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h_double
Jul 27, 2001

Trig Discipline posted:

I don't think that was true even 5-6 years ago, maybe more like 10? Anyway, yes Sonar takes VSTs nowadays.

e: Oh actually it looks like built-in support wasn't until 2005, but there was a wrapper prior to that.

I'm pretty sure it's using the same wrapper internally, it's just bundled in now rather than a separate purchase. Sonar is interesting in that it has a modern audio engine and solid feature set, but there are little nooks and crannies of it where you can tell it's built on a 20 year old codebase, bits that probably date back to the Windows 3.1 era.


Mister Speaker posted:

Ohmicide is fantastic.

I'm generally a fan of Ohm Force's plugins, OhmBoyz in particular is an awesome delay with lots of dubby saturated feedbacky goodness going on. It has four predelays and two separate delay channels (and pretty much every knob has its own dedicated internal LFO) so you can do some crazy complex stuff with it, and it sounds good for simple/subtle things too.

h_double fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Mar 1, 2012

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h_double
Jul 27, 2001

Rupert Buttermilk posted:

Ah, ok. Fair enough. My girlfriend actually just asked me what I'd like for my birthday, and I told her 'Alchemy'.

Got a general question. Jim Stout's tutorial for making monster voices involves vocoding his voice alongside a dog growl and a pitched down horse breathing sound. I'm mostly green to the whole vocoder world, but is this something that most vocoders offer as an option?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Z_Rop_iGk&feature=channel&list=UL

He's using the Roland V-Synth for all of this. I'm hoping (and betting) that this isn't just a VSynth-specific feature.

Yes, that's a really basic use of a vocoder. A vocoder takes two sound sources as inputs (in that example, his voice is the carrier, the animal noises are the modulator), which can be anything -- synth tones, drum loops, whatever.

h_double fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Apr 19, 2012

h_double
Jul 27, 2001

Flanky posted:

Is there any good reason to own both Z3ta+2 and Massive? I was going to pull the trigger on the NI sale to upgrade from my ancient Komplete 3, mostly for the sake of Massive. However, as far as I can tell without a demo (Cakewalk :argh:) Z3ta+2 appears to do what Massive can as a wavetable synthesizer, but has more oscillators, envelopes, lfos, the ability to directly see and manipulate the shape of the waveform itself, and the ability to oversample the waveforms. Massive's bend modes for controlling the oscillator shapes is pretty cool, and I'm not sure if it's directly duplicable in Z3ta+2. Aside from that, Massive seems to have a generally better UI but that's about it. Is this assessment reasonable/unreasonable?

They're both great (and fantastic sounding) synths, though they are fairly different in sound and design.

Z3ta+2
PRO: Great for complex, lush, arp-y sequences
PRO: Awesomely huge (quality) built-in preset library
PRO: Impressive built-in fx
CON: Kind of a pain in the rear end to program. Entering stuff into the modulation matrix is pretty fiddly, and there's lots of multi-page sub-windows to keep track of. Creating new arp sequences involves importing them as a .MID file.

MASSIVE
PRO: Beautifully designed UI, VERY intuitive, easy to see what's going on with the whole patch and tweak things on the fly
PRO: Lots of routing possibilities, fx well suited to the overall synth design (tube sims, bitcrusher, etc.)
CON: Built-in preset library is just so-so


Overall they're both really solid, it all depends on your workflow and what kind of sound you're after. You can find some patch demos on youtube for Z3ta+ that give a good sampling of what it can do. I love the way it sounds but I've never found it super inspiring for sound design. Massive isn't as comprehensive a synth, but it's very satisfyingly hands-on and well-suited for on-the-fly tweaking.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001

Flipperwaldt posted:

Conveniently, I once sampled an old string synthesizer (Welson Symphony) and I still have those samples available for download as a rar here, if you need something to play around with (with whatever sampler you prefer). You'll have to reprogram the envelope curves if you're not using Kontakt though.

The string patches are pretty generic, but the piano and harpsichord have a nice eerie/otherworldly vibe going on. Thanks!

h_double
Jul 27, 2001
DCAM FreeComp is a free new SSL style 2-buss compressor. It sounds really darned nice and is amazingly good for a freebie. It's a stripped-down version of the buss compressor in the ($99) DCAM Dynamics suite, with the same basic algorhythm but minus a couple of features -- there's no separate release knob (it's always set to auto-release), no wet/dry knob, etc. Still, as a basic 2-buss compressor it's pretty badassed. I A/B'd it with Cytomik's "The Glue", another SSL-modeled compressor (which is $99 by itself, and is admittedly more featureful/versatile), and it's pretty close. I prefer The Glue by just a hair, at least for rock or dance tracks, as it sounds punchier and more exciting/energetic. But FreeComp sounds a bit smoother and more transparent and "analog" and I could totally see myself using it on more mellow or acoustic tracks. Pretty much the only minor downside is you have to install FXPansion's license manager to authorize it (which is moderately less lovely than, say, Native Instruments' auth manager), but at least they are upfront that one of the reasons they are giving it away is they want people to check out their license manager thing, so good on them. This thing rocks.

bx_cleansweep is a nice little utility plugin with 6dB lowpass & hipass filters ("Analog style filter curves without the typical Nyquist problems") This seems pretty handy if you just need to cleanly trim off the low end / high end of a track without a lot of fuss or overhead. Like the DCAM FreeComp, this is a stripped down version of a commercial plugin, and it sounds pretty good. I really don't like the joystick dealie on the UI but it's easy to ignore. I expect I'll be using this a lot.

Blue Cat Audio has some nice freebies, I discovered them when I was looking for a better chorus than the one that comes with Live. I've only tried the chorus and flanger but there's also an EQ, a frequency analyzer, and a gain tool of some sort.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001
I reviewed some free EQ plugins (bx_cleansweep, SonEQ, MarvelGEQ) on my blog, have a look if you enjoy free plugins and/or equalization.

http://discolingua.com/wordpress/?p=69

h_double
Jul 27, 2001
Just use a sample of an actual bass guitar. The bass in that clip was probably processed with some compression, chorus, and a bit of distortion.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001
I'd play the whole phrase on bass (or enlist a bassist to help you out) rather than just sampling a single note -- the articulation between the notes is a big part of what makes it groove.

The other part of that sound, I think, is that it's pretty heavily gated, so there's not much sustain on the bass notes, that's what gives the notes the pumping/pulsing sound.

You might be able to get something satisfactory with a good bass multisample (e.g. something like the Kontakt library), or I've heard good reviews of Trilogy/Trillian (though it's pretty expensive), though an actual bass would still be my first choice; it's a really fun instrument and it's pretty easy to pick up enough to at least play short riffs.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001
Here are some free Mellotron samples.

quote:

The 3 Violins and Combined Brass were sampled in 2003 from a 1973 Mellotron M400S. The String Section, Combined Choir, GC3 Brass, M300A, M300B and Woodwind 2 were sampled in 2008. The MkII Flute and Cello were sampled in 2010. The first 5 notes of the Cello were produced by a double bass, hence, the difference in sound from the rest of the notes. The tapes and frames were brand new when sampled. The 3 Violins sound is the harsher sounding MkII Violins and not the M400 violins, which are really the MkII violins with the top end rolled off. The samples were recorded "hot" with the tone control fully clockwise. This is not how M400's are normally played. The tone control is generally set from about 1/8 to 1/3 clockwise, assuming the amplification system tones are flat. You may want to cut the top end due to the brightness of the samples. A volume pedal is a must for authentic Mellotronic dynamics. Each set of samples is about 20 megabytes.

These samples have not been looped so as to retain the need to use the spider technique of playing a real Mellotron. If you want to loop them, that's your choice. They are approximately 7 seconds in length and retain both the initial attack, and in many cases, the bad endings.

So, you'll have to roll your own patch in your sampler of choice, and you'll probably want to add a lowpass filter and some volume modulation, but all of that is pretty quick & easy.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001

Sears Poncho posted:

Anyone have any recommendations for a good cheap/free theremin VST?

Only one I know of is Spook Keys, which is a freebie for Windows.

Also Sears Poncho is a completely awesome username.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001

ashgromnies posted:

Should have been more specific, I use OS X -- the GVST site only mentions Windows. Are VSTs platform-dependent? edit: yes, they are :(

I'm looking for a free oscilloscope VST too if anyone knows of one.


http://betabugs.de/products/oszillos-mega-scope/

http://bram.smartelectronix.com/plugins.php?id=4


are both decent and have both Mac + Windows versions.

The betabugs one makes you sign up for a beta program, but they immediately email you a download link.

h_double fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Jan 17, 2013

h_double
Jul 27, 2001
Rudess has done a ton to promote iOS (and by extension, portable computing in general) as a viable music making platform. Nothing wrong with getting paid in the process.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001
Holy crap, a German music site is giving away a free "lite" version of Aalto, you just have to create a free account on their site (it looks like there are a couple of other nice free promo plugs too).

Aalto is an amazing sounding synth, you should absolutely get on this if you don't already have the full version.

http://www.ohdratdigital.com/free-stuff/free-software/free-synth-madronna-labs-aalto-solo/

h_double
Jul 27, 2001
I wonder if the problem might be an interaction with Logic?

I've used Battery (AU version) for many hundreds of hours in Live without a hitch. I'm running MacOS 10.6.8.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001

WAFFLEHOUND posted:

Can anyone recommend a free bitcrusher?

Bitsmacker is pretty good (Mac only).

h_double
Jul 27, 2001

Phraggah posted:

Does anyone know of any good electric guitar VST's? I have Guitar Rig already, but no guitar actual guitar anymore! I don't especially have room or the capacity for a whole guitar at the moment so I am looking for replacements. :(

If there aren't would anyone have any ideas as to instruments I could hook Guitar Rig up to and get a pretty similar sound?

Guitar is a complex enough instrument (so many playing styles, so much range of articulation) that your best bet would be to find a sample library in an appropriate style (metal, blues, funk, whatevs). I can't recommend anything specific (I play the real deal), but Loopmasters has a bunch of guitar libraries and their stuff is usually of good quality.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001

magnificent7 posted:

Been awhile since I poked my head in here.

Has there been ANY progress with Windows-only VSTs working on Macs yet? Or am I stuck with AUD file or whatever they are?


It's a very safe bet that this will never happen.

VST plugins are compiled (OS-specific) code, they rely on other parts of the operating system (system libraries etc.) to function. Even if, say, somebody made a special Mac DAW that could host Windows plugins (which would be super difficult for a lot of reasons), the cross-platform plugins wouldn't be as stable or reliable as native plugins.

Basically this is a non-issue because 95% of the plugs out there exist in both Mac and Windows versions. The other 5% kind of sucks occasionally, but there is usually something else feature comparable. Oddball freebie plugins are probably the thing that's hardest to find a replacement for.

Anything in particular you're trying to use?

h_double
Jul 27, 2001

magnificent7 posted:

This rough rider vst sounds pretty drat good. And the Klangheim IVGI gets me closer to that tape saturation thing. I'll keep hunting.

DCAM FreeComp is another one you might want to take a look at.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001
SonEQ is a pretty nice character EQ, and it's free.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001
There are some nice Mellotron samples floating around. That link is just .wav multisamples, but other folks have made .sfz and Kontakt patches out of them.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001
"but honey, I thought that sideband compression was something we could do *together*."

h_double
Jul 27, 2001

Rupert Buttermilk posted:

I'd decimate her EQ'd signal :smug:

She's gonna be a little disappointed when she discovers it only takes 400ms to release.

h_double
Jul 27, 2001

Trig Discipline posted:

Everybody may already be up on this, but Soundtoys is doing a series of pay-what-you-want promos for charity. It's basically the LE versions of their plugs (the Little X series), and they're doing a new one each week. Last week was Little MicroShift, this week is Little Radiator.

http://www.soundtoys.com/moas/

Worth making an iLok account?

h_double
Jul 27, 2001

Popcorn posted:

Maybe a long shot but I just got a Mac and installed Guitar Rig 5 on it. The drag-and-drop feature doesn't seem to work. For example, when I want to map an LFO onto a control by dragging and dropping, nothing happens. Am I misunderstanding something?

I'm running GR4 + Ableton Live + Macbook w/Yosemite, drag & drop works okay here.

Are you using the trackpad on a Macbook? Using three finger drag for drag & drop? If you're new to MacOS some of the trackpad gestures aren't immediately obvious.

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h_double
Jul 27, 2001

Oldstench posted:

Anyone here use Loopcloud? Seems pretty boss. Any impressions?

I love it. It's structured a little weirdly and the website imo doesn't do a great job of explaining the strengths of it, so it took a day or two to really click for me. It lets you buy individual samples a la carte (for a few cents each using points) which is great because you can focus on the parts of a sound library which interest you and not pay for instruments or genres you'll never use. I signed up for the free trial month at the "studio" tier (normally $12) which gives you 500 points a month. One-shot samples are 1 point, loops are 2 points (most are 4-8 bars), there are a small number of longer song section loops which are 4 or 8 points. You also get a sizable "welcome pack" in your library when you sign up, which has quality / modern content. There are also usually a handful of samples marked as free in each collection as teasers.

There are a number of ways you can use Loopcloud but for actual production you can put the Loopcloud VST on a DAW track. All this does is provide a bridge between the Loopcloud client and your DAW, so you can preview loops in your (online) library synced to track tempo, with the audio routed into a DAW track. To actually use the sample though, you click the "download HQ" button in the LC client, and you can click another button to copy the loop to the clipboard, where you can paste it into a DAW track, or drag it into a sampler vst or whatnot.

The library also lets you search by parameters, say you want to look at all your techno bass loops sorted by tempo or key. This makes it really easy to find stuff across sample collections, and I love that you only have to download the samples you use in a track, the rest stays in the cloud. I mostly work off of a laptop these days and that's a big plus.

It's Loopmasters who have been around for years and I've found a lot of useful samples. The client is still a little rough around the edges but nothing that affects workflow (and the client is just a librarian, it's not something you ever need to use the loops). The client is a little bit like Steam in that it is designed to low-key always make you aware there is a storefront just a button press away, but it was easy to navigate around that stuff after a bit, and the "new releases" splash screen is a lot more relevant than most storefronts.

Anyway I think it's super cool and worth the free trial month for sure.

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