Developer Blaukrat has released Charlatan 3, a new version of the free virtual analog synthesizer for Windows and Linux.
Charlatan has received a lot of good press over the years. I remember its initial beta release and how much love it received on KVR. In the years since its initial release, Charlatan has evolved into a very mature and stable synthesizer.
Despite its relatively simple feature set, it remains one of BPB’s favorites and is still recommended as one of the best free synth plugins.
If this is your first time hearing about it, there’s never been a better time to hop on board. Long-time users can humor me, but it is worth looking at the synth in depth.
At its core, Charlatan is a straightforward virtual analog synthesizer. It is designed for the express purpose of being easy to use while sounding convincingly analog. As such, everything on the interface is plain and easy to see.
This makes programming an absolute breeze, which certainly works in its favor. You’ve got a pair of oscillators with syncing and FM support. You can even dictate the phase of the oscillators if you so choose.
These can be further routed to a pair of filters. The filters themselves can be run in serial or parallel, allowing for a fair amount of flexibility in the creation of patches. It wouldn’t be a worthwhile synth without a little motion and modulation.
You’ve got quite a few options for modulation, with MSEGs, standard ADSRs, and LFOs all present. They work well, they’re quick to understand, and can be assigned to quite a few parameters.
Flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to the newest release of Charlatan. Effects are thankfully now included, with your choice of distortion, phaser, chorus, reverb, delay, and an EQ.
All standard effects, but it is always a joy to have some basic processing on board. Charlatan does have the option of engaging in oversampling, which doesn’t do much to hinder performance.
I’d likely leave it off for the writing stage of a song, but having the ability to toggle it freely is nice.
The flexible nature of the synth even extends to your choice of operating system. Mac users are sadly left out of the mix, but if you’re on Windows or Linux you’re golden. Supported plugin formats are VST3 and CLAP.
Download: Charlatan (FREE)
More:
- Charlatan3 FREE Virtual Analog Synth Is In Public Beta!
- CMajor Releases FREE Pro-54 Browser-Based Synthesizer
Last Updated on March 19, 2024 by Tomislav Zlatic.
