If we're talking versatility/general usage, I'd have to go with:
Hybrid - If I'm hung up on an instrument that I don't know what sound I want it to make, Hybrid usually has my back with all its presets.
Radio - It's incredibly cheap for a plugin and has an incredible feature of being able to directly sample radio stations, save them, and also drag & drop directly from the plugin. It's really fun if you want some unique samples.
Vital - It's cheap alternative to Serum and can produce some really cool and unique sounds once you tinker with it for long enough. I feature it pretty often in my songs.
BUT... If you want the most fun to use or the coolest sounding, I'd say:
Mellotron V for it's iconic lofi sound, plus its sampling capabilities.
RYM2612 for its ability to be used in tandem with RYMCast and VGM files to rip genesis instruments straight from the songs without any prior sound design knowledge.
Waterfall B3 - As someone who loves the sound of a drawbar organ and has 4 different VSTs for it, this one is the best. It's extremely lightweight and low-resource compared to Hammond B-3X and higher fidelity than DB-33. Its preset selection is pretty good too, relative to its competition.
Honorable Mentions:
Synplant - I was able to upgrade my version for $50. If I were you I'd probably just stick with VItal cause as someone who uses the plugin, its sound can be pretty situational and niche.
Super Audio Cart - One of the first plugins I ever got. It's sounds are pretty good, but not really anything you cant achieve with soundsfonts or RYM2612.
Kontakt 6 - I have tried using Kontakt 7 but its UI is too flashy and confusing compared to its predecessor. Unfortunately, from what I could gather, Native Instruments doesn't provide their legacy versions for download which is upsetting.
LABS - Has a lot of cool sounding instruments, but they're kind of situational and at times lackluster, but it's the highest quality free plugin I know of.
Hybrid - If I'm hung up on an instrument that I don't know what sound I want it to make, Hybrid usually has my back with all its presets.
Radio - It's incredibly cheap for a plugin and has an incredible feature of being able to directly sample radio stations, save them, and also drag & drop directly from the plugin. It's really fun if you want some unique samples.
Vital - It's cheap alternative to Serum and can produce some really cool and unique sounds once you tinker with it for long enough. I feature it pretty often in my songs.
BUT... If you want the most fun to use or the coolest sounding, I'd say:
Mellotron V for it's iconic lofi sound, plus its sampling capabilities.
RYM2612 for its ability to be used in tandem with RYMCast and VGM files to rip genesis instruments straight from the songs without any prior sound design knowledge.
Waterfall B3 - As someone who loves the sound of a drawbar organ and has 4 different VSTs for it, this one is the best. It's extremely lightweight and low-resource compared to Hammond B-3X and higher fidelity than DB-33. Its preset selection is pretty good too, relative to its competition.
Honorable Mentions:
Synplant - I was able to upgrade my version for $50. If I were you I'd probably just stick with VItal cause as someone who uses the plugin, its sound can be pretty situational and niche.
Super Audio Cart - One of the first plugins I ever got. It's sounds are pretty good, but not really anything you cant achieve with soundsfonts or RYM2612.
Kontakt 6 - I have tried using Kontakt 7 but its UI is too flashy and confusing compared to its predecessor. Unfortunately, from what I could gather, Native Instruments doesn't provide their legacy versions for download which is upsetting.
LABS - Has a lot of cool sounding instruments, but they're kind of situational and at times lackluster, but it's the highest quality free plugin I know of.
