The Best Synth VST Plugins, Sorted by the Sound You Want

The best synth VST for most producers is a wavetable synth such as Xfer Serum or the free Vital, because one of them can cover leads, basses, pads and plucks with deep sound design. For warm analog tone, u-he Diva is a long-standing favorite, and Spectrasonics Omnisphere is the go-to when you want a huge library of finished sounds.

The right pick depends less on which synth is "best" and more on how you like to work. Some producers want to build every sound from an empty patch; others want to scroll presets and get back to the song. This list is sorted by the kind of synth, so you can find the type that fits first.

Top VST synths at a glance

Best wavetable synth VST: Serum and Vital

Xfer Serum made wavetable synthesis approachable. You see the waveform you're playing, drag modulation sources onto any knob, and import your own audio as wavetables. It became a default in EDM, bass music and pop production, and a huge amount of third-party preset content is made for it.

Vital works in a similar way and has a free tier that includes the full synth engine, with paid tiers adding presets and extra wavetables. If you're starting out, it's hard to argue with a top-tier wavetable synth that costs nothing. Its visual feedback on every modulation is also excellent for learning.

Native Instruments Massive X is another strong wavetable option, especially for growling basses and dark textures. Massive, its predecessor, still has a loyal following in dubstep and drum and bass.

Best analog-style synth VST: Diva and Sylenth1

u-he Diva models the circuits of classic analog synths, including their oscillators and filters, and it sounds remarkably close to hardware. The trade-off is CPU: at its highest quality setting, a few instances can strain a laptop. Many producers freeze or bounce Diva tracks as they go.

LennarDigital Sylenth1 goes the other way: a virtual analog synth that's light on CPU, quick to program and known for bright, wide leads. It has been a trance and house staple for years.

If you want a specific vintage instrument, emulations go further still. Arturia's V Collection bundles recreations of many classic synths, and TAL-U-NO-LX is a well-liked Roland Juno-60 emulation.

Best hybrid and preset-heavy synths: Omnisphere and Pigments

Spectrasonics Omnisphere combines synthesis with a very large sample library, and it's the synth many film, TV and hip-hop producers open first for pads, textures and unusual keys. It's less about programming from scratch and more about finding and shaping a sound that's already inspiring.

Arturia Pigments combines several engines, including virtual analog, wavetable and sample-based, with color-coded modulation that's easy to follow. It's a good middle ground if you want depth without a steep learning curve.

Hydra (ours): a hybrid synth VST that talks

Hydra is our hybrid synth, built around bass. A wavetable oscillator with eight table families, FM and phase warp feeds a formant "mouth" in every voice and per-voice distortion with five characters. Its signature is Speak: type a word such as YOI or WOW and the mouth pronounces it in time with your track, the talking-bass effect that otherwise takes a formant filter and hand-drawn LFOs.

The main view is three sections (Bite, Mouth, Rage) and eight big knobs, so it is quick to learn, and it responds to pitch bend, the mod wheel, sustain and aftertouch. It isn't a modulation lab like Serum or Pigments. Hydra costs €69 once and runs as VST3, AU and AAX.

Nova (ours): a fast analog-style synth VST

Nova is our polyphonic synth, built for getting to a good sound quickly. Two anti-aliased oscillators (saw, square, triangle, sine or a 7-saw supersaw) feed an analog-style filter with 24 and 12 dB low-pass, band-pass and high-pass modes, plus resonance and drive. There's a sub oscillator, noise, unison up to seven voices, separate amp and filter envelopes, an LFO for filter movement and vibrato, glide, and built-in chorus, delay and reverb.

It isn't a wavetable synth and doesn't try to be a modular sound-design lab. It's for the core sounds most tracks need: supersaw leads, warm pads, plucks, and analog, reese, acid and sub basses. Presets include Supersaw Lead, Warm Pad, Glass Pluck, Reese Bass, Acid Line and Soft Strings. Nova costs €59 and runs as VST3, AU and AAX.

Here's Supersaw Lead: both oscillators on supersaw, an octave apart, with seven unison voices spread wide and chorus, delay and reverb already dialed in. Play it with your computer keyboard.

Best free synth VST plugins

• Vital: a full wavetable synth in its free tier. The obvious first download.
• Surge XT: open source, with several synthesis types, deep modulation and a large preset library.
• Dexed: a free recreation of the Yamaha DX7, for classic FM electric pianos, bells and basses. It can load original DX7 patch files.
• TAL-NoiseMaker: a simple, free virtual analog synth that's easy to learn on.

We give away two effect plugins of our own; see our free plugins.

Stock synths you already own

Before you buy anything, open the synths that came with your DAW. Logic Pro includes Alchemy, Retro Synth and ES2, and Alchemy alone could be your main synth for years. Ableton Live includes Wavetable, Operator and Analog, depending on your edition. FL Studio includes 3x Osc in every edition, with Sytrus, Harmor and others in higher editions.

How to choose the best VST synthesizer

• Know your sound. Wavetable for modern, moving tones; analog-style for warm basses and pads; preset-heavy hybrids for cinematic textures.
• Choose between presets and programming. If you want to learn synthesis, pick a synth with clear visual feedback. If you want sounds fast, pick one with a big library.
• Check CPU. Analog-modeling synths can be heavy. Try one on your own machine with a full session open.
• Check formats. Most synths ship as VST3, AU and AAX. Our guide to VST, AU and AAX explains which your DAW needs.
• Use the trial. Most of these synths offer demos. Program one sound you'd actually use before buying.

New to plugins in general? Start with what a VST plugin is and how to load one in your DAW.