The next free plugin I recommend is amazing. It’s going to fatten it up, and make it pop through the mix a bit more. Next we are going to go on to the first of the effects plug-ins, and this is an absolute classic – the Softube Saturation Knob. This is a really powerful synth and it’s definitely worth getting if you’re interested in sound design. It has many controls are you’ve actually got two scenes as well that you can kind of meld into each other as well as all the effects.

It’s got waaaaay more routing options than the Tyrell, but it’s going to give you more of a digital sound and give you lots of scope for experimental sound design. This certainly isn’t as pretty as the others, but it’s an incredibly powerful digital synth. The next free synth I’m going to recommend (and this is the last of our synthesizers, I promise!), is the Surge. It’s got classic hardware oscillator routing and a nice analogue feel to it – kind of like Sylenth1 in some ways. This is more of a classic-sounding synth than, for example, Vital. The Tyrell N6 is a completely free synth that you can download from their website, and – whilst not as powerful as Diva – is capable of creating some lovely, warm analogue sounds. U-He are the guys that make Diva (used by Ben Böhmer and many other producers), which is an incredible synth but costs money.

(If you have the EDM Tips Creative Toolkit, we’ve also got some Vital presets included in that). It has loads of presets included, and its modulation and effects options are very powerful. If you’re wanting to create some interesting wavetable synth sounds with lots of movement, then this is a must. Vital is sort of like a competitor to Serum, but it’s completely free.

It’s a great plug-in for realistic sounding instruments (such as piano and strings) but also has some more interesting experimental sounds. Spitfire Audio have got some great-sounding premium sampled instruments, but LABS is their free version, with a big selection of high-quality packs for you to download. It includes 7 free synthesizers, 9 sampled instruments and you also get some effects thrown in as well. Native Instruments Komplete Start is a fantastic tool if you’ve got no synths or other instruments.

Best fl studio plugins