Going all freeware (well... almost)

[JHughes]

Sweet GUI, thanks Techno my man!

[technogremlin]

Originally Posted by JHughes

Sweet GUI, thanks Techno my man!

You and everyone else is welcome And the sound is up there with the GUI

[JHughes]

I'm sure the sound is top notch. I would have complimented you on that too, but I can't play keyboards!

[hamish]

Originally Posted by JHughes

I'm sure the sound is top notch. I would have complimented you on that too, but I can't play keyboards!

I can't really play keyboards either but that sure as hell isn't going to stop me messing around with RAGNARÖK!!

[JHughes]

Comparing frequencies between tracks so you can find masking problems:

MultiInspectorFree
http://www.vertexdsp.com/products_mu...ectorfree.html
As mentioned in the Reaper Power! book.

What's cool about MultiInspectorFree is that it works automatically. You don't have to futz with routing which can (let's face it) be extremely confusing. Stick MultiInspectorFree on two, three or four tracks and et voila instant comparison. Unlike Schope or the others where you instantiate it on separate tracks and nothing happens.

Are your mixes too boomy or muddy or not bright enough or something else?
Mine usually are. Two pieces of freeware I've found for that:

1) Youlean Freq-Balancer
http://youlean.ucoz.com/index/freq_balancer/0-6

Will analyze your track and make some corrections compared to a reference you choose that will point you in the right direction. They are all boosts though AFAICT so you'll have to discern where to cut instead, but it's not hard.

Youlean Freq-Balancer works quickly and a small donation of your choice will eliminate the intermittent interruption. The interruption is not bothersome though, so before you donate consider the alternative, which is

2) AAMS Auto Audio Mastering System
http://www.curioza.com/1JN/index.php/en/

This nifty software, which used to sell for almost $120 but is now free, also compares your track to a reference of your choosing and makes adjustments trying to hit the target. It takes some time to work (about 4X real time I think) but gives you ALL KINDS of useful information to show you where you might be going wrong. It's way more comprehensive than the Youlean Freq-Balancer, including graphs, charts, and fine resolution EQ, as well as compression and limiting and all kinds of good stuff. It's really unbelievable. AND it will output the mastered file for you.

Both of these are worth a donation I think.

[Garrick]

@jhughes
Thanks man I'll give them a lookey

[Fex]

My thanks, also.... that is a whole lot of awesome. MultiInpectorFree is exactly what I was wishing for earlier today (I'm working on a track where a guitar, a piano and a bass are each fighting both the others).

[technogremlin]

Originally Posted by JHughes

Comparing frequencies between tracks so you can find masking problems:

Thanks for the tips, great stuff. However, Freq_balancer is not freeware but actually (slightly) crippled donationware. So for me out of the definition of free for my use.

I've seen AAMS been mentioned before in other topics, time to download and play a bit with it.

[ivansc]

good luck with that! The capcha settings seem to be messed up. I gave up trying to register after it didnt recognise my earlier sign-in details and then got nowhere.

[JHughes]

Originally Posted by ivansc

good luck with that! The capcha settings seem to be messed up. I gave up trying to register after it didnt recognise my earlier sign-in details and then got nowhere.

I don't see a captcha anywhere, can you provide more info?

Hey TG, how about posting your criteria in your first post to save us future embarrassment? THX!

[mabian]

New Free A1 StereoControl from A1 Audio.

Very interesting, useful and cleverly organized in my opinion:



Here: http://a1audio.de/index.php/a1stereocontrol

- Mario

[chip mcdonald]

Originally Posted by JHughes

1) Youlean Freq-Balancer
http://youlean.ucoz.com/index/freq_balancer/0-6

Thanks, I was not aware this existed, great alternative to Zynaptiq's $350 Unfilter.

[JHughes]

Cool. And AAMS has a 25 band EQ compared to Youleans' seven!

[Fex]

Anyone trying out AAMS might want to install it to its default directory. The installer gave me the option to choose a folder, but the program wouldn't run when I did. I've reinstalled, it's running, and I must now go play....

[nazi]....But first I must mock JHughes, despite his noble offerings here, for misspelling 'MultiInspectorFree' three times in one post. Less of the copy and paste, please, sir![/nazi]

[JHughes]

LOL I am SO busted. Thanks man, fixing.
<edit> Fixed.
<edit2> And kudos for properly spelling the possessive form of "it", namely, without an apostrophe.

[Fex]

Originally Posted by JHughes

And kudos for properly spelling the possessive form of "it", namely, without an apostrophe.

Don't get me started....

[JHughes]

That's why I don't go there any more.

[whiteaxxxe]

[QUOTE=JAnd kudos for properly spelling the possessive form of "it", namely, without an apostrophe.[QUOTE]

well educated people in here, the ones that have knowledge of the term "possessive" and the ones who know the difference between "its" and "it's". wow ... the rest of the internet is debating if it's (!!!) lol or LOL ...

[technogremlin]

Originally Posted by JHughes

Hey TG, how about posting your criteria in your first post to save us future embarrassment? THX!

No need Although the actual list (on the first page of this topic, for those who just stumble here) is kept in tune to the 'real freeware' requirement, posts in this topic are certainly not This topic has been running as long as it is now because of all the great suggestions of all the participants like you. So simply keep them coming for everyone to discover all the nice goodies.

[ivansc]

Originally Posted by JHughes

I don't see a captcha anywhere, can you provide more info?

Hey TG, how about posting your criteria in your first post to save us future embarrassment? THX!

It wont let me on the site to download without I either log in (it doesnt remember my previous registration) or registering (it says I am putting in the wrong code when I enter what I see in the captcha window which you have to complete to finish registering)
I hope I am missing something here....

UPDATE: Well I'll be!

Got what looks like a completely different download page with no requirement to register and am now downloading it!'

[urednik]

http://delamanchavst.wordpress.com/2...e-is-now-free/

[JHughes]

Slate Digital has a new free product called Revival. Requires registration and an iLok, so it damn sure isn't going in the first post, nevertheless, it may be the only Slate product I can afford. Although I'm not going to try it because I don't want to use iLok. For those who do, here is the link:

http://www.slatedigital.com/products...Rack%20release

Emulates Characteristics of Tubes, Transformers, and Tape
Unlike Any Other Two Knob Processor You’ve Heard

[Giano]

Originally Posted by JHughes

Slate Digital has a new free product called Revival. Requires registration and an iLok, so it damn sure isn't going in the first post, nevertheless, it may be the only Slate product I can afford. Although I'm not going to try it because I don't want to use iLok. For those who do, here is the link:

http://www.slatedigital.com/products...Rack%20release

Emulates Characteristics of Tubes, Transformers, and Tape
Unlike Any Other Two Knob Processor You’ve Heard

Well, I thought, why not trying to install Revival. I haven´t plugged in my iLok dongle for about 15 months, because PT is not right up my alley any more. I had to download and install new iLok Manager first, then I had to enter an activation code, but Revival did not show up, different Slate Digital plugins showed up (demo Versions). Then I could not sign in Slate digital´s page, although they gave me new Password, my whole pc did not work properly any more and Reaper was getting slower all of a sudden. I am happy that I could uninstall everything and my pc works properly again. iLok is a horror trip and slate digital´s service is a mess. It´s not the first time I tried to install a new plugin, I even managed to install all those very complicated NI stuff, but iLok !!! Never again !

[technogremlin]

Originally Posted by Giano

Well, I thought, why not trying to install Revival. I haven´t plugged in my iLok dongle for about 15 months, because PT is not right up my alley any more. I had to download and install new iLok Manager first, then I had to enter an activation code, but Revival did not show up, different Slate Digital plugins showed up (demo Versions). Then I could not sign in Slate digital´s page, although they gave me new Password, my whole pc did not work properly any more and Reaper was getting slower all of a sudden. I am happy that I could uninstall everything and my pc works properly again. iLok is a horror trip and slate digital´s service is a mess. It´s not the first time I tried to install a new plugin, I even managed to install all those very complicated NI stuff, but iLok !!! Never again !

This is one of the (important) reasons I went Freeware completely, the first page of this topic states:

I also made the decision to go for freeware as much as possible as I try to get rid of copy protected stuff. I like to have my whole studio on a portable drive without the need to reinstall key-files and such to get things working on another or a new computer.

Copy protection stuff gets hacked all the time, so developers (of copy protection stuff) are going deeper and deeper into an OS to lock things up, in the process meddling seriously with stability and performance of said OS. The biggest win in using freeware is not the fact that it saves money (I also state that I own a lot of commercial licenses, that are all decommissioned in my studio), but first and foremost that these free plugins only install the actual 'sound-ware' and NOTHING else.

It's a clear no-brainer for me, and again clarifies why I only list PURE freeware on the first page

[tgraph]

2) AAMS Auto Audio Mastering System
http://www.curioza.com/1JN/index.php/en/

This nifty software, which used to sell for almost $120 but is now free, also compares your track to a reference of your choosing and makes adjustments trying to hit the target. It takes some time to work (about 4X real time I think) but gives you ALL KINDS of useful information to show you where you might be going wrong. It's way more comprehensive than the Youlean Freq-Balancer, including graphs, charts, and fine resolution EQ, as well as compression and limiting and all kinds of good stuff. It's really unbelievable. AND it will output the mastered file for you.
[/QUOTE]

I had looked at this before but got a floating point error every time I tried to use it. Is that the case for anyone else? Thanks.

[JHughes]

The main file format is Wave Format 16 bit Integer, 24 Bit or 32 Bit Float, 44.100hz Stereo.

Be sure to feed it the proper file formats.

[Fex]

It's working for me now I've got the hang of it. I did need to RTFM, but only half a page or so.

It has some handy file format conversion tools too.

[tgraph]

Originally Posted by JHughes

Be sure to feed it the proper file formats.

Thanks.

[SmajjL]

Con' gratulations on Ragnarok Gremlin'skji.

[technogremlin]

Originally Posted by SmajjL

Con' gratulations on Ragnarok Gremlin'skji.

Thanks

[Big Al Rocks]

This one is worth looking at:

http://philaudio.wordpress.com/research/tube-preamp/

[technogremlin]

Originally Posted by Big Al Rocks

This one is worth looking at:

http://philaudio.wordpress.com/research/tube-preamp/

Nice find, will test soon. Going from the messages on that page it should sound great.

[Big Al Rocks]

I found it here: http://forum.recordingreview.com/

[ginormous]

Some great percussion packs, sound FX and even a "clap machine" VST!

http://99sounds.org/

[Big Al Rocks]

Originally Posted by ginormous

Some great percussion packs, sound FX and even a "clap machine" VST!

http://99sounds.org/

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

[thehut]

This is probably a very basic question, and I apologize in advance, but I have searched this thread and didn't see it answered. (Great thread BTW.) I am a guitar player who has only recently started with this electronic music production. Is there a free, reliable VST plugin that will give me virtual woodwinds? (Flute, but more preferably more exotic reed or bamboo recorders.) I don't have a lot of non-guitar equipment, so I'd like to put in MIDI signal with Reaper's virtual MIDI keyboard. Then apply a virtual instrument. But everything I've tried so far has not worked, or only gives strings simulations.

[ginormous]

Freeware flute... that's a tough one. Maybe this will suffice.

http://www.myvst.com/vst-instruments/ixox-flute-free

[whiteaxxxe]

Originally Posted by ginormous

Some great percussion packs, sound FX and even a "clap machine" VST!

http://99sounds.org/

fantastico!!!! exactly what I needed right now and here!!! on the point! thank you!

[thehut]

Originally Posted by ginormous

Freeware flute... that's a tough one. Maybe this will suffice.

http://www.myvst.com/vst-instruments/ixox-flute-free

Thanks. I will check this out. I've found a few things out there, that didn't work (or I couldn't figure them out; always a possibility).

[hamish]

Originally Posted by thehut

Is there a free, reliable VST plugin that will give me virtual woodwinds? (Flute, but more preferably more exotic reed or bamboo recorders.)

You can download the free Di Zi bamboo flute VSTi here: http://www.chineekong.com/free.htm

it's very good.