SYNTH WEEK 2022: You may have noticed that we're dedicating ourselves to exploring the wonderful world of synthesizers on MusicRadar this week.
In celebration of Synth Week, we're sharing a special edition of SampleRadar, our long-running series of free music sample giveaways. Today, we've collected four sample packs that feature an eclectic variety of synth sounds that spans four decades in music - the '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s.
'70s synth samples
In putting together this pack, we ran a ton of soft synths from Arturia's venerable V Collection through some luxurious outboard gear, focusing on emulations of classic '70s instruments, including the ARP 2600, Yamaha CS-80, Mellotron, EMS Synthi and ARP Solina.
'80s synth samples
This pack collects 499 '80s synth samples produced by emulations of some of the most iconic synthesizers of the 1980s: the Yamaha DX-7, Fairlight CMI, Oberheim Matrix-12, Prophet V, Synclavier and more.
To produce the samples, the audio from Arturia's V Collection was routed through some killer outboard effects and recorded into handy tempo-labelled sample packs for your enjoyment.
'90s synth samples
This '90s synth mega-pack collects almost 800 professionally recorded synth samples that are perfect for sprinkling some '90s magic into your productions.
Covering leads, bass, pads and arps we've got something analogue (the Kurzweil 2600r) and something digital (the Novation Bass Station) along with some killer loops and multi-samples made using Arturia's V Collection emulations of the Yamaha DX-7 and Casio CZ series.
'00s synth samples
The Noughties brought a rediscovery of distortion, from Culture Vultures to pedals, and (all new) plugins to preamps. Throughout this sample set there is some form of harmonic distortion, whether it's lurking at the edges or taking centre stage.
The sounds presented here are less overt dance/electronic genres and more from the crossover with pop/rock genres, be that LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip or Radiohead and MGMT. No direct 'lifts' were made, but a whole bunch of tracks were listened to whilst making these samples to keep the sonic textures in line with as varied a decade of music as there's ever been.
For over 75,000 more free samples, head to our SampleRadar hub.
