Overtonium is Benjamin Dehli's free, open-source 32-partial additive synth, laid out like a mixer, with per-harmonic control and continuous equal-to-just microtuning.
Plugin comparison
Overtonium vs Vital
Specs, price and the Dubspot Score, side by side — with our verdict on which synth to buy.
Independent score / workflow fit / buying signal
Contenders
The side-by-side
9.0Essential
Vital is a spectral warping wavetable synthesizer by Matt Tytel for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Technical matrix
Specs compared
| Signal | Overtonium | Vital |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $25 |
| Dubspot Score | — | 9.0 |
| Formats | VST3, AU, LV2, Standalone | VST, VST3, AU (Audio Units), LV2, Standalone |
| Type | Additive synthesizer (32 partials plus noise) | — |
| Sound source | 32 sine oscillators locked to harmonics, plus a noise channel | — |
| Per-partial control | Around 23 controls per channel strip | — |
| Tuning | Continuous equal-to-just TUNE sweep, inharmonic stretch | — |
| Keyboard temperaments | Equal, just, Pythagorean, quarter-comma meantone, Werckmeister III, Young | — |
| Effects | DRIFT, WOBBLE, dual-path tape echo | — |
| Expression | MPE, per-note pitch bend and pressure | — |
| Formats | VST3, AU (macOS), LV2 (Linux), standalone; macOS, Windows, Linux | — |
| Synthesis type | — | Spectral warping wavetable synthesis |
| Operating systems | — | Windows 10+, macOS 10.15+ (Intel or Apple Silicon), Ubuntu Linux 18.04+; 64-bit only, OpenGL 3+ |
| Wavetable tools | — | Pitch-splice and vocode wavetable converters, plus text-to-wavetable generation |
| Modulation | — | LFOs, envelopes and randomized sources with stereo modulation, remappable curves, audio-rate modulation, and keytracked LFOs |
| Tuning and MPE | — | Microtonal support (.tun, .scl, .kbd files) and full MPE support |
| Included content | — | Basic: 75 presets / 25 wavetables; Plus: 250 / 70; Pro: 400+ / 150 |
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