Tyrell N6

Before Surge XT, there was Tyrell N6. If you asked me what my favorite free VST synth was before Surge became open-source, Tyrell N6 would be the answer. Tyrell N6 was developed by Urs Heckmann, the DSP programmer behind virtual synth classics like Zebra2 and Diva. de forum members who joined forces to design their ideal synthesizer. You read that right: Urs Heckmann built a freeware “dream synth” based on specs from an online community.

At its core are a pair of oscillators, a noise generator, and ring modulation. Further down the signal chain, the synth features a couple of snappy ADSR envelopes, a twin filter design from an early prototype of u-he Diva, and a pair of host-syncable LFO modules with eight waveforms. The instrument has over 500 presets, and dozens of free sound banks are available from u-he’s website. Two other u-he synth plugins worth mentioning here are Zebralette (listed below) and Podolski.