Synth1 vs Vital

Synth1 is a free software synthesizer plugin for computer music production on Windows and macOS. Its sound engine has two oscillators plus a sub-oscillator, with FM, ring modulation, sync, and a modulation envelope. Sound-shaping options include four filter types, distortion, two LFOs, an arpeggiator, tempo-synchronized delay, and stereo chorus/flanger. The maker lists 32-note polyphony and 128 presets. Synth1 works with DAWs that support VSTi on Windows or AU on Mac; GarageBand and REAPER are named as Mac examples. The Windows VSTi release is 32/64-bit for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10, and requires an x86/x64 CPU that supports SSE2. The Mac AU version is 64-bit for macOS 10.8 and later; Intel Macs were tested, while M1 support is unconfirmed. Mac users must download factory presets separately. The maker permits commercial music use without contacting them. The English manual is marked incomplete, and Synth1 is not multitimbral.

Vital is a spectral warping wavetable synthesizer for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its oscillators reshape wavetable harmonics through stretching, shifting, smearing, and skewing to create timbres. Users can make wavetables by converting samples with pitch-splice or vocode, editing tables, or generating them from text. Modulation includes drag-and-drop assignment, audio-rate modulation, stereo-splittable and keytracked LFOs, and custom envelope curves. Sound tools include two routable voice filters, eight routable effects, an oscilloscope, and a spectrum viewer. Vital supports MPE and microtonal tuning files, with VST, VST3, AU, and LV2 plugin formats listed. Requirements include 64-bit operation and OpenGL 3 or higher; the listed systems are Windows 10+, macOS 10.15+, and Ubuntu Linux 18.04+. The free Basic plan costs nothing and includes 75 presets, 25 wavetables, and full synth features. Plus costs $25, paid once and includes 250 presets and 70 wavetables. Text-to-wavetable requests are limited to five per day unless a plan unlocks unlimited requests.