Going all freeware (well... almost)

[gvdv]

I am really enjoying two of the 5 piano presets in Bitzone's Keyzone Classic piano virtual instrument.

Very good quality.

https://vst4free.com/plugin/2848/

[martmix]

[modern FX] are old x86,but they sound really-great

[sokcoc 969]

A small note just in case some users get confused.
Freeware =/= free(libre), open source software.
"Freeware" simply means users don't pay for it. Whereas "Free" means you're free to access, share, modify and redistribute modified versions of its source code. Most freeware is not free software, and some free software is paid software.

[nait]

Came here to look for some more freebie suggestions. I noticed Sitala was recommended by someone else a couple years ago, but didn't make the cut. Now that it is no longer in beta and has released 1.0, I'll recommend it again:

Decomposer Sitala
https://decomposer.de/sitala/

It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really like it for having a nice drag and drop GUI, being simple to use, and that you can create kits out of your samples and shares those out very easily.


Also, while I'm here... I don't know if these count because they're free tools made by big developers, but they're free and tools I tend to use quite a lot.

Not a bad little free panner. The graphical part of it lets you really see what's going to happen with your automated pan:
Cableguy Pancake 2
http://www.cableguys.com/pancake.html

Izotope Vinyl (for a warpy/vinyl effect). I like throwing a bit of this on emulated vintage synth (free ones too!) to give them even more of an 80s sound.
https://www.izotope.com/en/products/vinyl.html

[gvdv]

MyDrumSet/Drummix Beta Edition is the rather confusing title (because it has two names) of a wonderful little VST by Bluenoise Plugins which provides a rough emulation of some of Ringo's and Indie drum sounds.

The plug in was free when I originally got it, and it might still be possible to find it free somewhere, but it seems that it now costs about CAN $7 - well worth it, if you ask me.

https://www.bluenoiseplugins.com/plu.../beta-edition/

[Mikobuntu]

There's far too many posts in this thread to check if this has been mentioned before, but to me ( and others I assume ) for something to be free and in this case plugins and/or standalone software for audio then it should be 'Open source', i.e anyone can edit the code and redistribute it without any legal obligations.... heck they can even sell it if they really want to.

Obviously proprietary software is financially funded, has a team of experienced coders and needs an inflow of cash to pay for the work and usually it will therefore be ( in most cases ) superior to open source software.

For VST the whole Steinberg license issue has possibly made it a mess for people just wanting to build a plugin for free from source ( on any platform )

My thoughts aside, perhaps search for "open source multi platform vst" ,or just directly for your OS.

[ivansc]

Originally Posted by Mikobuntu

There's far too many posts in this thread to check if this has been mentioned before,.

(grin) something very much like it was posted about three posts up from yours. Just over a year ago, but the basic situation re free and open source gets mentioned very regularly.

In any case, at least you took the trouble to mention it. Thanks.

[RobertP]

Izotope Nectar elements is free for a week via Bedroom Producers Blog

https://bedroomproducersblog.com/202...erm=2021-04-30

[Kvebbs]

Stumbled across this vocoder and midi choir, and find myself liking the samples. Curious to hear what you guys think ...

https://vicanek.de/audioprocessing/lavozcantante.htm
https://vicanek.de/audioprocessing/midichoir.htm

[Mevzu]

Originally Posted by technogremlin

For me Oril is my goto for basic (but great sounding) spaces hat I use in end-mixing. So it's my default reverb bus for any project. I used VOS EpicVerb before but sadly had to move from that as I'm moving to 64bit-only plugins. Oril has come closest to replace EpicVerb for me.

I yet have to do extensive testing to see if Dragon can do that better though.

In case you maybe didnt hear about it yet.. VOS started to update their plugins and made some of them 64x. Epicverb is available in 64x now.

Have fun and good Luck.

https://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/downloads/

[RobertP]

For those that look for a vst project notes

https://www.fananteampro.com/anytext

and is free

[MusicMan74]

SuperTron 6.0 Step Modulation Analog Synth
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6qao7usjh4...0VSTi.zip?dl=0

More info here:
https://www.kvraudio.com/news/solcit...sti-v6-0-52916

Several other VSTs from the same developer:
https://solcitomusica.blogspot.com/p/virtuales.html


Also, forum member Vagelis has posted a nice list of freebies at
https://forum.cockos.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=145

[Magicbuss]

Audio Damage just released 33 legacy plugins for free including Discord 3, Dub Station, filter station, Pan station, Mangleverb and more.
https://www.audiodamage.com/pages/free-and-legacy

Also Toneboosters has released ALL of their v3 plugins for free. Killer plugins like Reelbus, Ferox, Sibalance, EQ3, Fix v3, Barricade limiter, Bus compressor, Module, Reverb v3 and more.
https://www.toneboosters.com/changelog.html

Oh and in case you missed it Slate released Trigger 2 for free. The free version comes with no samples and it does require an ilok account but its still worth it IMO.
https://stevenslatedrums.com/trigger.../#trigger-free

[martmix]

Analogue Obsession great plugs


https://www.patreon.com/analogobsession

[Flaneurette]

TAL reverb. Probably mentioned before, but it deserves a lot of mention. I like both the old and new versions, they're not quite the same. I always resort to TAL reverb.

[Cosmic]

Buuuuuump.

Lets keep the dream alive!

[Frank Lee Scarlett]

Originally Posted by Cosmic

Buuuuuump.

Lets keep the dream alive!

It's a sticky thread and always at the top of the page. Not sure what giving it a bump is going to do.

[C-H]

It's probably been posted before but it's worth mentioning again.
The 'Surge XT' synthesizer is the bomb. It really is one of the best freebies out there as of now.

Surge XT/

[dom64]

Cardinal is a free and open-source virtual modular synthesizer plugin, available as JACK standalone and AU, LV2, VST2 and VST3 audio plugin for FreeBSD, Linux, macOS and Windows.
It is based on the popular VCV Rack but with a focus on being a fully self-contained plugin version.

https://github.com/DISTRHO/Cardinal

[Softsynth]

Originally Posted by C-H

It's probably been posted before but it's worth mentioning again.
The 'Surge XT' synthesizer is the bomb. It really is one of the best freebies out there as of now.

Surge XT/

Indeed. If you want a synth to play rather than merely program it's the best free synth instrument plugin in my experience. Of course it's going to be good for those just composing with a mouse and keyboard in the piano roll too.
I say this as someone that doesn't tend to think in terms of hierarchy, but the sheer volume of ways to change the oscillator sounds, the quantity of filters, FX and easy midi mapping is exemplary.

What's more much like Reaper the original GUI was horrible! - perhaps a good sign!

[Softsynth]

Excellent Surge Royal GUI skin is back in XT form:



https://github.com/surge-synthesizer...kin-library.md

[for]

The synths mentioned on the first page and basically all plugins listed

to protect the end user

shouldn't you mention if they are permitted for commercial usage or not to be used in songs to be released commercially?

is it up to the user to perform such search?
if so it should be written on top of the post

because many users will assume free means you are allowed to use them commercially but this is not always the case as far i understand

[Softsynth]

Originally Posted by for

The synths mentioned on the first page and basically all plugins listed

to protect the end user

shouldn't you mention if they are permitted for commercial usage or not to be used in songs to be released commercially?

is it up to the user to perform such search?
if so it should be written on top of the post

because many users will assume free means you are allowed to use them commercially but this is not always the case as far i understand

Who wishes to go back through the contracts of any tracks they made in the past in case they used plugins from developers that had oddball ideas like that?

To my knowledge if they have that policy it's not in the small print, it's upfront, writ large!
I'm unaware of any actually free plugins that have that oddball commercial use caveat - lower price commercial releases yes. As soon as I see that though anyway I simply ignore the plugin - way too many already to bother with that nonsense. YMMV.

Yes, the only examples I can think of are reduced price commercial deals. There is an OBX style synth plug-in with a special price for musicians creating non-commercial releases. I have plenty of ways of making the Oberheim type sound anyway, so that didn't appeal.

Stilwell also have some funky special prices specifically for Reaper customers, also it is for non-commercial use only as I recall. To be fair you can argue it's a bit like student discounts, only a more universal application.
Given all the price shafted and free plugins today this all feels a bit quaint.

I'm sure there's a few outlier commercial contracts with plugins too, if you read the fine print, even for full price commercial releases. Whether this stuff ever gets genuinely policed - and policed successfully that's another matter!

[enroe]

Originally Posted by for

Shouldn't you mention if they are permitted for commercial usage or not to be used in songs to be released commercially?

No, such a search for hidden terms and conditions is not necessary
with the declaration "free" - and in practice it is completely absurd.

Why is that?

Because there are a number of standard free software licenses,
and they are:

BSD-2 (free + open source)
GPL-2 (free + open source)
FOSS, FLOSS (free + open source)
MIT (free + open source)
Creative Commons (free + all kinds of conditions)

What all these licenses have in common is that every user can work
with them and is also free to create and manufacture commercial
products.

If a VST or VSTi software has the label "free" but no further information
about the license is available, then one can assume that this software
can also be used to create all kinds of products, including commercial
products.

So your initial question can be answered positively in the sense that
you don't have to worry at all when using them for any songs or tracks:
Use the VSTs and VSTIs for your music!

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The reason why "free software" also needs such licenses is quite
different: The free software movement is about enriching our culture by
giving everyone access to it, encouraging participation - and thus
creating a "free culture".

In order for this to work, the licenses are designed in such a way that
anyone can change this software, i.e. program it themselves. However,
he must then make this modified version available to everyone else
under the same license.

So it's also about excluding parasitic processes of the kind "I'll take
free software, change a few lines of code, and then sell it under my
name".

You probably know the most popular free software: Linux, Apache,
Mediaplayer VLC, Libre Office, Blender, ...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

For musicians here this means:

Everyone can use the VSTs and VSTIs here for their music, even if
they want to commercially exploit the music they have created.

What you are not allowed to do:

You are NOT allowed to offer these VSTs and VSTIs yourself for money.
You may modify and redistribute these VSTs and VSTIs, but you must
make them available as "free" under the same terms and license.