Say you're broke...

[Funky40]

I was wondering the same thing. It always strikes me as disingenuous when someone who owns some fairly expensive bits of equipment (computer, audio interface, studio monitors), then cries poverty.

to be fair, some folks in some countrys migh be able to get a computer into their hands.
But this does not necessarily mean that they´d have any $ left to buy anything "unnecessary" on top of it. And some folks are kids, school.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Yeah Funky40, I was thinking students in particular. I remember being broke and having no money and getting into computer music. And my 15-year old nephew has been curious about making beats. If he were to pursue music production, I'd just copy and paste my post from the prior page and buy him the Valhalla plugins.

[ampetrosillo]

I have no personal interest in your responses, in the sense that I already have what I need. It's a thought experiment. Don't look too much into it and/or accuse me of being cheap.

...actually, you could say that I *am* cheap My computer? A used tower I got off eBay for about €250 (it works well enough, I only need to freeze tracks sooner or later, and not even all the time). My audio interface is an old Echo AudioFire 12, and I have an SM Pro Audio rack pre (8 channels), which works well enough, and I borrow another preamp when I need to record more than 8 mics. Or I use my band's Behringer XR18. Those up there are some of the plugins I bought, I also bought other plugins but I realise they aren't essential (also those plugins up there aren't really essential, but I'd happily pay for those again even if I were broke).

(Also, if you're broke then chances are you're gonna pirate all this stuff. Realistically speaking... not condoning, just saying).

[jens]

I don't think the sound-quality would suffer from using only free stuff. But stuff like Melodyne is nigh impossible to replace.

[vurt]

what does broke mean ? (in your part of the world)

I was wondering the same thing. It always strikes me as disingenuous when someone who owns some fairly expensive bits of equipment (computer, audio interface, studio monitors), then cries poverty. I suspect what they’re really saying is, “I don’t feel like it’s worth supporting developers for tools that I can get for free, even if they’re a bit gimped in some way.”

The good news is, there are plenty of good free tools out there. IK is always doing some sort of group buy that brings the per plugin cost down to peanuts. Lots of people are selling used licenses for cheap.

i have in the past, worked with some kids through a local charity.
they were underprivileged kids, who often would turn up for their sessions, and hadnt even eaten (we worked during the summer holidays) but they had half decent laptops, because the school, due to necessity for homework, provided them with the laptops.

when such questions as this arise, i think of folks in such positions, and as you say, point them at freeware, but which freeware? is the big question!
i cheat, i just grab copies of computer music and hand them out to the kids

[NikkiA]

Do people not know that Convology XT is free? I still find myself using it more than Reverberate 3 because CXT loads instantly, whereas Reverberate takes a few seconds, and has 90% of the features, and 100% of the features I need 80% of the time.

[osiris]

Oh no. CM has a version of zplane Vielklang which is free. Also great for harmonies.

[jens]

Do people not know that Convology XT is free?

Yeah, totally free - except it isn't in the slightest.

[ampetrosillo]

I don't think the sound-quality would suffer from using only free stuff. But stuff like Melodyne is nigh impossible to replace.

ReaTune, included with Reaper, is limited... and sometimes fiddly/imprecise (on very out of tune vocals). But I find that it sounds very good, sometimes more natural than Melodyne.

[ghettosynth]

You're broke. You want to make music. You don't want to compromise, but of course you're broke, so you need to. There are lots and lots of free VSTs, and many of them on par with commercial software. Others still can be made to sound good, but might not be as pleasant to use as some commercial alternatives. But, I'm guessing, most of you have some commercial software that you feel cannot be replaced by any free VST, software you would invest your little money on because you feel that you need to. Which is it?

I'll start.

Valhalla reverbs (at least VintageVerb and Room, although Plate is great too but I could do without it).
MJUC (a really great compressor, I feel you could get away with using this on any source and it would work fine).
One convolution reverb (the free ones are all too limited).
Reaper.
I don't feel I need to buy any softsynths (and in fact I haven't bought any).
Maybe the TDR bundle (just because it's very reasonably priced and they're are great plugins, their free versions are wonderful but for example Nova GE does add very useful features).

That's it really, for me.

I don't think that you "need" any of that. If you are broke, then nobody cares enough about your music to give you money, so, I think that you're spinning your wheels justifying consumerism to cast any of that as "need."

Walk back in time. What did you "need" in the 80s and 90s when it was first possible for average people to record at home? I know that it's overemphasized, but Bruce Springstein's Nebraska was recorded on a relatively low budget 4-track at home with SM57s. Many dance tracks released in the 90s were dominated by alesis processing, e.g., midiverb and the 3630 compressor, which wasn't very good but defines some of that sound.

If you can't produce a complete album of reasonable quality today with just what comes free with Cakewalk, it's not the tools.

[jens]

I don't think the sound-quality would suffer from using only free stuff. But stuff like Melodyne is nigh impossible to replace.

ReaTune, included with Reaper, is limited... and sometimes fiddly/imprecise (on very out of tune vocals). But I find that it sounds very good, sometimes more natural than Melodyne.

Melodyne is a completely different beast altogether though.

[TBlake]

The free version of Auburn Sounds Lens is amazing

[jens]

If you are broke, then nobody cares enough about your music to give you money

What kind of shitty elitism is that?

(If you came here from the 50's using a time-machine, can I please play with it?)

[Synthman2000]

The abridged version for myself, is every piece of software I have purchased.
I can think of almost nothing that is free that can replace anything.

Once you have heard quality, have good workflows, getting results, there is no turning back.

Irrelevant of cost, nothing is off the table. In fact the only things off the table are free products in the main. There are of course a couple of useful utilities but they do not replace anything else.

[ampetrosillo]

You're broke. You want to make music. You don't want to compromise, but of course you're broke, so you need to. There are lots and lots of free VSTs, and many of them on par with commercial software. Others still can be made to sound good, but might not be as pleasant to use as some commercial alternatives. But, I'm guessing, most of you have some commercial software that you feel cannot be replaced by any free VST, software you would invest your little money on because you feel that you need to. Which is it?

I'll start.

Valhalla reverbs (at least VintageVerb and Room, although Plate is great too but I could do without it).
MJUC (a really great compressor, I feel you could get away with using this on any source and it would work fine).
One convolution reverb (the free ones are all too limited).
Reaper.
I don't feel I need to buy any softsynths (and in fact I haven't bought any).
Maybe the TDR bundle (just because it's very reasonably priced and they're are great plugins, their free versions are wonderful but for example Nova GE does add very useful features).

That's it really, for me.

I don't think that you "need" any of that. If you are broke, then nobody cares enough about your music to give you money, so, I think that you're spinning your wheels justifying consumerism to cast any of that as "need."

Walk back in time. What did you "need" in the 80s and 90s when it was first possible for average people to record at home? I know that it's overemphasized, but Bruce Springstein's Nebraska was recorded on a relatively low budget 4-track at home with SM57s. Many dance tracks released in the 90s were dominated by alesis processing, e.g., midiverb and the 3630 compressor, which wasn't very good but defines some of that sound.

If you can't produce a complete album of reasonable quality today with just what comes free with Cakewalk, it's not the tools.

As I said, I personally use mostly free plugins. Including reverbs! (I quite like Freeverb3, or epicPLATE by VoS, or DReverb, or the kPlate series by Airwindows - the only reverbs of his that I actually like).

Still, you either didn't get the point of the question, or you are being difficult just because. I assume you have some commercial software. I assume you use it a good part of it on a daily basis. Now, I will also assume that some of this software is, essentially, vital to your workflow. (It doesn't have to mean that you literally can't work without it. It can also mean that you would sorely feel the lack of it, or that some creative choices would no longer be within reach, or that you would have to replace with lots of tedious fiddling). Otherwise it is you who caved in to consumerism and paid money for something that you could very well do without.