Synth1

Synth1 has been around since 2002, and Wikipedia says it’s one of the most downloaded VST plugins ever. It looks dated, but I still use it regularly. Synth1 remains relevant for two reasons: its characteristic digital sound and the thousands of freely downloadable presets. There are hundreds of Synth1 sound banks available, some crafted by well-known professional sound designers. The plugin emulates the Nord Lead 2 synthesizer.

It features three main oscillators, one sub-oscillator, a multi-mode filter, two LFO modules, two envelopes, an arpeggiator, and several built-in effects. The sonic character is purely digital and relatively tame compared to VA synths trying to sound analog. That makes Synth1 ideal for layering on top of other instruments in a busy mix without fighting for space. It also uses almost no CPU, which is great if you need to run several instances at once.