helm VS Orca

undertstand how to install VST (Virtual Studio Technology) download some free plugins. FREE ONES, NO matter if they sound superduper or not. just to play around and try to undertstand them. watch some tutorials how to set them up in your DAW. i recommend the Plugin Helm! yes not the best but for free and alot of options to learn from it. and thats what makes it great! https://tytel.org/helm/ . i recommend this heavily because you have some sounds to start witha and you can create alone with this one alot. i mean really alot. there are endless tutorials how to make some specific sounds with this. than you need to a drumkit. you can use helms drumsounds and so on. but i recommend to search for a better way to do drums. helm can give you good piano, bass, and so on. but take your time to find a drum plugin. after you played around with helm already.

Matt Tytel's Helm is a great option to learn, CPU friendly and it sounds really good.

For a synth, you can't go wrong with Helm https://tytel.org/helm/

Does anyone here have a suggestion for a really cool software synth (preferably free) that can do these kinds of things? I've been messing with Helm, Cardinal and the built-in synths in Bitwig Studio and have yet to get a satisfying result... Don't you hate it when that happens?

What about installing Helm and trying to play it as a standalone instrument.

Lastly, something I want to start exploring more, is funky ways to sequence stuff. There's a program called ORCA which is more programming than performing (unless you're into live coding!) but it can make some really neat stuff. That YT channel has a video going over the basics, too. Something like that might be more of a learning curve than you want, but I love the idea of obtuse ways to make melodies.

I love using ORCA for generative experimentation https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca

In particular - theres a music environment called Orca that is such a great fit for a Roguelike, and porting it to Rust might be a fun medium-size project.

I've downloaded the Linux zip file from the link above and even after unzipping it and going through those files I can't find anything I'm supposed to be able to open. I've tried checking the MANUAL and the README file on the program's Github but I can't seem to get it going there either.