner.
Interestingly, the official Wusik ZR product description states that the instrument can load third-party effects in VST plugin format. That’s a cool possibility, but I haven’t tested this particular feature before writing the article.
If all of this sounds too complex for your liking, the good news is that Wusik ZR comes with 128 presets designed by William Kalfelz (the developer). A detailed user manual is also available. You can hear some of the presets in the demo video below.
Wusik ZR is normally priced at $99, but you can currently get it for free from Wusik. There’s no information on whether this is a permanent or limited-time offer. That said, if you download the plugin now, it’s yours to keep forever (the installation won’t expire).
To get your free copy of Wusik ZR, visit the product page and add the plugin to your shopping cart. A valid email address is needed to complete the checkout process.
After completing the checkout on the Wusik website, you will receive a confirmation email that contains the download link. The software doesn’t require activation, apart from the single-click auto-verification, which is done automatically when you load the plugin for the first time. An active internet connection may be needed for this auto-verification step, though.
More info: Wusik ZR (63.3 MB download size, ZIP archive containing EXE installer, 32-bit & 64-bit VST/VST3/AU plugin formats for Windows & macOS)
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Last Updated on October 1, 2020 by Tomislav Zlatic.
