I'm composing music for a game and I'm trying to get the sound of a 1980's era synthesizer like the stuff that Rush used. I'm relatively new to making game music although I've been playing guitar and mixing for a few years. What free program can I use to emulate a 1980's era synthesizer?

Bty I'm using windows.

Hello,

Geddy Lee, Rush's keyboard guy is known for using an Oberheim OB-X during the 80's, starting with their Album 'Signals'.

Can't think of any free softsynths that emulate this particular instrument, but there are a lot of free VSTis for Windows that emulate the same synthesizing principle (Polyphonic Analog Subtractive).

To list the ones I've tested (I switched to Mac a few years ago, so I don't know that many):

TAL-Noisemaker: Solid workhorse, clean interface, does just what it's supposed to do.

Superwave P8: Some more waveform options, good for detuned leads.

Oatmeal: My brother programmed this one a while back (no joke): it hasn't got the cleanest GUI, although that can be quickly fixed by downloading a different skin. Apart from that, this machine is great, it has a built-in arpeggiator, great filters, nice chorus algorithms and a randomize settings button that also gives patches random names like "Amazing Mechagod", "Dismembered by the Fly" or "Buddha vs. Murdertree"[font="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"]. Do check this one out.[/font]
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[font="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"]Cheers,[/font]
[font="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"]Moritz[/font]

Wow, that Oberheim keyboard has an awesome sound.

DSK has a good selection of virtual synths in VSTi: http://dskmusic.blog.../downloads.html - scroll down for the "Analog Matrix" and "Chaos Theory" virtual analog synths.