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JS80P Is A FREE Virtual Synthesizer Plugin By Attila M. Magyar

By 38 Comments3 Mins Read
JS80P by Attila M. Magyar

Attila M. Magyar released JS80P, a FREE virtual synthesizer in VST and FST plugin formats for Windows and Linux.

JS80P comes from developer Attila M. Magyar, and it’s free to download via his GitHub page, as is the source code (available under the terms of the GNU General Public License Version 3).

JS80P is a two-oscillator synth offering ten waveforms and sixteen notes of polyphony.

The featured waveforms are Sine, Sawtooth, Soft Sawtooth, Inverse Sawtooth, Soft Inverse Sawtooth, Triangle, Soft Triangle, Square, Soft Square, and Custom.

Each oscillator has two filters and a Custom Waveform Harmonics section. The multi-mode filters offer seven filter types:

Low-Pass, High-Pass, Band-Pass, Notch, Bell (Peaking), Low-Shelf, and High-Shelf.

The Custom Waveform Harmonics section, which allows you to introduce and blend 1st to 10th harmonics, is a nice addition.

YouTube video

Other notable features/functions include Portamento, a Wave Folder, Amplitude Modulation, Frequency Modulation, and Phase Modulation.

Although the interface looks pretty busy at a glance, everything is very easy to follow and neatly laid out across five main tabs: Synth, Effects, Controllers, Envelopes, and LFOs.

The Effects tab features built-in Overdrive, Distortion, Stereo Echo/Reverb, plus two additional filters. You also have six envelopes and eight LFOs at your disposal.

JS80P is inspired by the Yamaha CS-80, an iconic analog synth produced in the late 1970s.

Although the CS-80 wasn’t everyone’s ideal synth, partly because it was so big and heavy, it delivered some iconic sounds used by iconic musicians like Vangelis, Stevie Wonder, and Michael McDonald.

The GUI looks a bit old-school, but the control layout is intuitive.
The GUI looks a bit old-school, but the control layout is intuitive.

As you can tell from those three names, the CS-80 sound lends itself to a varied range of styles, from dystopian movie soundtracks to keyboard-driven, radio-friendly Pop music.

A Yamaha CS-80 would set you back anywhere from thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the year and condition. Arturia offers an impressive emulation from the V Collection, the CS-80V, which I think is pretty awesome, but also relatively expensive unless you catch a good sale/offer.

So, if you dig the CS-80 sound and use Windows or Linux, you should check out JS80P for free.

Despite telling you how often I write about freebies/deals, then miss them myself over the past couple of years, it still happens; I clearly have the attention span of Homer Simpson, and even with the best intentions, I get distracted by a blue car, or something equally trivial!

So, I’m reminding you (myself) again that you can get a free MoogerFooger plugin with any purchase at Plugin Boutique throughout May 2023.

I’m heading to Plugin Boutique right now to make sure I don’t; oh, a blue car!

Download: JS80P

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James is a musician and writer from Scotland. An avid synth fan, sound designer, and coffee drinker. Sometimes found wandering around Europe with an MPC in hand.

38 Comments

    • Attila M. Magyar

       on

      Indeed. Though the CS-80 was an initial inspiration, I never had the intention to emulate it. Originally, I made a synth web app in JavaScript, and named that one JS-80 as a pun and as a nod to the classic synth. A couple of features and many late night programming hous later, I decided to rewrite and optimize the whole thing in C++ as a VST plugin, and I just went with a variation of the original name of the project.

      Reply

        • Attila M. Magyar

           on

          I didn’t. It looked a little overkill for what I was going for, but in hindsight, it probably could have saved me from quite some headache. Good luck with learning VST programming!

          Reply

      • Andrew

         on

        I’m not knocking you, my friend. Much respect for putting in the hours to make this. My comment was aimed more at the author of this piece, who as a producer should know full well that this doesn’t resemble a CS80 in any way and to pitch it as such is misleading, especially for beginners.

        Reply

        • James N

           on

          Hey Andrew, thanks for the comment, and you’re right, it’s not an emulation of the CS-80, but when I said “JS80P is inspired by the Yamaha CS-80”, that’s taken from the developers existing text, prior to writing this post.

          I don’t reference it as an emulation, but I do suggest trying it if you like the CS-80 sound, which isn’t intended to mislead anyone; I just think given that it was originally inspired by the CS-80, and as you can hear from the demo, it delivers fairly Vangelisesque sounds, it’s fair enough to highlight the connection, even if more in certain produced sounds than architecture.

          Of course, I do mention the Arturia emulation because I’ve gone on a bit of a CS-80 tangent, but it’s not meant to be misleading at all, cheers!

          Reply
        • Avatar photo

          James Nugent

           on

          In addition – I’ve just noticed that it does say emulation in the title, which I wasn’t aware of haha. You can put that down to a miscommunication between myself, and Tomislav, but again, no intent to mislead.

          I’ll see about changing the title – cheers!

          Reply

  6. Adriano

     on

    The filter sounds a bit weak. It could do with some more character. I think you could reuse a filter model from Surge or OB-Xd.

    Reply

  9. Mr Snowman

     on

    Loving this free synth – many thanks Attila for your dedication in developing this, and your generosity in offering it for free!

    Reply
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