Today I’ve received a newsletter email from them with several news and since it passed some time since Bram sent one, it’s worth being taking in consideration:

1. Freesound has now over 500,000 active members. Now, that’s something … this site is getting closer to a social networking monster, but with people that have a passion for the sounds.
2. Freesound is close to 50,000 free samples (45734), that’s about 1 audio file per 10 people right? So if you have some original sounds you want to share with others please go for it and let us know … we also did our part
3. Freesound is looking for universities and institutions who can help them with mirroring the content of the website. If you have a lot of bandwidth and a spare server lying around, please contact Freesound here.
4. Another great news is that Google Research gave Freesound a 50,000 USD research grant, last year in December. This is a no-strings-attached proposal, so they decided to start a complete rewrite of Freesound, meaning that Freesound version 2.0 is close.

To follow all development of Freesound 2.0, codename Nightingale – and for more in-depth news about Freesound have finally started a blog (I’m already subscribed).

If you are a fan or if you want to support Freesound then you can buy a T-Shirt and 5 EUR goes to Freesound, so get yours here:
http://freesound.spreadshirt.net (EU countries)
http://freesound.spreadshirt.com (US and non EU countries)

PS: Do not forget to check out our Kreativ Sounds samples from Freesound Project and give us some comments …

Prosoniq NorthPole Download:
Download Prosoniq NorthPole – PC VST (0.21 Mb)
Download Prosoniq NorthPole – MAC AU (0.92 Mb)
Download Prosoniq NorthPole 2 – MAC VST, RTAS (1.2 Mb)

Prosoniq NorthPole Features:

• 24dB/Octave (4 pole)
• variable Cutoff + Resonance
• Lowpass/Bandpass switchable
• Envelope Follower with adjustable sensitivity
• Envelope attack/release times
• Adjustable analog distortion
• Adjustable digital delay after filter with time, mix and feedback

New in NorthPole 1.03: Better support of Carbon hosts
NorthPole’s UI has now been improved to work with a larger variety of Carbon-only hosts, such as DSP Quattro.

New in NorthPole 1.02: True stereo processing
NorthPole is now using a true stereo filtering algorithm

New in NorthPole 1.01: Tap tempo
Repeatedly clicking on the “Dly Time” text area directly above the delay time slider sets the delay time to the time interval between the clicks. This “tap tempo” feature comes in handy when adjusting the tempo of the delay.

More info: Prosoniq

The location of the free pack is: http://www.loopcache.com/looppacks/100-minimal-tech-and-electro-house-loops.html

More info: Loopcache

Download Demo:
One Small Clue Bouncer (91) - 320.12 KB

This plugin was created for the KVRAudio 2007 Developers Challenge.

More info: One Small Clue

The free sample packs are as follows:

ELECTRONIC DRUM LOOPS:20 free electronic drum loops that will provide you with the foundation to build a wide variety of electronic styles. The loops are presented in REX2 format.

DANCE ARPEGGIOS: 20 dance synthesizer arpeggio loops recorded from virtual and analogue synthesizers. The loops are presented in ACID/WAV format.

Other Free Content: Jan Franklin, CEO and founder of ProducerLoops.com, has informed us that many of the product pages at ProducerLoops.com now include free “taster” packs, so producers can try out some content before parting with their hard-earned cash. This is great news during tough times!

More Info and demos: http://www.producerloops.com

Rarlab RAR Download Versions:
Rarlab WinRar (113) - 1.14 MB
Rarlab RAR for Free BSD (17) - 759.55 KB
Rarlab RAR for Linux (18) - 772.1 KB
Rarlab RAR for Linux x64 (12) - 801.43 KB
Rarlab RAR for Mac OSX (27) - 614.44 KB
Rarlab RAR for MS-DOS (13) - 550.46 KB
Rarlab RAR for Pocket PC (19) - 223.21 KB

WinRAR Features:

• WinRAR is a powerful compression tool with many integrated additional functions to help you organize your compressed archives.
• WinRAR puts you ahead of the crowd when it comes to compression. By consistently creating smaller archives, WinRAR is often faster than the competition. This will save you disc space, transmission costs AND valuable working time as well.
• WinRAR supports all popular compression formats (RAR, ZIP, CAB, ARJ, LZH, ACE, TAR, GZip, UUE, ISO, BZIP2, Z and 7-Zip).
• WinRAR is ideal for multimedia files. WinRAR automatically recognizes and selects the best compression method. The special compression algorithm compresses multimedia files, executable and object libraries particularly well.
• WinRAR allows you to split archives into separate volumes easily, making it possible to save them on several disks for example.
• WinRAR is also ideal, if you are sending data through the web. Its 128 bit password encryption and its authenticated signature technology will give you the peace of mind you have been looking for.
• WinRAR is shareware, meaning you have the chance to thoroughly test it. The program can be used absolutely free of charge for 40 days!
• WinRAR licenses are valid for all available language and platform versions. If you have purchased several licenses, you can even mix versions to meet your own personal needs.

Buy WinRAR for 1 user – $29 USD / license

Buy WinRAR for 2 to 9 users – $21 USD / license

Buy WinRAR for 10 to 24 users – $16 USD / license

Buy WinRAR for 25 to 49 users – $13 USD / license

Buy WinRAR for 50 to 99 users – $10 USD / license

Buy WinRAR for 100 to 199 users – $8 USD / license

Buy WinRAR for 200 to 499 users – $7 USD / license

Buy WinRAR for 500 to 999 users – $6 USD / license

Buy WinRAR for 1000 to 1999 users – $5 USD / license

Buy WinRAR for 2000 to 4999 users – $4 USD / license

Buy WinRAR for 5000 to 9999 users – $3 USD / license

WinRAR Version 3.80 Features:

• Added support for ZIP archives containing Unicode file names in UTF-8 format. When creating ZIP archive, WinRAR stores names in Unicode only if they cannot be stored correctly using the current single byte character set.
• Added decompression support for WinZip AES encrypted ZIP archives.
• Improved Unicode support for RAR and ZIP archive names.
• “Ask before overwrite” and “Skip existing files” update modes are now available in archiving dialog. They allow to specify WinRAR behavior when updating already existing files in archive. Unlike already available “Fresh existing files only” and “Add and update files”, these new modes ignore file date and compare only file names.
• Command line equivalents of these modes are:
  • switch -o enables “Ask before overwrite” archiving mode;
  • switch -o- enables “Skip existing files” archiving mode;
  • switch -o+ enables “Overwrite all” mode (default for archiving).
• New “Add to context menu” option in “Profile parameters” dialog. If this option is on, the profile name will be displayed in Explorer context menus allowing to activate a profile from context menu.
• New -cp switch allows to select a compression profile in command line mode. It is supported only by GUI WinRAR.exe, not by rar.exe.
• New “Options” page of archiving dialog contains the group of settings modifying the behavior of “Delete files after archiving” option from “General” page:
  • Delete files. Delete files normally like in previous WinRAR versions.
  • Move files to Recycle Bin. Deleted files are placed to Recycle Bin. Command line equivalent of this option is -dr switch.
  • Wipe files. Before deleting file data are overwritten by zero bytes to prevent recovery of deleted files. Command line equivalent of this option is -dw switch.

  All these options have an effect only if “Delete files after archiving” is on. You can enable any of these options in the default compression profile to change the default behavior of “Delete files after archiving”.

• WinRAR “Extraction path and options” dialog is now resizable. You can use the mouse to drag its border to the desired size and provide more space for folder tree pane. WinRAR will store new dimensions of this dialog.
• New “Update” SFX script command and “Update mode” group of options in “Update” page of “Advanced SFX options” dialog. These command and options allow to check time and implement file time based updating;
• SFX script “Shortcut” command and “Add shortcut…” command in “Advanced SFX options” dialog now allow to specify an icon file containing an icon associated with shortcut.
• New “Wipe temporary files” option in “Settings/Security” dialog provides more secure, though slower, way to delete temporary WinRAR files.
• WinRAR and RAR display the total progress bar when unpacking a multivolume RAR archive if all volumes are present in the same folder.
• WinRAR and RAR automatically expand names of environment variables in list files. For example, a list file can contain lines like: \*.exe or \Desktop. This feature is available only in Windows RAR version.
• Added support of TAR archives with non-zero “extra field” data.
• Added support of TAR archives, which does not contain the end of archive entry consisting of 512 zero bytes.
• Improved Unicode support when dragging files from WinRAR window.
• Shift+Tab key combination can be used in main WinRAR window to switch the input focus between interface elements (files, comment, tree, address) in reverse order. In previous versions Shift+Tab used the same order as Tab.
• Corrected a possible WinRAR crash when opening truncated UDF ISO files.

More info: http://www.win-rar.com

Cakewalk SFZ Sample Player (839) - 516.27 KB

SFZ Sample Player Features

• Revolutionary high quality sample-playback engine
• Endless sample-arranging capabilities
• Built-in effects
• Adjustable CPU/quality settings to adjust it to your hardware
• Fully multitimbral operation and several loading modes (including direct-from-disk streaming for SoundFonts)
• Works with any VST compatible host

More info: http://www.cakewalk.com

Top 100 Most downloaded audio software

All audio software

• Audio Damage FuzzPlus 2 – Mac (25)
• Audio Damage FuzzPlus 2 – Win (61)
• Audiosonic DigiDrum Pro (198)
• BlueCat Phaser DX (41)
• BlueCat Phaser VST (59)
• BlueCat Stereo Phaser Demo DX (19)
• BlueCat Stereo Phaser Demo VST (13)
• Cakewalk SFZ Sample Player (839)
• Flux Bitter Sweet II – Mac (28)
• Flux Bitter Sweet II – Win (80)
• Flux Stereo Tool – Mac (63)
• Flux Stereo Tool – Win (205)
• Fuzzpilz Charsiesis (93)
• Fuzzpilz Oatmeal (1032)
• Google Talk (454)
• NextUp Technologies NewsAloud (7)
• NextUp Technologies TextAloud (15)
• NextUp Technologies WeatherAloud (4)
• One Small Clue Bouncer (91)
• One Small Clue Poise Demo (71)
• Prosoniq NorthPole – MAC AU (31)
• Prosoniq NorthPole – MAC VST RTAS (38)
• Prosoniq NorthPole – PC VST (78)
• PSP MasterComp Demo (24)
• PSP Vintage Meter Mac (260)
• PSP Vintage Meter RTAS (248)
• PSP Vintage Meter Win (1226)
• Rarlab RAR for Free BSD (17)
• Rarlab RAR for Linux (18)
• Rarlab RAR for Linux x64 (12)
• Rarlab RAR for Mac OSX (27)
• Rarlab RAR for MS-DOS (13)
• Rarlab RAR for Pocket PC (19)
• Rarlab WinRar (113)
• ReFX Claw VSTi – Mac (69)
• ReFX Claw VSTi – Win (808)
• Roger Nichols Digital Inspector – Mac AU, VST, RTAS (4734)
• Roger Nichols Digital Inspector – PC VST, RTAS (6505)
• Scot Solida PPG Samples (283)
• Tone2 BiFilter (2265)
• VemberAudio Shortcircuit 1 Full (67)
• VemberAudio Shortcircuit 2 Beta (21)
• VemberAudio Shortcircuit Free (31)
• VemberAudio SURGE Demo – Mac (31)
• VemberAudio SURGE Demo – PC (22)

The MIDI control capabilities of this plug-in let you use it with any hardware or software MIDI controller, and the User Interface is totally customizable thanks to Blue Cat’s Skinning Language support.

Download:
BlueCat Phaser DX (41) - 2.35 MB (Free)
BlueCat Phaser VST (59) - 2.31 MB (Free)

Phaser Features:

• Multi-stage analog-style phaser effect.
• Up to 32 phasing stages.

Blue Cat Audio Standard Features:

• Native DSP code for optimal performance.
• Skinnable user interface.
• DirectX and VST plug-in formats support.
• Smooth Update: silent (zipper-free) parameters update.
• Full automation support (all parameters can be automated, with smooth and continuous update)
• No CPU load on idle: when the plugin is fed with silence, the processing smoothly shuts down, to optimize the CPU usage of your Digital Audio Workstation.
• Real time MIDI control with advanced settings (MIDI channel and CC numbers, with complete response curve control) and MIDI learn.
• Any sample rate supported.

For more information about this product, please see the product and bundle pages:
http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Bundle_FreewarePack

San Jose, Calif., – With Return To Forever receiving rave reviews, it should be no surprise that Enter Music Publishing, publishers of hip, drum/percussion magazines worldwide, has completely sold out Issue 6, featuring Lenny White on the Cover. As a result, Enter Music Publishing has made available the Lenny White feature as a free download at:

http://www.drummagazine.com/features/post/free-download-lenny-white-of-return-of-forever/.

The success of the Lenny White Issue is similiar to that of Enter Music Publishing’s Issue 3, featuring John Bonham on the cover, which coincided with the reunion of Led Zeppelin. However, in the case of Zeppelin, the confirmation of the tour came after the magazine had hit the streets while the White feature gave a compelling discussion of his thoughts and insights regarding the upcoming tour.

Describing the current enthusiasm for Return To Forever’s reunion tour, Phil Hood, editor of Enter Music Publishing, writes in an introduction to the download feature, ” For fusion fans, the prospect of Return To Forever getting back together again after all these years (the group dis-banded in 1976) is akin to a Beatles reunion, and for the past few decades seemed about as unlikely. Corea was the lone holdout in recent years. While Clarke, Di Meola, and White had been lobbying for an RTF reunion, the three were unable to persuade Corea to take up the cause, until now … “

Commenting further, Hood noted: This (the current Return To Forever Tour) is discussed at length in our feature and we want all fusion fans to have the opportunity to read about the reunion from the perspective of one of jazz fusion’s most important drummers.”

About Enter Music Publishing
Founded in San Jose, CA in 1992, Enter Music Publishing, Inc. is a leading publisher of drum/percussion magazines, with distribution in 30 countries. DRUM! is the flagship publication of Enter Music Publishing, Inc. and continues to set the industry standard for editorial quality and innovation. In addition to DRUM! And DRUM! Digital, the company publishes Traps and HOW TO PLAY DRUMS. Additional information about the company can be found at: drummagazine.com.

Sound Delay also features internal mid/side encoding and decoding, and allows you to delay mid and side channels independently.

Notes:
1. Sound Delay plug-in replaces both Audio Delay and Sample Delay plug-ins previously available from Voxengo.
2. Sound Delay is free for commercial and non-commercial use, subject to its license agreement.

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Voxengo Sound Delay – Free (VST for Win and Win 64 Bit)
Download Voxengo Sound Delay – Free (VST and AudioUnit for OSX)

Read Manual (Adobe Reader):
Read Voxengo Sound Delay User Guide (PDF File)

Sound Delay features:

• Sample-accurate delaying
• Millisecond-accurate delaying
• Up to 3 seconds overall delay
• Multi-channel processing
• Internal channel routing
• Channel grouping
• Mid/side processing
• Preset manager
• Undo/redo history
• A/B comparisons
• Contextual hint messages

Sound Delay Requirements:
This plug-in can be loaded into any audio host application that conforms to the VST or AudioUnit plug-in specification. This plug-in is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit) and Mac OS X 10.4.11 and above (Intel and PowerPC) computers (2 GHz dual-core or faster processor with at least 1 GB of system RAM recommended). A separate binary distribution file is available for each target computer platform for each plug-in format.

Latest release notes
Version 1.0, 17-June-2008

• Initial public release.

More info and demos: http://www.voxengo.com/

There is currently a trend in the in the audio industry known euphemistically as ?The loudness war? in which the engineering process is driven to produce a product which is as loud as is technically possible within the constraints of the medium. Debate rages as to whether this produces problems that degrade and distort the audio. One reason for this distortion is often blamed on the presence of ?inter-sample peaks?, where signals that are usually missed by the Fs sampling of DAW meters, may actually exceed 0dBfs in reconstruction from digital to analogue domain in some Digital to Analogue Converters (DACs).

Reliable metering and monitoring is a key to consistent results. Recording studios of all sizes choose the best equipment in order to produce the best results possible, and this invariably includes audio interfaces. So it is very likely that the circuitry used in professional audio interfaces will be more sophisticated than those used in consumer devices. It is therefore entirely possible for an engineer to produce a mix which would sound great in the studio but may sound different on some domestic systems.

There have been several tests performed on domestic CD players with signals known to produce inter-sample peaks, with interesting results. The tests indicate that some players are quite capable of handling the peaks without audible results, but some models produce audible clipping.

So if the recording engineer has no idea whether the mixes he/she produces will sound distorted on some domestic playback systems how can the problem be fixed? Probably the best solution would be for the studio to have a variety of types of players to play mixes on, along with an engineer with very good hearing!

A practical alternative is to use a meter which simulates the oversampling DAC filtering processes used most commonly, and can therefore indicate the presence of >0dBfs inter-sample peaks, even if the peaks can?t be heard in the control room. Preferably, this meter would take the form of a VST plug-in that can be inserted at the end of the DAW mix. In this way the pure digital signal can be monitored and results predicted.

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Solid State Logic X-ISM – Free (3.8 Mb – VST for Win)
Download Solid State Logic X-ISM – Free (0.9 Mb – AU, VST for Mac OSX)

Inter-Sample Peaks:
When a digitally-recorded sound is played-back it must be converted into an analogue representation at some point. This is performed by the DAC (digital to analogue converter). Commonly used over-sampling DACs apply a ?reconstruction? filter to convert the periodic sample levels back into a discrete signal. In simple terms they ?fill in the gaps? using interpolation so that digital artefacts are reduced to a minimum.

Regardless of the reconstruction filter?s design, in certain circumstances it is possible for a reconstruction filter to produce signals greater than 0dBfs even if the samples used to create these signals are all within the 0dBfs limit.

Here is a portion of a high frequency sine wave that is represented in the digital domain by 4 consecutive samples. The line that joins these points is the product of an interpolation algorithm designed to provide a smooth, discrete wave between the points.

As can be seen, all 4 samples have a value of less than 1.0 (0dBfs in this case) but the smooth line joining the points clearly contains values which are greater than 1.0. It is this mechanism which can cause analogue signals to theoretically exceed 0dBfs even though the digital representation of the signal is within limits. This is an ?Inter-sample Peak?.

It can be seen that it is possible for all of the digital samples to be below full scale but they could still produce a signal which has sections which are >0dBfs.

The current trend to produce louder and louder mixes ultimately can result in commercial recordings containing more inter-sample peaks than those of say 20 years ago. In reality, a highly compressed piece of audio that has been normalized to digital full-scale is almost guaranteed to have some samples in similar positions to those in the example above, and therefore the audio at an oversampling DAC is almost guaranteed to have inter-sample peaks of >0dBfs!

Is this a problem?
As already mentioned, the reconstruction filter is typically part of common Digital to Analogue converters (DAC) and the quality of this process is a factor in the overall quality of the DAC. Low quality DACs may not have the digital resolution to handle values larger than full-scale, and subsequent analogue stages may not have the headroom to handle signals larger than the theoretical maximum. Another possibility is that the DAC may be quite capable of handling >0dBfs but the surrounding design may not have taken this eventuality into consideration.

How does X-ISM work?
Firstly it must be understood that most DAW peak meters (including plug-ins) simply look for samples which are at digital maximum. They will indicate a peak condition when there have been enough of these 0dBfs samples in a row (usually 3 together). Although this can give an indication that the engineer has run out of digital headroom (and that remedial action is necessary), it really gives no indication that the resultant analogue waveform may contain >0dBfs peaks due to the inter-sample peaks.

It is possible that a mix could have many values at digital maximum but no inter-sample peaks, similarly a mix could have no values at digital maximum but lots of inter-sample peaks!

Commonly, current mass market DAC designs do the vast majority of their reconstruction process by employing a digital Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter design tailored to provide a brick wall low-pass response. This approach overcomes the less perfect slope response issues of pure-analogue filter designs. These FIR filters work as follows; firstly, the audio is up-sampled to a multiple of the original sample rate, then the FIR is used to create the smooth curve in-between the original sample points. Of course different DACs have various ways of doing this and indeed, the finer details of the process are important design elements of the DAC design.

X-ISM uses significant processing to provide a combination of up-sampling and filtering that mimics the operation of an oversampling DAC’s reconstruction process. The result is a meter that shows inter-sample errors and provides a useful tool that most DAW metering misses.

SSL X-ISM – Important notes:

• X-ISM is only available as a stereo plug-in
• Be aware that X-ISM requires a significant proportion of the host computers CPU resources to run
• Because X-ISM runs on the host computer it does not require Duende

SSL X-ISM System Requirements:
PC:

• Operating System: Windows XP Operating System:
• CPU: P4 2.4GHz / AMD 2400xp+
• System Memory (RAM): 512MB RAM
• Hard Disk: 50MB free space

Mac:

• Mac OSX 10.4.8 (or higher)
• CPU: G4 1.2Ghz
• System Memory (RAM): 512MB RAM
• Hard Disk: 50MB free space

More info: http://www.solid-state-logic.com

Now you can experience the Listen Mic Compressor within the comfort of your own workstation software and see what sounds it?ll lead you to create.

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Solid State Logic LMC-1 Compressor – Free (3.8 Mb – VST for Win)
Download Solid State Logic LMC-1 Compressor – Free (0.7 Mb – AU, VST for Mac OSX)

A little bit of history:
Back in 1979, Solid State Logic gave birth to a legendary recording console. The SSL SL 4000E Master Studio System forever changed how records would be recorded and mixed, heralding a new age in popular music. In less than three years, every major studio worldwide featured at a least one room with an SSL ?E? Series console.

Long-time SSL user Hugh Padgham was one of the first to capture this new drum sound on tape,while working with Steve Lilywhite on Peter Gabriel?s ?Intruder?, he told Mix magazine: “On a normal console, you have a button to press to talk to the musicians in the headphones, but you did not have a button to press for us to listen to the musicians. To do that, you’d plug a microphone into a spare channel on the desk and listen to your musicians through that. But the SSL had a reverse talkback button and there was a microphone hanging up in the studio already, a dedicated input into the reverse mic input on the console. And on this microphone, they had the most unbelievably heavy compressor, so you could hear somebody who was over in the corner”.

“One day, Phil (Collins) was playing the drums,? Hugh recalls, ?and I had the reverse talkback on because he was speaking, and then he started playing the drums. The most unbelievable sound came out because of the heavy compressor. I said, ‘My God, this is the most amazing sound! Steve, listen to this.’ But the way the reverse talkback was setup, you couldn’t record it. So I had the desk modified that night. I got one of the maintenance guys to take the desk apart and get a split output of this compressor and feed it into a patch point on the jack field so I could then patch it into a channel on the board. From there, we were able to route that to the tape recorder.”

More info: http://www.solid-state-logic.com

Using Bitter Sweet II:
Turning the central button on the sweet side, decreases the transients amplitude. On the bitter side, the transients amplitude is magnified. Bitter Sweet also features a control for the signal to be processed. When the main position is engaged, the process affects the stereo signal. If Center is engaged, only the M signal of the internal MS matrix is processed. If stereo is selected, only the S signal from the MS matrix is processed. Three transient detection modes can be selected. A varying period of integration for transients can be accessed. A Link function is available to compensate the output gain regarding the transient processing setting.

As all Flux plug-ins it features 64-bit floating point processing, up to 8 channels and up to 8 FS (384 KHz). Center and Stereo Modes are only available in stereo (2 channels) processing.

Bitter Sweet II is available for AU, RTAS and VST compatible host applications for Windows and Mac OS X.

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Flux Bitter Sweet II – Win (3.8 Mb – VST for Win)
Download Flux Bitter Sweet II – OSX (17.6 Mb – AU, RTAS, VST for Mac OSX)

More info and demos: http://www.fluxhome.com

Stereo Tool also offers an accurate visual feedback reflecting the signal content. A vector scope display, PPM meters for both inputs and outputs, and a phase correlation meter permanently monitor the signal.

As all Flux plug-ins it features 64-bit floating point processing, up to 8 channels and up to 8 FS (384 KHz). Stereo Tool is available for AU, RTAS and VST compatible host applications for Windows and Mac OS X.

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Flux Stereo Tool – Win (3.3 Mb – VST for Win)
Download Flux Stereo Tool – OSX (17.8 Mb – AU, RTAS, VST for Mac OSX)

Release notes:
Version 2.0.11(Win) / 2.0.10 (Mac) – 18.05.2009
Version 1.3.0.14 (Win) / 1.3.0.15 (Mac) – 21.05.2008

• Phase Meter broken. Doesn’t reflect any phase opposition anymore.
• Too much gain when increasing stereo width.
• Phase Meter was not parking at Zero (but 1).
• Resolution problem when adjusting width.

More info and demos: http://www.fluxhome.com

Note: Please note that control knobs for the channels can be synchronized by holding the SHIFT key.

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Voxengo Audio Delay – Free (VST for Win)

Latest release notes
Version 1.3, 11-aug-2007

• Access violation error on systems with >2GB memory solved.

Version 1.2.2, 04-nov-2006

• Fixed crash when working at 192 kHz. Maximum delay length is now 2 seconds.
• Fixed presets (previously they did nothing).

Version 1.2, 04-jan-2006

• Output level gain parameters added.

Version 1.1, 13-sep-2005

• Minor compatibility fix.

More info and demos: http://www.voxengo.com/

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Voxengo Recorder – Free (VST for WinXP)

Voxengo Recorder Parameters:

• MME Device – which MME device is used for wave playback.
• Buffer Count/Buffer Size – you may adjust these parameters to get desired latency performance.
• Out File – WAV filename used for output.
• Output To – where track/bus signal should be routed (File or MME Device).
• Bit Depth – convert track/bus signal to this bit depth.
• Status – current status.
• Start – start routing.
• WARNING! Stop routing during non-realtime bouncing as doing otherwise may result in program crash!

Latest release notes
Version 1.4 – 04-may-2008

• “Bit depth not restoring correctly on preset load” issue fixed.

Version 1.3 – 16-mar-2008

• “MME device not restoring correctly on preset load” issue fixed.

Version 1.2 – 25-dec-2007

• Access violation error on systems with >2GB memory solved.

Version 1.1 – 07-apr-2005

• Internal plug-in ID has been changed to fix the collision with the Analogflux Impulse plug-in.

Version 1.0 – 10-feb-2005

• Initial release.

More info and demos: http://www.voxengo.com/

Overtone GEQ was designed to allow audio engineers to apply quick EQ shape adjustments together with adding a bit of harmonic richness to the audio material (mainly mixes and sub-mixes due to a comparably high processing load this EQ puts on a CPU).

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Voxengo Overtone GEQ – Free (VST for Win, 32Bit and 16 Bit)
Download Voxengo Overtone GEQ – Free (AU and VST for OSX)

Read Manuals (PDF File):
Read Voxengo Overtone GEQ Manual
Read Voxengo Overtone GEQ User Guide

Overtone GEQ Features:

• 7-band graphic equalizing
• +/- 12 dB gain range per band
• 2 graphic equalizer views
• Multi-channel processing
• Internal channel routing
• Channel grouping
• Mid/side processing
• Complex harmonic coloration
• 64-bit floating point processing
• Preset manager
• Undo/redo history
• A/B comparisons
• Contextual hint messages

Requirements/Compatibility:

• This plug-in can be loaded into any audio host application that conforms to the VST or AudioUnit plug-in specification.
• This plug-in is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit) and Mac OS X 10.4.11 and above (Intel and PowerPC) computers (2 GHz dual-core or faster processor with at least 1 GB of system RAM recommended). A separate binary distribution file is available for each target computer platform for each plug-in format.

Latest release notes
Version 1.4 – 07.04.2008:

• Version 1.4 implements the following changes:
• “Oversmp” automation parameter added.
• Instance name now persists between preset/program changes.
• Group selectors now display groups that were actually used in the Routing window.
• A possible cause of a rare occasional crash resolved.
• Output routing arrangement changed – it is now possible to route the same internal channel to several outputs.
• “Mouse wheel sensitivity” global setting renamed to “mouse wheel precision”.

Version 1.3 – 29-dec-2007

• Equalizer curve scaling function.
• Equalizer curve inversion function.

More info and demos: http://www.voxengo.com/

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Noisetime UAD-1 Delay Compensation Calculator (0.4 Mb, Standalone for PC)

Noisetime UAD-1 Features:

• the bold value in the Overall latency section is the same as in the clipboard;
• whenever something is changed, it is copied to the clipboard;
• Auto-copy to Clipboard defines what is copied to the clipboard. Use ms for Cubase SX, Ticks for Cubase 5.x and earlier, Samples for anything else;
• Negative values should be used, since the calculated latency works as PRE-delay for compensating
• with you quit the program, hits the update button errors in reading sample rate, buffer size and extra buffers from Registry result in red values and useless delay
• a Powered Plug-In must be already in use for correct values
• use update for externally changed configuration settings
• Ticks value turns red when out of range for Cubase
• Always on top makes the window stay in the foreground

UAD-1 Delay Compensation Calculator Tips and Tricks:
The number of Pultecs you can adjust is always less or equal to the number of Plug-Ins. Configuration settings can’t be set by the user. They are read out from the Registry. Therefore, it will only work with Powered Plug-Ins correctly installed. If the program is unable to read the values, but the Powered Plug-Ins are working fine, please contact me with details.

Since the current latency is always copied to the clipboard, the clipboard content for text is overwritten at program start.

The Ticks are rounded, so they are always shown exactly like in Cubase.

The edit field for BPM allows entering characters other than digits. Since this doesn’t make much sense, in such a case the value is recognized as 0 and so the delay is 0. If negative values are typed in, the value is set to 0.

If you use Ticks and your song tempo changes within the project, you have a problem. You can only hope for enhanced or full latency compensation within the sequencer.

Credits:
Freeware by Christian Andersch, original program by Greg Montano and original icon by Universal Audio.

More info: Noisetime

Silence Remover signal routing: open -> conversion to 64 bit float -> silence removal -> normalize -> conversion to output format -> write

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Noisetime Silence Remover (0.4 Mb, Standalone for PC)

Noisetime Silence Remover features:

• delete silence at beginning and/or end
• normalize
• change bit rate
• optional writing to logfile
• optional simulation into logfile instead of writing audio files
• processes 8 to 64 bit
• always deletes extra chunks (metadata)
• always gives feedback about current processing

More info: Noisetime

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Studio Devil BVC – Free VST for PC (2.4 Mb)
Download Studio Devil BVC – Free VST for Mac (2.4 Mb)

Read Manual (Zip Archive):
Read Studio Devil BVC User Guide (0.7 Mb, Adobe Reader PDF)

Studio Devil BVC Features

• British High-Gain Amp emulation based on Marshall? stack!
• Power Amp Drive Control to adjust natural power amp compression.
• Built In 4×12 Cabinet Emulation!
• Realistic Tone Controls: Bass, Mids, Treble, and Presence
• Professional Sampling Rates: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, and 192kHz support!
• 4X Up-Sampling Engine with 64-bit Floating-Point Internal Precision
• Compatible with Windows and Mac VST hosts!

More info and demos: http://www.studiodevil.com

1. as a latch (one press mute, release stays muted, next press unmute, release stays unmuted)
2. in default mode (hold down to mute, release to play audio)
3. in invert mode (hold down to play audio, release to mute)

The minimum and maximum volume can be set so that as well as muting, moot can act as a switch between a high and low volume In addition there is an audio gate to chop the audio and a smooth control to add a small attack/decay between changes

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download de la Mancha Moot (1.3 Mb, VSTi for WinXP)

Moot Controls

• Hit Me – this button is designed to be assigned to a midi keyboard key or a controller button.
• Hit the ’set up’ button to see additional menus;
• hot key – this is the key reference number (0-127) that will trigger the ‘hit me’ button from your midi keyboard. select using the drop down arrow. To find out the ref number of any midi key on your keyboard, press it and the ref number will show next to the ‘playing..’ text area.
• midi learn – this works for all controls, not just the ‘hit me’ button. press the ‘learn’ toggle, (learning.. will appear on the GUI) then tweak any VST GUI control, then tweak any controller knob/slider/button. ‘learning…’ will disappear and the midi controller will now operate the VST control.
• latch (on / off) – If latch is on, pressing Hit Me will toggle Audio Hi and Audio Lo. Press once to change the state, even when the key is released the state remains latched. It will not change until the key is hit a second time

- If latch is off, Hit Me function will depend on the ‘invert’ setting;
- default: audio will play by default and holding the key down will mute until released;
- invert: audio will be muted by default and holding the key down will play audio until released

• min / max volume – sets the Hi and Lo volume for both the Hit Me and the gate
• gate (on / off) – switch off to get continuous audio, switch on to chop the audio.
• on beat / off beat – moves the chopped note on or off the beat.
• chops / beat – this sets a pulse rate that will pulse x times per beat. The pulse determines the rate that the gate will chop the audio.
• note length – minimum is half a beat, increase to make the chopped note play longer and reduce the gap to the next chop, maximum fills the gap.
• smooth (ms) if you hear clicks when moot changes from Hi to Lo or gates, then this will add an attack/decay envelope to the change. Increase to soften the change and remove the click.
  midi learn – this works for all controls, not just the ‘hit me’ button. press the ‘learn’ toggle, (learning.. will appear on the GUI) then tweak any VST GUI control, then tweak any controller knob/slider/button. ‘learning…’ will disappear and the midi controller will now operate the VST control

Moot – Version release history:
2.3 adds ‘hot key’ and midi CC support & midi learn for all controls
2.2 adds min/max volume and smooth, also now in stereo (was mono). removed pingpong
2.1 smaller, cleaner GUI
2.0 adds everything except Hit Me button
1.0 released as a simple on/off mute

More info and demos: de la Mancha

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download de la Mancha Envy (1.2 Mb, VSTi for WinXP)

Envy Midi Trigger Features:

• 2 envelopes, for L & R channel
• 2 ‘hit me’ buttons to start each envelope independantly
• control both envelopes from one ‘hit me’ if required
• run both L & R channels through one envelope if required
• ‘hit me’ can be assigned to any midi key and can be latched if required
• either or both channels can be inverted so volume decreases instead of increases

Envy Midi Trigger Controls
- Left channel controls are on the left, Right channel controls are on the right.
- Hit Me – this button is best assigned to a midi keyboard key, but can be mouse operated or automated too. Hit the key to trigger the envelope.
- hot key – this is the key reference number (0-127) that will trigger the ‘hit me’ button from your midi keyboard. select using the drop down arrow. To find out the ref number of any midi key on your keyboard, press it and the ref number will show next to the ‘playing..’ text area
- latch (on / off):

• If latch is off, envelope is only activated whilst the key is held and returns to previous state when the key is released.
• If latch is on, pressing Hit Me will latch on, even when key is released. It will not change until the key is hit a second time

- invert (on / off)

• off: audio will be muted by default and holding the key down will raise volume according to envelope
• on: audio will play by default and holding the key down will decrease volume according to envelope

- single hit me – select this to control both envelopes from the left hit me button
- single env – select this to have both L & R channels controlled by the left envelope
- in both single hit me & single env are selected, the plug-in remains in stereo and you can still invert the Right channel
- a,d,s,r – attack, decay, sustain, release stages of the envelope

midi learn – this works for all controls, not just the ‘hit me’ button. press the ‘learn’ toggle, (learning.. will appear on the GUI) then tweak any VST GUI control, then tweak any controller knob/slider/button. ‘learning…’ will disappear and the midi controller will now operate the VST control

More infoand demos: de la Mancha

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Xoxos Midilegato (0.9 Mb, VSTi for WinXP)

More info: Xoxos

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Pazera Free FLV to AVI and MPEG Converter (5.0 Mb, VST and RTAS for WinXP)
(also contains Dolphin Bubble Rings.FLV for you to experiment with the convertor)

Pazera Free FLV to AVI Converter uses the well known free, fast and high quality video encoder – FFmpeg and it was created with a legal and registered version of the Turbo Delphi Explorer.

Pazera Free FLV to AVI Converter Features:

• Conversion FLV and SWF to AVI or MPG.
• Supported video codecs: XviD, DivX 3, H.264, WMV, MPEG4-FFmpeg, S-Mpeg 4 v. 2, Motion JPEG (MJPEG).
• Supported audio codecs: Lame (MP3), MP2, AC3, AAC, WMA.
• Generating video files compatible with the MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 standard.
• Decoding the most important audio and video codecs used in FLV files: Flash/Sorenson, H.264, MPEG-1 Layer 3 (MP3), MPEG-2.5 Layer 3, ADPCM, AAC etc.
• 2-pass encoding which will improve the video qaulity.
• Don’t need any installation. Just extract ZIP archive and click flvtoavi.exe.
• Portability. This program can be run from portable devices.
• Supported languages: english, polish.
• 100% freeware! – for commercial and non-commercial use. No adware, no spyware.

System Requirements:

• PC: Windows 2000/XP, Pentium III 600 mhz, 64 MB RAM, XVGA [High Colour 1024x768]
• Mac: Mac OS X (10.3.9 minimum), G4 400 MHz / Intel Core, 64 MB RAM, XVGA [High Colour 1024x768]

More info and demos: http://www.flvtoavien.glt.pl

Using innovative wave shaping and filtration methods, BeatBurner turns innocent drum beats, loops or sounds into new, fresh, vibrant and original audio parts for you to incorporate into your musical arrangements. BeatBurner also comes with a selection of sample loops to get you started, but it doesn’t stop there, you can mangle, whittle or process any sound you want! Full automation and preset morphing means there are literally no limits to the soundscapes you can create.

Note: Beatburner is NOT made with Synthedit!

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Code Audio BeatBurner for Win (45.7 Mb, VSTi and Loops for WinXP)

Download Manual (PDF Format, 0.25 Mb):
Read Code Audio BeatBurner Manual (0.25 Mb, Adobe Reader PDF)

More info and demos: Code Audio

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Sonalksis FreeG for Win (1.1 Mb, VST and RTAS for WinXP)
Download Sonalksis FreeG for OSX (3.9 Mb, Universal Binary VST, AudioUnit and RTAS for OSX)

Download Manual (PDF Format, 1.6 Mb):
Download Sonalksis FreeG Quick Guide (0.65 Mb, Adobe Reader PDF)

FreeG usage:
When working with digital audio, lack of fine metering and extended signal flow control in the host is a common issue. The intentions with FreeG is to improve the workflow in the host by providing these features in the insert chain. By providing the possibilites of extended control of amplitude, phase and pan (stereo version) in the insert chain as well as fine metering, with user configurable industry standard parameter options, the range of applications for FreeG is almost only limited to the context of the actual usage and of course, the insert chain.

System Requirements:

• PC: Windows 2000/XP, Pentium III 600 mhz, 64 MB RAM, XVGA [High Colour 1024x768]
• Mac: Mac OS X (10.3.9 minimum), G4 400 MHz / Intel Core, 64 MB RAM, XVGA [High Colour 1024x768]

More info and demos: http://www.sonalksis.com

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download DSK Music Asian DreamZ – Free (10.7 Mb, VST for WinXP)

Asian DreamZ Features:

• 7 Asian Instruments (Pipa, Pipa tremolo, Luan, Guzhen, Erhu, Ban di, Percussion kit)
• Velocity response
• Amp. envelope and micro-detuner
• HP/LP Filter
• Midi automation

More info and demos: DSK Music – Virtual Instruments

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Togu TAL-Flanger – Free (0.4 Mb, VST for WinXP)
Download Togu TAL-Flanger – Free (0.3 Mb, VST for OSX)

TAL-Flanger Features:

• sync mode: auto and manual
• the obvious dry/wet knob
• few presets to get you started
• low CPU usage

More info and demos: Togu Audio Line

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Togu TAL-Tube – Free (0.4 Mb, VST for WinXP)
Download Togu TAL-Tube – Free (0.3 Mb, VST for OSX)

TAL-Tube Features:

• Amplifier mode.
• Soft and hard mode (2 different tube types).
• Dry/Wet knob.
• Gain reduction display.
• 4x oversampled processing.
• Some presets.
• Low CPU

More info and demos: Togu Audio Line

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Togu TAL-BassLine – Free (0.9 Mb, VST for WinXP)
Download Togu TAL-BassLine – Free (1.1 Mb, VST for OSX)

Manual (Adobe Reader PDF):
Download Togu TAL-BassLine – Manual (130 Kb, pdf)

TAL-BassLine Features:

• Bandlinited oscillators (saw, pulse).
• Sub-oscillator: square -1 oct., square -2 oct., pulse -1 oct, pulse -2 oct.
• -18 dB/octave low-pass filter (resonant/self-oscillating).
• LFO (frequency: 0,1 .. 30 Hz, waveforms: sin, tri, saw, rec, noise).
• Very fast nonlinear envelope (A: 1.5ms..4s, D: 2ms..10s, S: 0..100%, R: 2ms..10s).
• Simple Arpeggiator (up, down, one octave mode).
• 2x Unisono Mode.
• MIDI automation for all sliders and pots.
• Precise fader control while holding down the “Shift” button.
• Supports all sample-rates and 2x oversampling.
• comes with 23 presets and tutorial pdf.
• ~2.5% CPU (Intel Core 2 CPU 6700, 44.1KHz, 24Bit, buffer-size 1024 Samples).

Version releases:

• 1.0.1 – Clicking in VCA ENV Mode with Trigger ENV at overlapping notes under some circumstances (fixed).

More info and demos: Togu Audio Line

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Audiosonic DigiDrum Pro – Free (3 Mb, VST for WinXP)

DigiDrum Pro Features:

• 5 separate DigiDrum parts with 5 user definable audio outputs
• 27 classic drum and percussion waveforms
• User wavefile import
• Parts can easily be layered to create even more complex sounds
• easy sound preview ensures intuitive preset programming
• A Versatile filter setup capable of many different timbres
• Velocity modulation of amp, pitch and filter to ‘humanize’ the feel of the beat
• Full VST automation of every sound editing controls

Listen to an audio teaser:
Digidrum Pro Ex1
Digidrum Pro Ex2.

More info and demos: http://www.audiosonic.dk

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download Audiosonic DigiDrum Classic – Free (2.2 Mb, VST for WinXP)

Features:

• 27 classic drum and percussion sounds / 52 factory presets
• New user-friendly GUI features
• Full MIDI CC# and VST automation of all parameters

Listen to an audio teaser:
Digidrum Classic Ex1
Digidrum Classic Ex2.

More info and demos: http://www.audiosonic.dk

Here are two free gems from their downloads section:

Goldbaby Tape606 Samples – The TR606 recorded on a Ampex 1/2 inch 2 track tape machine – 128 x 24 bit samples;

Goldbaby The Cassette 808 – The TR808 recorded onto a cassette tape – 21 samples of 808 old skool recordings cassette madness

Additionally to their excellent produced sampling products, in their Free Stuff section you’ll also find various impulse responses (including an MPC60), the excellent XBR free refill, some killer grooves etc …

Free Download (Zip Archive):
Download u-he Triple Cheese – Free (1.1 Mb, VST for WinXP)
Download u-he Triple Cheese – Free (7.1 Mb, VST and AU for Mac OSX)

Listen to an audio teaser:
Triple Cheese Tease.

More info and demos: http://www.u-he.com

Free Download
(5.5 Mb Zip Archive):
Download Admiral Quality Naive LPF – Free Filter

Naive LPF features:

• low/high-pass filter
• separate envelope follower for each of 6 channels
• full automation MIDI CC and even joystick control of all parameters

Admiral Quality Naive LPF – Screenshot

System Requirements:

• P4 with 533 MHz
• Fast FSB and memory
• Windows 2000 or XP
• VST Host program

More info and demos: http://www.admiralquality.com

LFX-1310 is Free Plug-in Effect of the Year 2005
LUXONIX’ multi-effect LFX-1310 took top honors for Free Effects in KVR Members New Year Survey January 2005

Free Download
(1 Mb Zip Archive):
Luxonix LFX-1310 – Win-VST
Luxonix LFX-1310 – MacOSX-AU-VST-Universal kBinary

Luxonix LFX-1310 – Screenshot

Luxonix LFX-1310 included effects:

• S’Filter 12 / S’Filter 24 / 3-band EQ
• Peak Compressor / RMS Compressor
• Overdrive / Distortion / Amp Distortion
• Crusher / LP Noise / Stereo Image
• Chorus / Flanger / Phaser / Auto Wah / Tremolo / Auto Pan
• Delay / Stereo Delay / Ping-pong Delay
• Gate Reverb / Room Reverb / Hall Reverb / Spring Reverb

Luxonix LFX-1310 specifications:

• 24 types of high-quality effector algorithm
• 3 serial-routed slots
• 128 factory sound presets
• mono or stereo input / stereo output
• 32-bit sound processing
• HLMS™: Hyper Layered MIDI assign System for real-time performance and sound editing
• FOEM™: Fully Optimized Effecting Module

System Requiremements:
PC:

• Pentium III compatible 700MHz CPU or higher (Pentium IV 1.6GHz CPU or higher recommended)
• 16MB RAM or higher (64MB RAM or higher recommended)
• Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista (2000/XP recommended)
• VST 2.0+ compatible host application (2.3+ recommended)

Mac:

• G3 700MHz CPU or higher (G4 1.2GHz CPU or higher recommended)
• 16MB RAM or higher (64MB RAM or higher recommended)
• Mac OS X 10.3 or higher (Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher recommended)
• VST 2.0+ compatible host application (2.3+ recommended)
• Universal Binary

More info and demos: http://www.luxonix.com

Download X-Flanger:
JC Productionz X-Flanger – Free VST (1.0Mb)

X-Flanger features:

• full automation
• 8 programs & 24 user programs
• peak meters
• cool gui.

JC Productionz X-Flanger Screenshot

Mre info: http://www.jcproductionz.com

Free Download:
VertexDSP MultiInspector Free – Win VST (0.5Mb, Zip Archive)
VertexDSP MultiInspector Free – Mac VST & AU (0.6Mb, Zip Archive)

The first instance of MultiInspectorFree behaves like a standard 31 band spectral analyzer. Additional instances automatically send their spectral analysis result to all other instances of MultiInspectorFree. Every editor window of MultiInspectorFree shows the same content. Therefore, after opening all necessary plug-in instances it is sufficient to leave just one editor window open. The width and the color of the level bars are adjusted according to the current number of instances.

MultiInspectorFree incorporates a standard third octave frequency analyzer. The centre frequencies of the bands are based on the ISO 266:1997 standard (20 Hz to 20 kHz). Pink noise will appear flat in the frequency spectrum. MultiInspectorFree supports up to 4 instances at a sample rate of 44.1 kHz. MultiInspectorFree is available as a plug-in for Windows (VST only) and Mac OS X (VST and AU, both Universal Binary).

Free Download:
VertexDSP MultiInspector Free – Win VST (0.5Mb, Zip Archive)
VertexDSP MultiInspector Free – Mac VST & AU (0.6Mb, Zip Archive)

System Requirements:
Windows:

• Windows 2000/XP/Vista (Windows 98SE/ME has been tested successfully but is not officially supported).
• VST compatible host software.

Mac OS X:

• Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
• VST or AU compatible host software.

More info: http://www.vertexdsp.com

Free Download:
Blue Cat Audio – FreqAnalyst Free DirectX (3.5Mb, MSI Installer)
Blue Cat Audio – FreqAnalyst Free VST (3.5Mb, MSI Installer)

Most aspects of the audio to frequency display conversion can be managed, which lets you total control over the monitoring. A special thresholding system has been developed to help you see the important parts of the spectrum easily. In case you need extra precision in a particular frequency range, you can zoom the display and check the part of the graph you are interested in. You can use the new opacity management feature to make the plug-in window transparent and see what is behind: forget about your multiple display setup, you do not need it anymore! You can now check the spectrum of your mix and see your audio tracks behind. This feature is also particularly useful when you want to compare the spectrum of two tracks: just stack your two FreqAnalyst windows and see the difference!

This plug-in supports skinning, so that you can customize the user interface to your personal needs.

For more advanced capabilities, check Blue Cat’s FreqAnalyst Pro, an extended version that offers many more features, such as saving/restoring curves, precise measurment tools, spectrogram view, MIDI output etc.

FreqAnalyst features:

• Mono and stereo real time spectrum analyzer.
• Total control over the audio to frequencies tranformation.
• Smart interpolation algorithm for extreme display smoothness.
• Zoomable display.
• The user interface can be made transparent.
• Custom absolute and relative threshold.

Blue Cat Audio standard features:

• Native DSP code for optimal performance.
• Skinnable user interface.
• DirectX and VST plug-in formats support.
• Smooth Update: silent (zipper-free) parameters update.
• Full automation support (all parameters can be automated, with smooth and continuous update)
• Real time MIDI control with advanced settings (MIDI channel and CC numbers, with complete response curve control) and MIDI learn.
• Any sample rate supported.

New in version 1.1:

• Undo/Redo.
• Load/Save presets in a host-independent format: you can now share presets between the directX and VST versions.
• New toolbar to access main functionalities.
• Improved skin loading speed.
• Improved user interface performance.
• Reduced memory consumption when using several instances.
• It is now possible to choose wether displayed curves are filled or not.
• Improved the display of parameters values in the MIDI settings panel and the host application.
• Bug fix (VST): when loading a project or changing presets, some host applications could hang.

System Requirements:

• Microsoft Windows 2000, XP or Vista.
• For the DirectX version, DirectX 8.0 at least is required. You can download it from Microsoft’s website: www.microsoft.com (not necessary for Windows XP or Vista users)
• Any DirectX or VST compatible host software (you can easily find one on www.kvraudio.com)
• Note to Sony Products Users (Sony Vegas, Soundforge…): please follow this Sony DXi tutorial in order to be able to use the DirectX version.

More info: http://www.bluecataudio.com

Free Download (Zip Archive, 1.1 Mb):
Distroyr – Free Distortion

• Feedback
• Signal clipping
• Bit crush
• Valve distortion
• Saturate
• Overdrive

Free Download (Zip Archive, 2 Mb):
Silkworm – Free

Silkworm features:

• Choose from sine, saw, ramp, triangle and pulse waveforms.
• Control over thickness of sound and over spread in stereo image.
• Band limiting filter using two 12db filters in series for a very characteristic sound.
• Ping pong delay with filter built in.
• Separate LFO for vibrato (preset with adjustable aftertouch level).
• Assignable LFO for modulating filter, bandwidth, pulse width, volume and panning.
• Mono and poly modes (mono is not only good for producing great soaring leads but also helps save CPU cycles).
• Various play/dynamic controls.
• Simple but effective sequenced gating effect that can be synced to external (host) clock.
• Very easy to program and capable of more than just trance sounds.

Installation:
To install simply unrar and copy the dll to your VSTI plugins folder.

Controls and usage:
Experiment with the controls – it’s more fun that way – instructions will follow soon but were lost recently due to the site being down and need to be re-written.

Tips:

• try using mono mode if CPU usage is a problem or rendering tracks down one at a time
• Silkworm is good for more than just the usual trance sounds
• use the internal gate clock and very short delay times to create wierd metallic effects…

System requirements:

• a minimum 1.2GHz processor is recommended

More info: http://www.simple-media.co.uk

Free Download (Zip Archive, 1.4 Mb):
Voc One – Free

Voc One features:

• full control over each stage of the vocal synthesis
• morphable formant filter with 11 recognised phonetic vowel spectra
• morphing between vowels sounds subtle and natural
• control over the register of the formant filter and the emphasis to give a much greater range of possible vocal types
• 8 presets plus room for 8 more
• built in high quality reverb (UDReverb based on freeverb – thanks to Elogoxa and David Haupt for this)
• lots of potential for experimentation.

Instructions:
To install simply unzip (unrar) and copy the dll to your VSTI plugins folder.

Controls and usage:

• Shape – controls the pulse width of the analogue synth
• Thickness – detunes the 2 oscillators to produce a chorusing effect
• ADSR – basic amplitude envelope for the analogue synth
• Breath 1 and Breath 2 – control the tonal quality and amount of breathyness
• Cutoff and Res – the analogue synth and breathy synth are filtered through a 12db per octave band pass filter – this can self oscillate
• Morph – controls the morphing between one formant bank and the other; note this is a morph, not a mix, so the effect is to change the formant not to combine 2 different formants
• Emphasis – controls the resonance of the formant banks, at a low value sounds are synthetic and not at all vocal, at high values the sound has a rich vocal quality – the formant filter banks can self oscillate
• Register – the combined frequencies of the formant banks can be shifted up and down to change the vocal register using this control
• Rate and Amount – controls the frequency and amplitude of a basic LFO – the four small knobs control how much the LFO is sent to the other controls for morph, pan, tremolo (amplitude) and vibrato (pitch)
• Reverb – on/off switch and controls for the size of the acoustic space and the dry/wet mix
• Velocity – how much key velocity effects amplitude
• Pan – sets position of sound in stereo image
• Master – this is the master volume control for voc-one.

Tips:

• low emphasis values can be used to create non-vocal sounds, that still have some of the formant quality, such as strings and accordians
• there are known problems with SE synths and the creative ASIO driver when working in Orion, so please be aware of these
• the large number of filters used mean that this synth is CPU intensive so if you wish to use multiple instances but have problems with CPU overload, try rendering out each instance to an audio file when finalising a track and muting instances that are not being worked on while creating a track
• all the filters used can self oscillate to some degreee and this can cause overloading or distortion, but in some cases this may be desirable a they distortion has a warm, soft clipped sound – just watch those levels.

System requirements:

• a minimum 1.2GHz processor is recommended

More info: http://www.simple-media.co.uk

Free Download (Zip Archive, 2.2 Mb):
Clavia Lab – Free

• keep an eye on the level control as this controls the master volume minor changes in another control can make massive differences in the output level and maximum volume is not advised while tweaking
• the ‘age’ effect is actually a ’slightly twisted’ chorus/phaser and can be used to create all kinds of wierd effects
• although it is intended as an electric piano, Clavia Lab can create all kinds of unusual and pleasant sounds
• areas indicated in red on controls (with the exception of wave and octave) hint that distorion may creep in – distortion can be quite pleasent so this is not a problem but is worth knowing if you prefer a completely distortion free tone.

System requirements:

• a minimum 1.2GHz processor is recommended

More info: http://www.simple-media.co.uk

Free Download (Zip Archive, 1 Mb):
The Shepherd – Free

The Shepherd features:

• very little really
• just enough control over sound
• just enough control over play.
• CPU Usage – very low.

Instructions:
To install simply unzip and copy the dll to your VSTI plugins folder.

Controls for this synth are as follows:

• Volume – controls the overall volume level
• Velocity – controls the amount that key velocity affects the volume level
• Attack – the larger the amount, the longer the attack stages of the amplitude, frequecy and LFO envelopes
• Jump – this is the depth control for the frequency envelope and determines how far below the played note the pitch will slide from- adjusting this does not alter tuning of the played note
• Noise – this controls the amount of white noise (breathyness) included in the whitle tone
• Speed – this is the LFO rate control
• Warble – this is the LFO depth control – the amount of tremolo and vibrato are carefully balanced to sound natural no matter what setting is applied
• Glide – if notes are played overlapping portamento will be applied – this control determines the portamento time.

Tips:

• play legato and use combinations of pitch bend and modulation to create a more natural and dynamic perfomance.
• add a little reverb, this synth is very basic and although it sounds quite nice dry, it really comes to life when a bit of reverb is added
• playing too rapidly will result in popping or clicking.

More info: http://www.simple-media.co.uk

Free Download (Zip Archive, 1.4 Mb):
String Thing 2 – Free

String Thing 2 features:

• basic ‘plucking’ control
• string damping
• various impulse filter modes
• variable bandwidth filter
• new 2D control for impulse
• full control over resonant body dimensions and resonance
• LFO for vibrato, tremolo and chorus
• modulation (MIDI CC)
• can recreate a more natural range of acoustic plucked string timbres
• shiny new interface design
• reasonable CPU load.

More info: http://www.simple-media.co.uk

Free Download (Zip Archive, 1 Mb):
String Thing – Free

• controls over plucking
• variable bandwidth filter
• modulation (MIDI CC)
• various controls for tonal quality
• reasonable CPU load.

Controls for this synth are as follows:

• Master – controls the overall volume level
• Width – controls the amount of the stereo field covered by the tone
• Pan – controls the placing of the tone in the stereo field
• Speed – how fast/slow the string is ‘excited’, low values are similar to strumming while high values are like picking or plucking – please note this is a subtle effect
• Damp – this controls how quickly the string will be stopped – higher values equal greater damping
• Slide – a subtle portamento control to imitate sliding into notes – higher values are good for country music
• Filter – the filter consists of 1 high pass and 1 low pass filter chained in series, the high pass filter’s cutoff being set lower than the low pass filter’s – Q is resonance, bandwidth is the difference between the high pass and low pass cutoff and keytrack is the amount of the note’s frequency that is sent to the cutoff of each filter – the filter can dramatically alter the tonal quality of the string even create picked electric guitar tones
• Modulation – sets the LFO rate (frequency) and level (depth) – the LFO has no effect on the output unless a modulation wheel or aftertouch is used – String Thing needs to be set to use MIDI CC for this to work
• String & Body – the effect of these controls can be very subtle so please experiment with them to get your desired sound
• Tone1 and Tone2 – these control a combination of analogue oscilators that are used to provide the initial impulse for the physical model
• Character – this mixes the output of tone 1 and tone 2
• Warmth – this controls the amount and type of noise introduced into the initial impulse
• Thickness – the initial impulse consists of several tones combined including two pulse waves and white/pink noise – this control detunes the two pulse waves against one another – the effect rather than being a chorus or beating effect is a ‘thickening’ of the overall sound
• Velocity – controls the amount that key velocity affects volume level, speed and various tonal characteristics.

Tips

• String Thing is best suited to folk and world music
• tuning will begin to run flat at higher frequencies so play within a couple of octaves of middle C if you wish to stay in tune – I hope to be able to fix this at a later time
• for more realistic and natural play, always set the velocity setting quite high and always set up MIDI CC
• with mid to high damping String Thing is very good for strummed guitar, but remember that this needs patience to produce convincing results
• don’t play rapid repeat strikes or trills as there are no note stop/string groupings, to prevent the same note sounding out more than once.

More info: http://www.simple-media.co.uk

Free Download (Zip Archive, 1.4 Mb):
Super Spook Keys – Free

Super Spook Keys Features:

• sine, sawtooth, triangle and pulse waves, plus simple wave shaping
• variable key in and out response
• humanising ‘vary’ control
• variable LFO for vibrato and tremolo
• pan, chorus (detuning), stereo spread and glide controls
• addition of filtered noise to add a bit of grime
• adjustable frequency range on main control
• midi CC60 and CC61 for x and y on main control respectively
• spring on or off function
• new ‘gourmet’ interface design
• filtered, ping-pong, stereo delay.

Tips:

• tweak key in and key out values for more realistic theramin style play
• spook keys can create so much more than just theramin tones
• making drastic changes to the LFO and Delay settings you can create some quite surprising effects
• with more subtle control settings you can produce great progressive leads.

More info: http://www.simple-media.co.uk

Free Download (Zip Archive, 1.4 Mb):
Spook Keys – Free
Spook Keys – No Spring – Free

Arcade Racing

Metalligon

My Daddy Was A Theramin

Spook Keys Features:

• sine, sawtooth, triangle and pulse waves
• variable key in and out response
• variable LFO for vibrato and tremolo
• pan, chorus (detuning), stereo spread and glide controls
• filtered, ping-pong, stereo delay.

• To install simply unzip and copy the dll to your VSTI plugins folder.

Controls for this synth are as follows:

• The Chart – you can play spook keys either using your keyboard or by dragging the glowing dot across the chart
• Volume – controls the overall volume level
• Spread – controls the amount of the stereo field covered by the tone
• Pan – controls the placing of the tone in the stereo field
• Glide – portamento control sliding between notes when one key is pressed while the previous key is still held – higher values equal slower portamento
• Key In – this controls how quickly the note rises in both volume and frequency from zero to the note played
• Key Out – this controls how quickly the note falls in both volume and frequency to zero from the note played
• Delay – the delay incorporates a filter that consists of 1 high pass and 1 low pass filter chained in series, the high pass filter’s Cutoff being set lower than the low pass filter’s – Resonance is also controllabale, Width is the difference between the high pass and low pass cutoff – Time is self explanatory, Feedback is the amount of signal that is fed back in to the delay – the delay bounces the left and right channels back and forth (ping-pong)
• Modulation – you can set the LFO Rate (frequency) and Depth
• Wave and Pulse Width – you can select from sine, saw, triangle and pulse waves – pulse wave also supports pulse width modulation for more tonal variation
• Thickness – this is a chorusing effect created by detuning 2 oscillators.

Tips:

• tweak key in and key out values for more realistic theremin style play
• spook keys can create so much more than just theremin tones
• making drastic changes to the LFO and Delay settings you can create some quite surprising effects
• with more subtle control settings you can produce great progressive leads.

More info: http://www.simple-media.co.uk

Soundplant is freeware, but for those who use it commercially and/or those with significant disposable income who would like to support the program, registration is offered (Windows version only). As a bonus to registrees, the registered version includes mp3 file support with realtime decompression during playback for optimal RAM conservation (when mp3 files are set to RAM-based, only the small compressed data is loaded into RAM; this allows you to load many hours of sounds). The registration also entitles you to bug fix upgrades which won’t be released publicly (the latest version released to registrees is 26.1a, which contains minor bug fixes).

Buy Marcel Blum Soundplant 26 – 16,25 EUR / $20 USD

Free download (fully functional, 2.2 Mb):
Soundplant 26 – WinXP
Soundplant 26 – MacOSX

• 72 keyboard keys can be used to trigger sounds, all with low latency
• drag and drop sound files on to keyboard keys for quick and easy key assignment
• samples can be loaded to RAM for instant cueing, or played from disk, allowing for minimal RAM usage and unlimited sound length; RAM management can be controlled by the user
• pitch adjust allows micro-tuning to the 100th of a semitone and a 10 octave range; easily batch assign the same sound to multiple keys at varying pitches with complete custom scale control
• auto-’splice’ pieces of a sound across multiple keys (for example, use this function to extract individual drum sounds from a drum loop); precise sound start and end offset control to the 100,000th of a second
• memory-efficiently duplicate key configurations onto other keys using the same sample
• realtime volume and panning control for each key
• no MIDI needed or involved; only a sound card is required, preferably one compatible with DirectX
• customizable sound triggering, allowing for looping, sustains, restarts, muting, pausing, and off-triggering
• on-screen display of the keyboard can be color-coded to create visual metaphors; keys are highlighted as they play
• a true performance program in which sounds can be played and triggered even while configuring, multiple instances of the program can be opened, and program window size can be scaled up or down
• capable of playing 8 stereo or mono samples simultaneously (i.e., 8 * (L+R) = 16 channel polyphony) at 16-bit, 44.1 KHz mixed stereo output
• freeware version plays .wav, .aif, and .au files; those who support this freeware will get an .mp3-playing registered version
• saves and loads keyboard configurations as .keymap files; loads old keymaps from all previous versions of Soundplant

Soundplant 26 Screenshot

Buy Marcel Blum Soundplant 26 – 16,25 EUR / $20 USD

More info and demos: http://www.soundplant.org