Blamsoft has finally released a Windows version of the VK-1 Viking Synthesizer virtual instrument in VST and AU plugin formats. The plugin is available for direct free download from the developer’s website with the suggested donation of $59/€59.
VK-1 Viking Synthesizer is an emulation of the Moog Voyager hardware synthesizer. Blamsoft’s virtual recreation of the Moog Voyager was first released as a Rack Extension for Propellerhead Reason (priced at $59 in the Propellerhead Shop) and later also as an Audio Unit app for iOS devices (priced at $5.99 in the App Store). The synthesizer is now also available as a VST plugin for digital audio workstations on PC and Mac.
The control scheme closely resembles Moog Voyager’s layout. Like its hardware counterpart, VK-1 Viking Synthesizer is a monophonic synthesizer with three continuously variable wave oscillators, a noise generator, two ladder filters, and two modulation busses. The variable wave oscillators allow for seamless transition from sinewave to saw, square, and pulse waveforms. The instrument also features oscillator sync (OSC 1 and OSC 2), frequency modulation (OSC 1 and OSC 3), fine-tuning, glide, and some advanced features like oscillator frequency range reduction, keytracking for OSC 3, etc. The GUI is well-organized although the color scheme (bright metallic background with dark knobs and labels) isn’t too easy on the eyes.
Along with the rather versatile synthesis engine, VK-1 Viking Synthesizer offers a great collection of factory presets. There are 228 presets in total, covering a range of analog bass, lead, pad, and FX sounds. Also included is a set of 50 synthwave presets designed by eXode.
VK-1 Viking Synthesizer sounds very good. It’s not a spectacular sounding virtual analog synthesizer, but it’s certainly capable of generating some great sounds with a bit of skilled programming. There are plenty of good sounding presets in the factory soundbank, especially in the synthwave category. The CPU hit is around 7% on our test machine, which is an average result for a monophonic synthesizer.
As for the pricing, VK-1 Viking Synthesizer can be downloaded completely free of charge from the developer’s website. You don’t even have to sign up for an account or provide your email address. However, this is a pay what you want product. Whereas the plugin can be used freely without any limitations, the users can pay any amount they choose if they find it useful (the suggested price is $59).
VK-1 Viking Synthesizer is available for free download via Blamsoft (197 MB download size, ZIP archive, 64-bit VST plugin format for Windows & macOS).
29 Comments
Yoda
onWooo what a gift !! …maybe lack of volume…but Sounds nice !
kev domos
onbad luck for El Capitan users :(
Jacob Kew
onWorkin in El Capitan for me :]
Turello
on@Tomislav it’s only 64 bit… :-(
Tomislav Zlatic
onOops yes, I’ll fix the info in the post. Thanks!
ART
onno au :(
fxn
onThis plugin is beautiful. The presets are amazing and just the right ‘size’. They can easily be blown up to stereo width with a 3rd party chorus and with a little saturation, I’m hearing epic stuff just out of the presets.
Thanks to the developer. Quite a Christmas preset.
super
onholy f*** this is great
mrg
onHQ mode gives me some cracking for some reason.
Standard and the various distortion modes are fine, tho.
I’m getting stuck notes here and there using the MIDI keyboard, less using a virtual keyboard, strange.
Reaper 32bit and 64bit. (and yes, sucks that they’re not doing a 32bit version, I know it’s time to evolve, but, oh well…)
Watch out, they’re updating this thing a lot, I already got 4 different versions out of the same download link.
Changes in the filter quality occurred according to the readme.txt. The last I am downloading just now, after taking the time to try 2 previous releases. LOLz. Can’t find a blog where they speak about these many versions but I think they should tell people they’re actually still actively work on this and maybe fixing problems or bad sound experience for some users.
A bit fresh behind the ears. And speaking of ears, kinda like it, so I hope they’ll fix the sticky notes issue. It definitely is worth a decent try-out session with a more finalized version. :)
Jack Onandoger
onI’m also getting stuck notes and wonky behavior through midi kb in Reaper x64. Also in Element Host. Works ok in Freestyle host. Great sounds, hope they fix it.
Mark Tribble
onSadly i never use 64bit plugins.
Michael
onI let you now that it also work on Maverricks (10.9.5). I have install it yesterday Evening and it works fine as VST. On the Developer Site stands :
Requirements
VK-1 VST is a VST2 plug-in compatible with macOS 10.12 or newer and 64 bit Windows XP or newer.
Chris Schutte
onthe 14th is my birthday! What an awesome gift!
Tomislav Zlatic
onHappy B-day Chris! :)
Chris Schutte
onThanks Tomislav! Hope you have a rocking X-mas and New year!
Tomislav Zlatic
onYou too!
esgee
onSorry, doesn’t work in Reaper, (latest x64)
I get sometimes some noise when stroking some keys hard.
Most of the time no sound.
Wing Yee
onAwesome plug – Thanks Tomislav! And Merry Xmas!
Tomislav Zlatic
onMerry Christmas!
Manuel
onMan this thing is nice – I enjoy it more than Repro 1/5 – gonna pay for this one, but if the Author is reading here: Gotta have to wait till 01/18 cause my wallet got drained by xmas. Big Thanks!
m4nm4ch1n3
onMy Cubase 5 doesn’t even detect it. anyone having the same problem???
Dave The Barbarian
onI was able to download it without making a Paypal donation (although I think I will because this is a really nice plugin). Also works just fine for me in Reaper.
Hamlet
onRunning Logic Pro X (10.3.3) on El Capitan (10.11.6) and it won’t detect the plugin. Any others experiencing this?
Nikon
onhow do i install this on a window i zipped rar it, but doesnt seem to have the installation on it for window, somone pls help
Dan
onBamsoft appears to no longer have a web presence.
There is a version for Reason which is at 1.5. That costs £58.
Tomislav Zlatic
onThey have a website: https://blamsoft.com/vst/vk-1-viking-synthesizer/
lars
onI downloaded it, installation went fine, all good, but it just does not show up in my daw Luna. Other synths do, as well as plug ins, yes, i am all new to this daw world, sooo…not sure what i could do besides trying over and over again? Any suggestions?
Thank you
Martin Pedersen
onlol, i though it was https://frostwaveaudio.com/product/asgard-sampler/
Not much Viking over the synthesizer, haha.
Anyway, i actually do like the plugin, and well its free.
PH
onDoesnt work in High SIerra …. after instaling plugin ….i see it at VST folder but my Ableton 10 suite not create any vst sub folder ….i tryed to put the name of plugin into ableton search window but nonting i also did rescan plugin folder ….. also no luck ……when you instaling plugin it not even show up what is the version of the plugin …..0,1 ? 0,2? 0,3? 0,4? 0,5? 0,6? 0,7? ….will be nice to know what im installing and if its even compatibille with specific OSX as it not show up inside Ableton ……