daHornet

daHornet is a free Audio Unit synth module available from DashSignature, based in look (and, I presume, sound) on the 1978 Wasp monosynth.

It comes with a generous 128 presets, a quick playthrough of which shows just how versatile a synth it is, encompassing buzzy bass sounds, humming leads, soft pad sounds, and special effects patches such as the bizarre Robot War, surely a rival (as if it actually needed one) for GarageBand's Laser Shot.

Installing the module is standard — copy it into the right Library folder (see the article on how to do this) — and daHornet even comes with a single-page html manual which provides a basic explanation of the controls, though a knowledge of synth parameter terminology is required if you're going to do any more than jiggle about randomly.

daHornet's setting screen is laid out to look like the original Wasp synth keyboard, with a double-octave of playable keys at the bottom (though GarageBand won't allow you to access these keys while recording, so they're only useful for testing out the sounds). This keyboard can be hidden, but a bug can cause the rest of the modules settings screen to go blank if you do this, so it's best left alone.

The settings controls are grouped, left to right, in keyboard, oscillators, control oscillators, filter, envelope generators and output. Some other useful functions are available by clicking the module's logo, which brings up an otherwise hidden popup menu that includes such useful options as having daHornet select a random bass, lead, pad or FX sound.

In GarageBand, daHornet responds quickly when you're browsing through the presets or bringing up its control window. Some of the presets are a little loud, particularly in the bass, for GarageBand's default track volume and cause the meter to go into the red, but this is easily adjusted once you pick the sound you want.

The range of sounds are generally buzzy, as you'd expect from a synth called daHornet, as the two oscillators used to generate the sound can either be saw or square waves, not soft sound waves. But, for a free synth module, daHornet is very versatile, and well worth downloading and playing around with.

You can download it from here.