The Charlatan is a virtual analog synthesizer plugin from BlauKraut Engineering with a focus on sound quality and ease of use. It’s a very straightforward plugin with 2 oscillators and your usual array of filters and envelopes but this was intentional; the developers wish to encourage Artists to tweak the few parameters available which can still produce a rich sound reminiscent of Roland – Juno or the Korg -Polysix.

The plugin’s low CPU usage allows for multiple instances which in the developer’s own words make it a “bread and butter” plugin. With a little bit of time, you will discover that the Charlatan is in fact quite capable despite the basic GUI and feature set. The limitations here need to be seen as a feature, since you are not overwhelmed by endless possibilities but can instead focus on creating good sounds.

But, if you just want to get to making a track and experimentation isn’t your forte, there is still a large library of presets available from the larger community which could be a good starting point or the exact sound you’re looking for. Unfortunately, it is only available on Windows but MAC users can go for the more CPU intensive Dexed VST.

Key Features

• 2 oscillators with shape modulation
• Oscillator hard synchronization and ring modulation
• Unison mode with upto 7 voices and stereo spread
• Stereo noise generator
• 2 ADSR envelope generators
• LFO with host tempo synchronization
• 3 filter types modeled after classic analog hardware: 4-pole (24 db/oct) and 2-pole (12 db/oct) lowpass, bandpass
• 3 voice modes: Monophonic, Monophonic Legato and 8-voice Polyphonic
• Ultra-low CPU usage

The limited nature of the charlatan might put those with more experience with synthesis off, but those looking to emulate the analog synths of the past have all their needs catered to with this free plugin.

Click here to download the plugin.