Thursday, December 31, 2009

18 more Free VST plug-ins

xoxos has announced that all xoxos VST plug-ins that were previously sold are now available as freeware. Donations are still appreciated of course.

There are lots of very interesting plug-ins now available for free, including physical models, MIDI FX, algorithmic generators, voice generators and synths. All of them are available for Windows as VST instrument or effects plug-ins.

Aerophone

Aerophone models lip valve instruments with cylindrical bores such as trumpets and trombones. The lip valve is modeled with an oversampled 3rd order mass-spring to emulate expressive acoustic performance.

The elementary acoustic circuit is capable of producing impressive emulations. Please be aware that to appreciably render a human performance with this circuit requires a volume of knowledge and application.


download
listen to (a very bad) mp3




Boing2

Boing is a bowed string model. Oscillation is produced with a friction calculation applied to a dispersive waveguide string with oversampling rates of up to 16x. The string loop includes a mass-spring modeled bridge. The body resonator consists of a mass-spring "air tone" model and a 5 band banded waveguide.


download
listen to mp3
listen to mp3




Phybes

Phybes is a banded waveguide suited for vibraphone and other mallet instrument emulations. The mallet impulse is modeled with a mass-spring to produce tonal variation from dynamic performance.


download




Piamo

Piamo is an elementarily modeled virtual piano, providing variable performance timbrality in a gentle emulation leant to abstraction.



download
listen to mp3





Pling3

Pling3 is an all-purpose plucked string model suitable for synthesis and emulations.

Pling3 is improved by coupling vertical and horizontal waveguides and by tuning the pitch response of the stiffness filter.

A second version, Pling3b is included with an oversampled string.


download Pling3
download Pling3b




Skunk

Skunk is a four part algorithmic percussion sequencer. Probability is used to determine which of eight sequences follows the current selection. This concatenative effect is useful for cross-rhythms and other simple rhythmic automations.


download
listen to mp3




Horizon

Horizon combines lush stereo unison voicing with a phrase sequencer that stays in key when the sequence is transposed.

This simple format makes Horizon ideal for lead sounds in dance and other styles. The oscillators are also suitable for producing panoramic pads, before any stereo effects are applied to the signal.


download




Syng2

Syng2 is a voice synthesizer which uses four bandpass filters to produce formants in any spectrally rich signal, or using an internal oscillator. The phoneme can be selected on a second MIDI channel, or preset words can be triggered.

Syng2 was designed as an intelligible, low-cpu voice engine for Breathcube 2. The articulation is intended to be more natural than other 'robot voices' using this method, with plosives slightly emphasised to be heard with music.


download full version
mp3 folder



Voted Payware to Freeware 2008



Populus

Populus generates MIDI sequences with a 'biologically modeled behavioural' algorithm. The measure is treated like a 'year,' wherein notes grow, reproduce and combat.

This VST is now freeware (june 09).


download full version



Freeware as of Summer 2009



Period Seq

A simple algorithmic MIDI sequencer using four counters. Period Seq is included with all licenses.


download
listen to mp3
listen to mp3
listen to mp3




Gun

This emulative VST uses mass-springs and a noise source. It is almost identical to the freeware Bomb VST, with the addition of a gently randomised multitrigger clock for "automatic fire" sounds.

This instrument was included with all other licenses. Gun is no longer distributed.


listen to mp3




Friction

Friction VSTi combines a 2nd order mass-spring with a friction algorithm and two waveguide resonances. It is capable of elementary emulations of sounds produced by tangent surfaces, such as squeaky hinges and squealing tires.

This instrument is proposed for experimental music and foley sfx.

Friction was elected as freeware at kvraudio.com june 2009.


download full version
listen to mp3



Voted Payware to Freeware Summer 2009



Mass-Springs

Mass VSTi and Cymbal VSTi are percussion synthesizers that use mass-spring models to produce realistic dynamic and timbral effects.

Boundary conditions imposed upon the movement of a multi-order mass-spring provide complex timbres that evoke common modes of vibration in acoustic forms.

These models are augmented with conventional subtractive elements to comprise low-cpu solutions for improved realtime percussion synthesis.


download
listen to mp3
listen to mp3
listen to mp3




Hyperion

Waiting for an update to Talent? Hyperion is a flexible algorithmic MIDI VST designed primarily for melodic parts and capable of outputting three notes on three separate MIDI channels.

Hyperion's flexible architecture and low CPU can be applied to live performance or to algorithmic composition. The "Unidentified Flying Object" of the VST world.

"Hyperio" (with no "n") is a quick port of Hyperion's architecture for user-input scales. It react to pitch modulation differently.


more information
download Hyperion
download Hyperio
listen to mp3 (one instance)
listen to mp3 (one instance)




Fauna

Fauna is a vocal tract model capable of emulating many animal (and human) sounds.

The design is intended to produce natural sounding calls. Oscillators can also track the keyboard and create an array of unique synthetic textures.


download
more information
listen to mp3




Circuit

Circuit is a probability based MIDI sequencer that joins short phrases together to create natural feeling rhythms.

The concept is derived from classical schools of drumming, such as Tal notation for Tabla.


download
listen to mp3s




Series and MiniSeries

Inspired by Serialist composition, Series and MiniSeries are performance sequencers which use a modulated counter to index steps.

Combined with Circuit's multitriggering, both versions create dense mathematic sequences with a few settings.

Intended for percussion and experimentation, Series is also a powerful arpeggiator.


download Series
download MiniSeries
midi vst page




Virtual Machine

Virtual Machine is a commuted synthesis emulation of motors and similar mechanical sounds.


download
listen to mp3


Wednesday, December 2, 2009

10 Freeware VST Plugins worth checking out

The freeware scene in audio is constantly providing fresh and unique plug-ins that cover a broad range of virtual instruments and effects. The variety of designs are as numerous as their possible uses, as freeware developers and users break the boundaries of what is possible in audio software. This article covers 10 high-quality freeware plug-ins that have made it on the short list. Whether you're new to music creation or on the lookout for new software, here are five free instruments and five free effects that deserve a place in your plug-in folder.

Instruments

02.circles by RLMA-LABS (PC)
CPU Usage: Medium-High

This synth features a new type of GUI, instead of knobs or sliders, there are circles that get brighter and dimmer when you adjust them. Based on the screenshot, my first impression was that this would be a novelty plugin that skimped on usable sounds, but when I actually tried it out and started designing with it, I found the sound engine is quality and there are more than enough modulation options to make unique and usable sounds and textures. If this plugin was a little bit easier on the CPU usage, it would become my go-to synth for some uses such as the "upper-mids" of wobble bass sounds.



TAL Elec7ro by Togu Audio Line (PC)
CPU Usage: Medium

This easy-to-use synth features all the typical parameters in the best way possible and adds some extra features that allow you to create bigger sounds than you might expect from three oscillators. As the presets demonstrate, this synth is capable of a wide range of professional and modern sounds making the short time it takes to learn the parameters well worth it. A filter envelope, an amp envelope, and an assignable envelope are also on board, as well as two linkable LFOs that can be synced to the tempo. It has both poly and mono modes, making it useful for many purposes.



Shortcircuit by Vember Audio (PC)
CPU Usage: Low

Shortcircuit is a plugin that allows you to load and map samples to a virtual keyboard. It features editing, effects, and LFOs and an automapping feature. If you have a folder of multi-samples, you can drag the samples onto Shortcircuit from Windows Explorer and Shortcircuit will try to automatically map the samples, usually successfully. It can also load soundfonts.






Sonata (PC) by Soha Sound
CPU Usage: High

Capable of a wide range of sounds with some very beautiful pads, Sonata offers a unique way of synthesis. The CPU Hit is high, but this is expected with pad sounds and many computer musicians choose to bounce their pad instruments to audio files anyway. Sometimes the plugin clips internally, so you may have to turn the amp knob and the sustain level knob to remedy this. More soundbanks are available on the plugin's website.







Triangle II (PC) by RGC Audio
CPU Usage: Medium

An extremely stable monosynth. Its unique features include atypical oscillator types, tweakable unison controls, distortion, and something called a Decimator which I have not heard in any other synth. The interface presents many other unique features in an easy-to-use fashion.
Be sure to check out the recently released soundbank by MG at KVR.



Effects



EpicVerb (PC) by VarietyOfSound
CPU Usage: Medium

A great reverb for all purposes--that's an understatement. Its realism makes it useful for adding depth to any audio, its surprisingly low CPU usage makes it practical. There are multiple types of reverb and the right amount of knobs for sound designing. On the extra-large reverb settings it can turn any almost sound into a lush pad, and it can make a monaural synth sound stereo if you need it.




CamelCrusher (PC and Mac) by Camel Audio
CPU Usage: Very Low

Featuring compression, distortion, filtering and parallel processing, CamelCrusher gives you multiple ways to pump and crush your audio when you need it quickly. It doesn't have a whole lot of settings, but sometimes that's a good thing.










Glitch (PC) by dblue
CPU Usage: Low

Essentially nine effects in one, dblue's Glitch plugin remains one of the most popular freeware effects plugins available. Shuffle, reverse, retrigger, and crush are four of the effects that can be used to glitch up any audio fed into it. While each of these effects could stand on their own, Glitch features an optional step-sequencer where effects can be chosen and triggered. Some possible uses might be to glitch an element of the track every 8 bars, by muting and unmuting the plugin. The only danger here is the time that could be lost while using this plugin, because it is very fun to experiment with.




bx Solo (PC and Mac) by Brainworx
CPU Usage: Very Low

This is fairly simple plugin, but a good introduction to Mid/Side processing. There are also buttons to hear the left or right channel on both speakers, and this comes in handy with sampling because sometimes you can extract a sound easier from just the right or left side. The stereo manipulation tools and width options are useful as well.




Rough Rider Compressor (PC and Mac) byAudio Damage
CPU Usage: Very Low

The effect of this plugin is well-heard and every knob tweak makes a difference. You can definitely hear it pump up the ambience on acoustic drum tracks. It could be used by drum sound designers to boost the "decay" section of the sounds and the webpage for this plugin recommends using it on rhythmic tracks. It's definitely not an all-purpose compressor, but the simplicity and boldness of the plugin is refreshing.

This article was written by Sean Duncan