# Best Freebees



## José Herring

A while ago I mentioned starting a thread of free plug ins and synths. There are so many that I can’t keep up so I thought it might be cool to have a sticky of such stuff that people can add to.

First:

VirtualdubMod: Not a synth or effect but a DVD ripper that kicks but. It’s worked where others have failed me in the past. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile ... p_id=65889


I use these bad boys a lot. Some good stuff some not so good stuff but the compressor and limiters are great for rock and pop sounds:
http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-series.php


Chimera synth: Kick ass synth that didn’t blow me a way at first. It’s not thick sounding but very spacious. At first I wasn't impressed but then I found myself using it on every track of my current film. It layers well for that top froth or noise on top of a thick pad giving it extra dimension. http://www.majken.se/index.php?option=c ... 3&Itemid=9

Abakos: Ok synth with some good uses. I don’t go for it often. http://www.hercsmusicsystems.com/vst.html

I pitty the fool who doesn’t have these. Though I’m still trying to figure out how to work the Arp http://glenstegner.com/softsynths.html minimoog and Arp2600

Preamp emulator: Good for beefing up those diet free synth sounds. Makes the synth sound more expensive. Not intended for live instruments imo, but it does it’s job on synth basses and pads. http://www.mcrow.net/Preamp%20Emulator%20VST.htm

Digital fishfones: Must have. Really. The blockfish and the Endorphin are some of the best compressors out there. Rivals just about everything. http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.p ... &subItem=1

Scan Synth: Great synth for adding noise. Not much use for it other than that. It’s weird sounding to me but blended with lush pads it’s an easy way to get that windy sound on top of a thick pad. Careful though. It’s loud and it’s a CPU hog. http://www.humanoidsounds.co.uk/

As with all this stuff use at your own risk. I’ve used all of these without a problem on Cubase SX3 P4 windows xp. But, I took a risk. So far no problems.

More to come later. I have a lot of good free stuff.


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## Hans Adamson

Thanks Jose,

This is a really cool subject. I don't have any freebees. All of this looks interesting! (o)


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## Ned Bouhalassa

Should this list be eventually broken down into PC-only, Mac-only, and PC/Mac?


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## Moonchilde

Thanks Jose. I'll have to check some of that stuff out.

Don't forget the Crystal VST synth. While I don't really like it, other people have made nice stuff using it. http://www.greenoak.com/crystal/download.html

I actually like the sound of the Adventus DF VST. http://www.softplug.com/ Really fat sound but can be a CPU hog. Easy to use interface as well. Cheap for $20. <-- not quite free but thats pretty close IMO!


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## José Herring

Eventually if it catches on the splitting it up might be a good idea--mac/pc. I'm on PC so I don't know about freebee mac stuff.

Crystal is a good synth but I find it a bit brutal and don't use it at all any more. I'm only putting things on that I go to and that I can recommend using on projects. Adventus looks cool and certainly qualifies as "near" free.

Jose


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## Moonchilde

Crystal is really complicated. I still recommend it as a good synth, just not very user friendly. Synth guys who get into the minute details of synth stuff would probably find it useful. I personally don't like it though.


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## Scott Cairns

Hi, some really cool (free) VST plugins are Digital Fish Phones; www.digitalfishphones.com (PC only I think) Sascha, the guy that created these, was hired to write plugins for Samplitude.

Good thread Jose.


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## midphase

Digital Fish stuff is AU compatible also for Macs.

There are some good plugins here:

http://destroyfx.smartelectronix.com/ 

They're most for both Mac/PC VST and AU


If you guys post more links, please specify if they're Mac or PC or both and which formats are available (VST, AU, RTAS, etc)


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## Rob Elliott

Of course some nice freebies at www.voxengo.com



Rob


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## Moonchilde

This is my most favorite freebie for audio stuff:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Cross platform. But if you already have a big expensive audio app this might not interest you... however, it is streamlined rather nicely and free.


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## gmet

Just seen this thread, how about these:

http://www.linuxsampler.org/ethernetmidi/

http://www.yellowtools.us/cp21/cms/index.php?id=348

http://www.hermannseib.com/english/default.htm

http://www.knufinke.de/sir/index_en.html

http://noisevault.com/nv/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=29 (http://noisevault.com/nv/index.php?opti ... &amp;Itemid=29)

http://www.marblesound.com/

http://pete.yandell.com/software/midipatchbay/Read%20Me.html (http://pete.yandell.com/software/midipa ... %20Me.html)

http://www.midiox.com/

http://www.tencrazy.com/gadgets/

http://www.musikbanken.se/TechLaaTiDo.aspx


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## anilkamath

http://www.tweakbench.com (www.tweakbench.com) have a free tape choir/strings/flute VST that i've used quite a bit.

They've also got some other retro sounds that might be useful like a SNES synth emulator for all your 8-bit bleeping needs


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## Peter Emanuel Roos

Cool thread - it's a sticky now!

Keep posting!


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## madbulk

anilkamath @ Thu Mar 29 said:


> www.tweakbench.com have a free tape choir/strings/flute VST that i've used quite a bit.
> 
> They've also got some other retro sounds that might be useful like a SNES synth emulator for all your 8-bit bleeping needs



Yeah, tweakbench is a friend of mine. Knows his stuff. Great guy. Makes awesome toys.


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## Zvon

Now freeware, an interesting sampler for PC is discoDSP Highlife:
http://www.discodsp.com/highlife/


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## José Herring

Some demos from flying hand percussion:

http://www.sonivoxmi.com/ProductDetail.asp?Item=CDFlyingHandPerc&Fr=FreeSamples (http://www.sonivoxmi.com/ProductDetail. ... reeSamples)

Nice stuff. Makes you want more =o


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## mirrodin

September issues of Computer Music Mag had a pretty interesting article covering Linux based music creation. If anyone is interested in ditching the glitchy clutter that is windows, or the restrictive environment of MAC, here are some Ubuntu distros that can deploy music software. Check out the 64bit version at www.64studio.com for the Ubuntu Studio OS distro check out www.JacKlab.net and finally www.ubuntustudio.org 

If you've got free time, and don't mind setting up a new OS, Linux distros like Ubuntu and the bunch are pretty friendly, just be careful not to destroy your current partitions in the process! If you're up for it, ENJOY!


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## José Herring

http://www.xlnaudio.com/

These guys have a demo version of their product. The demo is unlimited and quite frankly is pretty damn complete. I haven't gone through any of the included midi files as I'm programming my own loops these days. What's cool about this is that it makes it quite easy to get hip filtered and distorted drum loops for the more edgy side of life. 

Again. This one will leave you wanting it all. Luckily the price is a no brainer.

best,

Jose


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## david robinson

josejherring @ Sun Nov 04 said:


> http://www.xlnaudio.com/
> 
> These guys have a demo version of their product. The demo is unlimited and quite frankly is pretty damn complete. I haven't gone through any of the included midi files as I'm programming my own loops these days. What's cool about this is that it makes it quite easy to get hip filtered and distorted drum loops for the more edgy side of life.
> 
> Again. This one will leave you wanting it all. Luckily the price is a no brainer.
> 
> best,
> 
> Jose



jose,
and it's sent toontrack scurrying to catch up by partnering with Sonalksis.
PSP did the mixer/sfx on AD.
excellent kit, value also very good.
DR9.


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## José Herring

david robinson @ Mon Nov 05 said:


> josejherring @ Sun Nov 04 said:
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.xlnaudio.com/
> 
> These guys have a demo version of their product. The demo is unlimited and quite frankly is pretty damn complete. I haven't gone through any of the included midi files as I'm programming my own loops these days. What's cool about this is that it makes it quite easy to get hip filtered and distorted drum loops for the more edgy side of life.
> 
> Again. This one will leave you wanting it all. Luckily the price is a no brainer.
> 
> best,
> 
> Jose
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jose,
> and it's sent toontrack scurrying to catch up by partnering with Sonalksis.
> PSP did the mixer/sfx on AD.
> excellent kit, value also very good.
> DR9.
Click to expand...


Makes sense.

After using just the demo version of AD, if my EZDrummer where on a shelf it'd be collecting dust. EZdrummer is a fine product but I feel that AD makes it sound like a toy kit.


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## Ned Bouhalassa

I love BFD. Still, I'll give this AD a run to see how it compares.


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## Ned Bouhalassa

Whoa, Addictive Drums is excellent! Looks like I'll have to crack open the credit card and pick up this baby. Thanks for the tip, Jose!

BTW, I noticed that there are no fills in their beats. Are there any in the full version, I wonder?

[edit] Oops. Maybe not! I think I'll update to BFD 2 instead!: http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=53&tab=148


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## José Herring

Ned Bouhalassa @ Tue Nov 06 said:


> [edit] Oops. Maybe not! I think I'll update to BFD 2 instead!: http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=53&tab=148



Whoa! BFD2 looks amazing!! Wow, glad I didn't pull the trigger on the full version of AD. Either way I don't think you can do wrong.

Jose


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## david robinson

josejherring @ Tue Nov 06 said:


> Ned Bouhalassa @ Tue Nov 06 said:
> 
> 
> 
> [edit] Oops. Maybe not! I think I'll update to BFD 2 instead!: http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=53&tab=148
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whoa! BFD2 looks amazing!! Wow, glad I didn't pull the trigger on the full version of AD. Either way I don't think you can do wrong.
> 
> Jose
Click to expand...


AD is very good, we agree.
why aren't they producing a slew of add-ons? seems like they are in trouble?
hope not.
love to hear more sample done their way.
DR9.


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## nikolas

Some weird (but awesome) stuff from member Pingu (Dave Mayson)
http://www.cgempire.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2431

For Kontakt2 but with the wav files along, for anyone to use.

Bowed Cymbals
Prepared piano
Wirly Tubes
Bowed Xylophone
Water Cymbals

I found them highly useful to various production ideas.


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## Niah

nikolas @ Sun Nov 18 said:


> Some weird (but awesome) stuff from member Pingu (Dave Mayson)
> http://www.cgempire.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2431
> 
> For Kontakt2 but with the wav files along, for anyone to use.
> 
> Bowed Cymbals
> Prepared piano
> Wirly Tubes
> Bowed Xylophone
> Water Cymbals
> 
> I found them highly useful to various production ideas.




Great stuff Nikolas ! Thank you for the heads up.


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## David A

Some great stuff. Thanks Jose!

Dave A.


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## Ned Bouhalassa

Free excellent-sounding amp sims from software magician Chris at Airwindows. Bad news: they're Mac-only. Cabinets will be coming later, probably in a few months, but I'm not sure if they'll be free as well. Anyhow, check out these babies by downloading them here: 

http://www.airwindows.com/f/Amps.dmg 

8)


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## Moonchilde

Speaking of free guitar sims, this is old but really good.

http://www.simulanalog.org/


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## Ned Bouhalassa

Moonchilde @ 19/2/2008 said:


> Speaking of free guitar sims, this is old but really good.
> 
> http://www.simulanalog.org/



PC-only. Sniff. :cry:


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## Moonchilde

Sorry, forgot to mention that. Yes, it is VST only and doesn't have it's own UI. It uses your host's UI.

Its a nice little plug, has 2 amps and 2 stomp boxes. They're working on a vintage suite, have no idea what it will be, but I'm going to guess it will be very small and have a microscopic memory footprint.


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## Ashermusic

david robinson @ Tue Nov 06 said:


> josejherring @ Tue Nov 06 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ned Bouhalassa @ Tue Nov 06 said:
> 
> 
> 
> [edit] Oops. Maybe not! I think I'll update to BFD 2 instead!: http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=53&tab=148
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whoa! BFD2 looks amazing!! Wow, glad I didn't pull the trigger on the full version of AD. Either way I don't think you can do wrong.
> 
> Jose
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> AD is very good, we agree.
> why aren't they producing a slew of add-ons? seems like they are in trouble?
> hope not.
> love to hear more sample done their way.
> DR9.
Click to expand...


AD and BFD2 both sound great but AD is just so much nicer to use.

Ass for the add-ons they will come but they are a small company. I don't use it for loops as I have Stylus RMX and Ultrabeat for that but for realistic drums sounds it is great. I am enjoying the Retro Pak for 60s-70s sounds. The only ting I am really missing is a brush kit so I still use Battery 2 for that.


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## Ned Bouhalassa

****Note: Mac-Only****

Interesting and useful free audiounit plug-in for... taking notes! Surprised no one thought of this before. I've tested it in Logic 8 and it works like a charm. Check it out by downloading it here: http://www.bigbluelounge.com/forums/vie ... 569#339569


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## Elfen

http://www.wavosaur.com

A free wave editor with some batch processing, Vst support, real time effect processing. Seems really good at first glance.

Windows only ~o)


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## José Herring

I started this little sticky and then completely abandon it. Sorry about that.

Here we go:

Bad ass little delay plug in that's good for all sorts of sound design fx as well as straight up delays. You lose a little gain with this plug so you'll have to follow up with Free G from Sonalksis to get the gain back. Here's the link to both.

http://www.e-phonic.com/plugins/retrodelay.php
http://www.sonalksis.com/index.php?section_id=99

Here's a whole bunch of instruments. Some good. Some bad. Some really bad. I use the 808 and the 909 rhythm machines a bit for electronic and for drum replacement. Helps to run it through some analog gear like a preamp for authenticity:

http://rekkerd.org/dsk-vsti/

Though not free the demos can be used in these plugins off line on short loops and stuff. If you press the preview in Cubase the Hipno plugins go through a short second of noise then it works. I often use them to process loops or pads that are less than a minute long. Same goes for the Devastator plugin

http://www.cycling74.com/downloads/hipno
http://www.d16.pl/index.php?menu=183

I have more. Stay tuned.


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## erockrazor

Check out this reverb vst. Has a fair amount of parameters and can sound fairly decent. Don't think this has been mentioned yet in the thread but I do think it's relatively popular.

http://www.dasample.com/index.php?show=glaceverb

For the sake of contributing, here is a free vst website along with the ever so popular KVR. I'm sure there's some applicable effects and VI's on these sites but I'm sure there's plenty that you'd have a hard time throwing in the mix. But in the end, it depends on what sounds good to you at what time.

http://www.vstplanet.com/
www.kvraudio.com

Good luck! Eric


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## Pzy-Clone

I dont think this was mentioned yet:

Supposedly this site intends to let you set up and sell your own samples online, or give them away.
Theres a whole bunch of free kontakt 2 sample sets, and some of the are quite good and unique as well. 

check it out:

http://www.sampledump.com/search.php?mode=search&page=1


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## _taylor

Upright Piano (pre 1900)

http://www.soundbrewer.com/downloads.php

It comes in 2 flavors, soft and normal. While the soft is only 1 velocity, I think it's one of the best free sounding pianos I have found yet. Delicate and soulful. 

Some other freebies as well on their website.


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## billval3

Check out the Kore Player if you haven't already. It's a nice little plugin and comes with 50 patches. Now they've added (for a limited time?) a free http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=holidaycompilation&L=1 (Compilation) "soundpack" which gives you 100 patches based on 12 of their add-on libraries.


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## kgdrum

this one is very cool!
http://www.smassey.com/au.html


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## José Herring

Get it while it's hot!

http://www.wavesgtr.com/html/product_gtr_solo.html


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## ptrickf

Lot of links to free AUs here for Mac:

http://www.logicprohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=1022

this one already been posted but you can specify mac or pc, AU or VST etc. 

http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php

cheers, Patrick


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## Darthmorphling

http://lepouplugins.blogspot.com/

Here are some really nice amp simulators for Mac and PC. I am partial to the SLO100.

You will need an IR loader and some cab impulses. Lecab on that same page is a great loader.

http://signalsaudio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=9&Itemid=15 (http://signalsaudio.com/index.php?optio ... &amp;Itemid=15)

Here are some quality Mesa Boogie cab IRs.

http://www.theserinaexperiment.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=36 (http://www.theserinaexperiment.net/foru ... p?f=8&amp;t=36)

TSE808 is a nice sounding Tubescreamer VST. You will also find some amp sims on his site as well. PC only.

http://www.vstplanet.com/Effects/Bundle4.htm

In the middle of the page you will find the green bundle. It contains Green Gate which is an excellent Noise gate. If you use the TSE808 and the high gain amp sims, you will get some noise. This gate cleans it right up. PC only I'm afraid.

I use these and have had no issues. They rival the commercial amp sims in many ways.


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## Darthmorphling

I have found that putting Green Gate right after the TSE808, and before the ampsim, works the best.

Tse808>Green Gate>amp sim>Lecab.


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## mark812

http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/

Bootsie's plugins are fantastic. My favorite is Density MKII bus compressor which is in the same league as The Glue and UAD Fairchild imo. VST only.


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## Den

The best sounding free plugins :


Mastering processor
http://vladgsound.wordpress.com/plugins/limiter6/
Parallel EQ 
http://code.google.com/p/lkjb-plugins/downloads/list
Mastering Linear Phase EQ
http://photosounder.com/splineeq/
Compressor
http://vladgsound.wordpress.com/plugins/molot/
Proximity
http://www.tokyodawn.net/proximity/


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## producerspot

Over 70 freebies in "Free Downloads" section of my website in this moment.
Browse and download for free VST plugins, Sample packs and many more.
http://www.producerspot.com/category/free-downloads


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## mark812

http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/released-slickhdr/ (http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/201 ... -slickhdr/)

This guy is a genius.


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## TheWildToad

Cool stuff, guys. Do you think if I ran the tweakbench stuff on a slave PC and piped it into a a Mac using VE Pro would they run?


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## FarleyCZ

Free stuff I can't live without: 
http://www.meldaproduction.com/plugins/ ... ectsBundle
Whenever expansive or stock stuff fails me, I always go back to this bundle. It's insanely good for a free thing.


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## Jonstatham

Think I'm going to check this one for hand percussion out for lighter, acoustic arrangements.

Thanks, Jose! _-)


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## VSTBuzz

Also - Shortnoise 1 by Prodyon is now totally free (previously $199) exclusively on VSTBuzz:

http://vstbuzz.com/freebies/shortnoise/


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## aorsongmachine

Lots of freebees here. There's something for everyone...
http://bedroomproducersblog.com/


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## willbedford

There's a freebie version of Granulate - http://vstbuzz.com/freebies/granulate/
Also, my room tone & synth percussion patch is quite popular - http://northernscoringtools.com/room-tone.php


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## aorsongmachine

Thanks for the info Will !


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## motomuso

I'm not sure if this is particularly on-topic here or if it's been mentioned elsewhere, but I thought I'd mention some nice free/donation instruments and effects from boscomac. Heaps of interesting stuff just for NI Reaktor.


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## mirrodin

Wow, always a fan of Reaktor and had no idea this guy made so many ensembles!


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## P.N.

willbedford said:


> Also, my room tone & synth percussion patch is quite popular - http://northernscoringtools.com/room-tone.php



Also, your Solo Viola Lite.


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## creativeforge

https://www.producerspot.com/best-free-vst-plugins-released-in-2017


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## Ilko Birov

creativeforge said:


> https://www.producerspot.com/best-free-vst-plugins-released-in-2017




Awesome! 
Just got that auto-compressor/Maximizer via Pluginboutique.


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## Divico

You need a free Looper. Here is a hell of a best one. Needs some time setting everything up.
http://www.circularlabs.com/download2/download.html
If someones interested I may do a video of my setup in Reaper


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## scottbuckley

I can't believe no one has added this:

Cakewalk by Bandlab. Fully-featured industry-standard DAW, for free (with sign-up): https://cakewalk.bandlab.com/


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## bill5

It doesn't say so in the thread, but the topic is free plugins, so  But yeah if someone is looking for a free DAW it's worth a look (as most are).


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## JPQ

scottbuckley said:


> I can't believe no one has added this:
> 
> Cakewalk by Bandlab. Fully-featured industry-standard DAW, for free (with sign-up): https://cakewalk.bandlab.com/



Do you these still develop it? and is there any plugins wha come orginally with it?


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## scottbuckley

JPQ said:


> Do you these still develop it? and is there any plugins wha come orginally with it?


Bandlab seem to be actively updating it, which is great! Sadly, most of the plugins that came with Sonar aren't part of the package anymore. Although, the ProChannel EQ/Compression features are all still there, and they're quite good... the rest is BYO, I guess .


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## JPQ

scottbuckley said:


> Bandlab seem to be actively updating it, which is great! Sadly, most of the plugins that came with Sonar aren't part of the package anymore. Although, the ProChannel EQ/Compression features are all still there, and they're quite good... the rest is BYO, I guess .



Luckily even ni komplete effects etc are fine. and pc side there is many nice free ones. and slowly i can get maybe better effects and mastering plugins but mainly focus now samples and synhs.


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