T-Force Zenith, a FREE Roland-inspired synth, is the flagship synth from Mastrcode Music.
The synth is only compatible with Windows, so Mac users like me will have to miss out, at least for now. But, after listening to some demos, I have to say it sounds great.
T-Force Zenith offers two free-running, seven-voice oscillators inspired by the original Roland Supersaw (JP-8000/8080).
Although inspiration comes from the iconic Roland 90s Trance machine, T-Force Zenith aims to be more flexible with over 200 waveforms and the ability to load user samples as single-cycle oscillator waveforms.
It also features a useful audio editor to record and edit user samples.
You can create some pretty massive sounds with up to 32X polyphony.
Roland’s JP-8000 is the synth behind the legendary Trance hit Sandstorm (Darude), the track you can’t un-hear for days (sorry).
If you want to create similar tastefully obnoxious sounds, you can do so with T-Force Zenith. You can also recreate the famous detuned Supersaw sound using the Detune control to adjust each of the seven voices.
If you want to get a little crazier, the Oscillator Feedback module produces some controlled chaos.
T-Force Zenith offers much more than a pair of Supersaw-inspired oscillators. It includes fifteen filter types with controls for Cutoff, Envelope Amount, Resonance, Keytracking, and Velocity.
The flagship freebie also includes four envelopes: ADSR Filter Env, ADSR Amp Env, and two ADSR Modulation Envelopes.
This is in addition to three LFOs, a wide range of effects, and a Mod Matrix. The built-in effects include a seven-band parametric EQ, Reverb, Distortion, and a Stereo Chorus Effect.
For those heading down the Trance path, the envelope-controlled 32-step Trance Gate will be extremely useful.
There’s also a Chorder module that allows you to trigger chords from a single note, and that sort of thing is always handy when creating electronic music.
Perhaps ironically, I was more impressed (initially, at least) by some of the softer pad sounds that screamed Sci-Fi dystopia! But if you’re into electronic music of any sort, T-Force Zenith is worth a look.
Don’t forget to check out Behringer’s free synth offering, Vintage, while you’re at it.
T-Force Zenith is available in 64-bit VST3 format for Windows (7 with Service Pack 1 installed and 8/10/11).
Download: T-Force-Zenith (FREE – Windows only)
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17 Comments
Tomislav Zlatic
onA big thank you to BPB reader Wing Yee for the info!
F
onHi there! I tried to install Zenith twice, but it didn’t work. I would like to what I did wrong. I folllowed the instructions. Thank you.
Kumiko Sawaguchi
ondidn’t show up on reaper. the installation process leaves a lot to be desired. i have literally zero idea of where it installed it. if at all.
Numanoid
onI am always grateful for a new free VST synth, but this didn’t impress me from the get go:
When installing it has to install “extra” Microsoft Visual C++ stuff, and afterwards a restart of the computer is needed.
It is rather CPU hungry, and it spikes. The GUI is small and can’t be resized ?
I’m on Windows 10, using FL Studio v21.2
alex
onWell, that’s not the only plugin that automatically installs older versions of Microsoft Visual C++ it needs to work properly. It can be annoying and I like it better when there’s an option to skip it, but I guess it’s better than having a bunch of people who have no idea why the newly installed plugin doesn’t work :)
MRG
onMany computers have it already installed, the setup/installer will mostly check and update if needed. Rebooting is often not required. Altho it will suggest you to, try without, if it fails, then consider restarting. Nothing will explode. (Source: Trust me, bro.)
alex
onI guess you actually weren’t responding to my post :)
MRG
onan addendum of sorts…
Steve
onNo, apologies my friend, was just posting that I’m having difficulty downloading it. 👍
bmm
ongreat sounding plugin, a bit cpu hungry, but still sounds really good and free, great job thanks.
Steve
onDoes not download, will not work on windows , tried the same and as others have said no luck, does not work. Sorry, looks an exciting piece of kit. But does not download to Windows. In The UK , please advise. 🤔
SynthieSara
onJust watched that demo for the free T-Force Zenith VST plugin, and now I want to try making Trance music myself!
That Trance Gate feature starting after 1:26 minutes in sounds like a game-changer for Trance music producers! I also noticed some automation with the Filter cutoff and resonance and observed as the sound corresponded with the changing Filter settings. ( I am very excited about it’s possibilities, but if the plugin is going to be CPU hungry, I’ll just use fewer plugins for whatever music project I use it in.)
And the extra installing? I may want this free plugin bad enough that the need to install extra Microsoft Visual C++ files doesn’t scare me…too much. I love the look AND the sound of this thing.
@Numanoid, thank you for the warning about the extra installment stuff. I really appreciate it.
It seems like T-Force Zenith has been around for a few years already, but by now it has had some updates with more features than before.
Thanks so much James for writing about this plugin. I think the UI is attractive, and the demonstration video really makes me want to try this out.
Rafael
onI think Zenith is new, you might be thinking of their T-Force Alpha Plus, which is perhaps more than a decade old at this point and is similar in some ways. In fact, the “revolutionary” Trance Gate was already part of it. ;)
4113ND3
onGame-changer really? Trancegate was so overused in the late 90’s that it almost completely disappeared from the scene for almost 15-20 years. It’s only the recent 5-10 years that it as well as other vintage 90’s sounds (like rave pianos) have been making a comeback into trance, but for some it still has that cheesy association. And by purely feature side, there are million ways of doing a trance gate. Plenty of synths have and have had a trance gate option since forever, If not purely a step sequencer type, then lfos with sqr/saw waveforms. Outside the synth there are tons of gate/envelope plugins to do this (Love Philter, Gross Beat, Lfotool, Shaperbox, Filtershaper etc..), not to mention that you can just automate it or sidechain a signal to any parameter to do this. This synth sounds good and captures that vintage millenium sound, but gamechanger it is not, quite the opposite actually doing everything we’ve been doing for decades.
DimYos
onThe plugin crash FL Studio. Windows 10
Steve
onBe nice if it would download??????🤬😡
DimYos
onI downloaded and installed it with no problem. But then fl studio can’t open it. Anyone else having a similar problem? I really liked the demo and wanted to try it out.